FirstLine ~ If you're the last oerson to leave Detroit, don't forget to turn off the light.

Food, love and pride in the city The Welcome Home Diner will leave the reader feeling hungry for more...literally. I adored this book and all the ways it was unfolded for the reader. It was one of those reads that both inspires and delights. It will be a great read to snuggle up with this fall or winter.

This book was such a surprise! I loved the cover and the title made me think I was going to get a heart-warming story (set in the South or Midwest) that would be easy to read and a delight.
In the end, this is a heart-warming story and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. What surprised me was that this wasn't just a bit of fluff story about cousins and food and relationships. It was that but had such depth and emotion that really drew me in.
The story follows two cousins: Sam and Addie and is told in alternating points of view. They are the best of friends who face a crisis; Lampman wrote them both so well that you love them both and can't possibly take sides. They both must look at who they are, what in their past has shaped them into who they are and what they will retain to take into the future and become.
I also loved the setting: broken down Detroit that these girls and those in their sphere see as a beloved town on the brink of greatness. They are committed to rebuilding the city and building solid foundations of relationships that tear down barriers such as race, ethnicity and economics. To top it all off, food is woven throughout this book in delectable, mouth-watering ways. Recipes included at the end. If only The Welcome Home Diner were real.....

Sam and Addie Jaworski are just two people struggling to make their diner a success. They were raised with the idea that those who can do and those who have give. And that's exactly what they're trying to do in The Welcome Home Diner by Peggy Lampman.

Sam and Addie Jaworski are cousins. Sam studied to be a chef and helps manage their restaurant's kitchen. Addie manages the restaurant and the staff. Both Sam and Addie have issues from their past that they are working through, but they are happy to be in Detroit and struggling to make a go at their business. Success seems to be difficult to attain for the cousins for a while, but they gradually begin to make a name for themselves and their business. Just when it seems as if all is bright and wonderful, Sam and Addie begin to deal with blow after blow. Their diner is trolled on the internet and an employee's daughter is part of an attempted kidnapping scheme. How much should they have to suffer in their efforts to give to a city they've come to love? When will the city begin to show them some love in return for their efforts?

I struggled to read The Welcome Home Diner, not because it wasn't a good read, it is, but because I've been dealing with severe migraine headaches and other family medical emergencies over the past few days. Being able to escape into a good book was my respite from these issues, and yes, The Welcome Home Diner was a good book to read. It was easy to become invested in Sam and Addie's lives and the lives of their friends and coworkers. I wanted them all to have success and was wishing I could sample one of their lamb burgers and Heartbreaker cookies last night. The Welcome Home Diner incorporates the basic angst of any small business owner along with the desire to give back in a meaningful way to a city that's on the edge of rising like a phoenix. The story also has family drama, interpersonal and intrapersonal drama, envy, enmity, revenge, and more. At its heart, this is a story of a hope and love. Sam and Addie love what they do and just want to share that love and joy via food. Ms. Lampman has crafted a great feel-good story with colorful characters, amazing settings, and believable action. I strongly encourage you to grab a copy of The Welcome Home Diner to read for a variety of reasons but primarily because it is a delightful feel-good story about family, friends, food, and love.

Addie and Samantha are two cousins, descendants of a wonderful Polish family, who open a diner in the inner city of Detroit in hopes of being part of a rebuilding effort in Detroit. Along the way instead of being welcomed as they envisioned, they encounter severe prejudice, even hate. They preserver throughout to win over their neighborhood and make friends along the way. Each of them finds the work and the struggle fulfilling as they are determined to win over those that work against their success.
This book was beautifully written... It is substantial, outstanding writing and very reveling to today. I enjoyed it and highly recommend this book. This is a excellent author who has her finger on the pulse of social issues that affect all of us.

I love the idea of how living in the same house and running a diner in the bowels of Detroit help 2 cousins learn more about themselves and their relationships. This novel also highlights a few of the issues that plague many cities across the United States.

The 2 cousins are of Polish descent (therefore white), yet want to create a haven in the city for all people with no prejudice. However, that's not the reception they receive from the locals. While a few people embrace their desire to provide good, quality food, most of their customers come from outside the city for the dining experience.

The issue of sex trafficking is also included as one of their employees was formerly enslaved in a sex ring. Now at the Welcome Home diner she is finding her way and beginning to thrive.

This was a very interesting read.

This fictional story is about Samantha (Sam) and Addie, who are cousins that buy, renovate and run a restaurant in Detroit, called Welcome Home.

