Review published on Goodreads - 30/06/2020

Synopsis: Our heroine Susan leaves London, where the family restaurant opened by her grandfather closes. She travels up to Edinburgh to save their last remaining restaurant.
Although, she does not expect that her ex-boyfriend, now celebrity chef, is also heading to Scotland to open his own restaurant.

What I loved most about this book is that I felt like I was back in Edinburgh, experiencing the festival season along with our set of characters. The book would sometimes make a small pause in the story to describe streets, buildings, people...
The story is also heavily focused on the remodeling of the restaurant and descriptions of food, but that did not bother me in the slightest, also made me quite hungry at times.
I also appreciated to see a representation of health anxiety in this book.

The only critic I would have about the story was that I felt really slow for the most part, and really rushed in the last couple of chapters. I would have enjoyed more of a slower buildup to the romance between the main characters.

With the family fortune dwindling, Susan Napier finds herself tasked with trying to salvage her family’s once highly-reputed restaurant empire in the form of re-inventing Elliot’s, her grandfather’s first (and now only remaining) restaurant. But the cooking world is small, and Susan soon finds herself crossing paths with a former flame, Chris, who, riding on his fame as a chef and judge of a TV cooking show, has returned to Scotland to open his own restaurant. Though memories of their rough break-up linger, Susan and Chris still find themselves drawn to each other. With everything on the line, can these two overcome the past, or are some memories too damaging to be conquered?

I read this book without having read Austen’s “Persuasion” first, so I’m unable to draw comparisons between the two. That being said, I did enjoy the story. I am a sucker for any novel that drips with food descriptions, and this story is one of them. The main protagonists are sweet, and, while they have a “past” together, I liked that they worked to be professional and not drag each other down. Both Susan and Chris deal with grief and are on a path to healing, but it doesn’t occur easily or all at once. I wish more detail had been given to Chris’s own troubles throughout the story, though, as they felt a little shoe-horned in during the latter half of the piece.

Two of my favorite side characters are Gloria and Beth, both of whom are brash, bright, and unapologetic in their views. I loved the times they appeared to steer the protagonists. Some of the characters were unlikable, such as Bernard (Susan’s father) and Meg (Susan’s youngest sister), but Moore works to provide nuance to them. In the end, while they still weren’t my favorite characters, I did have an understanding for why they were the way they were.

Overall, this book is a sweet story brimming with moments of personal strength, various depictions of grief, and forgiveness. I appreciated that the path to reconciliation between Susan and Chris wasn’t quick or easy, making it one of the more realistic love stories I’ve read lately. The ending of the story definitely feels “earned” as a result. This book is not a romance (in fact, there are times that it feels more like a restaurant success story than a love story), but it does end with a happily ever after.

***ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my review.

This book was very good but it's so frustrating to see two people who should probably be together and work on their issues and figure out what they want to do come together and fall apart so many times. Either with people interfering or them getting in their own way. I think if you would take away anything from this it will be to go for it regardless of what people think and if you need a pep talk to get yourself ready for something then that's what really matters. Live for you and the rest will follow!

All Stirred Up is a cute debut story by Brianne Moore. I enjoyed going on the journey with Susan as she took over the family restaurant and watching her grow along the way. As her ex-boyfriend Chris re-enters her life as they are working at rival restaurants, I liked how they slowly came back into each other’s life. The side story with Susan’s sisters and family I thought at times dragged the book down. Warning, reading this will definitely make you hungry with all the food talk!

Overall this book felt a bit lacking for me. It took a bit too long to get to the romance and had more emphasis on the food/restaurant angle than I was expecting. Overall it fell more like general/womens fiction than romance.

Find myself loving this book. Fun read. It has all things I like in a book. Must read book. It had food and love. Yeah

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC and to have the pleasure of sharing my honest opinion.

All Stirred Up bu Brianne Moore is a loose retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen. The story offers a light-romance that allows the reader to get lost in all the food details throughout the entire book. As a wannabe chef, this story spoke to me on many levels; Susan going through the struggles of keeping her family's high-end restaurant afloat while dealing with many of life's challenges, such as heartbreak and family burdens. As Susan tends to these challenges, her ex-boyfriend of ten years comes back into the picture to "stir things up."

I enjoyed cozying up to this book, but it was difficult feeling sympathy for Susan's family. They all expect Susan to fix all the issues without lifting a finger to help. To me, her family all seem a bit disdainful. However, the descriptions of food and scenery were enough to provide some enjoyment from the plot. Moore does a fantastic job of transporting you in the beautiful Edinburgh (even though I've never been there myself).

