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by Susan Mallery

After nearly a decade as a sous-chef in a trendy eatery, Jenna is desperate for a change. She's supported her ex-husband's dreams for so long that she can't even remember her own.

Until she sees a for-lease sign near her parents' home and envisions her very own cooking store. Her crash course in business is aided by a streetwise store manager and Jenna's adoptive mother.

But just as she's gaining a foothold in her new life, in walk her birth parents-aging hippies on a quest to reconnect with their firstborn. Now Jenna must figure out how to reconcile the free-spirited Serenity and Tom with her traditional parents, deal with her feelings for a new love interest and decide what to do about her ex's latest outrageous request. In the end, Jenna will find that there is no perfect family, only the people we love....

• ISBN10: 0778329518
• ISBN13: 9780778329510
• Publish Date: 29 March 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

After nearly a decade as a sous-chef in a trendy eatery, Jenna is desperate for a change. She's supported her ex-husband's dreams for so long that she can't even remember her own. Until she sees a for-lease sign near her parents' home and envisions her very own cooking store.


Her crash course in business is aided by a streetwise store manager and Jenna's adoptive mother. But just as she's gaining a foothold in her new life, in walk her birth parents—aging hippies on a quest to reconnect with their firstborn.

Now Jenna must figure out how to reconcile the free-spirited Serenity and Tom with her traditional parents, deal with her feelings for a new love interest and decide what to do about her ex's latest outrageous request. In the end, Jenna will find that there is no perfect family, only the people we love….

I think I’m ready to write this review now. The tears have been mopped up, the nose blown and the Kleenex thrown away!

What I can I say about this book, other than I adored it. If you’ve read any of Susan Mallery’s other books, you know she builds wonderful characters (some that are wonderfully good and others you’d like to see something really bad happen to) that suck you right into the story and don’t let you go until the last page.

Jenna, a sous chef by trade, was married to Aaron, a head chef who had a knack for making Jenna think she was significantly less than she was. An acknowledged affair later and three months later we find Jenna back in her hometown of Georgetown, Texas on the verge of opening a kitchen gadget store. She’s nervous and scared that she’s about to do something really stupid...after all this was a total impulse decision.

From this one impulsive decision we watch Jenna deal with her lack of confidence, in herself and in her cooking by learning to trust herself and those around her.

Once she finally start to feel like she can deal, she’s dealt a huge surprise. The birth parents she’s never really wanted to find suddenly blow into town wanting to “connect” with Jenna.

Serenity and Tom are hippies that were forced by their parents to give up their eldest daughter when they were teens. No one thought they would last, but here they are 32 years later still together and wanting to bring in the missing piece to their family.

Serenity is pushy, a bit self-centered and out there, but she seems to inherently know her daughter. She’s able to steer her in a direction that Jenna wouldn’t have gone (yeah Ellington) and yet have it be right.

The secondary characters in the story are great. From Jenna’s adoptive parents, her brother (who doesn’t love Dragon), Violet and Ellington, they round this story out perfectly.

Pick this one up. You’ll love it! Just make sure you have some kleenex handy.

5 Cocktails