I loved this story of a chef who grew up not knowing her family history and reconnects with her grandmother after losing her job when her ex lies about her abilities in the kitchen. He falsely claims she was trying to sabotage the restaurant where they were working in hopes she'll come work with him at his new place. She nurses her ego by falling into a deep depression until she receives word that her grandmother is gravely ill and she packs up her surprisingly minimal possessions into a few suitcases and moves to France to take care of her. Upon arrival, she finds out that she's expected to run the kitchen of her grandmother's restaurant--her confidence has been so damaged that she's not even sure she can cook eggs, but she's got to figure it all out.

This story read so authentically, I wanted it to be a memoir. I loved Sophie and her grandmere and their French chateau!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Sophie Valroux and her mother moved from France to New York when Sophie was only six months old. Sophie’s mother and grandmother have a strained relationship and, while Sophie spends summers with her Grandmere Odette, her mother puts a stop to it when Sophie enters her teens.

Sophie is able to put herself through school at the Culinary Institute of America. Part of her reason for doing so is her memories of France and Grandmere Odette. Grandmere, a chef from the Cordon Bleu, runs the family chateau as a hotel and restaurant. Sophie and Grandmere become estranged over the years, with Sophie chasing her dream of being a female chef running a Michelin-starred restaurant. She’s on her way, then her career, and her life, are derailed when the restaurant she is working at is sabotaged. Soon thereafter, Grandmere Odette has a stroke, and Sophie is off to France. She finds Grandmere Odette has transformed the chateau into a luxurious destination hotel and restaurant, and her dreams might still come true.

I enjoyed the book as it was a comfortable, light-hearted, feel-good journey into another culture. The writing was descriptive, placing you there among the sights, wafting the cooking and countryside aromas your way. While the story is predictable, there was enough back-story to keep it interesting, so if you’re looking for an easy, breezy read that touches on family, friends and love, pick this one up.

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This is a sweet novel about finding yourself and finding out what is really important; for Sophie it turns out that family is actually more important than the Michelin star(s) that she's been chasing.
Following betrayal on the even of losing, rather than gaining a star where she's been working, Sophie falls apart. When she hears that her grandmother is in the hospital, she rushes back to France to be near her.
Slowly unpacking issues from her childhood with her grandmother, Sophie starts to trust in herself again, allowing her creativity to follow her passion for food and life.

Read this book, you will feel better about everything in your life. I will say that I almost gave up on it when I thought nothing was ever going to go right for her, but I am glad I stuck with it.

Really enjoyed this book that shows how recipes and food are such an important part of our lives. Loved every minute of it.

Attention all foodies and Francophiles! You will crave your favorite French food while you are reading this book. Do not read while hungry!

Sophie is a chef in a NYC restaurant expecting to receive its third Michelin star. Her goal is to become one of the few female chefs running her own Michelin starred restaurant. When she is sabotaged and her career goes down in flames, her whole world seems to come to an end. In her humiliation, she loses her mojo. Cooking is fearful. When her French grandmere who taught her to cook has a stroke, Sophie races to her side filled with guilt for her years of neglect. Sophie pursued her career with single mindedness. As Sophie returns to the chateau where she first learned to cook as a child, she is shocked to find it so different than she remembered.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sophie’s rise from the ashes. It was not easy, and she couldn’t do it alone. I look forward to recommending this book to all my foodie friends, For now, pardon me. I have a date with Julia Child.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a refreshing read (and exactly what I needed during lockdown!) I love it when books allow me to "travel" to new places, and the lush descriptions of Sophie's life at the chateau were so vivid, I was fully transported to the French countryside. In this novel, the setting (and of course, the food!) are characters all their own.

As for the story, it's every bit as beautiful as the cover. I love Vérant's writing style--each food & cooking description was more mouthwatering than the last (seriously, this book should come with a warning: Do not read on an empty stomach!) I've worked in a couple of restaurants, so I'm a sucker for the behind-the-scenes drama of the kitchen, and I enjoyed taking a deeper look at the challenges Sophie faced in a traditionally-male industry. The themes of reconnecting with family and friends were thoughtfully done and well-paced, and the romance was the icing on the proverbial cake.

I can't wait to read what Vérant writes next.

While I did find the premise of this book similar to others I have read I liked where this book takes the reader. I liked Sophie's journey to reinvent herself and find herself as a chef again. I liked that she was able to do that while in France with her Grandmother, the one who had influenced her cooking in the first place.
This is a cute read and I liked the recipes.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

If you love to immerse yourself in foodie fiction, romantic stories and feel-good second chance tales you’ll want to read The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux.

