I didn’t expect to like this one, it was a slow starter but persevere- it’s worth it. The dynamic between a very strong matriarch and three sisters- a female version of Succession.
I didn’t so much like the main characters initially but grew to appreciate their flaws. Interesting read.

I’m giving this book a rounded up 3 stars, as it would really be a 2.5 in my opinion. It’s a bit hard to describe why, as I enjoyed the writing and the King Lear adaptation, which made “unlikable” characters interesting in my opinion. However, I feel as though the story never really took off with the potential that it had. I feel like the last 20% of the book should have really be elongated to 50%, and the first 80% could have been more interesting if condensed a bit. Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc!

This was Succession but in the restaurant industry. The characters were well written and I related to the sister dynamic. Its slower paced and a different genre than my norm, however I still found myself immersed in the story and the family dynamic. I enjoyed diving into each sisters story showing the interesting BUT very different lives people from the same family live.

DNF. I just couldn't get into this one. With such a slow opening and characters I desperately did not feel any connection too, I had no desire to keep turning the pages after I got through the first chapter. I think it's been over-hyped.

Succession meets The Bear in this restaurant-centered family drama. The relationships between a mother and her three daughters are complicated enough, but add in a family business, a lot of ego, and an impending article about the matriarch’s legacy. This was a great family drama, and extremely relatable for anyone with a complicated relationship with a mother or sister.

As the eldest daughter of three, I really identified with the relationship dynamics that drove this novel. That sisterly bond and shared familial experiences results in nobody knowing or being able to exploit your weaknesses so well, but also nobody else being able to provide the understanding and comfort we so desire, particularly when raised by a narcissistic parent.

The book is peppered with biting wit, a pleasingly paced plot and a realistic ending, with the author having resisted the temptation to tie everything up with a nice little bow.

This is a fantastic read that provides a glimpse into the life of an icon, and the trauma that results for those surrounding a revolutionary trailblazer.

I really enjoyed this novel. The food writing was strong, and not over the top. I felt the characters were well developed. Their motivations (aside from the mother) were clearly demonstrated with their actions. The book held a lot of family drama but was a light read. I enjoyed seeing the characters grow to become better sisters. At times there was good humor in the book.

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this book for an honest review.

Overall I liked this book, it was just very slow paced for the amount of drama in the story. It was filled with a lot of family drama and issues. The mom is a total asshole to her 3 daughters. She's a famous culinary genius that always needs to be the center of attention and can't stand anyone who gets in her way or outshines her. She belittles her daughters so much and doesn't want them to succeed because then that means that they're better than her and people will forget her. Her youngest daughter, in her thirties, is the head chef at her restaurant. Mom ends up firing her in front of friends and family on a New Year's eve Party because she made a pork chop instead of her famous pork belly. The whole book is centered around that night and everything that went wrong. The three daughters learn how to stand up to their mother and how to be themselves instead of the women their mom wants them to be. I enjoyed how everything played out, but it took me forever to read because I just coulnd't get into it completely. It dragged for me, otherwise it would have gotten a higher review.

Unfortunately this was a dnf for me. I just was not able to get into this book and ultimately decided that this was one I could not push myself to continue with. I liked the concept of the book a lot, however I found that I was just not that interested in what was going on.

Family Reservations is the story of the Winter family. Marin is the mother and head of the restaurant dynasty she has created. Sloane, Jules and Athena are her grown daughters. Sloane is the manager of the restaurant. Jules is in charge of publicity. Athena is the chef. At the annual New Year’s Eve party, Athena dares to serve pork chops rather than the pork loin her mother expects. Even though (or perhaps because) everyone loved the pork chops, Marin publicly shames and fires Athena from the family business. The family dynamics go downhill from there. Although the sisters are all adults, they are afraid of their mother and act like children. They lie and scheme against their mother and against each other. I would have reservations too if I were a part of this family.

I absolutely loved this! My favorite book of the year so far and my only 5 star. I cannot wait to read more from this author. It is a novel about healthy boundaries and family loyalties and moving on after a cataclysmic event that shakes one's world and points life in a different trajectory. It is a novel of sisters and mothers and friendships and healthy marriages and unhelathy lifestyles. `I found so much hard truth in it that even rang true for my own life.

My only criticism is the cover. I almost didn't request it because of the cover. It screams "light women's book club fiction" when the truth of what lies in its pages is far from light. I am concerned that the right audience for this novel will pass it by because of the cover, and those who will pick it up will be disappointed because it isn't what they expect. Illustrated covers always scream "light and fluffy" to me and I rarely pick them up myself. The synopsis is what drew me in and made me take a chance.

I cannot wait to read more from this author and publisher in the future.

Three adult sisters work in their famous chef mother's restaurant empire. One is a talented head chef and the other two are on the business side. With their egomaniacal mother aging, two of the sisters plan to boot her from the business as she fires the chef in a dramatic and public way. Will the restaurant empire survive, and will the sisters find a way to separate business and family?

