Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Books, and Roselle Lim for the opportunity to read and review her wonderful debut novel - 4.5 stars for a feel good, magical read.

Natalie has been estranged from her mother for years. Her mother was agoraphobic and wouldn't allow Natalie to pursue her dream of going to culinary school and becoming a chef, like her grandmother that died before she was born. When Natalie returns home after her mother's death, she doesn't recognize the once vibrant neighborhood that she left. However, she realizes that her grandmother's restaurant is now hers to reopen, with the help of her special cookbook. She visits a neighborhood seer who says that she must first prepare 3 dishes from that cookbook to help 3 friends. Natalie still resents the neighbors for not helping her mother more but presses on. Unfortunately, while the recipes seem to help, things go very wrong. Can she restore the restaurant, the neighborhood and the people in it?

This is just a good, fun read, made special by the inclusion of the recipes. Well, the ARC didn't include quantities, just the ingredients themselves, or I'd be in the kitchen now making some of that food! I loved the magical qualities that food possessed in this book, not unlike the role food plays in all of our lives and relationships. Bravo for a great debut!

*Huge thanks to Berkley Publishing, PRHInternational/PRHGlobal, and NetGalley for sending me a free advance copy. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.

Natalie Tan left their home in San Francisco's Chinatown to attend culinary school eventhough her mother didn't approve of it. They eventually lost their contact with each other. Years later Natalie returns home following the unexpected death of her mother. She discovers that the neighborhood she grew up in has changed a lot. She also finds out that she has inherited her grandmother's long-abandoned restaurant as well as her recipe book. She then decides to reopen but in order to succeed, she needs to help three of her neighbors first just like what her grandmother did in the past.

I personally liked Natalie's character. She comes from a family of strong and resilient women. She's not perfect and this made her so real. It was also fun getting to know the people in the community and read their background stories.

Now let's talk about food! One of the major themes in this book is cooking so there are a lot of food references. I read this book mostly in bed before going to sleep and it was not a good idea. So just a fair warning, this book will make you hungry. This book has some recipes and they're all mouth-watering. I'm probably being biased here because most of the food that were mentioned are my favorites. But the descriptions are so vivid that while reading, I could smell the food she's cooking. I also liked how the author highlighted the importance of food not only to our bodies but also to our souls. How it heals people and brings them together.

Some important themes in this book are immigration, the pros/cons of gentrification, and the stigmas associated with mental illnesses especially in Asian culture. This book also covers grief and loss but in a very light and hopeful way.

I personally enjoyed the addition of magical elements which was confusing at first because I wasn't expecting magical realism in this book. The writing is really beautiful and whimsical but I thought the use of metaphors can be too much and off-putting at times. The romance in this book progressed very quickly but it's just a side plot and honestly, I thought it's unnecessary. I definitely liked how the author wrapped up the story.

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck & Fortune was wonderful and heartwarming story of love for family, community, culture, and of course food.

A bitter, ongoing quarrel with her mother about her career plans to be a chef led Natalie Tan to leave her San Francisco home in anger. Seven years of stubborn silence and globe-wandering later, Natalie is called home by a neighbor at her mother’s passing. She still deeply desires to be a chef and to have her own authentic Chinese restaurant, like her grandmother Qiao had done many years earlier, and now she’ll have the chance: Natalie has inherited her laolao’s (maternal grandmother’s) long-abandoned restaurant below their apartment. It’s still operable, though dusty and dirty, but their Chinatown neighborhood is fraying, with family-owned businesses dying and a steep rise in real estate prices causing Chinese families to move away.

A psychically-gifted neighbor returns Qiao’s old, handmade recipe to Natalie, along with a prediction: if Natalie cooks three recipes from the book to help three of her neighbors, as her laolao did many years ago, and is able to save these neighbors, her restaurant will be the jewel of Chinatown and the neighborhood will be revitalized. Natalie is initially dubious and reluctant ― she feels like her neighbors had let her down when she was struggling to deal with her mother’s agoraphobia years ago ― but she soon enters into the spirit of the endeavor, and magical things begin to happen when her neighbors eat her food.

"As I watched, fractures ran along the surface of their skin, reminding me of shattered porcelain. The cracks deepened as they ate. Once they were finished, tiny streams of glittering gold filled the cracks: mending, repairing what was broken, and transforming it into something far more beautiful. It was similar to a piece of kintsukuroi I’d picked up in Tokyo, repaired pottery that had been mended with gold."