My husband used to live just outside Ann Arbor, Michigan and I would travel to Windsor to meet him (I live in Toronto). We would drive through Detroit to get to his place. We have, on occasion stopped off for some food there. Having spent some time in and around the area, you can’t help but be aware of the issues the city is having. When I saw this was a story about a start-up restaurant in the city it piqued my interest.

The author did a really good job of being descriptive of not only Detroit, but the surrounding area. She mentions many points of interest around the area to make it real. She mentions University of Michigan and Zingerman’s Roadhouse (which we have eaten at many times. If you go get the mac and cheese! You will not be disappointed).

The story is not only about the restaurant, it is about the two main characters and their lives and their (sometimes fraught) relationship with each other. As they are building up the business, they each have their own struggles. There is also a cast of characters that work at or pass through the restaurant that have their own stories to tell. Each character seems to represent a point-of-view or struggle. The characters seemed real. I cared about them, and I wanted to know more about them.

There are some hard hitting issues that are addressed in this book (sex slavery, racism, violence) and it fits. It not only makes for an interesting story, but helps to expose some of the important issues that Detroit is facing.

Food features heavily in the story (obviously, it’s about a restaurant). Specifically it is about how food can bring people together, can link us to our past and to our family (or not). As a bonus, there are recipes in the back of the book. I am definitely going to try the diner’s signature Heartbreaker cookies!!!

This is more than a light beach read. However, it was interesting from the start and kept me engaged throughout the story.

I rated this 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

Full disclosure: I received this eARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. (Thanks NetGalley!)

When I began reading this book, I soon thought it to be a travel book for the state of Michigan. The author talks about beautiful areas of Michigan and the fact that Detroit is a city on the verge of a comeback. It did make me want to visit Michigan next summer, but not much more. I, obviously, was missing the point!

Addie and Samantha are two cousins, descendants of a wonderful Polish woman, who open a diner in the inner city of Detroit in hopes of being part of a rebuilding and rebranding effort in Detroit. Along the way they encounter prejudice, even hatred. But through it all they find love in both their personal lives and in their surroundings.

This book was beautifully written. I loved the characters, especially Angus, an elderly curmudgeon, who had seen it all in his city!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

4+ Stars

A compelling & rewarding book with an interesting, substantial plot, memorable characters and scrumptious, irresistible food.

Cousin Addie & Sam Jaworski -with Polish roots- were both born and raised in Michigan. For them moving to Detroit to open their Welcome Home Diner in one of the more desolate parts of town seems the most natural thing in the world, while their families & friends are mostly horrified. But Addie and Sam believe in each other, their Polish heritage from their beloved grandmother Babcia as well as in giving "The D" a chance. They hope that the establishment of their Diner will boost the renovation and revitalisation of their neighborhood.

But while their restaurant seems to go from strength to strength & is immensely popular among "outsiders", the local Afro-American community -apart from the co-workers of the Diner- are conspicuous by their absence, no matter how hard Addie and Sam are trying to reach out. There is also an enemy lurking behind the anonymity of cyberspace: trying to undermine the good reputation of the place through various social media attacks.

And the time comes when both Addie and Sam are put to some the test and have to face their fears & past mistakes if they want to go on.

I have to admit that in the beginning I struggled to get into the book. I could not relate either to Addie or to Sam through whose alternating POV the story unfolded. They both appeared to self-absorbed and not very understanding towards each other, though we were told they were close like sisters. But slowly they started to grow on me. Their compassion towards their employees, their willingness to give both Detroit and its inhabitants a second chance was very appealing.

The atmosphere of the Diner was very alluring and the food described just made me drool over my kindle.

The writing is lovely, there is depth to the narrative and the end, though satisfying, is realistic.

Highly recommended.

Strong 3 rating - more like 3.75. This was a charming book, with a really wonderful premise. I liked one of the restaurant owner/cousins better than the other, loved the urban renewal setting, and appreciated the author touching on a sensitive subject like human trafficking in a readable way. Relationship drama is somewhat beyond the scope of my life right now, and would have dragged down my rating, but the recipes included in the back of the book made it all worthwhile.

I did not finish this book at 30%. I could not get into the storyline at all.

Favorite Quotes:

She’s also known for her outrageous wardrobe and is proud to proclaim she’s growing old disgracefully.

The staff is coming up with a language of its own. In a couple of years, we’ll be the only ones who understand one another. “A gastronoid,” Lella continues, “is a human subspecies that only lives to eat and complain.”

Your silence is becoming too loud in my head.

