Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was so attracted to this book by the cover and the blurb. All Stirred Up seemed so promising. Sadly, the actual book wasn't as delightful as promised. I went in expecting all of the romance. It is a fun, easy read. A retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen, this book is well written and is a nice food-centered story. The plot is more centered on the main character, Susan, and her restaurant journey and her family.

I don't know about you, but one of my biggest pet peeves with books is when a book cover does not match the content inside. Even with the book blurb, I sometimes feel cheated.

With All Stirred Up, what I expected was not what I got and maybe that stuck with me a bit too much.I mean-look at all the vibes that cute sassy romantic cover is giving (at least for me). But this book was a much more serious (so to speak)women's fiction type of book.

I have an additional confession to make - I've never read Persuasion either so I really can't fairly compare the two.

Also - I loathed Susan's family and I mean loathed.

Despite All Stirred Up being a bit wordy and slow sometimes, it does have an AMAZING setting and I was hungry and drooling (okay maybe not quite LOL)with all the foodie talk.

Title: All Stirred Up
Author: Brianne Moore
Genre: Women’s fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

Susan Napier's family once lived on the success of the high-end restaurants founded by her late grandfather. But bad luck and worse management has brought the business to the edge of financial ruin. Now it's up to Susan to save the last remaining restaurant: Elliot's, the flagship in Edinburgh.

But what awaits Susan in the charming city of Auld Reekie is more than she bargained for. Chris Baker, her grandfather's former protégé--and her ex-boyfriend--is also heading to the Scottish capital. After finding fame in New York as a chef and judge of a popular TV cooking competition, Chris is returning to his native Scotland to open his own restaurant. Although the storms have cleared after their intense and rocky breakup, Susan and Chris are re-drawn into each other's orbit--and their simmering attraction inevitably boils over.

As Chris's restaurant opens to great acclaim and Susan tries to haul Elliot's back from the brink, the future brims with new promise. But darkness looms as they find themselves in the crosshairs of a gossip blogger eager for a juicy story--and willing to do anything to get it. Can Susan and Chris reclaim their lost love, or will the tangled past ruin their last hope for happiness?

This was a fun read. Susan’s family was awful, though, as was all the obsession with social media/appearances. That did make sense, though, as two characters are actors and a third is a famous chef.

The history between Susan and Chris was pretty bleak—and dark for more than one reason, one of which came totally out of nowhere, so it was a bit less than believable for me. But the chemistry between these two characters—not to mention the food descriptions—made this very enjoyable.

Brianne Moore was born and raised in Pennsylvania but now lives in Scotland. All Stirred Up is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is a retelling of a beloved Jane Austin novel, however I have found it best in the past to read the book based on the story not the fact that it’s being retold. This book is based on a girl carrying the burdens of her family. She unexpectedly runs into her ex boyfriend (a tv chef). The relationship like most romances has its ups and downs and the couple eventually get back together. This book was good, but not one of my favorites. I felt like at times the story was being forced.

I received a ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

DNF @ 22%

This was looking to be around a 3 star just based on what I have read so far but the love interest kept thinking about how hot this 20 year old girl was when he’s in his thirties I believe and it just made me extremely uncomfortable. I won’t be finishing this one unfortunately.

A delightful twist on a modern turn of Jane Austen. I apparently have a soft spot for these type of novels and I loved this one even though the characters were a little young and flighty for my taste in general. A very easy read for my 20 something niece.

Brianne Moore's "All Stirred Up" brings us a retelling of the classic Jane Austen novel, "Persuasion." Moore's retelling follows Susan Napier, a chef who is desperate to save her grandfather's restaurant legacy, and Chris Baker, a Scottish chef from Susan's past who has risen to fame but come back to Scotland for his next adventure. True to "Persuasion," the duo follow the same storyline of rekindling lost love.

I must say, I am a sucker for Jane Austen retellings and Moore's novel held plenty of easter eggs and nods to the original. This was a delightful read heading into autumn with a hot cup of tea.

I really enjoyed Brianne Moore's debut novel, All Stirred Up. It was a delightful and cozy story with more emphasis on Women's Fiction than Romance to me. It had a good flow and made for an easier and lighter read. Also, the story being set in Edinburgh, Scotland, added a different and fun aspect to it all. I could even hear the accents in my head as I was reading, thanks to Moore's spellings, and that added another layer of awesome it! I really just adored Susan Napier all around and can't wait to spread the word about this book!

