A young Chinese American woman comes home to fulfill a dream. As she gets to know her mother’s neighbors and works on making her dream come true, she discovers secrets and gets answers she’s sought for much of her life. Author Roselle Lim draws on her own cultural heritage to give readers a story full of delicious recipes but light on substantial fare in the cooking-related novel Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune.

Natalie Tan has wanted nothing more than to be a chef with her own restaurant. She knows she comes from a tradition of cooking: her grandmother ran a restaurant too. Natalie doesn’t know much more than that, however. Before she was born, the restaurant shut down. When she pressed her mother, Miranda, for details, Miranda claimed the restaurant was beyond saving.

Despite this, Natalie wants to pursue her dream. She leaves home to enroll in cooking school. She fails after her first year, but she cooks and travels across the world to continue honing her skills. For seven years mother and daughter don’t speak—until the day Natalie receives word that her mother has died.

She arrives in San Francisco’s Chinatown and her old neighborhood where she grew up as the only child to a single parent. She also grew up hating her father, a man she never met but an inheritance she carries from her mother’s refusal to talk about him. Now Natalie has no parents and only a neighborhood full of people who, in her mind, turned their backs on her and her mother when she was young.

From beyond the grave, though, her mother surprises her. The restaurant is not in a state of disrepair after all, and in a letter Miranda says she approves of Natalie’s dream to open it again. She only wishes she could have said it to Natalie’s face. Natalie is ecstatic, but then she examines the neighborhood. The buildings are old, the tourists no longer come, and few young people live there anymore. Even if she does open her restaurant, who would eat there?

The discovery of her grandmother’s old cookbook and a message from the neighborhood seer encourage her. The seer states that Natalie must make three dishes from the cookbook to help three different people. Her grandmother’s cooking was legendary, healing hearts and solving problems. If Natalie wants the restaurant to survive, she must think of the neighbors and help them first before she can help herself. As she fumbles her way through new relationships and tries to deal with the challenges of starting her own business, Natalie learns that a good meal, like a good conversation, can whet one’s appetite for a new life.

Author Roselle Lim will make readers mouths’ water with the recipes she includes. She offers insight to Asian cooking and its subtleties, proving Chinese fare is so much more than the standard dishes most readers might know. Natalie begins the story with an excellent understanding of these subtleties, so readers might question just why she couldn’t complete her tenure at cooking school.

Natalie comes across as deferential and eager to do the right thing yet also longing to forge her own path, traits many Asian readers will understand. Yet for someone who spends so much time talking about how much she wants to open her restaurant, she takes a long time to do so. In between getting to know the neighbors, cooking, and finding new love, she doesn’t charge forward with the specifics of her goal. Mentions of paperwork, licenses, and other necessities to start a new business crop up from time to time, but readers may wonder: what else, exactly, does Natalie do all day?

Despite the story being told in first person, Lim gives the neighbors their due as secondary characters. While readers never get the full stories on any of them, Lim provides enough information to satiate the most curious. It’s a shame, then, when one or more of these characters behaves in a manner that seems too far outside the lines drawn for them, which happens on more than one occasion.

Lacking a major conflict or even high tension for most of the book, Lim does keep one big surprise for the end. Some readers may not make it that far, but for those who do it will offer a sweet “aha!” moment falling right in line with the rest of the story. Readers looking for a quiet, laid-back novel about family might enjoy this one. Otherwise I recommend readers Borrow Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune from the library.

Captivating tale with foodie overtones!

Loved this contemporary novel with a touch of magic realism set in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Am I reading the Chinese version of The Road Less Travelled or Chicken Soup for the Soul?
What we have is an expose on the healing properties of food all mixed into a fanciful story bringing life back to a neighborhood.
Natalie Tan returns home after her mother's death, to find the neighborhood run down and herself the owner of a boarded up restaurant (her grandmother's) in the downstairs of her building.
Natalie had left to follow her dream of becoming a chef. When the local seer gives her the secret for restoring the neighborhood and her dreams, she reluctantly takes up the challenge.
I loved the description of the tea lady's night garden, the help from the somewhat clairvoyant cat, and the wonderful recipes interspersed throughout the story.
Tension in the hood, romance and resolution makes this an uplifting story of community, friendship, and relationships.

A Berkley Publishing Group ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I saw a few mixed reviews for this one, unfortunately, but was still eager to check it out. I love books involving food (especially some of my favorite kinds of foods) so it was inevitable that this book would make me hungry at all times. I wish I didn’t read some of those reviews for this book before starting though because I think some things got into my head a little.

