I loved this! I stayed up super late Friday night finishing the audiobook. I had no idea that it was a modern day retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion - maybe because I’ve never read a Jane Austen novel?

Susan has moved to Edinburgh to save her grandfather’s flagship - and now only - restaurant. Her ex-boyfriend has also moved back to Edinburg to open a rival his restaurant (after spending spending time as TV host of a cooking competition). Their paths cross, and their past feelings resurface. I loved Susan and Chris’s relationship, and Susan’s family and her restaurant friends are great too.

The book is charming - the accents on the audiobook are so fun! I loved it!

This was a fun audiobook to read.  It gives a realistic view of the lives of two chefs, struggling to make their new restaurants a success in Edinburgh and struggling to forget their past together.  Add in some family drama, and it makes for an excellent story.  The characters are very colorful, and the infusion of Scottish culture also adds to the story.  Loved this book!

I had recently read some heavier books, so All Stirred Up by Brianne Moore was a wonderful palate cleanser! It is a light romance with a lot of heart about two former lovers opening two new restaurants in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Susan and Chris had a terrible falling out in their early 20s and have ended up back in the same town about a decade later. Susan has returned to Edinburgh as her family is forced to downsize due to economic circumstances and Chris has returned home after leaving his show as a celebrity chef. Both characters are hardworking and likeable, though they do make mistakes. There were a lot of characters, so it was a little difficult to keep them straight at first, but the story was very fun and kept me interested throughout. I loved the enticing food and atmosphere descriptions. The elements were great, but I wanted more. I wanted more of the family relationships and HEA, etc. I listened to the audiobook which is delightfully narrated by Mary Jane Wells. She has a really pleasant voice and uses different accents for characters which really put me into the story. Overall, a very fun, sweet read! 

Thank you Crooked Lane Books/Alcove Press/Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this e-book and audiobook ARC.

I kept trying to get into this one but for some reason it just felt flat at the moment. I would absolutely give it a second chance later on. The audio was also a little hard to keep up with even at a 1.5-1.75 speed. Im sure it would be a great pick for others but I just didnt vibe with this one at the moment maybe it was just too slow of a burn in comparison to other rom-coms I've read.

I would like to thank Brianne Moore and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook for All Stirred Up in exchange for an honest review. I simply loved this audiobook. The narration was perfect. The story itself was also fun. I would not exactly label it as a Persuasion retelling, but I still enjoyed it all the same. One of my favorite tropes involves cooking/baking so this book was right up my alley! I loved watching Susan and Chris rekindle their romance and I found myself wanting more at the end of the narration. I will absolutely be recommending this book to others.

Unfortunately, I found this book very hard to get into. I usually love audiobooks because I feel so immersed in the story but when after 10% of book the story still wasn't holding my attention, I decided to take a break. I don't fault the narration -- I actually enjoyed it a lot but found that I just didn't care about the characters. I could not get into the storyline and as a result found myself spacing out and missing parts and needing to rewind.. 

I think part of the issue was that this was marketed as a romance and was more focused on the family drama which I did not care for and would have likely avoided had I realized.

It felt like 2 stars for me but adding a third both for the good narration and to account for the marketing and genre issues that are not the fault of the author.

All Stirred Up

I Picked Up This Book Because: The blurb looked good.

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Netgalley
Dates Read: 12/16/20 - 12/20/20
Stars: 3

The Characters:

Susan Napier:
Chris Baker:
Susan’s super annoying family, restaurant employees most of which were also annoying, Chris’s best friend/coworker

The Story:

I’m not going to lie. I spent a lot of this book wondering if I should DNF however I’m glad I stuck it out. After you get over Susan obsessing over her past with Chris and look past her perpetually selfish family, the story gets interesting. Susan and her cohort, whose name I cannot remember, do what they set out to do and bring back Elliot’s former glory despite many obstacles. And the introduction of a cute pup didn’t hurt at all. In fact I could have done with more of her.

The Random Thoughts:

This novel follows Susan, as she takes the reins of managing the family restaurant, Elliot's in Edinburgh. Upon her return she finds out that one of her exes is opening a new restaurant nearby.

I enjoyed all of the descriptions of cooking, and food in this novel - it definitely made me hungry the entire time I listened to it! It also has some wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh, and has made me want to go explore that historic city even more so than I already did.

I listened to the audiobook at 2x speed and I did have some trouble understanding the Scottish accents that were put on for the Scottish characters. But I did enjoy the acting behind the audiobook - it is performed by a single narrator, but she does a wonderful job of distinguishing who is speaking.

The storyline did feel a bit predictable, having been able to see the ending from a mile away as well as being an adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, but I enjoyed the journey that the characters take, as well as all of the wonderful foods that are described!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Alcove Press for the gifted audiobook!

