Review: The Saturday Night Supper Club by Carla Laureano

The Saturday Night Supper Club

by Carla Laureano

Publisher: Tyndale House

Pages: 416

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Denver chef Rachel Bishop has accomplished everything she’s dreamed and some things she never dared hope, like winning a James Beard award and heading up her own fine-dining restaurant. But when a targeted smear campaign causes her to be pushed out of the business by her partners, she vows to do whatever it takes to get her life back … even if that means joining forces with the man who inadvertently set the disaster in motion.

Essayist Alex Kanin never imagined his pointed editorial would go viral. Ironically, his attempt to highlight the pitfalls of online criticism has the opposite effect: it revives his own flagging career by destroying that of a perfect stranger. Plagued by guilt-fueled writer’s block, Alex vows to do whatever he can to repair the damage. He just doesn’t expect his interest in the beautiful chef to turn personal.

Alex agrees to help rebuild Rachel’s tarnished image by offering his connections and his home to host an exclusive pop-up dinner party targeted to Denver’s most influential citizens: the Saturday Night Supper Club. As they work together to make the project a success, Rachel begins to realize Alex is not the unfeeling opportunist she once thought he was, and that perhaps there’s life--and love--outside the pressure-cooker of her chosen career. But can she give up her lifelong goals without losing her identity as well?

Kritters Thoughts:  The first in a series that centers around three friends, all very different with different skills and passions and outlooks on life.  This first book focuses on Rachel Bishop.  After a social media firestorm costs her her job and restaurant she ends up partnering with an unlikely character and starting a new venture that could hopefully lead to more.

Tyndale House Publisher is a Christian fiction publisher and I knew going into this book that there would be this element in the story.  I like to read a few books in the year that are from the genre of Christian fiction to expand what I read.  The big thing that I could see that made this book a piece of Christian fiction was that it was a romance without any sexy times.  The relationship that bloomed in this book was very chaste, but I have to say I liked it.  It makes me feel like that the author puts more effort into the plot and story because they can't rely on sexy times to move the story along.

It was interesting to have social media take a front seat in the book.  I don't seem to think of a lot of plots that use social media as a plot point.  It made this book feel really fresh and of the time.  I loved it.

I hope there are more books to come in this series.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 98 out 100