The Saturday Night Supper Club Work by Carla Laureano

The Saturday Night Supper Club Work (Saturday Night Supper Club, #1)

by Carla Laureano

Denver chef Rachel Bishop has accomplished everything she’s dreamed and some things she never dared hope, like winning a James Beard Award and heading up her own fine-dining restaurant. But when a targeted smear campaign causes her to be pushed out of the business by her partners, she vows to do whatever it takes to get her life back . . . even if that means joining forces with the man who inadvertently set the disaster in motion.

Essayist Alex Kanin never imagined his pointed editorial would go viral. Ironically, his attempt to highlight the pitfalls of online criticism has the opposite effect: it revives his own flagging career by destroying that of a perfect stranger. Plagued by guilt-fueled writer’s block, Alex vows to do whatever he can to repair the damage. He just doesn’t expect his interest in the beautiful chef to turn personal.

Alex agrees to help rebuild Rachel’s tarnished image by offering his connections and his home to host an exclusive pop-up dinner party targeted to Denver’s most influential citizens: the Saturday Night Supper Club. As they work together to make the project a success, Rachel begins to realize Alex is not the unfeeling opportunist she once thought he was, and that perhaps there’s life―and love―outside the pressure-cooker of her chosen career. But can she give up her lifelong goals without losing her identity as well?

Reviewed by phyllish on

4 of 5 stars

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It is so obvious from reading this book that the author loves food. And that she knows how to cook. If it wasn’t for the fact that she talked about ingredients like asparagus and beets, my stomach would have been growling throughout the story. (I’m the opposite of a foodie, I think. My husband calls me a “Freddie Phooey”. I call my taste discriminating.)

I do really love to cook, though, and all kidding aside, I enjoyed reading not only the story of Rachel and Alex but how the restaurant operated and how Rachel prepared for the Supper Club. The amount of thought and preparation involved was amazing.

Aside from the food and the cooking, the story itself was well written. It flowed so naturally and kept my interest through the entire story.

The characters were very endearing. Rachel had a secret pain that caused her to leave home at the age of 15. And she battled incredible odds and became an award-winning chef with her education only that she gained on the job. She had a lot of learning about trust.

Alex was so kind. The fact that he couldn’t rest easy knowing he was the cause of Rachel’s pain, even though it was the opposite of his intention, and that he had to apologize to her was so sweet. I love the way he procrastinates, his insecurities, his seeming arrogance, and especially that he had the guts to cook for Rachel.

At the beginning of the story, there were mentions of people in the restaurant industry going to get drunk and to hook up after work which made me a little nervous about the direction I thought this was going. Rest assured that I was wrong. Other than the fact that there was a physical attraction between Alex and Rachel, there was very little emphasis on a physical relationship in the story at all.

For those who don’t like reading about alcohol in books, any mention of it here did not glorify it. One of the characters would not drink alcohol at all.


This review was originally posted on AmongTheReads.net

I am grateful to Celebrate Lit for giving me a copy of this book. The fact I received this book for free does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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  • 15 January, 2018: Reviewed