I liked the Persuasion retelling and it was done so well! The Second Chance Romance between Susan and Christopher was subtle and felt very authentic. I loved that even when they should have been rivals, they each stood up for one another when they needed it. I enjoyed the slow build of the story between them up to the revealing of what really happened 10 years earlier.

I have a degree in restaurant management, so I liked that angle of the story. Gloria was a great supporting character in the story. And I adored that Susan took Rab under her wing too. And the foods, especially the pastries, were making my mouth water!!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Alcove Press for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The cover and the synopsis had me hooked and I found myself excited to delve into this one. However I found myself unable to connect with the story or its characters.

I'm gutted that I didn't enjoy this one as it seems to be quite loved! I think it's because I went in expecting romance and there was hardly any of it... if I had gone in with no expectations I might have enjoyed it more

I enjoyed All Stirred Up. I thought that Susan and Chris had a realistic love story that unfolded with surprises and depth that I didn't see coming. I really enjoyed the story being based around restaurants and kitchens and food. The families and kitchen staff were so much fun and added a lot to the story as well. I do typically read and expect books to be in first person, but fell into the cadence of third person easily.

I really enjoyed this book! It is the story of Susan who is trying to save her family’s dying legacy, the last remaining restaurant Elliot's. However, apart from managing the challenging staff and completing turning around the restaurant, she is met with another challenge: Chris Baker, her ex-boyfriend with whom she had a bittersweet relationship. Chris is now an accomplished chef and what happens when they come face to face is for you to find out!

This is Brianne’s debut novel and I really enjoyed the humorous, fast paced plot it offered. Everyone knows I enjoy romcoms but when they are filled with talks about pastries and cakes, that takes it to a whole new level for me! Since Susan is a baker running a restaurant and Chris is a chef, you can imagine how much the book is about food! It made me super hungry reading about all these new recipes and flavors they were experimenting with!

Apart from food, I also loved how the relationships are portrayed in the book. How death of a parent affects their children’s lives and how children deal with it in their own way, is also depicted in a very effective and realistic manner and you feel the pain of all the characters.
Thank you #netgalley and #alcovepress for advanced reader copy for this book and I definitely suggest you pick it up if you are looking for a light read (with lots of food in it!)!

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

All Stirred Up seemed so promising: a contemporary retelling of Austen’s Persuasion, centered on a restaurant remodeling. But unlike the other food-oriented Persuasion retelling from a few months ago (which was at the very least marginally engaging, even if it wasn’t a winner), I found this one dull and lifeless.

For one, there’s the characters. I get Susan’s family being classist snobs…that’s kind of the main attribute of the Anne Elliot’s family in Persuasion as well. But it just wasn’t well executed, especially when Susan herself just isn’t as engaging and sympathetic as Anne Elliot. I can’t think of anything particularly memorable about her.

And the romance (whatever there was of it, given it’s sadly overshadowed) isn’t that engaging either. It doesn’t really come into play until halfway in, and Chris failed to make an impression.

The one plus was that the writing was engaging, making it less of a chore to get through. I actually thought it wasn’t that bad, until I finished and couldn’t think of much else that I liked about it.

From a quick look at the reviews, the early response is mixed, but the main issue that will inevitably stand out is one with branding, the bane of romance readers’ existence. No, this is not a romance, although there are some (if you can call it that) romantic elements. Other than that, most of my complaints are likely subjective. So, if you’re interested in a women’s fiction retelling of Persuasion and this one sounds good to you, then give it a try for yourself.

This was a very delicious kind of story but sadly it didn't capture my heart 100%. I liked that it was set in Edinburgh, and I love that it was a cooking story. It made me hungry with its descriptions. The book, romance wise, didn't move forward until after the 80% mark, though. And then after that it felt a bit rushed. It's been 10 years of secrets, not talking, and misunderstandings, and they really focused more on the family of her than make the two exes face each other and actually talk.

I liked Susan, flaws and all, and I related to her with her insecureness. And Chris, the Jaimie Fraser of the chef industry, wasn't as arrogant as he appeared to be. He did a few unnecessary things, that's for sure, and he had many secrets, yet he acted a bit immature and selfish. I wasn't a fan of that.