As for the romance spectrum of the book, I was hoping for a little more details than the PG-kissing. I believe that Moore could have thickened the plot much more with Susan and Chris. I'm a reader who is not very patient with a slow-burn story - I like a quick build up.

I would recommend this title to those readers who enjoying having well-developed characters and would be fine with food descriptions to make up for the lack of steamy scenes.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read, although not much was "stirred up" for me.

Thank you!!

This book is a second chance romance but for me the story took way to long to get to anything remotely resembling romance. The story is set in Scotland where Susan is going back to the very start of the family restaurant business after the epic failure of many of the other family restaurants. Chris Baker, her ex from 10 yrs ago, comes back to his home town, same town as Susan, to start a new restaurant after a successful stint in the US as a celebrity chef. I had three main issues with the story, 1. it was very slow with so much talk about the remodel of Susan's restaurant that it took away from the Susan and Chris story, 2. the characters hardly spend any time together through 85% of the book and for me that’s not very romantic, 3 the third person POV was at times difficult to read.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. If you like watching the Food Network, you'll probably like this book.
Susan Napier comes to Scotland to take over her family's last surviving restaurant after their cooking dynasty failed. She has a lot of work to do to restore the reputation of her grandfather's legacy of fine dining. But competition from a new restaurant started by none other than her ex, the man she ghosted ten years ago makes her task even more difficult. Chris Baker gives up his job as the popular star of a television cooking show to return home and start his own restaurant. After being fired by Napier's and dumped by Susan at the same time, Chris harbors resentment against her and her entire family. But when a cooking competition pits them against a third rival, will the resulting comeraderie bring them back together?
I absolutely hated Susan's entire family, finding them shallow and hateful. But I enjoyed the main characters and their interactions with each other and the employees in their restaurant. This was a cute story about second chances and, of course, FOOD.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is something beautiful and engaging. I really love it. A very cosy and easy read. Thank you Net Galley and the publisher. I have enjoyed reading this. Love it so much!

I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in two sittings - it was a fun and easy read. I didn't want to be constantly comparing to Persuasion so I tried not to think of it as a re-telling and I think it worked well as a story on its own merit.

Susan is trying to save the last restaurant in the family business and moves with her spendthrift father and directionless sister from London to Edinburgh. But when her ex, now a celebrity chef, turns up in Edinburgh to open his own restaurant the stakes become even higher. A story of family and expectations and love. It had me rooting for Susan. A perfect read for a weekend or vacation.

I received an ARC of this book via Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Description

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?

My thoughts

I’ve never read a book by this author before but the cover was sweet and – when I’m not reading or watching telly – I’m probably cooking or eating, so a book about all things food (which a pinch of romance thrown in for good measure) definitely appealed to me.

The descriptions of food are so rich and detailed you can’t help but feel a bit hungry. The culinary setting was nice to read plus the descriptions of Edinburgh were so beautiful, Moore has a talent for transporting a reader somewhere with words (I’ve been to Edinburgh myself but all I remember is watching Braveheart with my friends who we stayed with, drinking vodka out of an egg cup – don’t ask – and rain. Lots and lots of rain). I could’ve read pages and pages of description alone.

Whilst I liked the descriptions of food and places in this book, I’ll admit, I wasn’t crazy about the characters. I couldn’t argue with Susan wanting the restaurant to survive, and I liked her determination to get things done, but – as a character – I didn’t really care for her. This also extended to the rest of the characters in the book, I just found myself annoyed by or disinterested in the characters in this book.

I’m all about past lovers reuniting through some kind of circumstance but – with the very different lives of Chris and Susan – they actually spent a tiny amount of time in each other’s company so the romance just didn’t feel real (or very romantic) to me.

Saying that, I still enjoyed the book – though it didn’t stir up much emotion for me.

All Stirred Up will be published on 8th September 2020.

Synopsis:

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?

Review:

This book was a delightful read. You quickly learn to love the character of Susan and the unknown suspense between herself and Chris definitely keeps you intrigued. Pardon my pun but this book was a recipe for success! It had everything possible for me to love it, particularly all the food references and how restaurant related it is. I love TV shows like Masterchef and Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares so I was definitely eager to see elements of my favourite shows in a book. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. The food descriptions are so descriptive it will have you salivating.

