Duc came to America as a refugee from Vietnam and was determined to succeed. Years later, he owns a chain of Vietnamese sandwich shops, has five grown children, a missing first wife, and a second, somewhat absent and self-absorbed, wife. He's viewed by his community as an example of rags to riches success, but he's currently MIA and estranged from most of the kids. The premise of the book is Duc's hair brained scheme to possibly save the businesses and bring his kids together.
The siblings are also estranged from each other but come together to learn about Duc's plan. They're all given an assignment and the successful one will inherit Duc's full estate. But will they?
Stories of each of the siblings alternate with chapters about Duc's early years after arriving in the US, meeting Huey (his right hand man to this day) and their lives in a number of places, including Seadrift, Texas. This location was especially interesting because the story also then focused on Huey's involvement in the real life lawsuit of Vietnamese fishermen against the KKK.
Story-wise, and geographically, the book is all over the map, from California, to Philadelphia, New Orleans, Texas and Vietnam. Most of the characters are emotionally stunted and evidence of generational trauma is clear in all of the siblings. The Family Recipe went a little off the rails at the end, but overall, was an interesting novel about family relationships, racism, and the Vietnamese culture.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read The Family Recipe. I was given a complimentary copy of the book and opinions expressed are completely my own.

This book just wasn’t for me. It is kind of corny and repetitive. I normally like slice of life stories but this one was so draggy and overwrought with sappy emotion.

I really enjoyed this messy family story, as well as the tragic historical background attached to it. I wish maybe there were less siblings, so there was more time and story to get develop an attachment.

Such a good family drama!! Really enjoyed this one and the author is now an auto buy for me. Highly recommend

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC!

OMG! I always get excited when there is a new Carolyn Huynh book. I fell in love with the stories Carolyn has written, and this is no exception. I knew it was a great story from the beginning, amd this took me not long to finish it. I can't wait for her next book!

I love a family drama. Give me a solid cast of characters and some family secrets, and I am in. The Family Recipe absolutely delivered on that, but it was also so much more. It was an exploitation of generational trauma and the Vietnamese diaspora. It explored the American dream and the all too real and ugly sides of America that often face immigrants and refugees. It looked at motherhood and familial relationships but also examined those within the context of being the child of immigrants. And though I’ve made it sound heavy, there are also moments of levity and humor. Huynh’s characters are beautifully developed (I just wanted to hug Georgia any time she was on the page), and I really enjoyed all of the different perspectives we were given, both in past and present.

I 100% recommend picking this one up. I’m so glad I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

A talented writer has the unique ability to draw you into a story and its characters, even when you’re initially reluctant to connect with them. With The Family Recipe, Carolyn has proven her depth and range as a storyteller. While The Fortunes of Jaded Women focused on the Vietnamese women’s stories and giving them a voice, The Family Recipe provides readers with some chapters from the male perspective while still putting the women mostly at the forefront. Here, Carolyn cleverly opts to change things up by using a third-person narrator for all the characters’ chapters in The Family Recipe except for Evelyn’s aka the matriarch. Historically, older Vietnamese women have been overlooked and/or silenced, so it is especially significant that Evelyn is the only character in The Family Recipe who is allowed to narrate her story directly to us, the readers. In books with multiple perspectives, you’d often find that you resonate with some characters more than others. For me, as an eldest daughter, I related so hard to Jane, while Jude was my least favourite character. Although every character was flawed and messy, I felt the least amount of sympathy for Jude, so much so that I took considerable satisfaction in seeing him get his much-deserved comeuppance. In light of that, it was still impressive to see the appreciation for the fact that when the eldest daughter joins forces with the only son, they create a formidable and nearly invincible duo.

Those familiar with Carolyn’s first novel will find that the Tran family easily rivals the Duong women in terms of chaotic family dynamics, miscommunication, and misunderstandings. The Family Recipe is bursting with so much for just one book! The present-day dysfunction of a modern family inheritance battle, the historical clash between the Vietnamese Americans and the Gulf Coast fishermen who were backed by the KKK, along with a looming mystery, could easily become a messy narrative when combined and in the wrong authour's hands. Fortunately, Carolyn manages to create a well-paced, compelling book that subverts expectations and manages to avoid the usual cliches that would have led to an overtly saccharine book. Unfortunately, though, once again I’m left wanting more of these characters after I’ve finished reading.

