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Recipe for Disaster
A funny and warm-hearted tale of kitchen disasters, domestic calamities and love against all odds.
Jake Goldman and Harry Hunter have been deadly rivals all through culinary school. Now at the top of their game, fate throws them back together again when they open their first restaurants in the small town of Easedale, just a few hundred metres from each other. Sharp knives and heavy pans at the ready, they start cooking up a storm to entice the locals their way.
Kate Walker has just lost her boyfriend and is about to lose her reputation at the local paper. Her only hope of salvaging her career is a down-and-dirty, tell-all feature about the seedy underbelly of the restaurant business. When one of Jake's team deserts him to join the dark (i.e. Harry's) side, Kate applies for the job, hoping the undercover investigation will get her all she needs to sort out her dead-end job - and maybe even her no-hope love life! Little does she know, when she follows the alluring smells into Jake's kitchen, that she is in for a major surprise...
Jake Goldman and Harry Hunter have been deadly rivals all through culinary school. Now at the top of their game, fate throws them back together again when they open their first restaurants in the small town of Easedale, just a few hundred metres from each other. Sharp knives and heavy pans at the ready, they start cooking up a storm to entice the locals their way.
Kate Walker has just lost her boyfriend and is about to lose her reputation at the local paper. Her only hope of salvaging her career is a down-and-dirty, tell-all feature about the seedy underbelly of the restaurant business. When one of Jake's team deserts him to join the dark (i.e. Harry's) side, Kate applies for the job, hoping the undercover investigation will get her all she needs to sort out her dead-end job - and maybe even her no-hope love life! Little does she know, when she follows the alluring smells into Jake's kitchen, that she is in for a major surprise...
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 9, 2009
One of the most enjoyable books I've read for a long time. A love story set in a new restaurant, owned by Jake a man who has had to struggle to get where he is, and who has a passion for food. He also has an enemy who is determined to bring Jake down and a staff of quirky and loveable people who put up with his biggest rants with "yes, Chef". If you like a good yarn, read it. If you like a good love story, read it. If you like stories about restaurants, read it. If you are a fan of Jill Mansell, try this one.
Recommended to anyone who likes to get engrossed in the lives of others.
Recommended to anyone who likes to get engrossed in the lives of others.
May 13, 2020
Easy, sweet read during Iso.
January 8, 2019
(I actually finished this long time ago, just haven't updated here)
This was an enjoyable read, which takes the reader into the nonstop world of running a restaurant with your biggest opponent biting at your heels. There are many twists and turns in the journey and the author keeps one entranced from beginning to end. Definitely a good read!
This was an enjoyable read, which takes the reader into the nonstop world of running a restaurant with your biggest opponent biting at your heels. There are many twists and turns in the journey and the author keeps one entranced from beginning to end. Definitely a good read!
February 28, 2018
Fairly typical chick-lit, an easy read. A good, if predictable, story with some likeable, unlikeable and downright despicable characters. The story is centred around the restaurant kitchens of two rival chefs and weaves in their lives and loves along the way. A good holiday read.
January 26, 2025
An engaging and inoffensive book with a sweet storyline and characters that I became quite endeared to. I can always tell how much a story has captured my attention by how disappointed I am that I don't get to keep knowing how the story goes and this one got me good.
May 17, 2015
Rating: 5/5 stars
I just had to, and I'm not sorry for it. It is actually a lovely book. I needed to read chick-lit and I'm glad I picked up this book after leaving it for a while.
The book is narrated mostly by Jake Goldman and Harry Hunter, rivals since culinary school. Fate throws them back together when they open their first restaurant just metres away from each other! At the same time, Kate Walker hopes to uphold her reputation in the world of journalism by staying undercover in Jake's kitchen as a waitress to come up with the seedy underbelly of the restaurant business. Later in the book, Kate falls in love with Jake... just before truths were out. Such plot twist.
I really enjoyed the book more than the last time I read it (could not finish it the first time). First thing first, the character building in the book is exquisitely done, and despite having more or less 4-5 POVs, I did not experience even the slightest of confusion. Another thing I love as well is the atmosphere described in the book - the description of the places, especially the hectic and 'hot' kitchen atmosphere, was written vividly, and thus, successfully. A slightly slow start, but it wasn't that bad.
Really, the book's well-written and definitely a chick-lit you don't want to miss.
I just had to, and I'm not sorry for it. It is actually a lovely book. I needed to read chick-lit and I'm glad I picked up this book after leaving it for a while.
The book is narrated mostly by Jake Goldman and Harry Hunter, rivals since culinary school. Fate throws them back together when they open their first restaurant just metres away from each other! At the same time, Kate Walker hopes to uphold her reputation in the world of journalism by staying undercover in Jake's kitchen as a waitress to come up with the seedy underbelly of the restaurant business. Later in the book, Kate falls in love with Jake... just before truths were out. Such plot twist.