There were a couple of things I didn’t like. You are introduced to a number of characters such as relatives and in-laws quite fast and all at once and it was confusing initially. It did make sense over time but it had me a little frustrated at first. Also there was something about the ending that I didn’t like. Readers of the book will know exactly what I’m talking about but i’m not going to spoil it for others just because of my opinion. I feel like that could have been saved perhaps for a sequel and was a last minute addition that didn’t need to be there. The book was well written and flowed easily making it easy to read. The Scottish characters were hard to understand, as I’m from Australia I’ve not met anybody with or read a Scottish accent before so some of the words I had to guess were meant to be other words and sort of figure out the sentences for myself, which I was mostly successful at, but as the reader it’s not my job to be doing that.

I’ve given much thought to my rating and i’ve decided not to penalise the terrible ending. Some may like that.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my review.

3/5 Stars

I've been on something of an Austen re-telling binge lately and this book was an adorable modern version of Persuasion. I didn't go into it fully realizing that's what it was (I saw chefs and Edinburgh and knew I had to read it) but I was so pleased by it! The family relationships were pulled off with skill and the romantic mains were likable while still being realistically flawed.

If you enjoy second-chance romances and a culinary setting, this book might be your thing. Plus I loved the setting of contemporary Edinburgh and it made me want to visit and perhaps be one of those annoying tourists the characters are always complaining about.

However, I had several complaints about the book that kept it from being a five-star choice. First of all, it took me a long time to get used to a novel told in the present tense. I’m not talking about the present as a time period, but using present-tense verbs. I kept getting caught up with noticing what seems like the wrong tense for a novel when a character stirs the batter or looks at another instead of saying she stirred or looked. It felt like I spent half the novel getting taken out of the mood and setting and getting annoyed at the verb tense.

Also, the main character, Susan, has really irritating family members. Her father is a real dope who blew through his father’s legacy of great restaurants because he was too lazy to keep track of the business. And he and her sister both spend money like water. Apparently, he’s spent a fortune on botox and plastic surgery while not noticing that the money was just about all gone. The older sister is totally self-centered and snobby. The younger sister is a hypochondriac mess. Susan is the only normal person. It’s never clear why she didn’t step in to rescue the family restaurants earlier give that we’re told that she is both a pastry chef and has a business degree.

Another complaint is that she and the love interest, Chris Baker, hardly spend any time together. He is now a celebrity chef from an American TV show that capitalized on his good looks and Scots accent. He has good reason to despise Susan - at least from what he knows. And she has good reason to despise herself for hurting him. But now he’s a famous chef opening a restaurant and she’s desperately trying to rework the last restaurant left from her beloved grandfather’s legacy.

Once the book got past featuring the obnoxious family members and got more in to how Susan was trying to rescue the restaurant and the characters who are going to help her do that, I enjoyed the book a lot more though I would have still liked more interactions between Susan and Chris. It is now ten years past their original affair. Don’t they need some time to see if they can love the people that they have grown to be now, you know, in the present tense?

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

BROOO, I'M SO HYPE FOR THIS BOOK. I KNOW THAT'S NOT A PROFESSIONAL WAY TO START A REVIEW BUT LISTEN THIS BOOK CAME THRU OK.

The first thing you need to know is this book is DRAMA. Half the characters are the most high-key high maintenance you've ever seen. When they say "Jane Austen retelling," they mean it. It's nuts.

Also, the food writing comes through. I actually showed up for the food so I was very excited.

All Stirred Up came, saw, and conquered. It doesn't skimp on anything it promised. It delivers a heaping dish of 5 Michelin Stars. It is chef's kiss approved. Round of applause on this one, ladies and gents.

All in all it was a good read but nothing exciting.
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I would recomend it if you're looking for a light read.

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Thank you to @netgalley, Alcove Press, and Brianne Moore for providing me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Yup. Nope. I gave this a go and I wasn't a fan.

The pacing was too slow for me and at least ½ the novel was based on the restaurant remodel that I care less about and could have easily found something similar on the Food Network/DIY channel if I wanted a bite, there was barely any interaction between Chris and Susan until ⅓ mark and by then I was no longer invested in their relationship, the side characters were annoying as fuck, and the tedious details on what was being done to save the family restaurant just about put me to sleep.

This culinary second chance romance novel nearly made me weep in displeasure and was an utter waste of time and energy. I had skimmed more than what was actually read and I was left with no desire to make it to the big finale. So with that being said, off to my drop pile you go!

Brilliantly done cover. The initial bits are slightly hard to follow with the constant to and fro in the timelines but then the plot catches pace and gives this Jane Austen feel to it. Would love to see it being made into a movie.