THE FAMILY RECIPE is the quintessential family dramedy with witty dialogue and relatable moments filled to the brim with characters that you can't help but cheer on.

I finished this book over the weekend and I loved it. This story is complex, in that it weaves together multiple POVs and timelines, but Carolyn does it seamlessly. There are five siblings that the story tracks, along with other characters, and usually, with a larger cast, someone gets lost along the way, their story not as captivating as the others. I expected that with so many narrations. But I didn't feel that way with this book!

Every single person had their own journey, their own relatable struggles and triumphs that I felt connected and invested in each person. I have never felt that way reading a story with so many different perspectives before, and it was a joy to read.

Duc is the founder of a chain of sandwich shops around the country. He has 5 estranged adult children and a wife he has not seen in years. When he decides to retire, he gives conditions to his children. His four daughters must revitalize failing shops within a year, but his only son will inherit everything if he gets married. The catch? Whoever does it first wins the whole inheritance

But the store each sibling is given unlocks bigger mysteries, and soon, everyone will learn the real reasons for this bazaar scheme and the secrets their mother and father kept hidden.

Trigger Warnings
Racism, Hate Crimes

Why Kirsten loves it
I love a sibling drama, but I was not expecting to fall in love with this story so deeply. I didn’t want it to end. I loved each sibling’s journey. I loved learning the back story between Duc and Evelyn…and I craved a Bánh Mì the entire time!

Carolyn Huynh's sophomore novel The Family Recipe focuses on the Vietnamese American Tran family, whose patriarch Duc founded a sandwich chain and sets up a race to inheritance for his five children. Family dramas following money and inheritance often focus on the traditional rich white families, and it was interesting to see how Huynh took that story and saw it through an Asian American lens. I really enjoyed how she traced the Tran family's story of immigration and success, showing how the American dream and their Vietnamese roots influenced each daughter, the only son, their father, and the family as a whole. Huynh also brings in topics like gentrification and ethnic communities, as well as family dynamics, estrangement, and legacy. The story is a little crowded with the five kids to balance, but otherwise, The Family Recipe is both smart and compelling, painting a strong, complicated picture of a family figuring out their way back together.

Carolyn Huynh’s sophomore novel, The Family Recipe, is not about the best recipe for a Bahn Mi sandwich or even the “recipe” for a successful sandwich shop. Instead, the book is about family secrets, legacy, and identity with a little history thrown in the mix.

The story is told in dual time lines by multiple narrators. In the past we learn of the hardships and discrimination that Duc, Evelyn and Huey faced as newly immigrated Vietnamese toward the end of their civil war. In present day, all five of the Tran children narrate their journey to win their inheritance. Additionally, their long-absent mother, Evelyn, and their marginally tolerated stepmother, Connie, narrate a few chapters. While Evelyn and Connie don’t get center stage for very long, I found it easy to quickly get a feel for both characters.

Through the tale of hardships and hard work, readers get a small look into the Vietnamese culture. Ms. Huynh has built in poignant messages about mental health, racism during mass immigration from one country and the importance of non-material inheritances.

I found the premise interesting, the plot pace perfect, the characters interesting, and the end intriguing. While it was missing the level of humor I anticipated, overall, I wholly enjoyed the book.

A interesting take on a very dysfunctional family. Though I have to say the characters were a bit unlikeable. And…….there are so many characters in the story, I started to feel overwhelmed.
This was a ok read for me.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Carolyn Huynh does it again with a story about a Vietnamese family - with its history, its complications, its trauma, and the long arduous journey of healing. It was complicated, messy, and heartwarming.

I'M THE ELDEST BOY.

LOL.

First, this is a book review of the upcoming The Family Recipe by @carolynkhuynh, pub date April 1.

Actually, first, thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Second, I haven't finished Succession, so I technically haven't seen that viral scene, but I'll tell you, if Succession managed to pull me in as much as The Family Recipe did, I would have finished it a long time ago, instead of its fate being relegated to the middle of my tbc watchlist.

