Title: Family Reservations – a Novel
Author: Liza Palmer
@LizaPalmer
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Year: 2024
Genres: Satire/ Fiction
Format: Ebook (Kindle)
Amazon: https://a.co/d/h1YlIQ8
My Rating: 4/5 stars.
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Summary
On the night of their annual New Year’s Eve party, world-renowned chef/restaurateur: Maren Winter disses her youngest daughter, Athena publicly, for serving pork chop instead of pork belly. Too bad the press was present, and this was not overlooked. What follows is a family meltdown that results in mental distress and humiliation among Maren’s adult daughters: Sloane, Jules, and Athena as they each try to forge their own paths from being under their mother’s shadow all their lives.
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Reaction
The honorable banquet in which both Maren and her daughter Athena were presented with awards in the middle made this book the gem it is for me. The suspense over how the mother would feel toward her daughter’s win during this ceremony was nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing. Through it all, I felt that Maren’s character definitely resembled that of the film The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestley. She is frightening, bold and straightforward with an air of might and superiority. (As a matter of fact, if this book ever gets adapted into a film, Meryl Streep would do the Maren character great justice. Yes, I am positive about that.)
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Another highlight of the book was when Sloane’s supposedly hushed, harsh remark about Athena was heard by the media and spread across the elite culinary world. I understandably felt her stress and embarrassment over it.
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All in all, this book was okay. It has everything that a foodie would enjoy. It opened my eyes to the world of chefs and restaurants, cookbooks and recipe perfection. Thanksgiving is next week and this is an apt read to celebrate it with. Cheers!