I really enjoyed the book more than the last time I read it (could not finish it the first time). First thing first, the character building in the book is exquisitely done, and despite having more or less 4-5 POVs, I did not experience even the slightest of confusion. Another thing I love as well is the atmosphere described in the book - the description of the places, especially the hectic and 'hot' kitchen atmosphere, was written vividly, and thus, successfully. A slightly slow start, but it wasn't that bad.
Really, the book's well-written and definitely a chick-lit you don't want to miss.
March 9, 2012
The plot is fairly predictable but it is so well written and the characters are so well portrayed by Morrison that this is a very enjoyable read. The rivalry between Jake and Harry was interesting to read, although the affair between Harry and Georgia was one of the weakest things about the story in the way it was written and how it all came together. I loved the blossoming relationship between Kate and Jake, although it did become a tedious when Kate kept vowing to tell Jake the truth at all those moments and never did - but I guess it wouldn't be as interesting a story if she told him from the outset. The stories of the supporting characters was also interesting too. Full review at http://chocolatedigestivebiscuit.blog...
August 28, 2014
Funny and light.
"A good relationship isn't about chucking stuff away and starting over, like you sometimes have to do in cooking. I think it's about surviving stuff."
It's fun reading this book. Though it is a bit of a drag that the story is so long that it becomes boring sometimes. The characters are really unique in their own ways.
There are many parts that I disliked but there are some parts that I would say really witty for you to think.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this chick-lit.
"A good relationship isn't about chucking stuff away and starting over, like you sometimes have to do in cooking. I think it's about surviving stuff."
It's fun reading this book. Though it is a bit of a drag that the story is so long that it becomes boring sometimes. The characters are really unique in their own ways.
There are many parts that I disliked but there are some parts that I would say really witty for you to think.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this chick-lit.
May 2, 2012
Typical chick lit. It was pretty obvious from about 1/4 of the way in what was going to happen in the end. Having said that it was an ideal book to read when I was tired before bed as I did not have to think very much.
The characters were on the whole likeable although the 'villain' was a little too obvious. It is a good read for when you are looking for something light but you probably won't even remember reading it in about 4 months.
The characters were on the whole likeable although the 'villain' was a little too obvious. It is a good read for when you are looking for something light but you probably won't even remember reading it in about 4 months.
June 28, 2012
A perfectly good bit of chick-lit to amuse the reader, who is willing to overlook the fact that no undercover reporter, of what really is a small time country newspaper, would get this much time off to write a story about the inner workings of local restaurants and their possible cheating the diners with so called "home made" products. The characters are well built and one knows immediately who to like and who to hate. A nice book to while away an afternoon with lighthearted reading.
September 11, 2013
Loved that the story has 2 interesting angles - the rivalry between Jake and Harry and the romance between Jake and Kate. Absolutely adore the distinct personalities that Jake hires to run the run the restaurant, especially Godfrey.
I laughed out loud in some sections and now my husband is curious about the book.
Only hitch is the rapidly shifting points of view. Slightly disorienting slipping in and out of so many heads and hearing so many voices.
I laughed out loud in some sections and now my husband is curious about the book.
Only hitch is the rapidly shifting points of view. Slightly disorienting slipping in and out of so many heads and hearing so many voices.
Read
July 24, 2011Completely mind numbing. The bad guy's bad. The good guy's good, then they fall in love at the end. If you want that kind of thing and not use your brain at all, go for it. Wasn't even funny. Disappointed.
October 26, 2008
This was a quick fun read
February 6, 2011
I loved this book. Didn't want it to end.
June 14, 2010
I ended up loving Jake and Kate in this book though the first 200 pages seemed to drag on, it was good to see that good guys don't finish last!
May 29, 2010
I Loved this book! It was so easy to like, it flowed really well and was just a fun read.
August 16, 2011
This was a fun read - pretty predictable in terms of the plot line, but I liked that it was set in the restaurant world so I learnt something along the way.
September 10, 2011
Fun, light hearted romance surrounded by food. What more could you ask for?
September 5, 2012
That was an easy fun chick lit!
December 24, 2012
one of my favorite books, never imagined the art of being a chef or a field journalist except when i read it !!
June 13, 2013
Wonderful chick lit read!! Listened to it as an audio book. Fabulously written by Suzy Aitchison cant recommend it highly enough
Want to read
October 19, 2013From PBC book sale
June 20, 2014
Ok romcom. Easy but not great.
July 7, 2014
Funny and engaging. Miriam Morrison's writing style is unique and eloquent. The plot can use more stirring up but overall, an enjoyable read.
September 20, 2014
I want to live in this book! From the first page to the last, I thought I was living the story rather than reading it. Miriam's work is simply sublime.
May 18, 2015
Nice easy read chick lit, bit unbelievable though.
June 13, 2011
This the best chick-lit book that I've read in a long time! Ahh jake...
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews