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Good Enough to Eat

Stacey Ballis

3.61 · Rating details · 3,411 Ratings · 317 Reviews

The last thing Melanie expected to lose when she went on a diet was her husband.

Former lawyer Melanie Hoffman lost half her body weight and opened a gourmet take-out café specializing in healthy and delicious food. Then her husband left her-for a woman twice her size. Immediately afterwards, she's blindsided by a financial crisis. Melanie reaches out to a quirky roommat ...more

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Paperback, 320 pages

Published September 7th 2010 by Berkley (first published July 29th 2010)

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Lists with This Book

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate

Foodie Novels

243 books — 151 voters

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Nouvelle Cuisine

338 books — 234 voters

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Nov 04, 2010 Kris Irvin rated it it was ok

So I started this book loving it. I love Melanie, and the characters, and the whole idea of Mel's business.

But then it started getting all language-y, and a little too rated R in the bedroom, and then the ending was like, what was that? Was that an ending? That was a crappy ending.

So what I am saying in this intensely badly written review is, I wish this book had been cleaner, and ended more solidly. If for those things, it would have been a 5 star review. Alas, 2 stars it is.

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Sep 24, 2010 Jennie rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2010, chick-lit

I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I felt like a lot of the dialogue was forced and more proper than people actually speak and i found that rather jarring. While I liked the overall idea of the plotline, it fell rather flat. Some of the characters felt a little forced and all of Kai's nicknames for Mel? Just didn't fit at all with either of their personalities, at least to me.

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Oct 07, 2010 Angela rated it it was ok

Shelves: library-books, 2010-books

For me, the first half of this book was much better than the second half. Towards the end, I just wanted it to be over with already. Cheesy dialogue at times. Do grown men actually say, "now, scoot"? Unsatisfying ending. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

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May 20, 2011 Brian rated it it was ok

When one reads the description of a book on the back or the inside flap, you get certain expectations. There are some books that make me REALLY excited to read them, and others that leave me lukewarm. And it's absolutely impossible to tell how a book will turn out other than simply reading it. That being said, what drew me to this book was the fact that the main character had lost a lot of weight, just like myself. Melanie was married to a thin guy, Andrew. She was fat. Then she lost weight, and ...more

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Jul 08, 2013 Cynthia (Bingeing On Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

I had so many hopes for this book. Melanie is a former fat girl who lost her husband to another woman (a fat one) after she lost a bunch of weight. Then she decides to open a healthy eating store. I think part of what saved this book was the food . . . all the glorious food!! Every single chapter had a food name or a dish as the title and it talked about a childhood memory that Melanie had regarding that food. And oh man, the descriptions of the food throughout the book were glorious. It made me I had so many hopes for this book. Melanie is a former fat girl who lost her husband to another woman (a fat one) after she lost a bunch of weight. Then she decides to open a healthy eating store. I think part of what saved this book was the food . . . all the glorious food!! Every single chapter had a food name or a dish as the title and it talked about a childhood memory that Melanie had regarding that food. And oh man, the descriptions of the food throughout the book were glorious. It made me so hungry and it made me wish that Melanie was a real person so she could be my personal chef and cook healthy for me all the time. There were even recipes at the end of the book! The recipes were for every dish that had a chapter title and there were both healthy and decadent versions of the recipes. Mmm . . . yummy!

So back to the story . . . I enjoyed it at first. I thought Melanie was a really relatable character. I am still overweight and I have just as many issues with food as Melanie does. Like me, Melanie is addicted to food and is struggling to find a balance between satisfying her cravings and treating her body right. I know from personal experience that this is so hard. I absolutely loved her nutritionist and kind of wish she had been featured more. Melanie only had phone consultations with her, but she was super supportive and completely nonjudgmental. I loved the nutritionist's opinion of food: there is no bad food and everything is fine in moderation! And can I please get a nutritionist who will give me a homework assignment to eat cupcakes please?

I also loved the friendships with Delia and Kai and Phil and the addition of Nadia was awesome. I think where it started to fall apart for me was with the introduction of Nathan. The plot started to drag out way too much during the romance and it seemed like all the "problems" they had were manufactured ones by the author for the sake of creating more drama. Melanie started to seem really angry and she overreacted at some stuff and she just didn't seem to care about other people's feelings. Nathan was a bit boring. I liked him at first, but then he started getting in Melanie's business. Nadia lived with Melanie and Nathan was all panicked because they didn't know much about Nadia'a past. And then he started putting that big in Melanie's ear. I guess she thought that since Nadia lived with her, she was supposed to share everything about her past. Umm, no. They didn't even know each other well enough to do that. And the ending of the book was just blah. I still don't know if there was any character development or what the point of the story was. I thought the point was for Melanie to try and rebuild her life after her husband left her. It started out that way, but then it just disintegrated into a predictable chick lit story, I wish this story had gone deeper and the only reason I gave this book three stars instead of two was because of all the food. ...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Teresa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, books-i-own, for-review

