Around this time of year, you might feel pressured to do a lot of cooking. Maybe you're tired of cooking? Maybe you want to go to a restaurant? Or...maybe read books set in fictional restaurants? If that's the case, we've got you covered with these delicious reads.
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Blackmail and bibingka
by Mia P. Manansala When her long lost cousin comes back to town just in time for the holidays, Lila Macapagal knows that big trouble can't be far behind in this new mystery by Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo. It's Christmastime in Shady Palms, but things arefar from jolly for Lila Macapagal. Sure, her new business, The Brew-ha Cafe, is looking to turn a profit in its first year. And yes, she's taken the first step in a new romance with her good friend, Jae Park. But her cousin Ronnie is back in town after ghosting the family fifteen years ago, claiming that his recent purchase of a local winery shows that he's back on his feet and ready to give back to the Shady Palms community. Tita Rosie is thrilled with the return of her prodigal son, but Lila knows thatwherever Ronnie goes, trouble follows. She's soon proven right when Ronnie is accused of murder, and secrets and rumors surrounding her shady cousin and those involved with the winery start piling up. Now Lila has to put away years of resentment and distrust to prove her cousin's innocence. He may be a jerk, but he's still family. And there's no way her flesh and blood could actually be a murderer...right? |
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The family chao : a novel
by Lan Samantha Chang When Big Leo, the owner of Fine Chao restaurant is found deadpresumed murderedhis three sons are reunited and fall under suspicion of the town and police, and must reckon with the legacy of their fathers outsized appetites and own future survival. |
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For butter or worse
by Erin La Rosa Chef Nina Lyon finds her dreams of stardom dashed after clashing with her cooking challenge show co-host so badly it causes her to quit on live tv, forcing her nemesis to beg for her return. |
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Hana Khan carries on
by Uzma Jalaluddin When the halal restaurant where she waitresses is threatened by new competition, a rising podcaster uncovers a long-buried family secret and falls for a rival before their community is upended by a hate attack. |
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Happy endings : a novel
by Thien-Kim Lam Determined to make her sex toy business a success, Trixie Nguyen teams up with her ex, a struggling restaurant owner, and, as both businesses pick up, they find their steamy truce turning into something more. |
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Hot and sour suspects
by Vivien Chien When a speed-dating contest at Ho-Lee Noodle House results in the murder of a participant, Lana Lee, piecing together the events of that night, delves into the past of this man who has too many scorned lovers and mistreated colleagues to count. |
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The little French bistro : a novel
by Nina George Overcome by regrets after decades in a loveless and unhappy marriage, Marianne attempts suicide and is abandoned by her husband before finding herself in picturesque Brittany, where she finds loving new friends who encourage her to develop her talents for her own pleasure. By the best-selling author of The Little Paris Bookshop. |
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Love & saffron : a novel of friendship, food, and love
by Kim Fay When 27-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter--as well as a gift of saffron--to 59-year-old food writer Imogen Fortier, so begins an enduring friendship that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy and the unexpected in their own lives. |
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Marrying the ketchups : a novel
by Jennifer Close When Bud, the founder of JP Sullivans, drops dead, everyone in the Sullivan family finds themselves doubting all they hold dear, in this unputdownable comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the deep-fried love that feeds them. |
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Number one Chinese restaurant
by Lillian Li A working family that has built a busy life running a beloved Maryland Chinese restaurant is forced by youthful recklessness and a tragedy to confront interpersonal conflicts and the limits of what parents are willing to sacrifice for their children. |
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A proposal they can't refuse
by Natalie Caña Kamilah, a Puerto Rican chef and Liam, an Irish American whiskey distiller are blackmailed by their grandfathers, best friends since boyhood, into getting married or risk losing the building that houses both their businesses. |
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Ramón and Julieta
by Alana Quintana Albertson When she discovers the mariachi she kissed on the Day of the Dead is her new landlord—and the son of the man who stole her mother’s taco recipe decades ago—celebrity chef Julieta Campos is forced to work with this man who destroyed her life’s work. |
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Touch : a novel
by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson When he receives a message from a lover from the 60s who disappeared, restaurant owner Kristofer is pulled toward finding an answer to the mystery of her sudden departure, compelling him to travel to London and Japan just as the virus threatens to shut everything down. |
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The waiter
by Matias Faldbakken The finely tuned balance of a grand European restaurant The Hills (which has seen better days) is irrevocably upset by a beautiful and well-groomed, yet unexpected, female guest. |
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Yerba Buena
by Nina LaCour When much sought-after bartender Sara Foster meets Emilie Dubois at the Yerba Buena restaurant, their connection is instant, but the damage they both carry, and the choices they made, keep pulling them apart. |