All in all, I enjoyed the story but felt like it could've been managed better, leaving more space to the romance, to how they were meeting again after 10 years, taking their time to talk again, TALK TALK TALK, and then decide if what they had could be revived and be better now that they're older.

I can't wait to visit Edinburgh one day!

A fun summer read. The characters were enjoyable, the romance predictable, and the food mentioned - wish there were actual recipes at the back. I hope we get to read more in the future about Susan and Chris.

Sadly this was much less romance than I wanted and much more of a contemporary fiction. The majority of the focus is on Susan's life, the restaurant, and her family drama. The two characters didn't even start interacting until more than 50% of the way into the book. The scenes we got with them were very good, but I wanted so much more than we got. I pulled for them, but would have loved for the story to be more centered around them.

Also, the writing was a little long winded in its descriptions of the city. I found myself skim reading over paragraphs of description about the city layout, because as someone who had never been there, I had no context. It seems to be just rattling off various landmarks without giving me the atmosphere or feeling of the city, so it didn't add to the story for me in any way.

A Persuasion-like story between two chefs with a romantic past who are now setting up competing restaurants in a small Scottish town.

However, the romance was more of a side dish than the main course and the heat level was set to VERY VERY low simmer. Am I through with cooking metaphors? Not a chance!

On the positive side, I loved the setting of All Stirred Up- Scotland, the restaurants, all the cooking and food descriptions. In vibe and tone it reminded me a lot of Beth O'Leary - strong family relationships and a charming setting.

On the negative, this is yet again a book with a cute, romance-y cover that is really more fiction with a romantic side plot. There is a LOT of time spent on Susan's family, her sisters, the death of her mother, and the a lot of stuff that happened in the past.

For most of the book the love interests are actually DATING OTHER PEOPLE. In my opinion this isn't really a romance but it definitely had elements I enjoyed. If you're okay with a slow pace and a book that doesn't put romance front and center, give it a try!

3.5 stars

I would like to thank netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A really good modern adaptation of persuasion. The storyline is unique enough for it to be interesting, while keeping the essence of the book. I would have liked the characters to have had a little more time together falling back into love with each other.

I was drawn to this by the cover and the blurb, but actually the story itself didn't fully meet my expectations.

Actually this was a slowburn where the romance was not well built for me because there was no development between the protagonists. The few scenes they had were good, but I was hoping to see more of them. This focused mostly on the family drama, along with lengthy descriptions that were at one point very boring to me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this Persuasion retelling- it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, but that isn't a bad thing. I enjoyed a modern framing, I think that Persuasion lends itself best out of all of Austen's novels! I appreciated that the romance didn't dominate the entire novel, as it isn't the whole of Austen's story, either. I also loved the setting of Edinburgh. Moore describes it and invokes the city perfectly, and it was absolutely a major character for me!

A fantastic debut that retells Jane Austen's "Persuasion" in Edinburgh, where things are heating up in the kitchen, in the restaurant scene, and in the hearts of two former lovers...

Susan Napier loves food; not only is she a talent pastry chef, but her grandfather founded a successful chain of restaurants, Elliot's, and taught her everything she knows about food. But, now, her grandfather is dead and if Susan doesn't act soon, so will the original flagship restaurant located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. Susan must act fast to save Elliot's, and that is all she can focus on. Too bad that her father and sisters didn't get the memo as they overload her with their problems. And then there is the man she sees at the baggage claim. A very familiar man.

Chris Baker returns to the city of his youth to finally open his own restaurant. He trained under Elliot himself and has since become a renown chef in his own right, traveled the world, and hosted his own television cooking competition show. Now, he's ready to take that next step and fully put down roots in the city he grew up in. Maybe then he can finally start to get his heart to give up on Susan Napier, his first love and the woman who broke his heart. So, of course, who does he run into upon finally return to his native Scotland?

This brilliant contemporary retelling of "Persuasion" is lavish in its descriptions of food (Moore having come from a family of chefs herself), as well as plenty of drama, humor, and heart, with the brilliant deliverance of the idea of not allowing your past to define your future. The restaurant scene is a brilliant way to re-imagine this Austen classic, and as a reader I felt right at home in Edinburgh (that travel bug is biting hard...) and it served as a wonderful setting for this story. Also, now very hungry and would like some tea. So much good food is mentioned, and I want to try my own hand at baking so many new things!

I am eager to see what Moore will create next. You could say my interest is.... "All Stirred Up!"