The Cookbook Club – Book Review

New York Times bestselling author Beth Harbison whips together a witty and charming–and delicious–story about the secrets we keep, the friends we make, and the food we cook.

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?

No. of pages:- 382 pages

Date published:- October 20th 2020

Publisher:- William and Morrow

Genre:- Women’s Fiction

First of all, as many of you all know, I love cover books with great designs on it and so I got attracted to the cover. So this book has a great cover with delicious looking cake and cookbooks stacked in a corner so I decided to try out this book. There are recipes which you could try out at the end of each chapter.

But this book to me was a simple OK.

The story talks about three ladies–Margot who is facing a divorce and got a dilapidated farm house filled with old cookbooks forms a cookbook club. Trista, who left behind her decorate law career and decided to start up a restaurant is now facing debts and trying to repair the restaurant, and Aja who is a gardener and is trying to hide her pregnancy–the father of the child is a wealthy man and she is working for this man’s mother. The story talks about how these three women reunite together and talks about their friendships and courage together.

The story was a bit boring in the beginning but it got a bit of a climax towards the end. The descriptions of those delicious, mouth watering and yummy foods in the book made me hungry and wished I could eat those foods! Like creamy buns, melting chocolate cake, delicious tasty pasta…I mean I was imagining all those food descriptions in my hand, wishing I could have a slice of each of these foods that were described in the book! The writing was OK–the story was told from the perspectives of Margot, Aja and Trista so we know what all these women are going through and we could share the passion of their cooking and baking. Overall, the only good thing in the book was, I was hungry! The plot was slow, the characters were OK to me but nonetheless, it was an OK book.

Worth three stars!

Beth Harbison is the New York Times bestselling author of “Shoe Addicts Anonymous”, “Every Time You Go”, and more. Her latest book is “The Cookbook Club” is about the relationships formed over the age-old tradition of breaking bread together. Harbison, a former chef and cookbook author herself, included delicious recipes in this latest offering and continues to develop more tasty treats for her friends on social media.

Harbison lives in Palm Springs, CA.