If you like messy family businesses, this is for you. Think of this as Succession crossed with Paula Dean. I had just read and loved Marrying the Ketchups, and this is a more dramatic book with meaner and more calculating characters. It was a little on the slower paced side, but I loved to hate them and rooted for Athena and for Maren (the mother) to get her due. The writing is really sharp, and I would definitely read more of this (new only to me) author.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

A story about sisters and their toxic relationships between each other and their mother, this was very relatable. I enjoyed the pacing of the story and seeing the characters develop (or not) and how their relationships changed.

FAMILY RESERVATIONS is perfect for Top Chef and Apples Never Fall fans.
As a former Dietitian who worked in food service, I can personally attest to many chefs being consistent and committed a-holes, but I've never witnessed a chef's family dynasty as in this novel.
This drama is worth reading for the slow-burn plot rather than the characters, because they are basically unlikable, except for talented black sheeps Athena and Rafael.
I just read that this novel will be made into a television series and I can't wait to see which actresses play larger-than-life matriarch Maren Winter and her youngest daughter Athena. Their head- butting will be entertaining to watch onscreen. Winter is coming!

Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Family Reservations by LIza Palmer caught my interest from the beginning and was a great read. The story centers on three sisters and their mother who is a legendary chef and businesswoman albeit not a legendary mother. Each daughter has her scars and her journey but I was especially drawn to Athena's storyline. I finished this book in one day at the beach and think that many other readers will enjoy this family drama.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Family Reservations in exchange for an honest opinion. Family Reservations is available now.

Family Reservations by Liza Palmer starts with a simple premise. Three daughters, one culinary legacy up for grabs. Who is going to take it?

Turns out, it’s not that simple. At Maren Winter’s annual New Years Eve party, a line is crossed and one is cast out. From there, it becomes a story of family pitted against each other as each of the daughters explore who they are and what they actually want out of life. Do they actually want Maren’s legacy, or is another path more alluring.

I was very intrigued by the premise, but I felt like the execution was lacking a bit. I think it would have benefited from having some POV chapter markers as this book jumps from POV to POV quite a bit, sometimes even in the same chapter. The story itself is fleshed out, but I also felt it was lacking a bit of character development. It feels like we learn only what is needed about the characters, but I wanted a bit more than that.

Overall, I liked the story, but it just left me wanting a bit more in the execution and the character development.

Oooh, I enjoyed this juicy, dark, and tense family drama. Inspired by King Lear, FAMILY RESERVATIONS follows the Winter family, headed by matriarch Maren Winter, who heads up the prestigious Northern Trade restaurant. Maren is a giant in the industry. She's ruthless, cutthroat, and at least was an innovator. On New Year's Eve, perceiving a threat to her legacy from her youngest daughter, she fires her publicly and suddenly. And from there, we watch the Winter women implode on themselves.

I was thoroughly entertained and also pleasantly surprised when the book took a turn to some authentic discussions of mental health and efforts toward healing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free review copy of this book!

Succession meets the culinary world. The three daughters of Marin Winters must manoeuvre the antics of their egocentric mother. These women are manipulative, scared, selfish people. Nothing really to like about any of them, This is a treatise on family dynamics and the effect it has on mental health. I love hating these people.

I’ve been a big fan of Liza Palmer’s since reading Conversations with the Fat Girl in 2007 (and reading everything she’s written since), so was very excited to see that she had a new book, Family Reservations. Even before reading the first page, I thought I would love it, because it checked off some of my favorite things: Northern California setting, foodie/restaurant/culinary focus, family drama, and power struggles.

I did love this book, but for the first time I can remember, I completely disliked the four main characters—three daughters and their mother. I kept hoping for some redeeming qualities (especially in the mother, Maren Winter, a world-famous chef/cookbook writer/restauranteur/head of a culinary empire, who is also a self-absorbed narcissist and control freak, especially in manipulating her daughters, all of whom work for the family’s organization, the Winter Group). Two of the daughters, Sloane and Jules, were deceitful, egotistical, and flat-out liars who would turn on anyone, including their own mother and siblings, to push their own agendas. Alas, at the end, I still didn’t much like any of them, but for me, the one who fared the best was the youngest and the most talented, Athena. As the story begins, Athena is the head chef at the family’s flagship restaurant, Northern Trade. She is brilliant yet suffers from nearly debilitating self-doubt and anxiety. There was a lot written about this part of her life, and since I was rooting for her, I wanted to move beyond that aspect. She also showed the most growth and self-discovery of any of the siblings.

There were also a few secondary characters that I really enjoyed, including another chef and his wife, a journalist, and another culinary superstar. No spoilers here. What I will say is that there is some spot on dialogue and brutally raw interactions that kept me going and going until the end, and even saying out loud, “YES!” when a character got what I thought they deserved.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

From the first chapter, this book immediately reeled me in!

A story about family dynamics and learning to leave the shadow of a super successful mother, I enjoyed learning about each of the Winter sisters.

Athena’s anxiety was so relatable in the way she felt and seeing her experience anxiety attacks was very realistic to how I feel with mine. It’s nice to see some awareness on that.

Maren Winter was so hard to like but she’s so successful in a man run world that it’s hard not to also applaud her at times too.

I do wish we could have seen the relationship dynamics be worked on at the end of the book and see if the healing journey led to a more healthy relationship.

Overall, absolutely recommend this book!

Thank you Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley and Liza Palmer for the ARC!