THE COOKBOOK CLUB Book Review

The Cookbook Club¹ by Beth Harbison, physical book, 348 pages

Synopsis from GoodReads: MUST LOVE BUTTER: The Cookbook Club is now open to members. Foodies come join us! No diets! No skipping dessert!

Margo Everson sees the call out for the cookbook club and knows she’s found her people. Recently dumped by her self-absorbed husband, who frankly isn’t much of a loss, she has little to show for her marriage but his ‘parting gift’—a dilapidated old farm house—and a collection of well-loved cookbooks. Aja Alexander just hopes her new-found friends won’t notice that that every time she looks at food, she gets queasy. It’s hard hiding a pregnancy, especially one she can’t bring herself to share with her wealthy boyfriend and his snooty mother. Trista Walker left the cutthroat world of the law behind and decided her fate was to open a restaurant…not the most secure choice ever. But there she could she indulge her passion for creating delectable meals and make money at the same time.

The women bond immediately, but it’s not all popovers with melted brie and blackberry jam. Margo’s farm house is about to fall down around her ears; Trista’s restaurant needs a makeover and rat-removal fast; and as for Aja, just how long can you hide a baby bump anyway? In this delightful novel, these women form bonds that go beyond a love grilled garlic and soy sauce shrimp. Because what is more important in life than friendship…and food?

BOOK REVIEW: I started reading this last year and made it probably 60% of the way through it and decided I wanted it to be a read for my Virtual Book Club so I paused it and I'm so glad that I did! I don't annotate anything but you better believe that every mention of a cookbook and recipe in this book was marked with a little tab. So many, in fact, that I ran out of the specific color tab for those and had to go to the next closest tab. Now I'm going to put together a list of all recipes mentioned so that my book club can pick a recipe, make it, and then share with us what they think of it! I really want to make the grilled Havarti and tomato sandwich with basil from the Magnolia Table cookbook...but I don't have it. I'll have to see if the library has it.

Each chapter if focused on a particular person. We start with Margo and her husband coming home from work only to tell her about his promotion and that he is leaving her and moving to San Francisco. Our first chapter with Trista is when she is standing in her bar. The one she worked at through college and bought from the previous owner after she left the law firm she was with. Dear Aja has just realized, thanks to Margo, that she is pregnant. The one character that we also hear from that isn't part of the Cookbook club is Max. Max went to college with Margo, majored in theater and went on to become a celebrity. In needing a break, he reached out to Margo after seeing her IG post about needing help fixing up her farm house. He jumped at the chance and ended up being the only one to do so. The story flowed seamlessly from chapter to chapter, character to character, that it didn't feel overwhelming.

This was a definite 5 stars for me. Y'all know I love a book with recipes, granted they weren't ones mentioned in the book. Like I would have enjoyed getting the cheese dip recipe from Trista, a version of the strawberry pie that Margo helped Aja make, and maybe burger mix that Trista came up with. I do like that there is a drink recipe for each season but I wish they were written with the quantities per drink because the quantities are listed for like 4 drinks but then the directions read to make one drink. This book also includes an interview with the author and discussion questions for book club so if anyone out there hosts a book club, you don't have to search for questions! This is the first book I've read from this author and I'll definitely be adding another book of hers to my TBR.

5/5 Stars

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