This book was amazing. I'll be honest, it started off witty, but a little slow, and I was still in romcom mood-head-vibe, so that could have affected my initial interest. However, it didn't take too long to pull me into this family saga of secrets, lies, and a game of inheritance. It's like Succession with immigrant, generational, and diasporic trauma, which made it more interesting and relatable in my eyes.

And I found myself staying fifteen minutes after work, on a slow day, finishing this book. Let me tell you something- I love my job, but I'm not willing going to stay there past 5pm unless I absolutely must.

This book has EVERYTHING.

It's got:

*Succession/inheritance vibes
*Wit and funny sibling barbs and banter
*Eldest son and (more importantly) Eldest daughter rep
*Immigrant history/story rep
*Diasporic history/story/in-between-two-worlds rep
*Generational trauma and struggles
*Food
*Romance
*Some Maury-show vibes
*Lessons learned

It truly was a wonderful read, and so, so inspiring to this aspiring writer.

I implore you to read this book.

Pick up a copy April 1, 2025, at your local library, or wherever books are sold.

#book #books #booksbooksbooks #bookrecommendations #booksrecs #bookreviewer #bookreviews #bookreview #thefamilyrecipe #carolynhuynh #arc #succession #successionmemes #successionhbo #supportlocallibraries

I was fortunate enough to read an early copy of *The Fortunes of Jaded Women* and absolutely loved it. Therefore, I was thrilled to get an invitation to read Carolyn Huynh’s second novel.

*The Family Recipe* pulled me in immediately and each story kept my attention - I read this over a few days (which was a few days too many, I was so invested in this family’s story that I wished for this on audiobook so I could have listened to it while cleaning, free moments, and then getting ready for bed). A family’s life in this story, that you will read with all the emotions - this had me laughing, tearing up, laughing again, hunger (jfc the food descriptions 😍) and it kept my thoughts on it even during non-reading times.

This is only the author’s second novel; I, for one, am really looking forward to reading Huynh’s future works 📚🙂

Full recommendation from me.


”*Which came first - the karaoke machine of Vietnamese fathers?*
*Duc had never known peace; he just accepted life for what it was - that it was difficult ad long, and in order to survive, one needed bad karaoke and snails.”*



Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the DRC

Book 13 of 2025 - ☑️! Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books & Carolyn Huynh for an ARC of The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh, in exchange for my honest review.

Inheritance games, as it turns out, is a genre (micro-trope?) I’ve liked since middle school. Pretty sure Mai and I had to read a book about an inheritance game at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton one year, and The Goodwin Games on Fox back in 2013 is a show I think about occasionally, where I remember really enjoying the pilot (and thinking it was cancelled too soon), but I digress.

The Family Recipe centers around the Tran family: 5 siblings - Jude, Jane, Paulina Bingo & Georgina - competing for their father’s inheritance. While the sisters are all given a Duc’s Sandwich Shop to revitalize in a city with a larger Vietnamese & Vietnamese-American population; Jude (the brother) must get married within a year.

This layered family dramedy, with a touch of mystery (family secrets abound), quickly became a 5-star read as I was reading the book. Huynh’s writing so brilliantly balances humor and heart, in the way that so many of my favorite works of literature, TV shows and movies do. I’m also a fan of anything that centers on family dynamics in a wonderfully nuanced way, the way The Family Recipe does. Throw in the portrayal of a Vietnamese & Vietnamese-American characters in a way that only an own-voices author can, and my very own hometown of Houston as central part of the book…we have a winner.

5/5 ⭐️ - would read again, would recommend to anyone. Can’t wait to read more of Huynh’s work - don’t miss this book when it comes out on 4/1/25! #NetGalley #TheFamilyRecipe 💰 ✈️ 🤫

Take this with a grain of salt, as I am a tough critic of family dramas. This one was fine, no major complaints, but I also didn't feel like this was one of those "i can't put it down and count down until I can pick it back up again" kind of books. I loved the historical part - the experiences and history of Vietnamese immigrants to the United States. How they adapted to life in America and how they raised their children, embraced their community, oftentimes with no family. This story follows 5 siblings after they learn that their wealthy father will only give the winner of a ridiculous competition their inheritance. The story follows each of these siblings, in their POVs, in the cities assigned to them. The different perspectives were clear and the stories transitioned smoothly, I just felt that because there were so many POV that I felt like we knew the characters on the surface. If you are looking for an interesting book about an immigrant family over multiple generations, give this a try.
Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

”Someway, somehow, we always make our way back home.”

