Was never quite sure where this story was going, but enjoyed the ride! The background characters contributed much more than I thought they would.

Loved this fun read! I can usually figure out where a book is going, but this one's ending surprised me.

Thank you for free ARC
Very emotional read. Characters felt very real. 
Easy and fun read. Positive vibes

I started this book with high ecpectations but sadly it didn't live up to it. The character development was very nicely done. The writing style was ok too. However  I didn't like any of the characters and the decisions Eve( the lead character) takes throught out the story are irrational. I didn't like the plot very much and for a cooking related book there was very limited mention of it in the story

A few years ago I stumbled upon this show on BBC America called, Come Dine With Me. Four very diverse people host a dinner party in their homes over 4 weeks and the winner received a cash prize. I loved it! So I was excited to read The Saturday Supper Club by Amy Miller. With the same premise, Eve, Ethan, Andrew and Maggie are all strangers (or supposed to be) who will host dinner parties in their homes. Eves turn is first, but when she opens the door to her first guest, she discovers it is Ethan, the man who abruptly left her 3 years ago. What follows is the revelation of why Ethan left, and the impact of his return on Eve’s relationship with her current boyfriend, Joe, a man she’s known since childhood. And the revelation also exposes secrets kept by her father and her sister, Daisy. I never imagined that behind any dinner party there could be so much side dishing going on! I ate up this book! I loved every delicious part of it! 

Thank you to Netgalley and thepublisher for an e-copy to review! #netgalley #thesaturdaysupperclub

This is the second book of Amy Brantley's I've read and was really easy to get into. I did feel like it went on for longer than it needed but overall a nice read. It is a story of a baker who lives with her boyfriend Joe they've been best friends for years but became an item after her ex left her with no explanation. Joe needs a favour and asks her to participate in a supper club for his newspaper. When she gets there, who should turn up but Ethan (her ex). Will she find out why he left so suddenly? It is generally light hearted but touches on some sadder issues.

The Saturday Supper Club had me interested from the start, as I tend to enjoy stories of old love and exes reemerging, but the story ended up taking turns that made it impossible for me to enjoy the last quarter or so of the book.

I have no doubt Amy Bratley is a talented writer, as I found the writing itself enjoyable and easy to sink into, but I just can not imagine how the reader was ever expected to view the ending as anything other than a tragedy for the main character. I'm finding it difficult to articulate myself, as I really did enjoy many aspects of this book, but I don't see how the author thought revealing the primary love interest had cheated on the MC with her own sister would be a small bump in the road of a great love story. If you want your audience to root for your central couple, perhaps avoid having one of them father a child with the other's sister several years into their serious relationship.

The character development of Joe seemed thrown in as an afterthought to prevent the reader from thinking the MC should have stayed with him, and the way Ethan behaved (completely aside from aforementioned fathering of her nephew) did not make him seem like a viable option at all.

I enjoyed the dialogue, and the supporting characters seemed well fleshed out and believable. I wonder if maybe the author had simply committed to a dramatic twist that didn't actually work towards the happy ending she had in mind, but was too attached to change it for the good of the overall novel. I'm all for drama and twists, but there are some things characters cannot come back from.

The writing was good, but the character development seemed like an afterthought and by the end I was truly rooting for the main character to cut ties with both love interests and her horrific sister and start over, as that would have been the only way for the story to end vaguely happily. I try to keep my personal opinions on characters' choices separate from my reviews, but in this case the ending was so at odds with what had been set up that I couldn't separate the two.

I'd be open to reading more from this author, but would not recommend this particular book to others.

I hated every single character in this book. Not at all the light-hearted, funny read I was expecting. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Saturday Supper Club by Amy Miller
Source: NetGalley and Bookouture
Rating: 2/5

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: I have to say, when a book is advertised as “An absolutely heartwarming romantic read” I expect something far, far, far different than what I found between the covers of this book.  In truth, I expected to find a book populated by worthy and wonderful characters worthy of rooting for and supporting in their endeavors.  What I found was a cast of characters with no redeeming qualities between the lot of them.  There isn’t a character in this book that is at all likeable or even remotely sympathetic.  In fact, every character in this book, to one degree or another is remarkably selfish, self-centered, and generally wretched.  I even found myself disliking the “victims” in this story.  I stuck with this book from start to finish in the hopes there would be a radical change in character and/or personality, but alas, I was thoroughly disappointed.  From a technical perspective, I can’t make any complaints or comments, but I also can’t rely on the technical bits alone to be a reason to recommend a book.

Four strangers take part in the Saturday Supper Club, a weekly feature in a London newspaper. It's basically Come Dine With Me in print. Eve wasn't supposed to take part, but her boyfriend Joe works for the newspaper and asks her for a favour. Eve sees an opportunity to promote her new café that's opening very soon. So she agrees to cook dinner for three strangers. But when Eve opens the front door that first Saturday night to let in her guests, she comes face to face with her ex-boyfriend Ethan. And suddenly Eve isn't so sure about anything in her life anymore.

My favourite elements of this book, in order of how much I liked them:
1. the recipe at the back of the book.
2. Maggie, another Supper Club contestant
3. Elaine

Notably, the two love interests aren't on this list. Because both of them were trash. Manipulative, lying, cheating trash. Of course Eve is torn between these two men, unsure of who she should be with. For me, it felt a bit like choosing between malaria and cholera when a third option - "neither, thanks" - is also available. For a hot second, that's where I thought this novel was going. It didn't.

I loved the premise of this book. The idea of a Saturday supper club and a romance with that as the base was very intriguing. But the supper club was just the background and the focus was  more on the 3-sided romance between Eve, Ethan and Joe.

Three years ago, Eve’s world was torn apart when her boyfriend Ethan walked out on her. Now she has a new boyfriend Joe and is on the verge of opening her dream cafe. Joe asks Eve to take part in a supper club competition for a local newspaper where he’s trying to get a job, and the first of her mystery guests arrive and turns out to be Ethan. 

All three characters were unlikable. (Spoiler) I just didn't like the ending. Ethan has a one-night stand with Eve's sister while he was still with Eve and they have a baby, and Eve forgives him and they get back together at the end!! Eve also forgives her sister when her sister has repeatedly shown how selfish she is. And Joe's character and the minor twist towards the end seemed so contrived.

Neither Ethan nor Joe deserved to be with Eve. Eve could have been shown as a stronger person if she had made the decision of focusing on her cafe instead of choosing either.

Overall, I just couldn't like the book. I give it 2.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC of this book.

This is a hard review to write. CONTAINS SPOILERS, so read at your own risk.

I wanted so badly to love this book. And I did love the author's writing style and how light/easy the read was. However, I completely hated all the major characters. The main character, Eve, was whiny and selfish and indecisive. You spent most of the book thinking Joe was this kind character, albeit kind of boring and a doormat, only to find out he actually planned the whole scenario that leads to the major conflict of the book, thus finding he's manipulative and secretive, too. And let's not even get started on Ethan or Daisy. I mean, yikes. Ethan's a self-centered jerk (and a coward) and Daisy is the worst sister you could imagine. 

Then there's the ending. I mean, Daisy seduced Ethan, he slept with her because he "felt sorry for her," then ran away to another country, and Daisy has his baby -- but it's all kept secret for years. But, Eve takes him back?? I can tell you, if I had a boyfriend who not only slept with my sister, but turns out had gotten her pregnant, we for sure would not be getting back together.

The only thing that kept me reading this one was the author's style of writing. I'll definitely be trying another of her books, but this isn't one I'd recommend to anyone.

I struggled a lot with this book. I found Eve's outer utterances of her inner monologue to be really annoying and offputting. 

It's a lovely concept but I couldn't get into it at all.

Nice feel good book. It flowed very well. was easy to read. Nice characters. Good storyline. What’s not to love.

The premise of this book was great. I love the idea of the Saturday Supper Club. It would have been nice if they could have focused on that more. Or on Eve opening up her own cafe, which sounded lovely. Instead it was a story with those events on the periphery, The focus was instead a huge mess of romantic relationships and family issues. The issue is, ALL OF THE CHARACTERS WERE AWFUL. The only one with any value was the 2 year old. The rest of the characters, though, were manipulative, selfish, immature, horrible people. I kept waiting and hoping that someone would redeem themselves, but they ended up being just as terrible in the end.

This was my first Any Miller book. And since the title sounded so cool, breezy I thought of giving it a try. However, it wasn’t that breezy. But it sure is an okayish Weekend read. 
A happy-go-couple gets separated because the boy does something and after sometime the girl pairs up with another boy, someone who has loved her since childhood. But then he wants to test her, and places his girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend in a situation from where they cannot escape. In the process, the girls gets to know the reason why the boy left and then after some drama it ends on a happy note. Well, at least for the two of them :)
Other than the writing, content and the flow, I didn’t find it that interesting. However, if few details could have been avoided or the pace had been faster, it would have been much better I feel.

I was not sure how I would like this book after the first chapter but I loved it. It definitely made you question relationships in your life be it romantic or non romantic relationships. I’m glad that I continued reading this book because I ended up loving it..

I liked this book - an interesting mix of characters, and food was involved (which is always a plus).

Thank you to NetGalley and the the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A warm hearted story of love and family, both are very difficult. Eve and her sister Daisy have had a difficult time, since the early death of their beloved mother.  Eve is an amazing baker, as was her mother, so her dream is to open a cake and coffee shop. Eve is invited to take part in a Saturday Supper Club, where she has a surprise meeting with a past love.  I really enjoyed this book, I think I cried through the last half.

While this plot is a little different from most books I've read,I was unable to ferret any positive emotions for the heroine Eve and her continual contradictory behavior and musings.The story starts at the point where she surprisingly comes face to face with her ex, who had cut and run three years prior without explanation and who now wants to rekindle their love.Her willingness to risk the stability she has worked so hard to achieve in the aftermath of his disappearance is astounding and meritless. The colorful lives of secondary characters Andrew and Maggie added another dimension and provided relief from Eve's questionable decisions.
The book is artfully written, so much so that while I enjoyed reading it, and there was a suggestion of HEA,the feeling of heart-brokenness and defeat prevailed.This ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review.