The Lost Recipe for Happiness

by Barbara O'Neal (Goodreads Author)

book data

387 ratings, 3.62 average rating, 129 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		18%
4		37%
3		32%
2		8%
1		2%

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published

December 1st 2008

details

Audio CD

isbn13

9781415954478

description

In this sumptuous new novel, Barbara O’Neal offers readers a celebration of food, family, and love as a woman searches for the elusive ingredient we…more

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Jan 24, 2009

Tattered Cover Book Store added it (review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: jackie-recommends, staff-recommends

This isn't "Sex in the City" chic lit--this one actually has some seriousness and some heft. Elena, the lone survivor of a horrific car wreck that killed a number of her family and her boyfriend, is a chef now, living with her damaged body and her more damaged soul in the tough, male dominated world of high end cuisine. She's offered her first executive chef position with the challenge of renovating and recreating a restaurant in Aspen. I absolutely FELL into this book. I identif...more

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Jan 29, 2009

Steven rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: chick-lit, fiction, romance

Read in January, 2009

Elena Alvarez is fired in the first pages of this engaging story. The same day she's hired as executive chef of a new restaurant in Aspen, Colorado. She's a brilliant chef (which is both why she was fired and hired) with the talent, warmth, and toughness to unite her new staff and make this new restaurant world-class. Although her career is successful she's never found a love that would endure. She might now. Elena also has ghosts that haunt her--a sister and boyfriend who were both killed in th...more

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Feb 17, 2009

Sonja rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: fiction, strong-female-character

Read in April, 2009

Finally a book I really liked and I finished! Elena is a woman who has suffered tragedy and survived. She is strong and focused on her career in a man's world of restaurant chefs. The story follows her as she has the opportunity (after being fired)to pursue her dream of being the head chef of her own restaurant.
I loved the character development, the fact that everyone was not perfect and how they each dealt with their own issues. I am not a cook, but the recipes woven through out the s...more

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4 comments

Nov 30, 2009

Yy added it (review of isbn 0553385518)

The Lost Recipe for Happiness, Monday, November 30th, 2009
By Ying Ying Ruan
“The lost recipe for happiness” is a book for food lovers, and also tells a great story in a wonderful manner. My response to this novel will be mostly positive, because I found it to be a unique narrative amongst the few books I had read so far. The author Barbara O’Neal has used her writing talents to combined different aspect of a woman life to present a story that is exotic and extremely interestin...more The Lost Recipe for Happiness, Monday, November 30th, 2009
By Ying Ying Ruan
“The lost recipe for happiness” is a book for food lovers, and also tells a great story in a wonderful manner. My response to this novel will be mostly positive, because I found it to be a unique narrative amongst the few books I had read so far. The author Barbara O’Neal has used her writing talents to combined different aspect of a woman life to present a story that is exotic and extremely interesting. Elena Alvarez’s character has been presented emotionally and physically. She is going through struggles, to make her painful way to the top of the ladder and reaching a position of a head chef in a new restaurant.
The revelation of her past kept haunting her in a farm of a ghost, taking away her peace and harmony. We also notice mystical and paranormal elements which are very strong, but one begins to feel as if they are very natural part of the narrative.
Another good part of the novel is the recipe at the end of every chapter. Since this is a story of a chef some dish or drink is always being mentioned. The melody of colors makes the recipes more tempting giving a global view of the good culture and taste. The idea of the recipe at the end of the chapter leaves the readers with something to look forward to and haven’t for the taste buds. I think this is the part I found most unusual and intriguing.
Barbara O’Neal has definitely made classic effort to make the story, the characters and the plot despicable for the readers. However, there are few that I did not appreciate, one is about a trouble teenager girl’s character, which seem slightly different and off the actual plot. Another factor is also the accident that affected Elena spiritually and physically, but no specific cause for it is stated vividly in the story. One more discrepancy is about the cover of the book and actual narrative inside, irked me, because of the color of dog.
In closing, the lost recipe for happiness is a book with rioting, emotions, but enjoyable. As a reader, I felt I have greater understanding how a restaurant is run and the relationships that have to come together, to make a truly successful business. The main Character was well drown and strong yet totally believable. “She knew the recipe for happiness is worth every risk.” (O’Neal 460)

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Mar 17, 2009

Briana rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in March, 2009

I was really excited about this book - I liked the premise and the story about characters overcoming tragedy and choosing to take risks. I have also been reading some other non-fiction about food, so I enjoyed the fictional tie-in with all the recipes and narrative about creating new food in the restaurant.

