Imagine the pain of losing a loved one and then the crushing realisation that most of what you thought you knew about their life was a lie - that's what happens to Jules, daughter of celebrity chef and lifestyle matriarch Elizabeth Stone.
"The Essential Elizabeth Stone" follows Jules' struggle to deal with her grief alongside meeting the demands of the lifestyle brand her mother left behind. Desperate to keep her mother's empire alive, Jules agrees to a ghost-written biography of her mother being commissioned. Joining disgraced ghost-writer Noah, Jules embarks on a journey to find out about her mother's past and her research uncovers secrets that may have been better left untold...
I enjoyed the dual-timeline of this novel, with the story of a young Elizabeth finding her feet in her industry despite humble beginnings being the main draw of the book for me. The impact of every new discovery on Jules and the way she navigated the loss of more than one element of her life was touching and empowering.
Food is a major part of this novels and the rich description of the dishes themselves almost enables them to become supporting characters in our protagonists' journeys. I'm not ashamed to admit I found my mouth watering at various times when reading this book!
The only character I found myself not warming to is this novel was actually Jules. Although I felt empathy for her losses, as a person I just did not find her or her interesting enough, especially when compared to her mother. However, by the end of the novel, I found myself hoping for her personal growth and change.
At times I felt like the narratives jumped between timelines too abruptly. There were also points at which I became confused as to whether or not a character was reflecting on something from the past or if it were happening in the present and I had to re-read the paragraph.
Overall, this novel reaffirmed for me the power of knowing your own identity and knowing who you can trust to allow you to truly be yourself. Note to readers - beware reading on an empty stomach!

This is a lovely fictionalized version of the complicated relationship between mother and daughter. Jules is reeling from the death of her mother, Elizabeth Stone. Stone is portrayed as a Martha Stewart-like celebrity domestic goddess. Juliette must not only mourn, but pick up the pieces of her mother’s domestic empire, her crumbling marriage and her cloudy heritage.

Jules in her confusion and sadness make her an extremely sympathetic heroine. I enjoyed the novel and the characters. I felt very comfortable with the settings. The author writes vividly, so the reader is often transported into the perfect wonderland of domestic perfection. I enjoy a book with a sense of closure, and I felt I could look into Juliette’s future.

I think readers will enjoy this novel, especially those familiar with the backstories of women such as Stewart and Garten. It is entertaining and well written.

Thank you Netgalley for this lovely and compelling novel.

This was my first book by this author and it had a little of everything I like! Female MC, family ties, beachy setting. I loved seeing how Elizabeth built herself up and felt really tied to these characters. I loved the multiple POVs and the coming of age aspects of the story.

Juliet Stone grew up in the shadow of her perfect and famous mother – someone known around the world for her entertaining, good taste, and culinary skill. When Elizabeth Stone dies, Juliet learns that nothing about her mother’s history is as it seems, just a series of stories that paint the picture that Elizabeth wanted to show the world. Unravelling the mystery of who her mother was and where she came from makes Juliet question her own origin and sense of self. Through learning the truth about her mother, Juliet also uncovers things about herself…things that prompt her to change the way she has been living so that she can claim the life she wants to have.

This story is told in dual timelines, with Elizabeth’s early life taking place on the coast of Maine. Jennifer Banash captures the beauty of this setting and I felt drawn to this part of the book because of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Entertaining and unique story about a "Martha/Ina/Julia" cooking/lifestyle maven in the 1980s-90s; there were a handful of twists that kept my interest and I was pleasantly surprised the story didn't parallel Martha Stewart's bio (as I feared after a chapter or two!). I particularly enjoyed the NYC setting and well-done mentions of locations, subway travel, and shopping locales.

The Essential Elizabeth Stone started a little slow, but once I got caught up in the story, it was hard to stop reading. I was fascinated and intrigued by Elizabeth’s journey to becoming the well-known and much-celebrated Elizabeth Stone, even in the moments when she wasn’t exactly my favorite person. In fact, while I initially thought I wouldn’t like the flashback chapters, they quickly became my favorite parts!

