Cooking Directions
[scroll-box] At the news of her mother’s death, Natalie Tan returns home. The two women hadn’t spoken since Natalie left in anger seven years ago, when her mother refused to support her chosen career as a chef. Natalie is shocked to discover the vibrant neighborhood of San Francisco’s Chinatown that she remembers from her childhood is fading, with businesses failing and families moving out. She’s even more surprised to learn she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant.The neighbor>hood seer reads the restaurant’s fortune in the leaves: Natalie must cook three recipes from her grandmother’s cookbook to aid her struggling neighbors before the restaurant will succeed. Unfortunately, Natalie has no desire to help them try to turn things around–she resents the local shopkeepers for leaving her alone to take care of her agoraphobic mother when she was growing up. But with the support of a surprising new friend and a budding romance, Natalie starts to realize that maybe her neighbors really have been there for her all along. [/scroll-box]
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Let’s Make Some Waffles
It’s no secret that I love food. I mean, just take a look at my blog, go on take a look. What do you see? WAFFLES. WAFFLES EVERYWHERE. I’m just a simple girl with simple needs, and one of those needs is delicious food. (Obviously waffles fit into that category quite nicely.) When I saw that The Royal Polar Bear Reads was hosting a blog tour for Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune (an entire book dedicated to said delicious food), I jumped at the chance to participate (as did my stomach).
- An #ownvoices story that highlights the beauty of Chinese culture. Natalie Tan left her home in San Francisco’s Chinatown seven years ago. She left to pursue her dream of becoming a chief – something that her mother vehemently condemned. But when disaster strikes, Natalie returns home with a broken heart, a broken dream, and a broken set of rose-colored glasses. This sets Natalie on a path that will reconnect her with her neighbors, her ancestors, and her culture.
- ALL THE FOOOD! This book is a delectable love-letter to both the art of cooking and to Chinese cuisine. Its mouth-watering descriptions of traditional dishes made my heart sing and my stomach grumble. Natalie’s passion for cooking is evident on every page of this delicious debut novel, and if you can read this book without coming away extremely hungry, then you are a person of stronger resolve than I (or at least a stronger stomach). Now excuse me while I go gorge myself on some fried dumplings.
“Made of minced pork with a paper-thin wrapper, the steamed shumai was tender, and the har gow was juicy with the shrimp with bamboo shoots highlighted by a peekaboo skin. Then I bit into the wu gok, a fried taro puff with a wispy, crunchy shell and a dripping shrimp and pork filling. The powdery creaminess of the dish made this my favorite of the bunch.”
- Emotionally raw and heartfelt. If I had to cook up a recipe for Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, I would say that it contains a dash of romance, a sprinkle of magic, and a whole lot of heart. Lim crafts a heart-warming tale about the lasting importance of family relationships, the sustaining strength of true friends, and the healing power of a united community.
- The magical realism was, well… magical. To save her dying neighborhood from the evil clutches of gentrification, Natalie must use her grandmother’s cookbook (which may or may not be magical) to prepare three recipes for three of her neighbors. Seamlessly woven into the narrative, this inclusion of the fantastical blended perfectly with Lim’s lyrical prose and helped create an atmospheric read that was nothing short of enchanting.
“My mother once told me midnight was a magical hour when the gateway to possibilities was opened”
- The storytelling felt a bit disjointed at times. Debut novels have a reputation of being less polished, and Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is no exception. With pacing that is often awkward, transitions that are about as smooth as sandpaper, and dialogue that’s unnaturally stilted, the novel didn’t flow as well as it could have.
- The romance was too much, too fast, and too cheesy. Hello instalove, my old friend. I wish I didn’t have to see you here, in a book I was otherwise enjoying. But alas, Natalie’s relationship with Daniel can’t really be described as anything else. While I liked what the author was trying to accomplish here – I’m assuming it was a plot device to further develop the theme of new beginnings and fresh starts – it fell flat for me. There was definitely some serious eye-rolling involved on my part.
“He tasted like everything I always wanted and needed.”
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune is an imperfect, but ultimately uplifting, story about love, loss, and new beginnings. It also proves something that I’ve always suspected: food is magical. With a focus on relationships between family, friends, and neighbors, Roselle Lim’s #ownvoice debut novel is full of beautiful metaphors and saliva-inducing recipes that will make both your heart and your stomach happy.
My Rating: Me Likey
Freebie Alert!
About the Author
Roselle Lim was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada as a child. She lived in north Scarborough in a diverse, Asian neighbourhood.
She found her love of writing by listening to her lola (paternal grandmother’s) stories about Filipino folktales. Growing up in a household where Chinese superstition mingled with Filipino Catholicism, she devoured books about mythology, which shaped the fantasies in her novels.
An artist by nature, she considers writing as “painting with words.”
The Blog Tour
June 17
Rafael of The Royal Polar Bear Reads
Aleks of Mind of Luxe
Jessica of Endless Chapters
Pragati of The Inked In Book Blog
June 18
Myrth of Tales Past Midnight
Erica of Living a Hundred Lives
Gerald of Gerald The Bookworm
June 19
Shaine of Wanderer in Neverland
Kat of Reading After Ten
Shaa of Moonlight Pages
June 20
Beatrice of Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic
Kat H of Novels & Waffles
Jen of Jen D Bibliophile
June 21
Rain of bookdragonism
Princess of Princess and Pages
Samantha of We Live and Breathe Books
June 22
Fatina of The Infinity Words
Naadhira of Legendbooksdary
Cherry of Tale Out Loud
Do you love food as much as I do?