After enduring public humiliation in New York Sophie goes to France when she gets the call that her beloved grandmother is ill. This is the woman who sparked Sophie’s love of cooking from a young age when she still lived at the family Chateau. Sophie will do anything to have more time with her grandmother as well as help at the Chateau. This is a gift because she’ll have a chance to regroup and find the confidence in the kitchen she’d lost in New York.

I enjoyed the author’s descriptive writing about the setting, food and people. This is Samantha Vérant’s debut novel and I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

A gorgeous, uplifting story that weaves together the transformative power of food, family, and place, The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux takes the reader on an emotional journey through Sophie's past and present to create a soaring tale of love and awakening. Awash in sensory delights tinged with the sweet ache of nostalgia, this story shines like a bright star in a velvet countryside sky.

Sophie starts out the book an underdog, seemingly crushed by an unfortunate turn of events, only to reawaken the truest heart of her passions when she must travel to France to be with her beloved grandmother. The author's gift for setting is magical, incorporating history and the rooted nature of identity through an immersive engagement with the evocative power of the senses.

Simply put, this book is utterly beautiful, such a feel-good experience, and Sophie is the perfect heroine to root for. Recommended to anyone with a passion for food and travel, searching for the next great comfort read.

Thank you to the author and Berkley for providing an advanced review copy!

I was very sad when I closed the book The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux; I was not ready for the story to be done. This book is just the right mixture of things that are interesting to me - cooking, France, family secrets and a long forgotten romance. Sophie's world is consumed by her dream of being a starred Michelin Chef in a world of heavy male competition. Blindsided by sabotage, Sophie finds herself on a plane to France to be at the bedside of her grandmother, who has had a stroke. Much has changed in the 13 years French-born Sophie was away, and most of all, her childhood friend has changed.

This is a perfect summer read; not too heavy a topic, but not a standard light-hearted romance novel, either. I found all the characters (except for that of Eric!)to be really well rounded and well written. The plot was planned well, and as a reader, I felt vested in the end of the story. I loved Sophie's passion for food, for ingredients, for cooking, and for following her dreams. It's truly a plus, too, because some of Sophie's treasured recipes can be found in the back of the book.

Delightful, passionate, and fierce.
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I think women have a lot to overcome in certain industries. That’s an unfortunate statement here in 2020 but not much has changed over the years.

This book highlights some amazing facts. Women still have to fight and struggle for every bit they get. But it’s the overall passion for your work that seems to make it worthwhile.

The story offers a marvelous journey loaded with so many different aspects of life. Working in a traditional restaurant where the pressures are intense to be superior in all you do. Working with others where competition really can take a toll on everyone.

Falling from your highest point to the depths of despair and somehow learning to climb out of it step-by-step because of the resilience we have. Reconnecting with relatives who are willing to give you the world and so much more. Finding strength in friends.

This book has so many layers to it. Highs and lows, fear and strength, even hesitant romance through a second chance.

The author brings us a book loaded with passion through life and living, family and relationships. And through it all is amazing food and wines and even some recipes for us to try. I found myself addicted to the story in a very surprising manner.

It’s a wonderful journey that is loaded with the richness of life, the delicacies of food and flavor, and the sweet treat of a wonderful love story. Delightful, passionate, and fierce.

Sophie has worked to make her dream of being a Michelin starred chef come true losing touch with her only surviving relative, her Grandmother in France. But when her dream is sabotaged Sophie falls apart and loses her confidence and drive. A health crisis sends her to France and into a reality she is not sure she can handle. Is she ready to learn the truth about the past and begin to trust, not only herself but those in her life? A story of dreams lost and found, family, and a strong woman learning to trust.

In the Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux by Samantha Verant, Sophie is a chef with an ambition of being one of the few women to work at a 3-starred Michelin restaurant. She has worked diligently to get where she is at and then everything falls apart when her ex-boyfriend enacts a plan to sabotage her standing in the industry. Things go from bad to worse when she finds out her grandmother is in ill health. For the first time in years, Sophie returns to France to visit. Once there, she learns a lot more about her grandmother, her mother, and herself than she ever knew. She also gets a chance at a whole new but entirely unexpected dream life. The only problem is that Sophie is not so sure she wants anything to fall into place too easily. Her view seems to be ‘how can I enjoy something unless I truly worked and sacrificed for it?’

Personally, I really appreciated Sophie and her dilemma. I think sometimes people do struggle with wanting certain dreams (such as a fulfilling enough and easy life) but also feel a pressure to always go go go for something bigger and better or to even challenge themselves lest they be accused of having things they did not truly earn. Sophie’s tendency towards struggle and stress could also be frustrating at times. This made Sophie a relatable character and I would say she was also a fairly complex protagonist. In many ways, she had a difficult life and probably did not really know anything but how to struggle. I liked how the book reveals her past throughout the current story. I also liked the secondary characters, and Sophie’s relationships with them. The story brought some adventure, a little mystery, self-discovery, and even some romance, so there is plenty to appeal to all interests. I would generally recommend this book, especially to women readers, and hope to read more from Samantha Verant. I am also sincerely grateful to the Berkley team and NetGalley for the opportunity to access an advanced copy of this title.