Regardless, the writing was very flowery and chock full of metaphors and similes. It was a bit overwhelming and unnecessary. There was a lot of repetitive inner dialogue and commentary about the neighborhood dying, too. The biggest issue with the writing, however, was that it’s the epitome of telling instead of showing. The main character told stories and narrated what she was doing, often repeating the same phrases and thoughts, instead of the author showing us things. The writing felt too simplistic at times for this reason and too flowery at other times because of the metaphors. It’s an odd dichotomy. There were many times I thought about DNFing this because of the repetition and fairly uninteresting main character, but I really felt compelled to finish for some reason. While I’m complaining, I should also mention that the romance in this book was incredibly rushed, barely explored, and not fully necessary. I guess I’m sort of glad it existed because at least it added a little something to the plot, but it was just so instalove-ish and quick.

Since I had just gone to San Francisco the week before reading this one, it was still super fresh in my mind. I LOVED that I could picture Chinatown so perfectly while reading. I loved the insight into Chinese culture as well; there was a lot of information about norms without feeling too much like a lecture of sorts. The descriptions of food were out of this world and I was so hungry every time I picked this book up!

The plot for this overall is quite good and interesting. The touch of inexplicable magic was well-written and fun to read about. The ending had some surprises that I also really enjoyed. I loved the food and locals in the neighborhood, but really didn’t care for the writing style much. I’ll be interested to try Lim’s sophomore novel to see if the writing has changed because she knows how to craft a good story otherwise.

When Natalie Tan’s estranged mother dies Natalie returns to the home she left seven years ago. Home is a Chinatown neighborhood in San Francisco and the people who knew her before her departure are not exactly pleased to see her. She must make amends and hope that they will warm to her once again. She also hopes to find answers to life-long questions concerning her family. She will meet new people, renew old acquaintances and, along the way, create possibilities where there once were none. This is a magical story that is filled with yummy recipes and charming characters – and left me smiling as I turned the last page.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion of this book.

This story was so sweet and heartwarming. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I started it this book, but I got a wonderful story about family and food. I love how Ms. Lim incorporated aspects of the Chinese culture and the changes that have happened over generations. This explores those generations a bit and examines the difference between them and the difficulties in getting along. While there was a bit of insta-love going on in this book, I was alright with it because it was not a big focus of the story. Instead, the romance was more of a side plot, if anything.

I loved the magical realism element of this story. It wasn't needed, but I feel as though it for sure added to the story. I loved the depiction of food having a physical and a mental impact on the people who eat it. This really shows how much food can affect a person, which I feel is underappreciated in our day and age. This book shows how important thinking things through, food, and being yourself is such an important aspect of figuring out your own path in life.

Overall, I loved this book. The only thing that is keeping it from a 5 of 5 is the instalove, which I really just dislike immensely. However, I do like how the book ended. I highly recommend this book, especially for anyone who enjoys fiction and food and a dash of romance.4.5 out of 5 for me.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book but was a bit disappointed in its’ execution. All of a sudden, there were their unexplained magical elements thrown into the story and I found that they really didn’t have a real impact on the story.

It wasn’t a bad novel, it just wasn’t what I expected. I have read other food related stories both fiction and non-fiction, that kept my interest more.

Cute, Quirky and Tummy Rumbly!

Roselle Lim’s debut novel is an interesting mix of self-discovery, cultural identity, love and a bit of magic - all interspersed with yummy recipes. When Natalie Tan returns home after her agoraphobic mother’s death, she seeks out the space where her grandmother’s restaurant once was. In trying to recreate her family recipes and reopen the restaurant, she learns more about herself and her family than she could have imagined.

I enjoyed the recipes and the cooking aspect of this story the most - something about the family exploration fell a bit flat for me but being able to learn about the restaurant and cooking and history livened it back up a bit. While this one was more middle of the road for me, I’d be curious to read more from Lim in the future and see what she does next!

Thank you to Berkley for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

With each new debut author from this publisher comes an even more gorgeous cover that just invites the reader to pick it up.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune was a sweet and charming debut novel.

It was light on romance, which doesn’t make this a traditional romance novel, but also just confirms that illustrated covers can be a bit misleading. Also the romance is built on insta love which was surprising to me – I never would have expected it in this novel. But it makes sense since the romance isn’t really the focus of this story. Instead the author highlights Natalie’s friendships and encounters with her neighborhood and customers.