As Natalie begins cooking in Qiao’s restaurant, the scent of fried dumplings even leads a handsome young man to her restaurant and her life. But neither love nor her quest to help the neighborhood is as easy as Natalie had expected.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is a charming, sweet tale with a dash of magical realism. I expected something like The Joy Luck Club or a Chinese-American version of Like Water for Chocolate. What I got was more like a literary version of a Hallmark TV romance movie. It’s so lightweight as to approach being fluffy, though the immersion in Chinese culture and food serves to give it some heft and make the story more memorable. Several Chinese recipes are included in the novel, and they and the luscious descriptions of Natalie’s cooking made my mouth water. The romance subplot wasn’t particularly well-developed or romantically satisfying; I got far more enjoyment out of reading about the “plump prawns” and “tender steamed rice noodles and crunchy golden fritters.”

Debut author Roselle Lim incorporates a few serious issues into her tale, including mental illness and the loss of ethnic urban neighborhoods. Her writing is sometimes clunky; phrases like “gathering fog brewed at the base of the gate the way steam rises from a perfect bowl of noodle soup” and “hoping the fog would thicken like salted duck congee to conceal my arrival” struck me as unintentionally humorous.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is a warmhearted tale with an authentic Chinese voice, if not as deep and literary as one might hope.

I was really looking forward to Natalie Tan’s Book Of Luck and Fortune because I adore magical realism as a genre. Luckily, I absolutely loved this book. The food descriptions made my mouth water (absolutely do not read this book while hungry). There’s also recipes included in the book so you can try them out for yourself!

The magical realism aspect of the book was beautifully done, I just loved how Tan wove it into the story. Plus the story itself was so enchanting. This is a book about community and family and friendship. And the characters just jumped off the page and felt so realistic. There was so much heart and warmth to this story, it totally charmed me.

I’d recommend this one to readers looking for a heart-warming story, realistic characters, and just a bit of magic.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Roselle Lim’s writing is so sumptuous and magical and VISUAL:

“Tears slid down my cheeks. Tiny crystals sang a sorrowful melody against my skin before trickling down into a glittering pile on my lap.”

Magical, because Natalie’s tears left tiny crystals, which her mother had collected and saved in a bowl.

The food descriptions were also deliciously vivid and gorgeous and made me hungry.
Her characters are delightful and she paints a vivid sense of place. There are a few bits I didn’t see coming which tied up the story neatly.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune explores the relationships between daughters and mothers, mental illness, and community and culture. This is a story of forgiveness and healing and understanding, as well as one of following your dreams. There is an ethereal, magical feel throughout, and was a wonderful escape.

I really enjoyed this book! It was such a fun and delicious read! The writing was great, the book had a good flow and I loved the descriptions! The characters were well developed and easy to relate to. I loved the magical realism aspect to the book too. I wasn’t expecting that aspect but I love the idea that food has a certain magic to it and I feel like that really added to the story. The food descriptions made my mouth water and I loved that the author included recipes. Hopefully Ill be able to test a few of those out soon!

Roselle Lim, Author of “Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune” has written an enchanting, intriguing, captivating, savory and delicious story. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, with a dash of Magical Realism and Romance. There also is a huge cultural component to this story. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as quirky, temperamental, complex and complicated. Most of the story is told in San Franciso’s Chinatown.

Natalie Tan has been estranged from her mother for seven years and sees and hears a bird and knows that her mother has died. At the same time, a phone call from her mother’s neighbor confirms this. With a heavy heart, Natalie heads home. She realizes that the neighborhood has changed. Most of the businesses are attached to the homes. Natalie has to be respectful and observes the cultural ways.

Natalie discovers that her mother and grandmother also had a major falling out. Her Grandmother was one of the best Chinese cooks around, and the restaurant is part of Natalie’s house. Natalie also loves to cook and appreciates music. One of the neighbors has a cookbook that belonged to her grandmother, and suggest that Natalie should cook and can make the neighbors and neighborhood better.

Roselle Lim has tastefully included many recipes for the reader that sound amazing. If Natalie would bring the restaurant back, would that help the neighborhood? I appreciate that the author discusses acknowledging mental illness and the importance of family, friends, neighbors, communication, love, and hope. I would highly recommend this delightful story.