What its about: A woman who realizes that her body isn't going to be able to sustain her unhealthy ways. She loses half of her body weight and quits her high stress job as a lawyer. She goes to culinary school and opens up a gourmet take out cafe that specializes in healthy food. She's finally getting her life together when she receives a huge shock. Her husband leaves her for a woman bigger than she ever was. Introduce a financial crisis, a new roommate and a potential boyfriend, stir vigorousl ...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Patti rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, i-own-this-book, read-in-2010, published-2010-read-in-2010

Below is from my review on my blog: http://pattispenandpicks.blogspot.com...

I received Good Enough to Eat by Stacey Ballis at a very appropriate time in my life. The main character Melanie Hoffman has just gotten divorced, and so have I--different circumstances, but both Melanie and I have gone through big and interesting changes as a result.

Melanie has achieved what so many women work at and obsess over--she lost over 100 pounds and has gotten herself to a healthy weight. She has also changed j ...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Myckyee rated it really liked it

Melanie Hoffman, the heroine of Good Enough to Eat by Stacey Ballis, tackles what could be some very depressing challenges in her life: divorce, food issues, entrepreneurship (she owns a gourmet take-out café) and relationships. She manages (and sometimes mismanages) it all with pluck and support from family and friends.

Each chapter in this novel begins with Melanie's reminisces about how certain foods relate to events in her life, be they large or small. Quite a variety of food is covered - mas ...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Sarah rated it did not like it

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

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Aug 10, 2010 Tara rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2010

I really wanted to like this book. I love Jen Lancaster, so I figured that her BFF is my BFF, right? I also love books about food, so this seemed right up my alley, but I really struggled to get through it.

The story centers around Melanie, a former fat girl who left the law business to open a healthy take out restaurant. If that wasn't enough reinvention, her husband (clearly a chubby chaser) leaves her for her fat boss. Melanie is now forced to navigate a new world with her co-workers, roommate ...more

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May 29, 2013 Tiffani Long rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013

OH GOOD READS, PLEASE LET ME HAVE HALF STARS!! I have a love/no love relationship with this book (hate is too strong a word). In the first two chapters, I was ready to put it down but since I was at the pool with nothing else to read...I carried on. I could TOTALLY identify with Melanie's love and adoration of food and her struggle to feel "normal" after losing over 100lbs. I did enjoy her dialogue with her food counselor about how we obsess over 5 pounds and what we are really saying/doing when ...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Joy rated it really liked it

I read this in 2 days flat. It's a light hearted read with serious warmth. Melanie, the heroine, is struggling with a new life...She's coping with all sorts of new stresses from her recent divorce, significant weight-loss, a business, unexpected financial woes, as well as new personal relationships.

What I like most about Melanie (and all of Stacey's heroines that I've "met" so far) is that she's real. She has flaws & insecurities, as well as, successes & pride. Ballis provides the crucia ...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Wendy rated it it was ok

I couldn't get through this book. I made it to page 26 and said to myself "that is it. no more." I kept reading the same pages over and over either due to lack of interest or the fact that she kept saying the same things over and over. When I picked it up, it looked like a fun book to read but I ended up not being able to picture the characters and get my mind truly into the book. I don't like books that are unrealistic...she was a high powered attorney turned chef of health foods....used to hav ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Tina rated it it was ok

I wanted to like this book, but it seemed to be missing some depth. Even though all of the characters had backstories that lent them some complexity (especially Nadia), I alternated between not really caring and feeling like it should have been explored more. At no point did I really "feel" any of the characters.

Also, all of Melanie's "crises" seemed to be magically resolved within a chapter or two. With the exception of her fixation on Andrew, nothing seemed to really impact her for very long. ...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance

At first this book started to piss me off when the heroine was starting in on her size previous to her weight loss and blah-blah. A few more pages in, and I stopped being pissed. Melanie had lost weight, and her husband because of it. She is a recovering food addict and I get the feeling that the author has had her share of food issues too. I know how hard it is to deal with food issues myself and I really felt that Ballis hits home with this book. I did find one thing to be VERY annoying. Her c ...more

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Oct 24, 2010 Barb Lawrence rated it really liked it

Shelves: culinary-fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book--probably the best culinary fiction I've read, and in the top five if you add in culinary non-fiction and memoirs. At first I was disappointed that recipes weren't included, until I realized they're all stuck at the end of the book (why not between chapters?). I can't wait to make the banana cake! I hope the author writes additional books--I found the characters believable and interesting. And inspiring.