And the way food was presented in this novel was a delight – I was constantly craving Chinese food. And I really enjoyed the aspect of magical realism, that came into play anytime Natalie cooked one of her mother’s recipes.

The vibrant and poetically way the author wrote this book would relate wonderfully into a movie. The food, the descriptions, the neighborhood – a feast for the eyes.

Overall I wanted to love it more, but the writing didn’t 100% click with me, and the low dosage of romance factored into my overall feel for the book.

Family, culture, food and magic – if you are looking for a vivid read that is well-written and delicious then this book of luck and fortune may be for you!

Natalie has a complicated family history – her mother was agoraphobic, unable to leave the apartment following the death of Natalie’s grandmother. Her grandmother was a famous chef in Chinatown running the most popular restaurant on the block until she died after which Natalie’s mother closed the doors forever.

Natalie, with a gift for cooking and a dream to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, is upset to find her mother is adamantly against the reopening of the family restaurant. After a blow up fight with her mother, Natalie leaves San Francisco to travel the world and cultivate her gift as a chef. Years later, Natalie returns after her mother’s death with the guilt that they never were able to reconcile.

Natalie decides to open the restaurant and pay homage to her family and also her community. However, her relationship with the neighborhood remains complicated as she remembers the rejection her mother faced when she refused to continue the family legacy. Natalie hits a crossroads – figure out a way to reconcile with the neighborhood, open the restaurant and follow her calling, or simply sell and walk away from San Francisco forever.

This story was heart-warming, heart-wrenchingly sad and magical (literally). I found myself salivating at the recipes and craving Chinese food at multiple points in the novel. I enjoyed Natalie’s internal struggle, her search to unpack her mother’s agoraphobia, and her interactions with the traditional Chinese culture as she attempts to make peace with her past and present, in order to pursue her future.

Oh boy this book gave me all the fuzzy feelings in the world. THIS DESERVES A MOVIE ADAPTATION. I figured that I should shout that out to the world because Natalie Tan's tale will surely look good on the big screen with its solid plot and amiable characters.

HERE ARE MORE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD READ NATALIE TAN'S BOOK OF LUCK AND FORTUNE:

• HELLO FOOOOOD

It will be a huge disservice to the book if I don't mention the glorious food content that made me drool about a hundred times per page (oh wow that's a disgusting image). As a huge foodie*, I really applaud Roselle Lim for screaming FOOD RIGHTS and making this the most delicious book in existence. There are also actual recipes inside that you can use if cooking is your thing.

I also appreciate that this book features Filipino dishes as well. If you've been to the Philippines, you might be aware that our country boasts a lot of delicious food. This is a huge factor why eating is one of my primary hobbies. It just made me so happy to see some of my favorite dishes in these pages.

• ‎Yes to magical realism

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune is filled with magic that can warm the heart. At first, I thought this book was just a cutesy contemporary but in fact, it is of the magic realism genre. There's something about magical realism that lifts the spirit. Roselle Lim's whimsical writing and poetic descriptions made this book even more magical.

• ‎It features the found family trope

• ‎I learned more about Chinese culture because of this #ownvoices book

• ‎It's an encouraging read

I really wanted to be whisked away by this book but there were certain things that stopped me.

Natalie Tan comes home after the death of her mother. She's still is upset with the neighbors for ignoring them when her mother was alive and suffering from agoraphobia. Then she finds out that it was mother who didn't want their help so she starts to care about them. She decides to open up her grandma's restaurant that was the heart of Chinatown to help the struggling neighborhood. Her grandmother's dishes had magical properties to help people's lives. But Natalie's plans don't go as well as she thought.

I liked her relationship with the neighbors. I liked it more than her romantic relationship which felt not needed. Her romantic interest doesn't have the same depth of characters as her neighbors.

And there were some descriptive that threw me out of the book. Can't include them because this is an advanced reader copy but I kept shaking my head at them.

I really wanted to love this book but in the end it was just ok. I tired quickly of the endless similes and didn't feel there was much depth to the story. I understand the need to make your writing flow and sound beautiful but the numerous similes were too much and at times I found myself rolling my eyes. I know many will love this book but it just wasn't for me.