This is a really sweet story about family, loss, community, food and following your dreams! I admit that I had high expectations for this book, and was a little let down, but enjoyed it nevertheless. I really enjoyed how Lim explored the immigrant and Chinese American relationship, especially to the San Francisco area, as well as how important food is to their culture. I also really enjoyed the magical realism aspects of this book, as well as the inclusion of the recipes mentioned in the story! The inclusion of mental illness and the stigmas associated with it were also a pleasant surprise, but I feel like we were let down with the romance aspect, and some continuity in the story line (i.e. plane tickets, jobs, etc). This YA combination of Sourdough by Robin Sloan and the classic Joy Luck Club is still most definitely worth a read!

I enjoyed Natalie Tans Book of Luck and Fortune.

Our main character Natalie returns home seven years later after the sudden and unexpected death of her mother. Returning home leaves Natalie in a state of anxiety as she and her mom didn't have have the best relationship when she left and she also felt a way about the neighbors who still remain in the community.

What I enjoyed most about this read was the family connection that Natalie discovered through learning the recipes in her Grandmothers cookbook. The bits of magical realism throughout the story was also a great plus. Reading as Natalie cooked her grandmothers recipes (in a effort to save her gentrifying neighborhood) was wonderful.

There wasn't much to the romance aspect of Natalies Tan's as I felt it was kind of jumbled in the book to give Natalie something else to do, it felt very much rushed. I understand that falling instantly in love can be a thing but Natalie and Daniel? too fast.

All and all I still enjoyed this one. The secondary characters (Natalie's neighbors) added the extra padding I needed, seeing the completion of their stories made the read worthwhile.

If you love a family saga with a smidgen of magical realism, then Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune will be the book to pick up.

Natalie Tan is finally going home. Her mother died unexpectedly and she has to pick up the pieces. She finds she has inherited her grandmother's restaurant as well as her mother's apartment above it. She left home because she wanted to take cooking classes and her mother wanted her to go to college. Now she has an opportunity to open a restaurant and she's going to do it. But the whole street is gray and lifeless. Where did the customers go? Why are the businesses failing?

Berkley Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (Thank you). This book is being published today.

She visits with the shop owners and listens to their tales of woe. Then she's given her grandmother's cookbook. Not only does it have good recipes, it has suggestions for what it will fix. Eat one dish and develop courage. Eat another and renew love in a relationship. She starts feeding the neighbors. It works for a while but then one falls and breaks his leg, the couple starts arguing again and it looks like it was all for naught. There is a very aggressive realtor trying to talk them into selling.

Natalie also finds a new love interest. She's still trying to hold the neighborhood together. And then her restaurant catches fire and burns...

She talks about walking away from the mess and her boyfriend knows that will mean leaving him, so he goes. You will be amazed about who steps in to help. Now can she get her love back?

I enjoyed the read. It has history, romance, and some crotchety old people in it. What more could you want?

I ENJOYED…
☂️

- Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune warmed my heart SO much overall, it was such a wonderful debut that was a delight to read, had me smiling, had my heart aching and made me very happy, too, overall.
- At the heart of the story, we have Natalie, coming back home after her mother’s death, re-discovering the Chinatown she knew slowly fading, re-discovering her community, her neighbors and so on. She was a great main character, driven by her own dream, grappling with her family’s past, doing her very best, sometimes stumbling and making mistakes, I really loved her a lot.
- The relationships between the characters were so, so great to follow and I think that’s what I loved the most about it all. If there is romance (more on that later), the book follows even more deeply the relationships within Chinatown and the community, the way they have each other’s back, help each other, gain trust in each other again and so on. This made me so, so happy and warmed my heart and, when complications came I wanted them all to be okay again. I adored that.
- There was a little bit of romance there to make you swoon, but I appreciated that it didn’t take over the entire story, either. The love interest was really, really sweet and supportive and all I’m asking for, really, yet his presence and the slow-starting romance didn’t take over everything.
- This book made me VERY HUNGRY. Natalie is a fantastic chef and, as you read on, you get to read all about her family’s recipes, how she cooks, how the food melts in your mouth, Chinese, Vietnamian, Filipino dishes and so many others, too and ahh I’m very hungry okay.
- From family to food to community, to mental illness and more, I loved how immersed I felt into these lives and this Chinatown community that felt like family. I loved it.


I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️

- I felt a little confused while reading at times because I didn’t expect the magical realism parts of the book, at all, I had no idea there was magical realism in this story and, when I first read some passages, I felt.. well, really confused.
- I didn’t really have a hard time with this overall, and even if I put it in the positives of this review, too, I just want to talk for a second about the romance. I appreciated Daniel a whole lot, but I feel like the romance wasn’t entirely necessary to the story as a whole. You know me, I love a good romance overall, but here, in this particular story, I feel like it wasn’t entirely necessary.

