Source: Publisher
Description: Retirement should mean long-awaited trips to the sapphire waters of Santorini or careening down a sand dune in Dubai. For sixty-three-year-old Mebel, retirement means her husband of more than forty years announcing that he's leaving her for their private chef. Mebel isn’t sure who's the bigger loss.
Not to worry, Mebel has the perfect plan: she’s going to win back her husband. No one knows what he needs better than her—after all, she's been anticipating his needs their whole marriage. And if he wants a wife who can cook (why else would he leave her for a chef?), she will simply go to cooking school. Luckily, class at the renowned Saint Honoré School of Culinary Arts in France starts in just four days!
However, Mebel quickly realizes that her culinary school is not in illustrious Paris but rather in England—and some small village outside of Oxford no less. Despite the less-than-warm welcome from her much younger classmates, Mebel manages to befriend Gemma, the breakout star of the program, who offers to help Mebel on their first day. When Gemma stops showing up to class, Mebel knows she must figure out what—or who—caused her friend’s sudden disappearance. After all, Mebel may not know the first thing about how to cut a potato, but she certainly knows how to identify a fraud, and there’s definitely something fishy going on.
Genre: Fiction
Why I Picked This Book: I loved the Vera Wong books by this author and I can't resist a main character starting over kind of story.
My Impression: I enjoyed this read. Sutanto has the ability to make the most flawed characters sympathetic and thoroughly likable. I loved reading about Mebel's journey with learning to cook as well as understanding the different place she has ended up in with a culture so very much different from her own.
Why I Picked This Book: I loved the Vera Wong books by this author and I can't resist a main character starting over kind of story.
My Impression: I enjoyed this read. Sutanto has the ability to make the most flawed characters sympathetic and thoroughly likable. I loved reading about Mebel's journey with learning to cook as well as understanding the different place she has ended up in with a culture so very much different from her own.
I think the book suffers a bit in comparison to the Vera Wong series. Mebel has a surface level similarity to Vera. She's completely sure in her own opinions and not afraid to use the age card to guilt people into doing what she wants. However, there's no mystery here so the focus especially at the beginning is very much on Mebel. While I grew to love Mebel as the book went on at the beginning it took me a bit to warm to her and to get involved in the book.
This is a great story with an interesting dynamic - young vs old, East vs West, rich vs poor - all with a touch of humor and a bit of grace. Once I got into it I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking foward to reading more from her. If you're finding this a bit of a slow start or not loving Mebel give it a bit longer. I don't think you'll regret it.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Yes! I've enjoyed everything I've read by this author and am looking forward to reading more.
Would I Recommend this Book? Absolutely though I do recommend a little patience at the beginning.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
Would I Recommend this Book? Absolutely though I do recommend a little patience at the beginning.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
No comments:
Post a Comment