Yoga, Pilates, sashimi, and salads. Believe me, there’s nothing graceful about aging. It’s a full-time job.

And there were two brave women, Addie and Sam, who made a family from scratch, using what others left behind.

My Review:

While an entertaining and engaging read, The Welcome Home Diner was hazardous to my diet as each plate of food was lovingly and sensuously described in lip-smacking detail. In one instance, Ms. Lampman eloquently waxed on for a full page about a juicy and succulent heirloom tomato, which had my mouth watering and resulted in my increasingly frequent foraging for sustenance and nibbles. Not to diminish her humorous and colorful descriptions of the numerous quirky characters who also inhabited the pages and frequently had me smirking. Two female cousins with an impressive mission statement and admirable ideals established the diner in a derelict area of Detroit and featured farm-to-table heartland fare with the unique fusion of Southern soul food and Polish dishes. I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around that combination for quite some time. The cousins’ behaviors were not always admirable and were actually often annoying, yet I came to care about them and wanted all their dreams to come to fruition. However, their neighbors did not sure in those hopes for their success and the cousins found themselves being shunned, threatened, trolled, and traumatized. The storyline was slowly developed yet intriguing, enlightening, thoughtfully well-crafted, and quite tasty.

A delightful feel good read with lovely well rounded characters and a sense of nostalgia.

The concept of family is made up of people you want to surround yourself with I love and this feeling of warmth enveloped me throughout the book.

A fab read!

The interesting, complex, quirky characters with their real life problems and idiosyncrasies make The Welcome Home Diner! It is a story of growth and discovery, of romance and working hard to make dreams come true, and of learning to understand both yourself and others. I think it would be an interesting book club selection.

(4.5) This was a very enjoyable book which is filled with some wonderful descriptions of the delicious food being served up at The Welcome Home Diner. I loved the characters of cousins Addie and Sam, as well as the many other diverse characters in the book. This is not only a story about delicious food in a vintage diner but it's also about the love that goes into creating that food, romantic love, and love for friends and neighbors. It deals with some very current issues: human trafficking, racism and the revitalization and rebuilding of neighborhoods in some depressed areas of Detroit, one of those neighborhoods is the setting of The Welcome Home Diner. I thought this was very well done and found it as satisfying as one of those Heartbreaker Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yes, there are recipes included at the end of the book. A very big bonus!!

I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Welcome Home Diner. The books is well written and has a great plot as well as characters. I had not read this author before but see myself reading more of her books in the future.

4.5 Stars

The book simply is beautiful with delicious food of Welcome Home Diner. It’s about struggling life of Jaworski sisters in new business and their personal life surrounded by lovely staff and hesitant, fearful neighbors of Detroit. Book revolves around The Welcome Home Diner and its owner Addie and Sam narrated in their alternative perspective. You will see ups and down of not only these sisters but the staff of their diner and their home like diner. It’s a journey of diner and its owner of starting a business from scratch to running it with a vision – an old fashioned place serving authentic and organic food and welcoming all races with blessing and recipes of their beloved grandmother.

Characters- Addie– Brain and owner of diner. She was sensitive, warm hearted and ambitious woman with spreadsheets and to-do list of diner and also her life. Sam– Addie’s cousin, partner of diner. Cook of the diner, who never organize anything and live and walk the present.

Staff of diner– Braydon (manager), Quiche (works the grill at counter), Lella (waitress). Diner started with these 3 staff and added new additions eventually- Paul, Sylvia, Gary. They all were amazing. They all had life story to share in the book.

There were other important characters in the book who were connected to the member of diner whom you will love to know and connect with. Specifically Addie and Sam’s babcia (grandmother) and Sun Beam– Quiche’s daughter, she was so adorable and I loved her sandwich inventions. Oh and magical hot sauce vendor Jessie, you would love the company of this woman and her tricks of calming down inner demons and purge the place with negative energy, she was one interesting character in the book. Hero, Sam’s dog, was a real hero in the book. And there was that angry neighbor Angus.

I’m feeling like I just started and I’m leaving out many other characters in the book but trust me you won’t forget all these characters. Character development of main characters was brilliant, heartwarming.

What I liked-
First that cover. Isn’t it beautiful? Here is the fact, when I got review opportunity, I decided to read this book by just looking at the cover. I read blurb later and I liked it but cover has already taken my heart. It’s so perfect with the theme of the book. Talking about theme and concept, this book covered lot of things and I really loved the way author represented it with unique writing style and delicious food.