Jennifer Banash’s writing was beautiful. The food and scenery descriptions had me envious and desperately wishing I wasn’t eating a microwaved burrito on my lunch at my work desk. Watching Jules figure out life without her mom was honestly heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine being expected to fill the shoes of a woman like Elizabeth. Talk about overwhelming! Banash did an excellent job of portraying Jules’ fears and anxieties, combined with her deep longing to know who her mother really was. All while mourning the loss of her! Banash also did a great job of capturing the complexities that can come from a mother-daughter relationship. Not only did we get to see that reflected between Jules and Elizabeth, but we also got to see the relationship between Elizabeth and her mother and Elizabeth and Eunice.

There were a couple things that kept this from being a 5 Star book for me. It felt like, about halfway through, things started happening too fast. Specifically when Elizabeth reached New York! Backtracking just a bit, I also didn’t love parts of her romance. I won’t go into details because I don’t want to spoil it, but I just didn’t believe the love there at the beginning. By the end of the story, however, those complaints were mostly forgotten and I thought it ended perfectly.

All-in-all, this was a solid, beautifully written read that I would recommend if you like journeys of discovery, descriptive writing, and complex relationships.

This book seemed to have a little bit of everything I like. Setting by water, home comforts, first love, unique characters, coming of age and multiple POV, but not too many.

I was drawn in within the first couple chapters wanting to find out the secrets of Elizabeth and it did not disappoint.

This would make for a great film or limited series!!!!

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing + NetGalley for the chance to read this before it is published on the 10th September 2024 #TheEssentialElizabethStone #NetGalley

4.5 stars
I think this one will stay with me awhile. The novel follows the "story" of Elizabeth Stone. It's a story of how she built herself, her life and her love for her family. Did she make mistakes - yes, but that's what made her human. My only misgiving was that I wished Juliet had gotten her strength earlier in the book. When Peter railed against her, blaming the downfall of the Elizabeth Stone empire on her, I wish Juliet would have stood up for herself.

As I began reading this I didn’t know if I was going to love it due to quite the slow start it had, but I began to fall in love with the story and how beautifully descriptive it was! Thank you for the arc, and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

It’s a slow start with lots of descriptions versus dialogue. Once the story starts to unfold & we hear from multiple characters point of view it’s a great read. I think it would be a great movie! The writing style was overly wordy for my taste. I enjoyed the essence of the story once it started moving.

📖 35 / 100 in 2024
✍️ Women’s Fiction
⭐️ 5 stars

The Essential Elizabeth Stone by Jennifer Banash
title releases September 10, 2024

for readers who enjoy books with....

secrets, cookbooks, Maine, dinner parties, roasted walnuts, only children, matching linens, first love, summer people, grief journey, oysters, books about writing, mothers and daughters, tablescapes, coming of age, multiple POV

(Thank you to @netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advance digital ARC copy!)

Months after Elizabeth’s death, Juliet discovers her mother might not be who she said she was - which Juliet now has to navigate alongside her grief, her marriage, and leading her mother’s brand while coming to terms with what this all means for her personally.

With themes of people who are closest to you being even likelier to surprise you, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It was easy to fall in love with these characters as they invented themselves (and re-invented themselves).

I do love a well-titled book and appreciated the reference to cookbooks in the title. I selected this one from NetGalley with a working cover and didn’t see the actual cover until after reading, but I think it’s a great fit. Books about books are always some of my favourites - this would be a great companion read for The Editor by Steven Rowley.

I felt fully immersed in Banash’s description-rich writing and could totally relate to the experience of choosing which details about yourself you want to be the main plot points of your life.

I received this ARC from NetGalley, huge thank you to them, Lake Union Publishing and the author Jennifer Banash! I loved the cover and was drawn to the story by the description. Although Jennifer presents beautiful images, I found it to be overly descriptive and wordy. Overall, it was a great story that reminded me of "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and even "Daisy Jones and the Six" so if you enjoyed either of those, this would definitely be worth the read!

