The Saturday Night Supper Club

by Carla Laureano
Hennepin County Library hardcover 381 pages
genre: Christian realistic fiction, romance

This was a lovely, lightweight book that I read in part of a day. It's our April book club title, so it'll be fun to discuss.

Rachel Bishop is a James Beard award-winning chef in Denver, but she resents being identified as a female chef. To her, gender is irrelevant if she makes good food. But she is drawn into a media stir by a writer's article that criticizes a troll . . . leading to her loss of reputation, stake in her restaurant, and an identity crisis.

Her two best friends (Melody, a talented pastry chef) and Ana (a high-powered lawyer) help her to assess the situation and buoy her spirits. Ana also gives her a kick in the pants (proverbially) to help her move forward.

Page 62: "How painfully ironic that her attempt to keep the focus on her food had turned into a glaring personal spotlight. She couldn't even muster the self-righteous zeal to defend herself. Not when deep down, she wondered how much truth was contained in those horrible accusations. She had been foolish to think she could make this work. Foolish to believe that in the end, she would be anything more than a failure." "No. She pressed Stop on that recording before it could begin playing an endless loop in her brain."

I love that sentence! I love that someone could make the conscious choice to shut off the negative self-talk before it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Page 101: "She'd been overcome with misplaced affection over some good - and clearly manipulative - writing and made a deal with the devil. A devil with hazel eyes and a dimple she couldn't stop thinking about."

This really bothered me. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I don't know much about her, but it's disappointing that a "deal with the devil" is the way she chose to express this idea. It's bothersome . . . not a phrase I would take lightly.

Page 363: "She'd been so quick to think the worst of him. She hadn't even given him the chance to explain. That made her as bad as all the strangers who had condemned her on social media without bothering to learn the truth, passing what they saw through their own damaged filters."

This phenomenon is troubling. There is so much hatred, condemnation, and criticism in the world. It's discouraging.

All in all, this was a fluffy read. You know that Rachel and Alex are going to fall in love. I probably enjoyed the storyline with Alex's sister the best. It was an easy, pleasant read.