"Pastry is not for you.  I have told you this many times before.  It's your timing, your instincts, your sense of taste..."

You could say the same about our main characters love life - she has none of these things when it comes to men either.

I'm disappointed that this book could have been about a strong women changing careers from an inheritance and breaking into the mail dominated industry of cooking. Instead this is mostly about her horrible taste in men, and her deciding between two mid guys (both of which are a bad choice).

I think the diary writing stunted this book and it could have been so much better.  It made for an unreliable narrator - and also an insufferable one.

I think this either needed to be mostly about her cooking and her career or should have gone messier to how these men ruined her career and stole her talent and money.   But it's just a story of a spoiled brat who got everything handed to her and kind of squandered it.

I struggled to get into this story, I think the diary entry format is not my favourite and I didn't immediately warm to Ruthie. I did love the premise though of her taking the opportunity, thanks to Bubble, of using her inheritance to change her career and follow her passion of food. The recipes and food descriptions were great and she had lovely friends. Jeff immediately gave me the creeps and I was not a fan of her obsession with him- he was clearly not going to be a great guy if he was willing to cheat on his girlfriend! I stuck with it and there were bits I found amusing, but overall a bit forgettable I'm afraid.

A fresh story about looking for purpose, love, friendship and family. It was like a mixed up diary and chapter book that was sometimes hard to follow because of the choppiness. Once you learn the writing style and identify the characters you can get into the story. Light and quick for a beach or rainy day.

I love the idea of this book. The execution? Not so much. The main character, Ruth, is truthfully just awful. If you’ve watched SATC and your favorite character is Carrie, you’ll love Ruth. She’s self centered and there feels like there is absolutely no character growth. There really doesn’t feel like there is a strong plot to this book at all. There was a lot of potential to go so much deeper into the characters and explore and really make us feel for Ruth, but instead I didn’t want anyone to win here and I felt that Ruth got everything that was coming for her. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book, it was just not for me.

Fun and light read about Ruthie, who is in a dead-end data entry job. In her spare time, she loves to whip up delectable food creations to share with her best friends, Trish and Lilly. When her dearest Bubbe Bobbie Grace passes away and leaves her a five-figure inheritance, Ruthie decides to follow her heart, quitting the dead-end job and enrolling in culinary school. Once there, Ruthie learns a lot more than just the techniques of cooking. Fun book, a bit of a rom-com. Great recipes included throughout and the recipes are repeated at the end of the book.
Many thanks to author Amy Rosen, the publisher, and to Net Galley for the free e-book copy of Off Menu in exchange for my honest review

This book was such a pleasure to read. Part romance, part foodie-heaven, and always full of friendship, the story was fun, captivating, occasionally tense. Ruthie Cohen, using an inheritance from her beloved Bubbe Bobby Grace, signs up for French Culinary School. While learning the ins and outs of French pastry and savory food , she falls in love with her kitchen partner. Chaos ensues when Ruthie discovers someone close to her has stolen the rest of her inheritance. Searching for a new opportunity gives Ruthie a chance to work hard and develop her own style of cooking and rediscover the true importance of her two best friends.

If Off Menu were a dish, it would be something like truffle mac and cheese: rich, comforting, just a little indulgent—and exactly what you want after a long day.

Ruthie Cohen is chaotic, lovable, and just the right amount of unhinged when it comes to romance and life choices. I adored following her as she stumbled (sometimes literally) through culinary school, career pivots, grief, and ahem two extremely distracting men. Dean has that swoony nostalgia vibe, while Jeff—ugh, Jeff—is the walking “what if” you know you shouldn’t fall for but kind of want to anyway.

The friendship between Ruthie, Trish, and Lilly was one of my favorite parts—warm, witty, and filled with enough group texts and brunches to feel like my own friend group. And the food descriptions? Mouthwatering. Like, don’t-read-this-while-hungry level good.

It’s not all soufflés and smooches, though. Ruthie’s grief over Bubbe Bobby Grace is quietly powerful, and her journey to figuring out what really lights her up in life gives the book a sense of purpose beyond the rom-com chaos.

Why not five stars? The love triangle didn’t totally sizzle for me—both guys had their moments, but I never felt that lightning-bolt yes, him moment. Still, Ruthie’s growth (and the way it wraps up) made me smile.

Perfect for fans of messy millennial heroines, found family, and stories that remind you it’s never too late to start fresh—with a glass of prosecco in hand, of course.

Not for me ! I tried to get into this book and I couldn’t ! I had to dnf ! Thank you met galley for giving me the chance to read this

I adore food writing and this book did not disappoint. Not only did it have mouth watering depictions of cooking, menus and dishes but they were woven into a beautiful story of friendship and self-realisation! I cannot recommend this book enough! The diary entries were such a fun format for the book too and you felt the same urgency and drama as the reader when she had nipped to the toilet to scribble in another entry away from the party. I loved the friendship between the three girls. It felt so real and relatable which made the ending even more perfect!

Ruthie is the main character of the story and she is uncertain of what she wants in life. When her grandmother passes away and leaves her a generous sum of money, Ruthie decides to quit her corporate job and enroll in culinary school. She has some interesting relationships which I felt took away from the book.
What I did like was depiction of food and the process. I also felt like the cover of the book was very eye catching and perfect for a light romance read about cooking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amy Rosen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[edit]
A women’s fiction version of Food Network’s Chopped.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this one at first, but I ended up really enjoying it!