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Apr 24, 2013 Melanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: chick-lit, food-novel

I really liked this book. I loved how spot-on Ballis's writing about being a fat girl and being a former fat girl was. It resonated so much with me. The characters were smart and sweet and interesting. And I want to try a bunch of the recipes! And it's always nice to read about a character with your own name. :)

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Oct 06, 2010 Amy rated it liked it

This was okay. I liked the general story line but at times it felt too scripted and not "real" enough.

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Jan 18, 2014 Sandi rated it really liked it

Initially, thought it was an okay read, but the last chapter to me, had tons of meaning to it. Almost quite in the middle, glad I didn't.

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Oct 12, 2010 Erin rated it liked it

This is a total chick lit, and a very light read, but entertaining too.

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Nov 02, 2013 Alexis added it

Shelves: 2013

Read for book club.

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Jul 06, 2012 Andrea Holladay rated it really liked it

Really good book that had you feeling a variety of emotions! I was slightly disappointed with the ending but overall it was a great read for any foodies out there.

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May 19, 2012 Claire rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2012

This book was So painful to finish. I never liked any of the characters (I hate "quirky" characters). It started off okay and just went downhill from there.

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Mar 25, 2013 Gina rated it it was ok

Shelves: chick-lit, library, published-2000-s, relationships, women-s-fiction, women-s-issues, 2013, book-club, chicago, ccc-club

Goodreads Description- Former lawyer Melanie Hoffman lost half her body weight and opened a gourmet take-out café specializing in healthy and delicious food. Then her husband left her-for a woman twice her size. Immediately afterwards, she's blindsided by a financial crisis. Melanie reaches out to a quirky roommate with a ton of baggage and becomes involved in a budding romance with a local documentary filmmaker.

In this warm and often laugh-out-loud novel, Melanie discovers that she still has a Goodreads Description- Former lawyer Melanie Hoffman lost half her body weight and opened a gourmet take-out café specializing in healthy and delicious food. Then her husband left her-for a woman twice her size. Immediately afterwards, she's blindsided by a financial crisis. Melanie reaches out to a quirky roommate with a ton of baggage and becomes involved in a budding romance with a local documentary filmmaker.

In this warm and often laugh-out-loud novel, Melanie discovers that she still has a lot to learn about her friends, her relationships with men, and herself-and that her weight loss was just the beginning of an amazing journey that will transform her life from the inside out..

This was your basic chick-lit book. There was nothing outstanding about it and the writing was mediocre. I picked this book up because it looked like a cute fun read and I had not read this author before. I liked the idea of the author trying to create a strong woman who has achieved her weight loss goals and opening her own food business to provide food for others that is healthy and tasty. Many woman know what its like to diet and eating bland gross food and because the food is so awful they fall off the wagon and go back to eating unhealthy. I liked how each chapter began with the name of a food and a brief description of Melanie's relationship with that food from the past and then that food shows up in the end of the chapter. I also liked the recipes at the end of the book. The author provided both healthy and classic recipes to appeal to all readers. These were all positives of the book. However, I had to rate this book 2 stars for so many reasons.

I don't want to get into spoilerland but I feel like I have to justify my 2 star rating. I had a major problem with the characters! Let's start with the main character, Melanie. We are introduced to her on the first page and the reader immediately learns that she has lost half her body weight and has opened her own business selling healthy food that also tastes good. The reader also learns that her husband, Andrew, has just announced that he wants a divorce out of nowhere. He has been having an affair with, in Melanie's words, a fat girl from his office. Melanie thinks that Andrew only loved her for her fat and when she lost weight he lost his love for her. In my opinion, this was a strange introduction to a book. You would think that a woman with weight loss issues wouldn't be so harsh as to call another big woman "fat". Basically I thought Melanie was mean. While I was reading there were so many times that I thought "Wow...she is really rude!" At first she is really mean, in a passive aggressive way, to her new roommate Nadia. Her behavior is excused because she has trust issues and has always been independent and having a new roommate is annoying. I wanted to yell at her and say "But you invited her to live with you so don't complain lady!!". Melanie's invasion into Nadia's privacy and past was beyond forgivable. Nadia had every right to be upset but when Melanie calls her sister, who conveniently shows up in the story to excuse her behavior, her response was for Melanie to forgive herself and it was Nadia's problem if she was going to be mad at Melanie after being such a good friend. WHATEVER!! If I were Nadia I don't think I could have forgiven her. Melanie was also jealous of her friend and co-worker, Delia, when she received a windfall. Now Delia is a character who has been living in a women's shelter for a year after leaving an abusive husband. Who in their right mind would be jealous of Delia, who has had such a difficult life, when something good happens to them. Especially when she is supposed to be Melanie's friend. She also treats her new love interest very rudely in many places in the book. I don't have enough space to talk about all of Melanie's bad behavior! I also didn't like that the author found a way to justify her behavior using her sister and her weight loss coach Carey. Melanie drove me nuts.

