The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux Paperback – September 8, 2020

Open a bottle of wine and grab a few hours in a comfy chair. This is a fun weekend read. It took me a weekend split into a few sections of time and I was able to enjoy a bottle of wine.This is Samantha Verant's third book and she delivers a great story just like the first two (5 Letters From Paris; How To Make a French Family.)The characters are well developed along with the story line. She has a great writing style where you feel you're actually in the story and connected to each person. I was rooting for Sophie to get that Michelin star and devastated when she was sabotaged. I felt like I was right there with her. The friendships and relationships seem very real and very current. Samantha writes in a style that just makes everyone and every situation relatable.Fun, great read. I bought this book and others' of Samantha's books to give as gifts because they are just great reads, great stories and nice little escapes from our own realities. Her books are enjoyed by many different age groups and backgrounds. My friends have loved them.

I really enjoyed "The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux" by Smantha Verant. It is the first time to read this author and her descriptions of the food was so wonderful and even the recipes at the end! I also really liked all the French villages descriptions and all things French! It is the story of an assistant chef, Sophie, with the hopes of being apart of getting the Michelin Stars for the NY restaurant where she is working. It is very difficult for a woman in this very male chauvinist profession. Sophie is set up to fall by her former boy friend and becomes the shame for the restaurant loosing a valued star. The chef is irate and fires her and Sophie is an emotion mess. At the same time her adored grandmother becomes very ill and she returns to her family and their Chateau in France. Little does she know that her grandmother has become a wonderful chef at the 2 restaurants at the chateau and Sophie has to help and try to find her courage again. I really

I blew through this book in just a few days and I wish it was a series so I could read more! If you're like me, a book that transports you to beautiful places with beautiful food will be just the post-winter, tail-end-of-quarantine (hopefully) escape that you need. This is a really fun read but it also tells an accurate tale of the misogyny that runs rampant in the culinary world and how much harder women have to work to be successful. It would make a great rom com screenplay and I look forward to reading Vérants other books.

I have to admit, it took me a while to semi like Sophie. I found her to be narcissistic and whiney. Even upon finding out she was to inherit the chateau and be the chef in her own kitchen she still seemed unappreciative of her circumstance. When talking about cooking school, her attitude was I worked harder than anyone! Along the way, however, I started liking her a little because of her love for her Grandmother and her relationship Remi. The descriptions of the chateau were daydream worthy and the menus a delight. Overall this book has saving graces in those small things so a nice read when you just want to travel to France without having to pack a suitcase!

In a brutal opening chapter, Sophie Valraux is disgraced and driven out of the upscale New York City kitchen where she is a chef. Her career ruined, she flees to Grand'Mere Odette in France, at the family chateau where Sophie spent happy childhood summers. But Odette, now elderly, is seriously ill and the chateau so changed Sophie barely recognizes it. The grounds hold two restaurants and a vineyard, and the family home now lodges tourists. From fragrant flower and herb gardens to a nearby gentle river, the scene is charming, enticing, and Odette wants Sophie to inherit and manage it. Feeling she hasn't earned such generosity and still longing for a Michelin star, Sophie is caught in depression. Cooking saves her, as she manages a kitchen staffed by a brigade of grannies, an old, alcoholic man who is a genius with desserts, and Sophie's childhood love, Remi, who has turned withdrawn and angry. If it sounds like a formula romance, it is in a way, but it is saved by the menus that Sophie cooks, the diverse and fascinating people who become her family, and some nudges from fate. Throughout, as Sophie wavers between two worlds, the charm and warmth of France is in stark contrast to the cold isolation of NYC. Love of family, friends, and food runs through the story like a thread, but so does death and disappointment. A few complicated recipes are attached and mouth-watering, gourmet menus are scattered throughout. I was so charmed by the place and the people that I overlooked a bit of predictability on the plot.

I was lucky to receive an eArc copy of this book from Samantha viaNet Galley and loved reading it. It's a great book for an Francophile and/or French food lover. The characters are vividly drawn and mostly people you would love to have in your life. The food descriptions are mouth watering and leave you wanting to run to the kitchen and make the recipes. The story is a fun one and following it is a great distraction from the times we are presently living in. My pre-order arrived today and I plan to re-read it very soon and start on the recipes this weekend. Thanks, Sam for such a fun read.

Book club selection

I loved it! A real page turner of a book. It didn't have any earth-shattering surprises but the characters were well-written and likeable which made me want to find out what happened to them all. And I was happy with the way things turned out. My only beef is that it's fiction and I can't actually go stay at the Château because the place sounded amazing!

Lighthearted and enjoyable, this book will have you reaching for your apron to try the mouth-watering recipes described in the story, and written out at the end.I loved the dramatic fall from grace suffered by Sophie at the hands of her treacherous colleagues. She thought her life had ended, but every cloud has a silver lining, and Sophie's shone brighter than most. There are great descriptions of food and place, and some entertaining characters. Well written, with action, suspense and romance, and of course lots of food.