This book has wit and charm l, but I thought it was too long. The months out preparation was less interesting than the actual dinner itself. The RBG sections are what made me stick around.

Justice is Served follows author Leslie as she is preparing for cooking a dinner for RBG. I was looking forward to this book, with the hope to gain more insight on RBG from a personal account. I have always been a big RBG fan!

Most of this book chronicled the preparation of dinner which just didn’t hold me interest, there were parts of RBGs life weaved throughout and I found myself eagerly waiting for those parts. The details on the event itself were interesting but didn’t start until 85% through the book which felt sort of far away.

If you are more of a foodie (as well as big RBG fan) this book may be a hit for you, for me it fell a bit short.

This memoir is an interesting amalgam of autobiography, biography, (of a historical figure (Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband Marty), and a foodie diary worthy of Gourmet Magazine. Leslie Karst,, who I understand from the afterward, is now a mystery writer whose main character's interest is cooking has attempted a unique piece of prose.

After practicing civil law for 20 years, Karst begins thinking about changing careers. She learns that her father, a law professor who is soon to retire has invited Ruth Bader Ginsberg to speak at his school. Ginsburg has accepted for a date almost a year in the future. Karst and her wife, Robin, and Karst's parents have decided to cook and serve dinner to the Justice and her husband during the Ginsburg's visit.

The book is divided into the meal planning, Karst's job, and "intervals" of RBG's biography. I must admit that I have never read anything quite like this before but that is not necessarily a recommendation. I did, however, learn quite a bit about cooking, wines, table setting, and meeting. celebrities (Diane Keaton, specifically).

Although interesting, this book is easy to put down and to skip passages in. That's probably why it took me so long to finish. I would recommend it to amateur chefs and fans of the late Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And, of course, those readers who enjoy Karst's mysteries.

Thanks to NetGalley and She Writes, the publisher, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Leslie Karst was an unhappy lawyer
and talented hobby cook who found herself catering a dinner for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bater Ginsberg in 2005. She has nine months to plan the dinner party of her life. The focus of this low stakes memoir is on the meal planning and that’s interspersed with tidbits about RGB’s life and career.

I’m a fan of memoirs and food and cooking related memoirs in particular. The food descriptions were enticing. Sometimes we dragged too long on things like finding a champagne flute. This was partly due to the author’s indecisiveness but the editing is to blame too. I was bored during the some sections of the build up and found the footnotes throughout to be a distraction.

This had more biographical elements about RGB than many memoir-related insights about the author. I wanted more about her life throughout the book than RBG’s life. But read this one if you’re a foodie or a RBG fan.

Justice is Served is such a unique book and I want to transparently say, I requested it by accident. I incorrectly read the blurb and thought it was a cozy mystery. WHOOPS!

That being said, what a delightful surprise! I loved all the new learning about RBG's life while also learning so much about Leslie. This is a beautiful biography with a very unique reason for its penning; Leslie's dad is hosting Ruth over for dinner and wants Leslie to make the meal since he thinks so highly of her love for cooking. Leslie knows nine months ahead of time and is about to head off to France. The appreciation for cuisine in this book is so fun to read.

This book is about a woman working her job and realizing it doesn't bring her the passion she's hoping for from a career. She's doing soul-searching and making dinner for RBG turns into a very life altering experience.

Such a unique book! The author, Leslie Karst, writes about her first hand experience in preparing an intimate meal at her parents’ home for Judge Ruth Badger Ginsberg and her sweet husband, Marty.

The story begins nine months before the dinner takes place, when Leslie’s father tells her his friend Ruth will be coming to town to speak at UCLA. Leslie is also in the field of law, but her passion lies in cooking wonderful food. She suggests that she could cook them dinner while they’re in town, and there the story begins.

For months Leslie painstakingly prepares a menu, experiments with the dishes, and plans out every last detail. I was surprised how much of the book was about the months leading up to the dinner! If you’re a foodie you will appreciate all of the insight.

In the last quarter of the book, Leslie finally gets to meet Ruth. It’s the night before the big dinner at a party. (There’s a fun surprise that night. I think it’s my favorite part of the book!) Then finally, we get to hear about the grand dinner.

I must mention the various interludes throughout the book, where we learn more about RGB and the work she did. I really enjoyed that.

I found myself wondering how the author could remember so many details and it turns out, as she explains in the afterword, that the day after the dinner she decided to write it all down. She wrote the whole book in a day!

Overall, I would say this was an unusual, lighthearted read. A fun glimpse into someone else’s life!

I really enjoyed this memoir a wonderful book for foodies about
Leslie Karsts love for cooking and how she had the pleasure cooking a meal for RBG .Delightful story will be recommending.#netgalley #shewritespress

A memoir about leaving law and following her passion for cooking. The title made it seem like cooking for RBG was going to be the biggest focus of the book but it felt in reality more like the time keeper. It also felt weird in the middle that of her memoir chapters that there was life story of RBG. I think it would’ve been more successful as just a heads up memoir with a fun story within about cooking for RBG.

****Publishing April 4, 2023****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Leslie wrote a memoir on her experience preparing for and cooking for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband, Marty.

