Regina Benuzzi used to be a household name. As Queenie B, she was culinary royalty—cookbooks, TV deals, Michelin stars, the whole glossy empire. She was sharp, stunning, impossible to ignore… and then she wasn’t. Addiction, scandal, and the kind of personal fallout you don’t bounce back from overnight. So, she just walked away from her family, her fame, and herself. Poof. Gone.

Now she’s running a soup kitchen in New Haven, cranky and fiercely guarded, living a life so far from who she used to be it might as well be another planet. The only place she lets herself feel anything is in the kitchen—still making food that could bring a critic to tears, but serving it to the city’s most forgotten instead of its elite.

Then comes Gale Carmichael—thirty, newly sober, and hungry in every possible sense. He stumbles into Regina's soup kitchen looking for a meal during a rough few weeks and finds something else entirely: food made with purpose. Regina sees herself in him, reluctantly, uncomfortably. And despite every instinct to stay out of it, she starts to teach him. Slowly. Grudgingly. Honestly.

But Gale’s not just some kid with potential—he’s also working his way up under another chef, Marco, Regina’s ex-boyfriend and very much unresolved emotional grenade. Gale doesn’t know that. Yet. But it’s his connection to Marco that pulls Queenie back into the orbit of the life she left behind. And when Gale lands a spot on "Cut!," a high-profile cooking competition, that tiny spark of potential explodes into a second chance—for him, and maybe for her too.

This is not a glitzy comeback story. It’s a reckoning. Regina isn’t softened for likability. She’s prickly, proud, and soaked in regret—but she’s also brilliant. And watching her choose to care again, to step out from behind her self-imposed exile, hits hard. She’s not trying to be famous again. She’s trying to be honest—with herself, with Gale, and eventually, with Marco.

The writing is lush without being showy. Food is everywhere—each chapter opens with a culinary term, and every dish in this book carries emotional weight. This is a novel that knows food isn’t just sustenance. It’s survival. It’s identity. It’s a language. And it’s often the only way these characters know how to say what matters.

Four stars. For the ache. For the heat. For a woman who burned down her life and still found something worth feeding. “Didn’t You Use to Be Queenie B?” is tender, sharp, and full of flavor—and it proves that even if you walk away from everything, it’s never too late to come back around. If this is what DeFino brings to the table, I’m clearing my schedule and making room for seconds.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

Queenie B had it all—a celebrity chef with Michelin stars and pop culture fame, a husband and child, and a high profile life. She also had a secret addiction that imploded her picture perfect image. The culinary world was shocked when Queenie B disappeared; vanishing from her restaurants, the headlines, and her family.

Gale Carmichael has the skills and creativity to be a success in the kitchen, but his not so secret addictions led to tragedy. Newly sober and struggling, Gale finds himself at a local soup kitchen run by the enigmatic Regina. Regina quickly recognizes Gale’s talent and, this, begins an unlikely mentorship.

This is a beautifully rendered tale of redemption that doesn’t whitewash the ugly side of addiction. Gale is tormented by his past which affects his relationships with everyone close to him and leaves him believing he is unworthy of forgiveness. Regina sees herself in Gale and her efforts to rescue him might be the very thing she needs to reclaim her own life. A central theme running through this novel is the belief that everyone is worthy of love even when it’s hard to love oneself.

Fans of The Food Network or The Bear will relish the behind the scenes look at restaurant life. DeFino does an exceptional job depicting the frenetic energy of a busy kitchen. Narrated by Eva Kapinsky, the audiobook puts the reader inside the minds of the characters and masterfully captures their internal struggles.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and William Morrow for the advance copies. All opinions are my own.

A redemption story with heart!
A light hearted but “real” story of an alcoholic/addict closing the door on the person she knew herself to be and reinventing who she now chooses to be.
A little slow and simple for my taste.

A moving book about rising and falling from fame for one award winning female chef and her unexpected comeback after hitting rock bottom. I enjoyed this book a lot - not just as a foodie who loves learning more about the world of working in high pressure kitchens, but also for the redemption story. There's a great cast of side characters and tough topics like drug and alcohol addiction, dementia and grief. Good on audio and perfect for fans of Top chef or Kitchen Confidential. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!