So I read a lot of romances in my teens and the ones I really loved were written by Jilly Cooper which, I guess, would be considered romantic comedies in today’s genres. No matter which, they all have the same basic and familiar plot and characters, and the author’s job is to dress those up and make them as appealing as possible. Now, many decades on, I find myself drawn back to this genre and, while the tropes have not changed one jot, the novels do get a whole lot steamier. In the pie of romances, my preference is for the contemporary romantic comedy slice and All Stirred Up is an excellent serving.

Set in Edinburgh, and honestly the tourist board couldn’t have done a better job of making me want to visit, the novel centers on romance in the restaurant world. This means we get many mouthwatering descriptions of desserts and cakes (Susan is a baker and is trying to save her family’s flagship restaurant) and Scottish fusion cuisine (Chris is a TV star chef who opens a much-buzzed about new restaurant). As is often the way of modern romances, they had a relationship in the past which ended badly. We all know where it’s going, and the author takes us on a very entertaining route to get there.

The ride to get us to the end point is where the author gets to play, with subplots and secondary characters. Susan’s family is fairly monstrous, but also sad. Susan has a fling that doesn’t work out with a charming but manipulative movie star. Chris’s backstory is tragic and he has a salt of the earth sister. The staff of the restaurants are a mix of villainous and supportive. There is a dog - there is always a dog and, as a dog owner, I find myself wondering about the welfare of dogs in romantic comedies as they mostly seem to be a prop and never get enough exercise or attention.

The audiobook is nicely done and made for several pleasant hours of listening. The reader does an excellent variety of Scottish and English accents and even manages the tricky transition between the Scottish chef and his Irish sous chef without missing a beat.

Of course All Stirred Up isn’t going to make you smarter or a better person. But it might take the edges off a rough pandemic week and inspire you (as it did me) to make lemon meringue pie and encourage your child to apply to Edinburgh University.

Note: I just read that this is an updated version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion - completely passed me by.

Thanks to Alcove Press and Netgalley for the audiobook review copy.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this one. I was looking for a cute romcom and this seemed more like a contemporary. It was very focused on the restaurant stuff which I found interesting but unfortunately the family drama was A LOT in the romance really wasn’t there until like the end. Also I HATED Chris. He truly sucked.

I've been getting more into audiobooks this year so NetGalley's advanced listening copies have been great. I happened to stumble upon Brianne Moore's debut novel All Stirred Up and was immediately intrigued because it's an updated version of Persuasion, my favourite of Jane Austen's novels, and it was set in Edinburgh - a place I had visited just in time at the beginning of March this year. I was sold. And when I was done? Thoroughly delighted.

Here's the 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 redrawn 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?
It's been a few years since I've read Persuasion (I just checked Goodreads...I read it last in 2013) so the particulars of the novel are a bit fuzzy. I do recall some of the main plot points so I could see where Moore was honouring the story in certain parts. I don't think you have to know Austen's work to appreciate this story and I also think diehard Austen fans can enjoy the way Moore updated the story for her novel. Though I will say I would have much rather had a letter from Chris instead of a text message. If you know, you know.

The reason I love Persuasion so much is because it's a second chance romance, just like All Stirred Up, and that's one of my favourite tropes. It's been years since Chris and Susan have seen each other and you know right from the get-go that there's unfinished business between them. There were so many contributing factors to their break up that neither of them had the full story. They both felt hurt (Chris was justified to feel as such and Susan knew that her hurt was self-inflicted) and that kept them from communicating with each other. I got ever so slightly annoyed when they just refused to talk things through but that's the nature of rom coms, my friends. They're going to do frustrating things! I was rooting for them the whole time because I couldn't wait for them to get over the bullshit in their past and finally get back together. I needed that Happily Ever After!

As I alluded to at the top, I listened to this one as an audiobook. The narrator, Mary Jane Wells, did a pretty good job switching characters and her male Scottish accent didn't annoy me (which is what happened with another audiobook I listened to earlier this year). Since I pretty much only listen to audiobooks on my commute, I found myself looking for ways to get more reading time in. A walk after work when my partner had to work late? Done. (That was before the time change of course. Now it's dark before I even get home. *sobs*) Doing the dishes? Perfect time to listen. Playing mindless games on my phone? More listening time! I didn't want to stop!

This novel was a love letter to Edinburgh. Moore wasn't born there but you can tell in her descriptions that she absolutely, totally, completely loves the city. I had goosebumps as I listened to the description of Susan flying into the city then again as she walked around her new neighbourhood and mentioned streets and monuments I had seen myself back in March. There's a scene where she climbs to the top of Calton Hill that had me swooning because I could completely picture where she was (so much so that I shared my pictures from my trip on Instagram after finishing the novel). 