I was, however, put off by a few things. First of all, if an author is going to write a character who speaks Spanish, get an editor for the Spanish!! 75% of what Elena said was co...more

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Dec 30, 2009

Sobia rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in December, 2009

A well written story, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I liked it or not.

I did finish it, so that's a plus, and I'm relatively sure this was the author's debut novel, and as such it's pretty impressive. There were parts I liked, some more then others, and parts I like didn't, again some more then others. But having finished it, literally just a few minutes ago, I'm not sure how I feel. I sorta kinda want more, but at the same time don't know if I'd read another book by the author ...more

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Jun 19, 2009

Shonda rated it:

(review of isbn 0553591681)

bookshelves: read-2009

Read in June, 2009

I have to admit when I first skimmed the book description, I thought the plot would be: girl breaks up with current boy, relocates to new city for a fresh start, meets new boy, not sure if she should get involved with new boy, ends up getting involved with new boy and they begin new relationship. Ok, so maybe The Lost Recipe for Happiness can be summed up that way. But honestly, it’s so much more than that.

Elena Alvarez is a complicated character, but extremely likable. She’s haunt...more

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Apr 29, 2009

Gail rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: magical-realism

Read in April, 2009

This book whispers magic in sweet ghost companions and lingering pains from the past. Elena Alvarez is a gifted chef with a talent for cooking rooted in knowledge, training, and her New Mexico roots. Her body is in pain from a devastating accident in her teens and she is accompanied -- not haunted -- by the ghosts of her sister, cousin, and lover who died. With gentleness and passion, this story is told of how on the day she was fired for daring to draw attention from the executive chef and he...more

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Dec 07, 2008

Jackie rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: 5-star, cooking-crafting, pleasure-reading, work-review-related-reading

Read in December, 2008

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Nov 03, 2009

Katherine Coble rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in November, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I truly wanted to love this book. Based on the light, airy cover (different than the one pictured here), the jacket copy and cover blurbs from other authors I adore, this seemed like a shoe-in for my top 10 of 2009.

But it seemed like almost everywhere the author could have zigged she zagged. And like a chef who tries to do too many things for one meal and turns out a mediocre supper, O'Neal tried too hard to pack this story with too many different directions. It's not sure if it...more I truly wanted to love this book. Based on the light, airy cover (different than the one pictured here), the jacket copy and cover blurbs from other authors I adore, this seemed like a shoe-in for my top 10 of 2009.

But it seemed like almost everywhere the author could have zigged she zagged. And like a chef who tries to do too many things for one meal and turns out a mediocre supper, O'Neal tried too hard to pack this story with too many different directions. It's not sure if it wants to be a breezy romance novel, a funky piece of literary fiction or a stylized fictional restaurant memoir a la Anthony Bourdain. So you wind up with a woman badly scarred and in pain from a car wreck in her youth starting a restaurant for a handsome movie director with piles of money whom she will undoubtedly fall in love with while she talks to and has hot sweaty sex with various ghosts. Actual ghosts. It was at least parts of three books fighting for dominance in one space.

A lot of folks here on Goodreads have said they had problems with the secondary love story between two gay characters and I did, too. Not because I find gay love stories icky, but because it seemed so tacked on to curry favour with a certain audience. The character of Patrick was never fully developed so having his love story take up book time seemed as interesting as reading about the love story of someone else in another book.

In several other places it seemed as though the author had a scene she just wanted so desperately to write that she went ahead and wrote it, whether or not it made sense in the context of the larger story she was supposedly telling. The worst example of such a scene was that after pages and pages about the tight schedule for restaurant preparation, describing the growing pain and exhaustion of the lead character and the straits of the restaurant in general the characters decide to do an Iron Chef-style cookoff to decide who gets to listen to what music in the kitchen. So much for the woman just taking command. Instead we have this thing, which reads more like a short story from the fiction section of Good Housekeeping or Cosmo. And characters who we have been told have too few hours in the day and are pushing past the point of exhaustion wind up cooking a three-course dinner each for a large number of people at 11pm. Fun scene--but it didn't fit the larger book.

