Review: Recipe for a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden

Recipe for a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties program, all opinions are my own.

This was super cute. It has some somber and serious moments which are balanced out with sweeter moments and a bit of magic. This is what I consider a clean romance, which I really appreciated. While the book does focus on the romance it is so much more than that. This book is about self discovery, family dynamics, forgiveness, and finding magic in the world. Georgia goes on quite the journey to recovery her sense of taste, but she also discovers things about herself and her life for each taste she gains back. I thought the character development and the descriptions of the food and the locations were very well done.

This follows Georgia, an aspiring chef who is just about to get the big promotion to run her own restaurant in Paris, when everything goes sideways for her. She finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her, her friends all knew about it, and to top it all of she has lost her sense of taste. She finds herself homeless, jobless, and a bit lost when she gets an email from her long lost mother whom she hasn't seen in 30 years. Her mentor tells her to get away from Paris for a while and let the dust settle and find her inspiration again. Georgia decides to reconnect with her mother and hopefully reignite the spark and inspiration she had for food and cooking. What she didn't plan for was falling for the handsome oysterman that lives next door in the process. Georgia finds herself asking lots of questions about her past and her future. In the end she has to decide where she wants to be and what will make her happy? Is it the being the chef at the fancy French restaurant in Paris, or is it being with the people she loves cooking what makes her happy?

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It had a nice mix of romance with a bit of family drama and self discovery. This does have a touch of magical realism, which worked well with Georgia's profession as a chef. I loved all the references to the food and cooking. If nothing else this book will make you hungry.

View all my reviews