healing the child within

Georgia May Jackson had a bad day. As one of the few American chefs, American female chefs no less, to reach a position of respect in the kitchen of a French fine dining restaurant, Georgia had more eyes on her than her male counterparts. But as a child, she discovered the work of Julia Child and was transfixed. She knew that life on the Texas ranch with her father and aunt weren’t for her. So she studied Julia’s cookbook and watched her show, and Georgia found her place in the kitchen.

After culinary school and years of working her way up through Paris kitchens, Georgia finally finds herself as sous-chef, number two in the kitchen to her boyfriend. But when she finds him in the refrigerator with the pastry chef, she loses her mind for a moment. She serves burnt sole to the city’s most preeminent restaurant critic and left the kitchen. And it’s not long before everyone in the restaurant industry in Paris knows exactly what happened.

Georgia needs to take a break from Paris, but more importantly, she has a secret she can’t let anyone in Paris know. So when an invitation comes from her estranged mother to visit her on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State, Georgia buys a ticket to the States and makes her way to the island. She finds the address and comes face to face with the mother who walked away when Georgia was just a child. But there is something about her mother Star that feels like home.

Star can tell that something is off with Georgia, but she tells her daughter that there is magic on the island, that Georgia should just try to relax and let the island do what it does best. She sets Georgia up with her neighbor Cole, a grumpy oyster farmer who clearly adores Star. He takes her to the oyster farm, to the local winery, to a local restaurant with responsibly sourced food. Georgia sets aside her distaste for the man and tries to find the magic of the island. Because when she was in Paris, she lost all of her sense of taste except for bitter. And if she wants to find herself running a Paris kitchen again, she needs her taste back.

Will the magic of the island be enough to heal Georgia’s broken sense of taste? Will it help repair her family relationships? And will she be able to find the spark she lost, the one that had originally caught the eye of a Parisian restaurateur? Or will all her chef skills, learned at the feet of Julia Child and expanded by her own life experiences, be lost along with her sense of taste?

Recipe for a Charmed Life is a story of healing and redemption, of finding your way back home and learning to be true to yourself. With a hint of romance and a dash of magical realism, this book from Rachel Linden tells the story of a strong woman finding her own way and creating the life she wants.

I enjoyed Recipe for a Charmed Life. I loved the food talk (and there are even a couple of recipes at the end), but I also liked the healing journey that Georgia found herself on. The four-leaf clovers she carries, both as her necklace and the ones she finds along the way reminds her of what her truest values are, and they served to remind me how the universe has had my back when I most needed it. I couldn’t always see it at the time, but it was there, and seeing Georgia find her own magic, my heart was warmed. I did want to love this book, but I did feel like it was a little bogged down in the middle. It works well as a slower moving book, if you’re looking to put the brakes on and enjoy a peaceful, calming read. I would have preferred just a little more momentum though.

Egalleys for Recipe for a Charmed Life were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.