This books is not about cooking as much as the world of chefs, restaurants, and the messy parts of a family business. The four main characters, Maren and her three daughters, are all interesting characters--I especially like Athena, the youngest daughter. Ms. Palmer's descriptions of Athena's anxiety attacks are right on the mark and her confusion with her life is so poignant. The supporting characters are fun, especially Athena's chef friend and his wife (she was also a favorite.) gives the story a little bit of humor, which was needed as there is a lot of pathos and sadness in this book. The ending was a little abrupt--I could not believe that I was on 99% and there was still broken glass all over--you will have to read the book to see what I mean.

I couldn’t get behind the writing style and overall didn’t really get invested into the story because of it. It was a tough read to get through

I really wanted to like this book. It seemed like a great change of pace for me when I was kind of over reading my usual genre.
I love family drama books that aren’t super emotional and I thought this would hit for me.
I don’t mind unlikeable characters, but this wasn’t likeable unlikeable (funny, sarcastic, etc.). It fell flat and I felt like nothing really happened. I wanted to hate-love the mother but I truly couldn’t get into it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this title. I wasn't a big fan of this story or the characters. Two stars

I love reading about food and family relationships. So this book seemed right up my alley. But I wasn’t a fan - I don’t know what it was, I just didn’t vibe with it.

dnf/skipped a lot of chapters to the end. i did not like any of the characters i just could not get into the story!

📚: Family Reservations by Liza Palmer
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding down on #goodreads)

The gist: A matriarch star in the culinary world. Three daughters vying for what’s next. A disaster of a NYE party that leads to serious family drama.

The good: I love a multi-generational family drama that’s centered around a restaurant. (It’s one of my favorite niche subgenres.)

The eh: What started out strong ended up being just a notch above average by the end. Characters I rooted for became unlikable, as the ending felt a little flat. I would have loved a few of the subplot lines to have developed fully.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing via @netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Succession but make it restaurants. Love Athena but find the other two sisters to be lacking depth.. unsure of their motivations even though they *say* what they are, I wasn’t 100% on board. I also think it would have benefitted from some flashbacks or at least more backstory for the characters—like why are they like this? It’s a lot of tell and no show when it comes to discussing their upbringing and their difficult mom. As one review I saw puts it, the end and redemption arc of some character(s) was a whip lash effect and a little out of left field. Those are my critiques but overall it was an easy read that I enjoyed enough to keep picking up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Unfortunately I didn’t really connect with this one. It didn’t have anyone to root for and the pacing just felt totally off. It was a quick read that spent too much time at banquets and the stakes were too low. Very hard to care about stories centered around who will be the most powerful, rich, and famous in the culinary world. Not impossible to make me care with some additional likable details about the main characters but reading a book where everyone is nasty seemingly just for the sake of it isn’t really my thing.

Good things: Athena was vaguely likable, nothing was blatantly wrong with the prose themselves, dialogue was believable.

Even though I didn’t connect to it, I think some people might like it, so I’m giving it an average rating.

Ooo I really enjoyed this. The drama, the sisters, the cattyness!! I loved it. I’m so glad the way they all got there in the end

This book was alright, I did enjoy the family drama, but it was a bit much that the mother ruined her daughters lives. The writing itself was my cup of tea, it felt a bit choppy and a little difficult to follow at times. I can see how it has potential but it wasn't fully there for me.

I didn’t really enjoy this book to be honest. But it wasn’t because of the writing, I actually enjoyed the writing very much. It just isn’t a genre for me to be fair.

While this book had its moments, it felt like it needed a few more revisions to fully realize its potential. The story revolves around three competitive sisters vying for control of their family's culinary empire as their mother nears retirement. However, the portrayal of their competitiveness seemed unconvincing, lacking significant build-up or strong character consistency.

The sudden shifts from amicable relationships to extreme deviousness felt forced and unnatural, making it challenging to invest in the premise. The family's conflicting actions and motivations throughout the narrative detracted from the overall believability and impact of the plot.

Despite these drawbacks, the side stories featuring Athena's and Jules's families added depth and enjoyment to the reading experience, showcasing well-developed characters and compelling arcs. Maren, the matriarch, brought an intriguing layer to the story, but a more nuanced exploration of her character beyond reminiscing about past achievements could have enhanced the narrative.

Overall, while I had reservations about certain aspects of the book, I found it engaging enough to keep me interested. Despite its shortcomings, I would still recommend it for readers looking for a story that keeps them wondering and engaged, even if it falls slightly short of expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A family of chefs vie for their mother’s legacy.

I feel like the reader just got thrown into this without a clear image of family relationships/who was who. Maybe a family tree at the front would’ve helped situate the reader.

It’s a cut throat world in the restaurant business and this is a great read about a cut throat family. The best part of this novel is the the formation of the 3 daughters and the ending leaves you hoping for a happily ever after for them. I am glad I read this thru NetGalley and will look for other books by this author

This was interesting! I am usually not a fan of rich people behaving badly, but I liked most of the characters. It felt a little long, but I kept reading because I was waiting for the major blowout the author kept alluding to. Liked the Bay Area setting, too. I can picture a lot of people reading this next to the pool this summer. It's dishy, gossipy, and fun.

pretty good overall. this story follows a family, specifically 3 daughter who are trying to live their mom's legacy.

It took me a few chapters for me to really get invested into the story mostly because the characters weren't all that flushed out to me.

I had high hopes for this novel. I love a good family drama, especially when there are strong female characters. However, this unfortunately did not live up to my expectations.

Firstly, starting from the first chapter, I did not jive with the prose. It just didn’t hold my attention. I also didn’t like how much of a focus physical descriptors like height were, in that first chapter. I think there are much more interesting things to focus on rather than how tall a character is. Unfortunately, these characters just weren’t that interestingly to me. They weren’t very likeable. All characters don’t have to be “relatable” and “likable” but that was especially true in this book and I just wasn’t interested.

I don’t want to go much further because of spoilers but I did skim through a lot of this story.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I'm not too sure what to say about the book. The description says it's fast paced, but I felt like it was the opposite. I feel like the story had potential, but something was just missing for me...not sure what though.