My thanks to #LakeUnionPublishing #NetGalley and #JenniferBanash for the ARC of #TheEssentialElizabethStone. Elizabeth Stone. An icon in her own right, but after her untimely death at an early age, her daughter discovers nobody really knew the real Elizabeth Stone. Going through her effects, Elizabeth’s daughter, Juliet, uncovers snippets of a life her mother never told her about. How does a person grieve for someone they never really knew? Juliet now faced with running the Stone Empire, must come to terms with who her mother really was before she can move forward with anything. This was my first read from Jennifer Banash and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the warmth of the descriptions, and I liked feeling part of the atmosphere. It was very well written. I totally recommend this read.

I enjoyed this story of legacy and mystery. It was fun to read about a fictionally famous chef and interior designer. There were lovely descriptions that really made me feel immersed into the world of design.

“She bowed her head, covering her face with her splayed hands…It’s like prayer, she thought in disbelief as the tears came faster, this kind of grief.”

There were several things going on in this book, and I was interested in all of them:

*Juliet’s relationship with her mom took center stage. I thought the author’s description of Juliet’s grief and pain over her mother’s death was very poignant.

*Next there was Elizabeth Stone’s business, and Juliet struggled to make the decisions her mother would make while wondering who was trustworthy.

*Then there was Elizabeth’s book editor who wanted Juliet to write her mom’s biography. This is when we learned Elizabeth Stone had a mystery past, and Jules set out with ghost-writer Noah to search for answers.

*And finally we were introduced to a young woman named “Billie”, her mother Grace, and the wealthy Archibald family. Descriptions of Eunice Archibald’s gardens overlooking the sea were beautiful.

It was hard to stop reading at this point because the story snowballed and everything started happening. Some things were a little over the top with high drama, and the descriptions grew heavy on words, but I still thought it was very well done and I enjoyed the read.

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

This was my first novel by Jennifer Banash, and I have to say, it was thoroughly enjoyable, much more than I expected based on the description and my normal love of a fast paced thriller. Jennifer is clearly an expert at painting the picture with her words. Every new scene was described in such a way that I could picture it perfectly, but still able to leave enough up to the imagination to create your own image. Even though I found the descriptions to be beautiful, it did slow the story down a bit. I found myself skimming over parts that overly explained different situations to get back to the plot and dialogue. The Essential Elizabeth Stone was heartwarming, delightful, and takes you on a journey through discovery of oneself and their lineage. I really enjoyed the dual POV's of Jules and Elizabeth and seeing the stories come together at the end. If you are a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid, you will more than likely enjoy this book! Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Banash, and Lake Union for the opportunity to read this amazing novel!

What a totally different book about a Martha Stewart-type mom told from a daughter’s viewpoint. Jennifer Banash set up a very real and human story about a mother - daughter relationship where the death of the mother revealed hidden secrets that could have altered her memory forever. After investigating the facts, though, and feeling and finding additional information, the daughter Juliet understands what she needs to in order to move on. A very relatable story about the volatility and fragility of relationships.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.

Image living your entire life admiring your mother who is a famous chef and cook book writer . Then after her death you find out that this woman was entirely made up. This is the basis for this novel.. As the daughter seeks answers to who her mother was and why she kept her background a mystery will keep the reader intrigued to the end.. A enjoyable novel that I will recommend especially to my cooking friends.

I loved the cover of this book, and it didn't disappoint.
Jules, the daughter of Elizabeth, a Martha Steward like woman, is grieving the death of her mother. There is a lot of grief, anger, depression, etc in this book, but I admired the way it was resolved.
Jules is approached to complete a memoir of her mom, but with a ghostwriter. He discovers that the well crafted story her mom had given to the public (and Jules) all these years wasn't true at all.
She sets off on a journey to find the real Elizabeth.
I'm not sure I was intrigued by a couple of the characters, but it wasn't off putting.
Give this one a read. I think you'll enjoy it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the opportunity to read this novel.