This book had a very interesting premise.
In my journey towards reading more diverse books, this one stood out to me. Chinese culture and lore has intrigued me for a while, so this seemed like a slam dunk!
I enjoyed this for the most part, but I found myself more drawn towards the magical realism in the story than I did towards any of the characters.
While I loved the protagonist's journey towards finding herself after all her misfortunes, a bit of this book felt forced. There were also moments where I was just caught off guard and had to ask myself "where did this character even come from?"
It was bizarre.
I still enjoyed the book and will recommend it to readers!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Books, and Roselle Lim for the opportunity to read and review her wonderful debut novel - 4.5 stars for a feel good, magical read.

Natalie has been estranged from her mother for years. Her mother was agoraphobic and wouldn't allow Natalie to pursue her dream of going to culinary school and becoming a chef, like her grandmother that died before she was born. When Natalie returns home after her mother's death, she doesn't recognize the once vibrant neighborhood that she left. However, she realizes that her grandmother's restaurant is now hers to reopen, with the help of her special cookbook. She visits a neighborhood seer who says that she must first prepare 3 dishes from that cookbook to help 3 friends. Natalie still resents the neighbors for not helping her mother more but presses on. Unfortunately, while the recipes seem to help, things go very wrong. Can she restore the restaurant, the neighborhood and the people in it?

This is just a good, fun read, made special by the inclusion of the recipes. Well, the ARC didn't include quantities, just the ingredients themselves, or I'd be in the kitchen now making some of that food! I loved the magical qualities that food possessed in this book, not unlike the role food plays in all of our lives and relationships. Bravo for a great debut!

*Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing, PRHInternational/PRHGlobal, and NetGalley for sending me a free advance copy. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.

Natalie Tan left their home in San Francisco's Chinatown to attend culinary school eventhough her mother didn't approve of it. They eventually lost their contact with each other. Years later Natalie returns home following the unexpected death of her mother. She discovers that the neighborhood she grew up in has changed a lot. She also finds out that she has inherited her grandmother's long-abandoned restaurant as well as her recipe book. She then decides to reopen but in order to succeed, she needs to help three of her neighbors first just like what her grandmother did in the past.

I personally liked Natalie's character. She comes from a family of strong and resilient women. She's not perfect and this made her so real. It was also fun getting to know the people in the community and read their background stories.

Now let's talk about food! One of the major themes in this book is cooking so there are a lot of food references. I read this book mostly in bed before going to sleep and it was not a good idea. So just a fair warning, this book will make you hungry. This book has some recipes and they're all mouth-watering. I'm probably being biased here because most of the food that were mentioned are my favorites. But the descriptions are so vivid that while reading, I could smell the food she's cooking. I also liked how the author highlighted the importance of food not only to our bodies but also to our souls. How it heals people and brings them together.

Some important themes in this book are immigration, the pros/cons of gentrification, and the stigmas associated with mental illnesses especially in Asian culture. This book also covers grief and loss but in a very light and hopeful way.

I personally enjoyed the addition of magical elements which was confusing at first because I wasn't expecting magical realism in this book. The writing is really beautiful and whimsical but I thought the use of metaphors can be too much and off-putting at times. The romance in this book progressed very quickly but it's just a side plot and honestly, I thought it's unnecessary. I definitely liked how the author wrapped up the story.

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck & Fortune was wonderful and heartwarming story of love for family, community, culture, and of course food.

A bitter, ongoing quarrel with her mother about her career plans to be a chef led Natalie Tan to leave her San Francisco home in anger. Seven years of stubborn silence and globe-wandering later, Natalie is called home by a neighbor at her mother’s passing. She still deeply desires to be a chef and to have her own authentic Chinese restaurant, like her grandmother Qiao had done many years earlier, and now she’ll have the chance: Natalie has inherited her laolao’s (maternal grandmother’s) long-abandoned restaurant below their apartment. It’s still operable, though dusty and dirty, but their Chinatown neighborhood is fraying, with family-owned businesses dying and a steep rise in real estate prices causing Chinese families to move away.

A psychically-gifted neighbor returns Qiao’s old, handmade recipe to Natalie, along with a prediction: if Natalie cooks three recipes from the book to help three of her neighbors, as her laolao did many years ago, and is able to save these neighbors, her restaurant will be the jewel of Chinatown and the neighborhood will be revitalized. Natalie is initially dubious and reluctant ― she feels like her neighbors had let her down when she was struggling to deal with her mother’s agoraphobia years ago ― but she soon enters into the spirit of the endeavor, and magical things begin to happen when her neighbors eat her food.

