Homemade candy is what I'm giving to friends and relatives this holiday season. It is from my heart and bypasses my pocketbook.This book is fabulous. All the recipes are rated by skill level: easy, average or advanced. And all the recipes sound wonderful, although I have made only four recipes so far. The New Orleans Roasted Pecan Pralines recipe is tops so far.The info in the beginning of the book is very helpful. Topics include how to choose a candy kettle, techniques and the chemistry of candy making. The section on ingredients is great, and has helped me avoid errors, like improper substitutions.There is a separate section on chocolate dipped candy. I had read elsewhere that tempering chocolate was essential for making dipping chocolate. I had no clue what tempering was, let alone how to do it. Jane Sharrock cut through my confusion and explained that tempering is for commercial candy making only, not for homemade candy. And Ms Sharrock includes all sorts of delicious chocolate dipping recipes and techniques.Georgeous color photographs tempt me to try more recipes. The recipes are easy to follow, and the text is laid out in a 2 column format, like the older cookbooks, making it easy to read. The paper is good quality and the font size is perfect, not too big, not too small. Although a paperback, the pages are sewn and glued, making for a long lasting book. I know this book will still be in one piece after 10 years plus of steady use.There are so many tempting recipes I can use this book to make different recipes each holiday for the rest of my life.In this year of scarsity, it is fun to go back to thoughtful and traditional gifts. Last year I made fudge for the holidays. I didn't get one compliment on my fudge. It was really bad. This year I'm a pro with this book. I am successful with even the recipes rated advanced.If I could give this book 10 stars I would.