Second Helpings at the Serve You Right Café by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs

219 Pages
Publisher: Linden Tree Press, AuthorBuzz
Release Date: April 4, 2015

Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction

Eden Rose is the owner of the Serve You Right Café. She serves up bakery specialties along with coffee. She is a recovering alcoholic and deals with her sobriety every day. Her cook/baker, Emet First, is a reformed convict. He was in prison for manslaughter but has been out of jail for ten years and is happy with where his life is heading.

Dr. Mercedes “Mercey” Finch helps patients with physical therapy. Emet asks her out for date, and they have a good time. On her doorstep, he tells her about his past. He believes its best to be upfront with her. Mercedes has unemployed pothead brother, Clay, and is planning on moving out of their family home. Clay doesn’t want her to leave because he cannot afford to live on his own. He overheard the conversation between Mercey and Emet and now he is vengeful. He even takes his anger out on a dog.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Everyone in the story is broken. It is important to see who is do better in life or destroy someone else. This is a story of good versus evil and has you rooting for the Emet. I would consider this as a light romantic story like a Hallmark movie.

Not what I was expecting by any means! This book took me for a twist! Great read and highly recommended!

This was quite a short novel about a coffee shop and the people that it serves. The owner is Eden Rose, her pastry chef is Emet and they serve wonderful pastries and coffee to their clients everyday. The story seems rambling with almost no concrete plot except for a main theme, second chances. For Eden Rose is a recovering alcoholic and Emet has just gotten out of prison after serving 10 years for manslaughter. Emet is going on a date with Mercy, a PT specialist who also has her own dysfunctional family to deal with, namely her drugged out brother Clay. Everyday each of their patrons come in and each of them have a story to tell. What is truly great about this novel is the simplicity of each story carries within it the nuances of a much more complex situation. This is a testimony to the writer's talent in crafting something seemingly random into something totally cohesive. There are love stories, army stories, redemptive stories and stories that simply end bittersweetly and those that have a positive happily for now

Gripping. I loved the characters in this book and their stories. It was very well written and is about redemption and second chances.
Many thanks to Linden Tree Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought it was pretty cute and charming. The story is pretty fast paced, so it's very easy to finish up in just a day. But I don't think it's shortness is a fault. It doesn't drag its feet when telling the story, and plot moves along at a nice pace. I like the theme of second chances and redemption that the book offers us.

A small, well-written novel, with well-delineated characters, about how everyone should be given a second chance. Everyone except those who are too self-indulgent, of course.
Not an unforgettable text, but one that allows you to spend a few peaceful hours in the company of good characters and good feelings.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. A little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, this was just the right mix and length to enjoy on a rainy afternoon.

An excellent read. I would recommend this book.
I received this from Netgalley as an ARC for an honest review.
#Second Helpings at the Serve You Right Cafe by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs . #NetGalley

This book was ok, the cover really grabbed me and I thought I would love it! The premise is interesting and the book kept my attention.

The Serve You Right Café is located in a small Massachusetts college town. It is staffed by Eden Rose, the owner/manager, Emet, a full-time baker, and one part-time server. Eden Rose is a recovering alcoholic, who is a confidante to all. She has a generous nature, huge heart and is like an amateur psychologist. Emet, is a parolee recently released from prison. He is a talented and highly skilled baker, learning his skill in a prison culinary course. He is a caring person, who does not want to go back to prison. He doesn't drink, smoke, use drugs or do anything else that could cause his parole to be revoked. When Emet meets a woman named Mercedes, he cannot believe his luck when she agrees to go out with him. Where she is a doctor of physiotherapy; he only has a high school diploma and a prison record. He is worried that she will not want anything to do with him when she finds out about his recent and lengthy incarceration. Mercey has her own secrets and baggage that she is also worried about. How will anyone want to develop a relationship with her when they find out about her extremely dysfunctional family?

I enjoyed this story. Tilia Klebenov Jacobs packed in a lot of story in just over 200 pages. There were several characters besides the main three that added so much to this story. The various themes of homelessness, veterans, service dogs, alcoholism, drug addiction, parolees and more are all meshed together to make a very interesting story. The story is well-written in a beautiful way. It is written with warmth, humility, kindness and understanding. It doesn't judge, and it shows humanity in its good and bad. The characters were so real to me that I wanted to crawl into the story and sit on that park bench with them. This is the first book I have read by this author, but I will be looking for more. I definitely recommend this one to those who enjoy second chances and stories about human nature.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the characters enough to even make sense of the plot line. The writing style was somewhat oppressive and when not annoyed, I was bored.

I didn’t finish this book. It was hard to get into. I wish it was better or could have held my interest more.

I received a copy via NetGalley for my honest review.

It was a pretty good book. Didn’t keep my interest enough that I could not put it down though. It had some good parts and parts where it was so slow. I wish it would have had a bit more to it to hold my interest. It was just ok. I like books to really pull me in from the start and hold me there all the way.

No longer interested in reading this. Clearing out old galleys.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

What if the world didn't want you to go straight? Out on parole after almost ten years in prison, Emet First is repairing his shattered life. He has friends, a job, and his first date in a decade. The young woman, Mercedes Finch, is lovely but wounded. When her deranged brother learns about Emet's past, he will stop at nothing to destroy him--and suddenly Emet has everything to lose.

Second chance romance stories have always been a popular style and this story sits in that category quite snugly - without actually standing out from the pack.

At times, I felt like this story dragged along, taking a long time for the story to develop - which was a shame as the characters were well written and I did find myself liking Mercedes and Emet quite a lot.

The second chance, as it relates to Emet, was quite refreshing and I enjoyed the development of their relationship. What I did miss was the total development of the story - it seemed to all take place really quickly and we didn't get too deeply into anything.

I think this was a decent story that would make a great light read for the beach or going away on holidays.


Paul
ARH

A great, short read. Full of interesting characters and a good story line that kept me turning the pages. I couldn't put it down.

This is a type of book that is good when you want to just relax, sit outside with some coffee, and get lost in someone else's life. I appreciate it for that fact alone. I enjoyed Emet and Mercey. But some of the descriptions and such were a little too much, and just dragged on a little bit too long. I just wanted to get on with it. Less is always more.

I thought this was a sweet book but it started off really slow