"As I watched, fractures ran along the surface of their skin, reminding me of shattered porcelain. The cracks deepened as they ate. Once they were finished, tiny streams of glittering gold filled the cracks: mending, repairing what was broken, and transforming it into something far more beautiful. It was similar to a piece of kintsukuroi I’d picked up in Tokyo, repaired pottery that had been mended with gold."

As Natalie begins cooking in Qiao’s restaurant, the scent of fried dumplings even leads a handsome young man to her restaurant and her life. But neither love nor her quest to help the neighborhood is as easy as Natalie had expected.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is a charming, sweet tale with a dash of magical realism. I expected something like The Joy Luck Club or a Chinese-American version of Like Water for Chocolate. What I got was more like a literary version of a Hallmark TV romance movie. It’s so lightweight as to approach being fluffy, though the immersion in Chinese culture and food serves to give it some heft and make the story more memorable. Several Chinese recipes are included in the novel, and they and the luscious descriptions of Natalie’s cooking made my mouth water. The romance subplot wasn’t particularly well-developed or romantically satisfying; I got far more enjoyment out of reading about the “plump prawns” and “tender steamed rice noodles and crunchy golden fritters.”

Debut author Roselle Lim incorporates a few serious issues into her tale, including mental illness and the loss of ethnic urban neighborhoods. Her writing is sometimes clunky; phrases like “gathering fog brewed at the base of the gate the way steam rises from a perfect bowl of noodle soup” and “hoping the fog would thicken like salted duck congee to conceal my arrival” struck me as unintentionally humorous.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is a warmhearted tale with an authentic Chinese voice, if not as deep and literary as one might hope.

I was really looking forward to Natalie Tan’s Book Of Luck and Fortune because I adore magical realism as a genre. Luckily, I absolutely loved this book. The food descriptions made my mouth water (absolutely do not read this book while hungry). There’s also recipes included in the book so you can try them out for yourself!

The magical realism aspect of the book was beautifully done, I just loved how Tan wove it into the story. Plus the story itself was so enchanting. This is a book about community and family and friendship. And the characters just jumped off the page and felt so realistic. There was so much heart and warmth to this story, it totally charmed me.

I’d recommend this one to readers looking for a heart-warming story, realistic characters, and just a bit of magic.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Roselle Lim’s writing is so sumptuous and magical and VISUAL:

“Tears slid down my cheeks. Tiny crystals sang a sorrowful melody against my skin before trickling down into a glittering pile on my lap.”

Magical, because Natalie’s tears left tiny crystals, which her mother had collected and saved in a bowl.

The food descriptions were also deliciously vivid and gorgeous and made me hungry.
Her characters are delightful and she paints a vivid sense of place. There are a few bits I didn’t see coming which tied up the story neatly.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune explores the relationships between daughters and mothers, mental illness, and community and culture. This is a story of forgiveness and healing and understanding, as well as one of following your dreams. There is an ethereal, magical feel throughout, and was a wonderful escape.

I really enjoyed this book! It was such a fun and delicious read! The writing was great, the book had a good flow and I loved the descriptions! The characters were well developed and easy to relate to. I loved the magical realism aspect to the book too. I wasn’t expecting that aspect but I love the idea that food has a certain magic to it and I feel like that really added to the story. The food descriptions made my mouth water and I loved that the author included recipes. Hopefully Ill be able to test a few of those out soon!

Roselle Lim, Author of “Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune” has written an enchanting, intriguing, captivating, savory and delicious story. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, with a dash of Magical Realism and Romance. There also is a huge cultural component to this story. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as quirky, temperamental, complex and complicated. Most of the story is told in San Franciso’s Chinatown.

Natalie Tan has been estranged from her mother for seven years and sees and hears a bird and knows that her mother has died. At the same time, a phone call from her mother’s neighbor confirms this. With a heavy heart, Natalie heads home. She realizes that the neighborhood has changed. Most of the businesses are attached to the homes. Natalie has to be respectful and observes the cultural ways.

Natalie discovers that her mother and grandmother also had a major falling out. Her Grandmother was one of the best Chinese cooks around, and the restaurant is part of Natalie’s house. Natalie also loves to cook and appreciates music. One of the neighbors has a cookbook that belonged to her grandmother, and suggest that Natalie should cook and can make the neighbors and neighborhood better.

Roselle Lim has tastefully included many recipes for the reader that sound amazing. If Natalie would bring the restaurant back, would that help the neighborhood? I appreciate that the author discusses acknowledging mental illness and the importance of family, friends, neighbors, communication, love, and hope. I would highly recommend this delightful story.