Recipes for Life: My Memories

In brief, entertaining chapters%E2%80%94many capped with a favorite recipe taken from celebrity chefs, restaurants, friends, and cooking classes%E2%80%9468-year-old Evans (The Linda Evans Beauty & Exercise Book) and stepdaughter Derek give readers an off-camera view of the high and low points of Evans's acting career, love life, and spiritual quest. They relate incidents of serendipity that led to her roles as Audra Barkley in The Big Valley and Krystle Carrington in Dynasty, crediting them to providence and reflecting on the gifts Evans has found in setbacks, disappointments, and divorce. Evans presents much of her life as a madcap fairy tale filled with magical moments, romantic adventures, friendships with the rich and famous, and personal challenges (wrangling with a leopard for Circus of the Stars, flying with a member of the aerobatic Blue Angels), but in later chapters, she discusses confronting aging and depression, enjoying later-life romance with New Age musician Yanni and setting new career goals (acting on the stage and participating in the cooking show Hell's Kitchen). While some of Evans's offered wisdom might seem superficial%E2%80%94she illustrates her belief in holding on to a dream with a story of obtaining a long-coveted classic Mercedes%E2%80%94much of it is deceptively simple and has applications far beyond Hollywood and the kitchen. (Oct.)