It was really unique, as it was written solely in the form of journal diaries. It gave it a silly and quirky feel, and also made it feel so personal. It was not only funny, but very raw and honest. She didn’t always make herself look great, but wrote about her real feelings. For example, wanting to steal someone’s boyfriend and then getting mad when he was willing to cheat on his girlfriend. Sometimes it was contradictory and sometimes it was a bit unhinged, but it was real.

Sometimes she’d say something that made me feel like I was reading my own internal thoughts and it made me giggle.

This book shows you that things often aren’t what they seem, and they don’t always turn out to be the happy ending that we romanticize them to be. Sometimes it’s not a person or a thing that you’re longing for, but it’s YOU. Discovering yourself and falling in love with yourself is worth more than anything else the world has to offer!

Thank you to Amy Rosen, NetGalley and ECW Press for giving me this ARC!

My rating: 17+ - language, sexual situations, alcohol
Spice 2/5
TW: drug addiction

I really wanted to love this, but it fell flat for me in a few ways, unfortunately. There was a lack of character development, even for Ruthie, the main character, which I found strange since the book is written from her point of view. It didn't feel like there was a throughline, but, as it's written as a diary, I think that may have been intentional. I think I just couldn't get past the conceit of the form of the diary, which made the tone of the book feel more YA than adult, even though it's definitely not a YA book.

That being said, what I did love about this book is when it leaned into its Canadian-ness. And, I enjoyed the memories and anecdotes of Ruthie's bubbe, but I would have loved to learn more about Ruthie's past, her upbringing, and her family to better understand her motivations.

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

The writing in this is truly atrocious. At 5% in, I knew this was going to be a tough slog.
There's no character development: Each person in this book is unrelatable, and the dialogue reads as wooden and stilted, not how people would speak naturally. The plot is somewhat non-existent too, even in the first few pages it's a whirlwind between a trip to Thailand, an overly long-named grandmother's death and the quitting of a job. At no point do we see any real character progression, vulnerability or depth of feelings, which is especially disappointing given the diary-style, first-person narrative.

This was such a disappointment - the premise is great, and I was excited for something along the lines of Julie and Julia. Instead, I got a high school creative writing exercise. This still has potential, but it needs a lot of editing to make it at all palatable.

A great mixture of food and relationships, food, and a good helping of Jewish Grandmother wisdom and food.
Also some lovely recipes at the back of the book that tie in with the story - inspired.
The book has an epic ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book which will be published in June of 2025. I requested this book because of the title and description as I love reading novels centered around food, restaurants, recipes, etc. Think The Paris Novel or Delicious by Ruth Reichl. This is no Ruth Reichl, however, and perhaps it is an age thing that I did not enjoy this book. I really wanted to like Ruthie, but she seemed to be quite immature and somewhat self-centered. Even her best friend Trish seemed to make better life choices than Ruthie. I don’t think I am a prude as I do read lots of romcoms and romance-styled novels where things are spicy and relationships move quickly in that regard, but I found this novel to be a bit coarse. Maybe I’m just a bit too old for this kind of lifestyle, and maybe you will like this book much better than I did!

Firstly, I wanted to say that the cover of this title is super cute and caught my eye straight away. Whoever says that they don’t judge a book by it’s cover must be fibbing just a tiny bit ;)

Secondly, I loved the description of this book – as a long time fan of Bridget Jones and a fan of Food fiction, I was very excited to read this book.

I think that the book was a fun read, but I found that I couldn’t really relate to the main character at all in the book and also found that I was getting rather exasperated with her as she seemed to be quite focused on herself a lot of the time.

I did really enjoy the dynamics that she has with her friends. I guess that I wanted more depth to the story and see Ruthie develop more as a character. Even though the book is a light and engaging read, I didn’t feel emotionally connected to the characters.

What I did love was the author’s depiction of food and the process. It was so detailed and made me hungry whilst I was reading this book a number of times. Also really loved the recipes at the end of the book!

Thank you to Amy Rosen, Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC copy of this read in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was a fun quick light read for me and I enjoyed it. The main female character shares her life in a new diary and we are along for the ride. Loved the cooking school experiences, her relationships with her best girlfriends and her parents and reminders of wise words from her Bubbe
She does have romantic experiences too but I felt these were a distraction from the best parts of the book..

Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press for providing me with an eARC of “Off Menu”.

I was excited for this book because of the concept; I am a HUGE food fiction fan, but Off Menu really fell flat for me. Ruthie quits her stable, corporate job after she receives a slim inheritance from her grandmother (?) who had recently passed away. Ruthie continuously shows throughout the book that she is selfishly thinking about herself and only herself.

This had a lot of potential, but could unfortunately rated 1.75/5 stars for me.

I have to be honest this was not my favorite. I loved the food talk and Ruthie’s personal journey with culinary school. But i really didn’t like any of her “love” interests. It felt unbelievable to me, the connection she had with Jeff, and even Dean both felt surface level and unrealistic, we talked a lot about their problems but i felt a lot of Ruthie’s problems were skimmed over, or just disregarded.
Ruthie’s gramma was my favorite thing, the parts throughout with her wisdom and advice made me remeber my two grammas. Otherwise it wasn’t for me.
Thanks for the ARC!

Such a fun and entertaining book to get lost in! I enjoyed the tale Rosen crafted. The story explores friendships, romantic relationships, and chasing your dreams. I thought the author did a good job with the character development and the pacing was spot on. I was not bored while reading! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.