In The Family Recipe, the five adult children in the Tran family are roped into an inheritance game when their father, a “living legend” of a business owner, decides to initiate a yearlong challenge that will ultimately decide who inherits his fortune. But long-buried secrets and lies will be revealed along the way, threatening to unravel everything…

”Here I was, still lying to her. A brutal, endless cycle. Perhaps that is the ouroboros of life, the secrets mothers carry to protect their own, and the questions that children have.”

This was such a heartwarming story of restoring family bonds, replacing old secrets with the truth, and repairing generational trauma. Carolyn Huynh’s characters are vibrant, charming, and relatable, and though they are imperfect, you can’t help but love them and root for each of them in turn.

”Why would an immigrant woman, who came to America with nothing to her name, walk away from a life their own mothers would have traded their souls for?”

The book is a very character-driven family drama, and there is much more weight given to how the “big reveals” affect each person in the family emotionally, instead of using these moments to advance the plot forward. A reader who is more focused on plot might struggle to stay engaged, but I loved it—it reminded me of Hello Beautiful or Tom Lake.

“I may not have a lot but I’m a rich man.”

I’m sad about the book cover. It is cutesy and kitsch, reminiscent of a cheesy cozy mystery. It definitely didn’t make me expect the deeper themes or literary qualities that I found within. It doesn’t match the book’s vibe at all, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see readers pass on this one simply because the cover doesn’t set the right expectations. But don’t let the cover fool you—it’s worth the read!

”They were overwhelmed with gratitude for being alive and present to witness the rare beauty of generational healing…”

——

A huge thank you to Carolyn Huynh, Atria, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh, in exchange for a review.
As a loud and proud The Fortunes of Jaded Women (FORTUNES) fan, I was so excited to receive an invitation to read and review Carolyn’s sophomore novel. The Family Recipe brings the chaos, drama, and hilarity of large-family antics, but with an added historical fiction subplot that is emotional and heart-wrenching.

The Family Recipe is a character-driven novel and is told from eight different POVs – the five Tran siblings, plus a few others that I will leave you to discover. For the uninitiated, I imagine this sounds like a lot, but if you’ve read FORTUNES, you know that this is Carolyn’s bread and butter. She is so skilled at taking a large group of characters and making each of them vibrant, realistic, and interesting. There is no “perfect” character – each struggle with the trauma of their personal experiences and the weight of familial and societal expectations, which shape their personality and decision-making. Sometimes they are immature, misguided, naïve, or cruel, but that’s what makes them real and relatable. Over time we see them reflect and grow, both individually and within the dynamics of the family.

Though I found The Family Recipe a little slower to start than FORTUNES, overall, I really enjoyed it. I think each piece of the story weaved together well and I think the flashback chapters were fantastic at showcasing the motivations behind Duc, Huey, and Evelyn’s decisions. I would absolutely recommend this one if you enjoy family dramas and character-driven stories.

Thank you Netgalley & Atria Books for an eARC ♥️

I loved previous book, "The Fortunes of Jaded Woman", and I was a bit nervous that this one wouldn't live up to my expectations. But, oh man, it totally did.
This story is like... have you ever had one of those moments where you're laughing and crying at the same time, and you're not even sure why? That's what this book did to me. It's about the Tran family, and their journey is just so beautifully complicated. They're all trying to figure out who they are, both as individuals and as a family, and it's just... ugh, it's so relatable.
I think what really got me was the way Carolyn writes about food. I mean, I love food, who doesn't? But the way she describes the Tran family's Vietnamese dishes... it's like you can smell the aromas and taste the flavors. And it's not just about the food itself, but about the memories and emotions that come with it.♥️
What I love most about Carolyn's writing is that it feels so honest. Her characters are flawed and messy, just like real people. They make mistakes, they hurt each other, but they also love and forgive each other. It's just... it feels so real.😭
Anyway, I'm rambling now. Just go read the book, okay? It's worth it.♥️