OVERALL
☂️
If you’re looking for a fun, endearing, heartwarming read that will make you very hungry, I’d 200% recommend Natalie Tan’s Book Of Luck and Fortune!

I think I set myself up for disappointment with Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune. I expected an epic Like Water for Chocolate meets The Joy Luck Club tale. What I got was a cute story, but one that failed to hold my interest.

If you read the synopsis, you pretty much know the entire first half of the book. Nothing substantial is added to the plot and the characters are not particularly developed. The second half of the book is perhaps a bit stronger, but I never felt truly invested in Natalie or her neighbors.

The story relies heavily on the reader’s willingness to believe in magic. The whimsical premise makes that possible. Natalie shines whenever she is cooking, and she delights in seeing the wonderful reactions of those who eat her food. It’s sweet, but I grew bored.

The blurb mentions Natalie’s budding romance; however, there really isn’t much romance. She has a potential boyfriend that she only sees a handful of times, and their interactions are superficial at best.

Ultimately, the author’s style just didn’t suit me. The writing is over-saturated with similes and metaphors, particularly in the first half of the book. Rather than enhancing the story, I found the literary devices to be distracting. The choppy dialogue also gives the storyline a disjointed feel.

Perhaps if I had adjusted my expectations I would have enjoyed the book more; sadly, it fell short.

If you’re looking for a summer beach read, I highly recommend Natalie Tan’s Book of Love and Fortune. It’s got a little bit of everything. Second chances, a love story, working through family dysfunction, food and recipes, social commentary, and a little bit of mysticism.
Natalie Tan returns to her hometown in Chinatown after her mother’s unexpected death. She’s always wanted to be a chef but life had other plans for her. Plans that involved her running far from her home and her mother.
Yet she returns as the dutiful daughter and decides she will finally open up the restaurant her grandmother started. Finding the book of recipes her grandmother created, she tries to assuage with food the conflict brewing among her mother’s friends and neighbors. Each recipe acting as a recipe to help support the issue or pain point of her neighbors and friends. All in all, she knows deep down her grandmother’s recipes will heal the community.
However, as good of intention as she hopes, the following result is not always what she wishes it would be. Sometimes, the effect of the food makes her feel as if she made things worse. Until she realizes it’s not necessarily what’s in a book, but what’s inside her.
Natalie Tan’s Book of Love and Fortune is a book of exploration and what it means to be family. Of what it means to support friends. Taking risks in love and life and having the courage to succeed. Often times, it’s finding what is buried within us and allowing that light to shine. And our Natalie eventually does that, with some help along the way.
Bonus, Roselle Lim provides full recipes throughout the book, and I for one am eager to try. Finally, we receive a glimpse of what life is like in a traditional and multi-generational Chinese community.

*An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a lovely, heartwarming story about family, community, and following your dreams, with a little dash of romance thrown in. I loved reading the recipes and imagining the amazing food Natalie was preparing for her neighbors. It also portrayed loss and grief in a very realistic and thoughtful way, which I appreciated. The touches of magic were charming and fit in nicely with the whimsical storyline. This book made me smile and made me hungry!

<b>Actual rating:</b> <i>2.5 stars</i>

Well, I seriously need to stop putting expectations on books because when it doesn’t live up to them, I feel a bit let down. That again is the case with this book. I’m not saying it was wholly bad because it definitely wasn’t, but there are some things that simply didn’t work for me.

A huge thanks to Berkley Books and NetGalley for providing a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s a struggle to put my thoughts into words about this book. On one hand, I really loved how it explored Chinese-American culture and what that meant for our main character, Natalie. On the other hand, there were few things compelling me read this book. I liked the concept of the book, but I thought it was poorly executed. Estranged daughter returns after the death of her mother and suddenly feels so much regret and continually speaks about how much she misses her mother. In my head, I kept thinking, Where was all this when the two of you were apart? I can’t blame Natalie though. I can’t imagine what it was like growing up in this way, but Natalie’s resentment really burned a hole in the mother/daughter relationship. Look, I don’t expect things to be peachy keen and yes, I did appreciate how Natalie eventually came to understand her mother in a way she wouldn’t have had her mother’s death not happened. But I think I expected this book to mainly be about Natalie’s growing restaurant, but it wasn’t that, not really. It became more personal than just a restaurant for Natalie, and she saw with her own eyes how alone her mother wasn’t, which causes her to feel conflicted.