Then there was Kai, her gay co-worker. He was pretty cool but his constant little cutesy nicknames for Melanie, like Little Bittle, and Bitsy, just was annoying and over the top. I also feel like Kai and his partner were portrayed as just stereotypical gay men and they both could have added so much to the story if they hadn't been written as so silly.

I did like Delia and Nadia. Their roles were minor but they were good hearted. I just wish they weren't Melanie's target for her issues. I have a mixed feelings about Melanie's boyfriend Nate. Sometimes he was a total selfish jerk and other times he was a perfect boyfriend.

The characters were all over the place and I didn't feel like Ballis had a solid idea of what she really wanted to do with them as the story progressed.

The ending was also so bad. It literally just ended. I had no idea I was at the end of the book and then I turned the page and it was the last one. It was so confusing. I know that not all books are wrapped up nice and neat and the author usually has a reason for an open ending and the reader can even figure out why there is an open ending. But I think the author just wanted to end the book so she did. I can't really explain it without giving too much away but lets just say the ending was really abrupt!

So needless to say, I won't be recommending this book to others. The author had a really good idea for a book but she really lost her way. The concept was good but Ballis didn't carry it out. The book just seemed amateurish. There are much better chick lit books out there and my recommendation would to read a different one. 2 stars. ...more

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Nov 10, 2017 Kimberly rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017

This book started off great. Melanie loses half her weight and then her husband leaves her, so she's trying to navigate her new life and her newly opened restaurant. I appreciated Melanie's attitude toward things, especially food. There were wonderful insights and recipes here. And she doesn't meet "the man" until 1/3 of the way into the book! But then about halfway everything just stalls. It didn't feel like the story was progressing, and there was just a lot of talking. It wasn't fun anymore, ...more

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Apr 30, 2018 Christine rated it liked it

The absolute least adjective-y Ballis novel I've read so far...awesome!! I was thrilled to not have to re-read any sentences after trying to stumble through clunky Adjective-ville.

One of the major plot points is heckin' *frustrating* though...
FFS, why didn't Melanie contact her homeowners insurance company about the condo association assessment?? She had just purchased a condo outright, cash - who wouldn't insure that investment? Yet although assessments are a standard part of a condo-owners pol ...more

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Apr 07, 2018 Chewitt84 rated it it was ok

This book started off so strong. I liked Melanie. I liked Nadia. The first half of the book had me hooked. The second half was dull and made no sense. I’ll be honest, I skimmed a lot of the second half.

The ending seemed...rushed. As if the author was only allotted a certain amount of pages and was quickly approaching her page limit and needed an ending.

I’m more pissed than anything that I wasted my time on this book. I was rooting for Melanie and it just ended abruptly.

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Feb 01, 2018 Lisa Lewis rated it really liked it

Shelves: chick-lit

I enjoyed this book, a realistic twist on the Cinderella-type story about a "fat girl who loses weight" and finds love... maybe. Stacey Ballis' characters are similar from book to book, but all likable and fun. I find myself wishing that she would take one of her novels and stick with the characters through a series of a few books, so we could get to know them more deeply. Nice, light read.

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Apr 03, 2018 Lydia Oxenreider rated it it was ok

I was excited about the book when I read the description on the back. Sounded like a powerful woman and a funny friend. While Mel was powerful with how she leads her life and her new roommate was fun at times, it just seems like the book dragged on. Same old problem throughout the book. Crappy ex-husband and battling weight. No real plot twists.

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Aug 02, 2017 Jennifer Berg rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this Ballis book more than the last few I've read. The main character is sympathetic and not snobby, she has a great cast of supporting characters, and (view spoiler)

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Quotes from Good Enough to Eat

“Being a compulsive overeater is no different from being an alcoholic or drug addict. The only difference is that you can avoid drugs and alcohol completely and you have to have a relationship with food every day for the rest of your life. It's actually the hardest addiction to live with. If you were an alcoholic and someone said to you that you were required to have a single drink three to five times a day, but were not supposed to ever drink to excess, or a drug addict who was required to take just one pill severeal times a day every day, but you're not supposed to ever take more than that...no one would ever make it through rehab.” — 20 likes

“Going to the gym...all those people who always told me that you get addicted to it, that endorphins kick in, that eventually you crave it and look forward to it are sick lying ****s and I want to choke them with a protein bar and pummel them about the head with a bottle of SmartWater.” — 13 likes

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