So why three stars? Because where it does work, it works very well. I had fun for a lot of it and I'll probably read her second novel eventually. You can tell she wanted to tell a good story. Maybe next time she'll tell one good story and not try to cram a couple of others in on top of it in the same book.
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Mar 25, 2009

Jenifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 28, 2009

Kim rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: 09books

Read in January, 2009

The weather here being what it is, I was glad this book showed up when it did, so that I could transport myself away from here (even if I did only go to Aspen, land of, well, snow).

This book was completely made for me. Ever since I graduated from college, I have picked up and "fresh-started" more times than it is probably prudent for me to admit. So the first events of the book, in which chef Elena Alvarez leaves behind a restaurant she helped create to have her own kitchen...more

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Sep 05, 2009

Nancy rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in September, 2009

This is an airport book, good for nothing more than a long flight. Elena wants to be executive chef of a really cool restaurant and have everybody think she's The Shit. But she is Haunted. By the ghosts of her sister and her Soul Mate. Any author that can use the words "soul mate" over and over again, without a single soupcon of irony, is not an author anyone wants to read anywhere but on a very boring flight.

And also, there is a LOT of sex in this book (spoiler alert: ...more

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Mar 10, 2009

Candice rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in March, 2009

This was one of the books I won from Reading Group Choices. It was also perfect for reading in airports and on planes since it was a rather light chick lit read. That doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. The main character, Elena, was horribly injured in an auto accident that killed everyone else in the car. Twenty years later she is a chef in an upscale restaurant in Aspen. She must learn to let go of the past in order to seize the opportunities that are presented to her in the present. Betw...more

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Mar 22, 2009

Cindy rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

bookshelves: 2009-read

Read in April, 2009

What a great book! From the very first page, I sympathized with Elena who had just been fired from a restaurant she helped to establish by the executive chef who just happened to also be her boyfriend. She was then immediately offered a position by the owner of the restaurant, Julian, to be executive chef for another restaurant he owned.
I related to Elena in so many ways. She loved her big dog Alvin, which any dog lover will be able to relate to! She suffered from pain after receiving ma...more

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Feb 25, 2009

Mary rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in February, 2009

I enjoyed reading this story. As much as I don't like to cook, this story makes me wish I had a more open mind about a variety of food and tastes. The story tells about a woman who has severe back and leg problems due to a car accident that happened when she was younger and the loss of loved ones that happened as a result. She is a chef in a restaurant she co-owns with her boyfriend. When they have another argument, she decides that that is the last one they have, and quits. As she is walki...more

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Feb 25, 2009

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in February, 2009

If this book had been a mass-market paperback, without having the pretense of being anything but an incredibly cheesy romance novel (with the "romance" being some of the worst written ever)...it would have still be no more than two stars. But, at least it would be honest about what it is. Still, the plot isn't horrible, and it is definitely not a contender for "worst book ever" (see Breaking Dawn, The Saturday Wife, and a few others). This is ok--but, a little less than, b...more

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Aug 10, 2009

Allison rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: chick-lit

Read in August, 2009

I thought this book had a lot of potential and I liked the originality of the main character, Elena Alvarez being a chef. However, I felt that the romance story line between Elena and her boss, famous movie director Julian Liswood, seemed to interfere. The whole book I found myself trying to figure out who Elena was and it was not until the end that I started to feel anything about her as a character. The ghost that would visit her did not help in understanding her more, in fact they seemed to d...more

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May 04, 2009

Margaret rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in May, 2009

I really liked the premise of the book. A survior of a terrible accident that killed her sister, a cousin and her boyfriend, she has chronic pain but continues her dream to run her own kitchen. the ghosts of her family are watching over her along with her dog. the author has a great ability to describe foods with their smells and tastes. Her characters are true and well drawn. the big drawback of the book is the rude language(though I know that's part of kitchen life) and there is graphic sex( I...more

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Feb 13, 2009

C rated it:

(review of isbn 0553385518)

Read in February, 2009

recommends it for: everyone

My faith in the capacity of literature to affect and ultimately change its reader was restored by this book. Everyone should own a copy, and if not for the author's ability to represent pain in a very real and significant way, then for the beautiful writing. Even those who are not fans of ghost stories will appreciate this text; the supernatural aspects are seamlessly woven through the fabric of the storyline in such a way that the strange and uncanny are diminished and become more actuality t...more

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