I obviously love waffles – what food do you love so much that you would make a blog about it?
Have you read Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune? What did you think about it?
23 Comments
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Kat, I have a problem … I can’t stop staring at your gorgeous, waffle-y blog! It’s just SO PRETTY! My mere, mortal eyes shouldn’t be allowed to witness this beauty! <3 <3 And this was such a wonderful review by the way! I was going to start on this one tomorrow, so this review was perfect timing! It's so great to hear that the food and Chinese culture are shown in great depth and are wonderfully woven throughout the plot! I think that will be enough for me to enjoy this book, despite insta love and awkward pacing.
I hope you're having the happiest of reading, sweets! <3
YOU ARE SO SWEEET!!! 💛Seriously, that means a lot to me, Kelly! You are one of the kindest bloggers :) I hope that you really enjoy this book – I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it!
Post was amazing, and I’m definitely going to be picking up that book soon, because not only is the cover absolutely beautiful, it sounds like it will be interesting to read.
But the thing that caught my eye also is your BLOG! It literally looks like it has had a major glow-up, and I’m surprised that your blog is avaliable to the public, because it looks too beautiful to be free!
THANK YOUUUUU 💛💛💛 Yes, I did rebrand (again…it’s like the fourth time I’ve done a rebranding hahahasobs) and I couldn’t be happier with it all! I hope that if you do end up reading Natalie Tan, that you end up really enjoying it!
Your welcome!!!! Hopefully I do!!
Beautiful review Kat!! I love the style (it’s similar to mine lol) and the waffles!!! You’re making me super hungry!
This sounds awesome, and as I am looking for books with food to read, I think I’m going to add this to my TBR. I believe I can look over the insta-love and awkward pacing and enjoy the culture and food :)
Thanks so much 💛💛💛 I’ve been experimenting with different review formats to see what I like best, and for now I’ve settled on this one. It’s cool that we sort of match now :)
And I agree, I love food books! You can never have too many of them haha.
Ahhh this is a wonderful review Kat and I’m so happy you had a great time reading this one! I loved it and all of the food made me so, so hungry and made me want to try out every recipe, too, haha :)
Thanks so much, Marie! 💛💛💛Too bad we live so far away from each other because it would totally be fun to try cooking one of the recipes together haha.
AHhhhhhhhhhhh yes that’s too bad, this would have been AMAZING!
Great review!! This book sounds so cute, and I absolutely LOVE reading about food. Though to be completely honest, whenever I do read about food in detail, I get hungry and then have the urge to make the food they’re talking about for myself 😂
When I think of my favorite foods, I realize that I’m a little bit of a cop out because I choose basics that can be enjoyed in many forms. Aka potatoes and chicken 😂
Thank you so much, Chana 💛💛💛 I am EXACTLY the same way about food books – I love reading them, but sometimes it can be difficult to make my way through them because every time I pick them up, I get hungry and have to stop reading so that I can go make food haha.
Chicken and potatoes are classics, so I can see why they are your favorites :)
Omg this post is absolutely STUNNING, so many pretty graphics and OMG A WALLPAPER and drop down BLURB AHHH I’m dying from staring at the beautiful recipe <3 The cook time almost made me tear up. What a great review breakdown, another cool book to add to your Asian reading challenge <3
TRACYYY 💛💛💛 Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun trying out a new review format for this, and I think what I settled on is a lot of fun! I’m glad you enjoyed it too!
i’m already hungry because of your blog, and now I’m hungry because of this book and the quote you included in the beginning! Also, you stated your thoughts so eloquently?? wow i aspire!
also, I’ve been anticipating this book since the early months of 2019, and as an Asian girl who always eats Chinese food and Asian food in general, I’m ashamed that I haven’t read this yet. I feel like I’m gonna love it a lot, especially because the things you liked about it are things I definitely look for in books!
Caitlin! Thank you so much – your kind words mean the world to me 💛💛💛 And yes, this book is a delight and I hope you like it as much as I did! (PLUS THE FOOOOoOoOoooOOoOOoD. I am a foodie through and through).
I know I have said this before but you blog looks wonderful– every time I go on I’m just like it is SO beautiful!!
I do like that this book had a focus on food because food is (I’m going to say it) THE BEST!! And a magical cookbook– wow, can I get one??
And it wonderful to read a #ownvoices story showing chinese culture– it makes me so happy to see.
I’m glad overall you enjoyed this book and it is does sound like a really nice story. It is a shame about the insta-love, not one of my favourite things either but you can still enjoy the read with that I think. Great review!! <3
SOPHIEEE! Thanks you sooo much, that really means a lot to me! 💛💛💛 And seriously, I agree; I would LOVE a magical cookbook of my own! I’m actually a pretty horrible cook, so I would need all the magic to help me haha
I really shouldn’t have read your review at 10.40pm because that food description just made me so hungry 😂 Tbh, your entire gorgeous waffle-y blog makes me hungry!!! Love it ❤️
My only goal in life is to make everyone love waffles just a little bit more. WORLD DOMINATION, HERE I COME!!! *insert evil laugh here* Also, thank you for always leaving the BEST comments! 💛💛💛
Awww thank YOU for always having the BEST posts & gifs 😍
[…] A DELICIOUS STORY OF LOVE AND LOSS // A REVIEW OF NATALIE TAN’S BOOK OF LUCK AND FORTUNE by Kat @ Novels and Waffles […]
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