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chloemakesbooks's review
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Enjoyable beach read. Lots of unfinished story threads, and a forced/overly convenient love story. Love that the descriptions of food were very real and period accurate. As with all historical fiction, you can't think too hard when all the famous people show up. Clearly very autobiographical. As usual, the wide eyed ingenue routine was fairly irritating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexism
clarelou612's review
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There were some things I absolutely loved about this book and some things that completely did not work for me. The good: the food writing was unsurprisingly excellent. It was a mostly lighthearted and relaxing read. There were a few little mysteries over the course of the book that kept me engaged.
What I didn’t like so much: there were a lot of side plots and extra characters that felt unnecessary. The inclusion of some real historic figures as main characters along with some purely made up ones felt odd - the real chefs and artists mentioned made sense, but having the fictional Stella interacting with some real and some fictional figures didn’t work for me. (Although I certainly can’t come up with a better way to tell the story haha)
Overall I recommend it because it’s a fun story, but you do have to suspend your disbelief a bit.
What I didn’t like so much: there were a lot of side plots and extra characters that felt unnecessary. The inclusion of some real historic figures as main characters along with some purely made up ones felt odd - the real chefs and artists mentioned made sense, but having the fictional Stella interacting with some real and some fictional figures didn’t work for me. (Although I certainly can’t come up with a better way to tell the story haha)
Overall I recommend it because it’s a fun story, but you do have to suspend your disbelief a bit.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Child abuse
librarybribery's review
The main reason I didn’t finish the book was the large role that the main character’s suffering from repeated childhood sexual assault played in her actions. It’s described in a decent amount of detail right at the beginning, and I was hoping to get past it but like others have said it is a driving part of her character. Which to me leads to a weird juxtaposition, between this horrific thing that happened and the lighter, touristy travel novel that the book is advertised and otherwise reads as. The touristy stuff seemed superficial, the coincidences that drove the plot became eye-rolly, and the mom didn’t need to be as cruel for the plot to still work. It just didn’t work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
christinesreads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
carlys_currently_'s review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia
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