There were many reasons that may have made me love All Stirred Up more than the average reader but I was so completely thrilled with Brianne Moore's novel that I don't even care. I loved it and it made me feel so happy. That is what I look for in almost every read, even more so this year, and I'm so pleased I had a chance to read this novel.

*An advanced listening copy was provided by the publisher, Dreamscape Media, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Thanks NetGalley for this preview! 

First things first- the narrator's voice and accents were superb! I loved how they jumped back and forth between the characters and gave them each a distinct voice.   This romance was the second chance story I was waiting for-it had me hooked from the beginning.  The emotions from the love and loss seemed so genuine and I felt them along with the characters. I also love cooking and the foodie accents made me very happy!

A very cute modern reimagining of Jane Austen's Persuasion.  The fun in the plot was seeing which events and characters from the original novel were subtly (or overtly) altered, deleted, or (in one notable case) made fun of.  The love story is sweet but and the inside baseball of the food industry is fun, but something about the modern setting and the frothy plot falls a bit flat.  That said, the author does a great job with the characters.  With few exceptions the are three dimensional and treated with more love and respect then Austen did to her comedic targets.  Fun, cute, but a bit insubstantial.

I don't really have much feedback to give on this one. This book was very boring to me and sadly I had a hard time paying attention to it. I didn't hate it but nothing from this story really stuck.

CW: business closing, discussion of family deaths, sexism, sexual harassment in work place, grief, discussion of drugs, discussion of murder

This book was exactly what I needed in every sense. There were heavy topics discussed but it wasn’t too much. It gave the book serious touches to what would be a too light of story otherwise. 

I am a massive lover of books that have food/cooking as a main point to it so I couldn’t wait to read this one. The fact that it takes place in Scotland (starts in London but not much there) just added to my love of it. This book delved deep into family dynamics and family overall. There is a touch of romance but I would say it’s more woman’s fiction than romance. 

The connections between the characters and dissecting how things went wrong while owning up to their parts in what happened instead of just placing blame definitely hit the right notes for me.  

The audio was a bit glitchy with awkward pauses and I kept having to restart the app at the end of chapters which made me lose momentum but I’ve been informed that that’s because of it being an ALC and doesn’t reflect on the published audiobook. Other than the technical difficulties, I do recommend the audiobook. 

Must Read if you like: 
📺 Restaurant Impossible
📖 books about food/BTS of restaurants

I loved this imaginative retelling of a Jane Austen novel by Brianne Moore. How could anyone ever get too much of Jane?!  I enjoyed Moore’s modernization of the story. I can definitely identify with Susan’s life. I loved the author’s characterizations of Susan and Chris. I felt like all the characters were handled and updated well.

This was a really fun read! Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the advance audio copy of All Stirred Up.

This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

I am a sucker for modern-day Jane Austen retelling, but this new version of Persuasion, didn’t work for me. I never really got to the point of caring about Susan or Chris. Their relationship felt flat, and their drama was a little too much for a realistic fiction book. Chris’s big secret that is revealed at the end of the book felt unnecessary and went against the rest of the character’s development. The setting was fine, and I enjoyed the small aspects of Scotland the author included, but I never felt like I was there. Plus, for a book that is supposed to be a romance, Susan and Chris interact very little, and I never found myself invested in their relationship. I received this book as an audiobook from NetGalley, and the reader was probably the best part and saved the book as much as she could. Some fans of Austen may love this novel, but for me, it was just kind of okay.

First of all, kudos to the narrator of this book!  She was amazing!  No matter the accent or gender of the character, Mary Jane Wells brought them all to life.

Unfortunately, the story just didn't hold my interest.  The first half of the book felt sad and dreary, and I had a hard time getting into the story.  It could totally be a personal problem, but the pacing just felt off to me.  Sadly, this one goes in the compost bin.

When Susan and Chris broke up, they didn't think that they would ever see each other again.  But, now Susan is back in Edinburgh to try to revive the family restaurant  and Chris  is back to open his new restaurant.  Will they find their way back to each other in this modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion?  A retelling of my favorite novel of all time? I'm in!

While it is a fun romance, it doesn't come close to the brillance that is Persuasion - and is certainly NOT a retelling.  It follows the typical modern romance trope - they meet ... they fall in love ... some event comes between them ... will they get back together?  

I wish the publisher had not billed this as a retelling, because that leads to such high expectations.  In the end, I decided to review it as what it really is ... a rom-com ... and a better than average one at that. The narration is great!  The story is fun!  Sure, it had it flaws and I wished that I cared more about the characters, but I found it to be better than the average romance.  I most enjoyed the author's descriptions in the kitchen and could tell that she knows her stuff and really cared about that part of the book.  I gave All Stirred up 3 stars.