Book started with the Polish word guide, tour to Welcome Home’s area, introduction to the staff, conditions of Detroit and their drawbacks with the area and weather. I loved the way all staff connected to diner and to each other to become a family. Best thing was life story of all characters, story of Addie and Sam’s life, their family and grandmother was beautifully narrated. They all had something to tell, something to teach and something to learn from them.

I came to admire the heart characters of this book (Addie and Sam) by the end of the book for their relationship, for their unique vision and thoughts on diner, city, and all those sensitive issues discussed in the book, and for the way they handles everything. They first won my heart when wind was against them they never discriminated or blamed their staff. The trust they had for them was remarkable.

There was very detailed history of Detroit from motor city to demographics, racial discrimination and segregation to revitalization of the city (it’s beginning of this time when our character started a business), weather of the city to the musical culture. I got very close look to this city and how characters were attached to it and loved it. History of the city played important role in the book as characters and city were struggling with the after effects of the city’s downtime. It was very delicately and perfectly handled.

There were other sensitive topic apart from color discrimination like, sex trafficking, kidnapping, impersonation and defamation that created problem to city and diner. Friendship, family, love, and community together poured warm and touching feeling to book. Romance and love story in the book was desert amid the terrific dreadful subjects.

I loved it when Addie compared some situations with the mythology. Specifically when she was asking the power of all the Goddess to conquer the problems of her personal life. The philosophy in the book, talk of Jessie and Addie’s references were so thought provoking and brilliant, they had left great impression on me and also turned me into believer like Addie.

Climax– finally the revelation of antagonist, who gave hard time diner and its staff was shocking. I couldn’t guess that person would do such things and the reason behind doing all the evil damage was so small. I couldn’t have guessed that person in ages. End was so feel-good and fair. I surely want to read more books by this author.

One last thing there are recipes from diner’s menu so don’t miss it. Book is also best for group read. It was fun thinking about answers of discussion questions given at the end of the book.

Why 4.5-
Only teensy thing. In the beginning of the book I was struggling for getting into the book. But once I learned little more about characters and situations, it was smooth till the end.

Overall, book was steady paced, with tasty family and romantic drama, sour sensitive issues of city and delicious food of dinner served at the end with desert of love, friendship and community. I recommend this book to everyone who love to read women fictions that serves something different.

This is the first book of Peggy's that I've read. I will admit it took me a bit to get into the book and to keep the two main characters straight.

Two cousins open up a diner in a rough part of Detroit with the goal of their diner becoming like home to their neighbours. Unfortunately, the neighbours want no part of the diner and the two women struggle with finding ways to overcome racial barriers. This book has it all - romance, food, family struggles and a happy ending.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley for my unbiased opinion of the book. I enjoyed this book and the relationship between two cousins. It reminded me of my bestfriend and cousin Sharon. It tapped into what is going on today in many industrial cities trying to survive and making a difference one diner at a time! I flew through this book. It's a new author for me and looking forward to reading more from Peggy Lampman. Thank God the recipes were included in the back of the book, so often they are not. This book will make you hungry from the beginning to end.

This is a heartwarming book. Cousins Addie and Samantha open a diner in a rundown area of Detroit. Their hope is that by bringing the diner and business to the area it will start the much needed revitalization program. They also source all their supplies from local growers and merchants. I found all this very compelling. Their hope is to bring delicious healthy food to the people that live nearby and therefore breaking the cycle of too much fast food consumption. Unfortunately their plans are thwarted as the community sees them as an intrusion at first. There is a great cast of characters that work at the diner and they are vital to the story. Addie and Sam both have their own personal growth throughout the book as they come to terms with the direction and goals they each have for their lives. I enjoyed the atmosphere and descriptions of the diner and the area of Detroit they have chosen to live and work in. This was all very well written. The descriptions of the food the diner served were mouth watering. A very enjoyable book.

Mmmm this is one of my favorite genres to read, glorious, yummy foodie fiction. And this one was just fabulous at feeding that addiction. The descriptions of food were tantalizing, and I craved pancakes and maple syrup with lots of butter for days after reading it.

Not only did I fall in love with the food at the Welcome Home Diner, though, I fell in love with the characters who inhabited its walls. Addie and Samantha were beautiful characters who had me rooting for their success. I also adored the others who worked there and getting to know them through their stories was so lovely and also so heartbreaking at times.

I koved this book that shed light on a cities plight and the people who were trying so valiantly to make change. It was a beautiful example of loving the people around you and trying to make your little piece of the world a better place.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a fabulously written story with yummy food and great characters that steal your heart. What a great read!

I was given an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thoughts Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.