I liked the premise of the novel (cooking, France, family), yet found that while it's not a particularly long book, the pace was a bit slow for my taste. The protagonist, Sophie, is understandably shaken by events in her life, but spends a LOT of time on the page crying and hiding in bed. Additionally, it was established that when in France, Sophie and the other characters were speaking French. However, there were many instances of phrases then being written IN French, then being translated into English in parentheses, which was a bit distracting. By context clues, I would have figured much of it out, or narratively those idioms could have been explained/defined a different way. On the positive side, I did find the French setting to be extremely atmospheric and the descriptions of food to be divine. An additional buy for contemporary fiction collections at public libraries. A fine one-time read for me.

In THE SECRET FRENCH RECIPES OF SOPHIE VALROUX Samantha Vérant combines all the ingredients for what I think make up a perfect story: decadent descriptions offood and cooking, a luxurious setting, family intrigue, and a dash of romance. The descriptions were so vivid that at times I felt like I was sitting in the French countryside smelling the recipes simmering in the background, which exactly the type of book we all need this year!

What better way to handle the stay at home orders of the Pandemic then to take a mental vacation to a chateau in the south of France. Plus being able to think about wonderful French food without gaining an ounce.

French-born American chef Sophie Valroux had one dream: to be part of the 1% of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. She had been working toward this dream since she cooked with her grandmother when she was a child. She attended all the right cooking schools and was now working in a French restaurant in NYC that was waiting to hear if they'd been awarded another star. When her plans go up in flames due to sabotage from a male chef, she gets fired and black listed at all of the NYC restaurants. And if that isn't bad enough, she finds out that her grandmother in France has had a stroke. To get away from all of the negativity in New York and to help her grandmother, she flies to France immediately. She soon finds out that a lot has changed at her grandmother's chateau and it's now a luxury chateau with two restaurants and a vineyard. There she meets her childhood friend, Remi who tries to totally ignores her.

So here she is at a chateau in France feeling like a failure. She has lost her job, her desire to cook and her ability to cook. Everything she makes comes out terrible - the magic is gone. With the help of Remi and her grandmother, she manages to get her desire to cook and talent back and even gets an offer to come back to NY for a highly rated job. She has to decide what it is she really wants out of life and where she can find true happiness.

Talented chef Sopie is on the cusp of achieve in her dream in New York City when she is sabotaged by a fellow chef, fired, and blacklisted. Then her beloved French grandmother becomes ill and Sophie carries her internal wounds to France and the place she was happy every summer as a girl. Only that small home is now a large chateau with highly regarded restaurants and her grandmother the chef who runs it all. Becoming her own person, trusting her culinary skills again, being with the family of her heart, and finding what truly gives her joy, Sophie’s story is a delightfully fulfilling read.

This book is a truly beautiful read. Through it, you are transported to an almost magical existence in France, where you follow Sophie as she not only helps her Grandmother through healing after a stroke, but learns that she needs healing herself so she can move forward in her life. This tale is not only deliciously written in terms of the rich descriptions of the recipes that she is cooking, but also sweet in the broken relationships, reconciliation and rediscovering your passion involved. This is a story that warms your hard and feeds your soul, no pun intended! :) I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will recommend it to the fullest! Thank you so much for the Netgalley!

This was a wonderfully rich and emotional debut novel that provided a welcome escape into a magical world of culinary riches and captivating characters.

The reasons behind Sophie Valroux’s fall from culinary grace at a top-rated New York eatery are nearly as infuriating as the fact that the industry doesn’t give her a chance to fight back. Her decision to escape the negative spotlight by travelling to her Grand-Mère’s château in the South of France has her facing secrets from her past and her own self-doubt head on.

With lyrical writing and perfect pace, Vérant transports readers seamlessly from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan to the decidedly slower-pace of life at the château. As a top chef, Sophie’s story is all about the food and you can hear, smell and, yes, taste everything right alongside her. I have never been hungrier—especially for cheese—when reading a novel.

Supported by a cast of charismatic and engaging secondary characters, led by the fierce and opinionated Grand-Mère Odette, Sophie battles to regain her confidence both in her cooking and her life. Along the way the author tackles several serious topics without making it too heavy or hard to read.

THE SECRET FRENCH RECIPES OF SOPHIE VALROUX had me riveted from page one and saying “just one more chapter” until it was done. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy when it releases on September 8.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and the author for the advance reading copy.