Leslie is a lawyer like her father and cooks for fun. Leslie’s father was a law professor at UCLA and was friends with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He was about to retire after 40 years and tried for years to get her to come and talk to his law class. But with no luck, so he decided to ask her one last time and he was pleasantly surprised she accepted. Leslie said to her father half jokingly that she could throw them a dinner party. Her father liked the idea. When she got the confirmation that the dinner party would happen, Leslie had exactly 9 months to plan before the party! This coincided with a trip to Paris, so she decided to get ideas for the dinner party while on her trip. Can she pull it off? Will Ruth Bader Ginsburg be pleased? Will she be able to impress Ruth Bader Ginsburg not only with her food, but on impressing her with her professional knowledge?

I love how this author not only told her personal experience of preparing for and executing the dinner party, but how she intermixed details about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s personal and professional life. I also liked how the recipes from the dinner she served were included. It was also a nice touch to see a picture of Leslie and Ruth from the dinner!

A perfect book for those who are foodies and are Ruth Bader Ginsburg fans. A great book club pick as it will lead to many interesting discussions.

Thanks to She Writes Press , I was provided an ARC of Justice is Served by Leslie Karst via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. . #JusticeisServed #NetGalley

This book chronicles the author's real life opportunity to cook a dinner for the one and only RBG in the early aughts. From the planning stages to final execution, the reader is there for it all. The majority of the book focuses on the meal planning, mixed with short interludes about the supreme court justice's life, and bits about how the author was unhappy in her career as a lawyer and her time spent in cooking school. If you've read or know a good bit about RBG, you will recognize many of these short blurbs about her life mixed in. As a foodie and a fan of RBG, I wanted to love this, and I really did enjoy the parts about the actual dinner, but I found myself bored by the majority of the planning. It is a good palate cleanser, pun-intended, if you just need something light and fun to read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for the opportunity to read Justice is Served by Leslie Karst. Delightful! i greatly admired RBG, and reading about her in this personal setting is such a treat. Since i also enjoy "foodie" books, that was another big treat. Ms. Karst's writing is quite enjoyable.

Lawyer Leslie Karst had jokingly suggested to her law professor father that she could cook dinner for US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband Marty when she accepts his invitation to visit Los Angeles. Leslie is thrilled but terrified about this culinary challenge. Most of the memoir focuses on Leslie's search for the perfect recipes interspersed with insights into Bader Ginsburg's life. The planning and execution of the dinner with the help of her partner Robin and her parents has a significant impact on Leslie's life beyond this one special evening.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley and She Writes Press. All opinions are my own.

Such a fun and interesting read. Kept me on my toes that’s for sure. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I really liked this one. I liked learning more about Leslie Karst and how she came to be the cook for a dinner for RBG. I liked Leslie's family and how her dad had faith in her to cook this dinner. I like that we learn more background about RBG that comes from Karst's family.
A really interesting read.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Gourmands will love this book that outlines the authors emotions as she preps for the biggest dinner party of her life, serving RGB and her husband. Foodies will delight in the decision making that the author explores throughout the chapters and she counts down to the big moment. The figurative language making comparisons to food and law throughout the story were descriptive and aligned to the story’s main themes. I was hoping for more characterization of RGB, but most of the story centered around the privileged happenstance that the author had a family connection to Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Leslie was given the chance to cook dinner for RBG and her husband Marty when she was visiting her father. This was a good telling of the prep and dinner party for this encounter mixed in with some RGB backstory.

I of course knew of Ruth Bader Ginsburg but I didn’t know all of her backstory and time before being a Supreme Court Justice.

The author did a great job going back and forth between the story of her prep and then some interesting moments in RBG’s life.

The descriptions during the making of the meal were really great and made me hungry!

I also really enjoyed the recipes included at the end and will for sure be making the salad course!

I will say though that I really disliked the use of the footnotes. Many times I did not feel they added anything to the story and instead was frustrating to stop, read then get back into the story. I stopped reading them after the first ten to be honest. The information for the most part was not worth the distraction.

If you late a foodie and a fan of RBG then you will really enjoy this read.

Now I am off to hunt down some blood oranges for this salad!

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This was definitely a interesting and fun memoir. I love RBG so this was such a nice read.

If you enjoy reading about both fine food and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (what a combination!), you will love this delightful book. When author Leslie Karst's father told her that former colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg had finally agreed to give a talk at the UCLA School of Law, where he was soon to retire as a constitutional law professor, her first thought was--could I cook her dinner while she is in town? And when Ruth agreed to a dinner date, Leslie had nine months to plan what would be one of the most daunting and rewarding evenings of her life. Leslie herself was an attorney, but aside from writing briefs, she wasn't enjoying her career. Unlike her father, the law wasn't a calling for Leslie, and she was looking for something more satisfying. In her spare time, she enjoyed creating exquisite dinner parties for friends and even got a degree in the culinary arts, which she treasured as much as her law degree.

In this memoir, you will pick up many delicious morsels of information about RBG's legal journey to the U.S. Supreme Court, her quest to promote and legalize gender equality, her personality and her quirks, based on research by Leslie and vetted by Ruth's husband, Marty, a prominent tax attorney. At the same time, you will empathize with, and root for, Leslie as she pursues her goal of creating the perfect dinner for Ruth and Marty. She is an expert at describing food in such a way that you can see it, smell it, almost taste it, and she provides all of the recipes at the end of the book. The final scenes are, of course, of the dinner itself. Postscript: Leslie found her calling as a writer of mysteries where food is a prime component. Check out her engaging Sally Solari Mysteries series.

My thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.