The story also had a magical realism element to it which I really enjoyed. At first I had to reread a couple of passages to make sure it wasn’t really Natalie’s imagination but something concrete. I liked how the food she made came into play here, and was really able to affect the mood of the people around her.

It also tackled some stigma around mental illness and how Natalie’s culture in particular has a hard time accepting or even seeing this.

I really liked all the characters here, though I felt we were shorted in the developing romance between Natalie and another character. I wasn’t fully convinced of their romance, and it was a bit frustrating at times. I liked the closeness of Natalie and her mother’s friend, Celia. I think I want to be Celia when I get older, lol. The cast of characters really allowed the story and the neighborhood to come to life, especially in terms of how much Natalie did yet did not want to help them. They each had a story to tell and to see how Natalie came to care about them was quite enduring and a true homage to her neighborhood and culture. The surprise in the end was just that: a surprise and I really liked it and how it brought a bit of closure and reduced some of Natalie’s bitterness.

I struggled with the writing style. Despite the amazing and mouth-watering food descriptions and how much this book centered around food and its properties, it simply felt a little disjointed and the dialogue stilted and didn’t seem to flow well. I can’t place my figure exactly on why I feel this way, but it definitely was a deterrent, not allowing me to fully enjoy this book. This doesn’t turn me off from the author completely, but it does make me a little bit wary.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is a about Natalie, a young woman who returns home after her estranged mother dies and attempts to reopen her late grandmother’s shuttered restaurant below their apartment. I love the close-knit community in San Francisco’s Chinatown that Lim paints, and I especially loved how Natalie’s cooking process is described. She makes both Chinese and Filipino dishes, which really spoke to me, as I grew up eating the Filipino dishes. I This book also had an element of magical realism that was at first, completely lost on me. The first time it was used, I was terribly confused. It had nothing to do with food, but about crying tears of crystal. It completely threw me off, and it didn’t really add anything to the story. I think the writing would have been a little more cohesive if the magical realism strictly pertained to food.

I liked the family traditions and touches of magic in this book. The story of gentrification of China town in San Francisco and members of the community trying to fight it was well done and interesting.

This was lovely, with beautiful, heartfelt descriptions of places, people, and food. There's this little bit of magic described, and if you believe in the healing and power of sharing food you've made with others, it will resonate and warm you. It's the kind of story where the characters and setting are so well done that readers can picture them perfectly- and the recipes and descriptions of food will make you hungry!

This was such a lovely and feel-good read, and I was happy to be part of Natalie's journey as she found her way back to her roots and herself. There were so many things to praise in this book, and here are five things I loved about Natalie Tan's Book of Luck & Fortune.

1. The Food! - I am warning you right now - do NOT read this book on an empty stomach. Lim's love of cooking and culinary delights shines on these pages. She engaged all my senses with her vivid descriptions and full recipes. She included many dishes I have had the pleasure of tasting and even more I hope to taste.

2. The Community - Natalie's family was lucky to have landed in this neighborhood, because it was filled with so many wonderful and caring people. It was a delight getting to know all the denizens of this street, and it was beautiful the way they all bonded together to help first, Natalie's mother, and then, Natalie herself. I got some serious warm-fuzzies being around this bunch.

3. The Tan Women - Learning about Natalie's mother and grandmother gave me hope for her. She was the product of such strong women, and I knew she would find her inner strength to get through this situation, because she had such stellar role models, who had overcome adversity.

4. Chinese Culture - Lim did such a fantastic job weaving the cultural aspects into the story, and I really enjoyed learning more about Chinese customs and traditions.

5. Natalie's Personal Journey - Natalie had been untethered for quite some time, and she struggled with making permanent connections. It was wonderful seeing her find herself by digging into her history and also, uncovering some family secrets. With each additional bit she learned, I saw her eyes and her heart opening wider and wider, and the end result was stellar.

Overall, this was a heartwarming tale of love, loss, family, community, and food served up with lots of heart and a dash of magic.

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune is such a heartwarming tale of self-discovery, family love, and food. The way Roselle Lim connected all the dishes to Natalie's own life was done especially well — it made me hungry all the time!

You can read my full review here: https://bookishr.wordpress.com/2019/06/06/natalie-tans-book-of-luck-and-fortune-review/