A disgraced chef rediscovers her passion for food and her roots in this stunning novel rich in culture and full of delectable recipes.French-born American chef Sophie Valroux had one dream: to be part of the 1% of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. From spending summers with her grandmother, who taught her the power of cooking and food, to attending the Culinary Institute of … Culinary Institute of America, Sophie finds herself on the cusp of getting everything she’s dreamed of.
Until her career goes up in flames.
Sabotaged by a fellow chef, Sophie is fired, leaving her reputation ruined and confidence shaken. To add fuel to the fire, Sophie learns that her grandmother has suffered a stroke and takes the red-eye to France. There, Sophie discovers the simple home she remembers from her childhood is now a luxurious château, complete with two restaurants and a vineyard. As Sophie tries to reestablish herself in the kitchen, she comes to understand the lengths people will go to for success and love, and how dreams can change.
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I loved this story so much. Whenever I read it, my mouth watered from the description of the food. It was so life like. This novel did terrible things for my diet though. Whenever I read it, I would go straight to the fridge and devoured everything. I’ll definitely need to try some of the recipes from this book.
I enjoyed Sophie’s character. All her reactions and feelings are realistic. I really felt for her especially with her ex Eric. I wanted to throttle him on behalf of her.
She’s determined and creative. The side romance with Remi was so sweet.
The setting in France was beautiful. I felt like I was actually there!
Hands down one of the best women’s fiction books I’ve ever read.
Featuring an ambitious young chef, an elegant château, and the enduring charm of the French countryside, The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux is the perfect escape! Pour yourself a glass of wine, put on a Charles Trenet album, pick up this book, and you’re there…
Loved this story packed with gorgeous details of France and food and the power of family to heal.
What better way to handle the stay at home orders of the Pandemic then to take a mental vacation to a chateau in the south of France. Plus being able to think about wonderful French food without gaining an ounce.
French-born American chef Sophie Valroux had one dream: to be part of the 1% of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. She had been working toward this dream since she cooked with her grandmother when she was a child. She attended all the right cooking schools and was now working in a French restaurant in NYC that was waiting to hear if they’d been awarded another star. When her plans go up in flames due to sabotage from a male chef, she gets fired and black listed at all of the NYC restaurants. And if that isn’t bad enough, she finds out that her grandmother in France has had a stroke. To get away from all of the negativity in New York and to help her grandmother, she flies to France immediately. She soon finds out that a lot has changed at her grandmother’s chateau and it’s now a luxury chateau with two restaurants and a vineyard. There she meets her childhood friend, Remi who tries to totally ignores her.
So here she is at a chateau in France feeling like a failure. She has lost her job, her desire to cook and her ability to cook. Everything she makes comes out terrible – the magic is gone. With the help of Remi and her grandmother, she manages to get her desire to cook and talent back and even gets an offer to come back to NY for a highly rated job. She has to decide what it is she really wants out of life and where she can find true happiness.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Sophie Valroux and her mother moved from France to New York when Sophie was only six months old. Sophie’s mother and grandmother have a strained relationship and, while Sophie spends summers with her Grandmere Odette, her mother puts a stop to it when Sophie enters her teens.
Sophie is able to put herself through school at the Culinary Institute of America. Part of her reason for doing so is her memories of France and Grandmere Odette. Grandmere, a chef from the Cordon Bleu, runs the family chateau as a hotel and restaurant. Sophie and Grandmere become estranged over the years, with Sophie chasing her dream of being a female chef running a Michelin-starred restaurant. She’s on her way, then her career, and her life, are derailed when the restaurant she is working at is sabotaged. Soon thereafter, Grandmere Odette has a stroke, and Sophie is off to France. She finds Grandmere Odette has transformed the chateau into a luxurious destination hotel and restaurant, and her dreams might still come true.
I enjoyed the book as it was a comfortable, light-hearted, feel-good journey into another culture. The writing was descriptive, placing you there among the sights, wafting the cooking and countryside aromas your way. While the story is predictable, there was enough back-story to keep it interesting, so if you’re looking for an easy, breezy read that touches on family, friends and love, pick this one up.
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This sparkling new book by my friend Sam gives you a visceral experience of being in France, in a Michelin-starred French kitchen, and in a French castle to boot.
It is full of delectable food (and recipes to go with!), romance, and a strong heroine. Do not miss this one!
The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux
By Samantha Verant
Do you love French Cuisine? fine dining? Have you eaten at a Michelin rated restaurant?
When I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. I was so fascinated by the main character, Sophie Valroux a French born American who dreams of being a Michelin-Star rated female chef. Sophie’s life is circling down the drain very quickly from losing her job and her confidence, then learning that her French grandmother suffered a stroke. With nothing left for her in NYC she sets off to France in hopes of a fresh start and reinvigorate her passion for food.
This is a beautifully written novel about second chances, family, career and most of all about how food brings us together. I really enjoyed this amazing mouthwatering read.
Shamed New York chef Sophie Valroux returns to her grandmother’s chateau in the south of France to lick her wounds, make peace with her family history, and plan a future. Full of food, and longing for love, and a splendid chateau–a perfect escape!
When Sophie Valroux’s dreams of becoming one of the rare women to lead a Michelin-starred kitchen goes up in flames, thanks to a manipulative, scheming former lover in the same kitchen, and she finds out her beloved grandmother in a small town in France had a stroke, she books a one-way ticket back to the chateau her family has owned for generations. After a 13 year absence, she finds everything completely changed and that her grandmother didn’t tell her anything. But it might be the one chance for her to reclaim her life, legacy, and career.
This is the kind of women’s fiction novel I’ve been looking for! It isn’t quite the one of my dreams, but it’s the closest I’ve gotten to what I consider my perfect women’s fiction novel. Most usually have women in some kind of female-oriented career, like a sleepy cafe or teacher. A high powered woman doesn’t exactly jive well with the genre at the moment. It also tends to go heavy on the romance to the point where they’re blurred right into romance. To me, women’s fiction is about a woman finding herself and building her life into what she wants it to be, romance optional. The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux absolutely delivered on what I’ve been craving.
The Plot: Perfect Women’s Fiction
Sophie Valroux seems to have it made. She’s an amazing chef in a New York City restaurant on the verge of receiving it’s third Michelin star. If it does, she’ll be one of the few women leading a Michelin-starred restaurant. Everything looks rosy for her. But it all came crashing down on her when sabotaging colleagues manipulate her and their boss, leaving her without a job, and blacklisted. At least she can count on her fiance, except he just came out to his wealthy, conservative mother and is now wildly happy with his true love. Fortunately, they still love Sophie, but Sophie turns into a bit of a brat. For weeks, she’s lost in the haze of failure, unable to lift herself out despite the many and varied attempts of her best friends, who are extraordinarily wonderful and fully supportive of her.
It was difficult to read the many chapters of Sophie sinking down into a dark place, but it also felt entirely real. Having lost her dream, she no longer knows what to do with herself. Because of the way she was manipulated, she no longer even trusts her culinary abilities. Even when her grandmother, who runs a hotel and two restaurants at the family’s chateau, needs her to take over the kitchen, Sophie crashes and burns, to the delight of Jane, who has become the face of the chateau over the years. Fortunately, Jane’s twin Phillipa turns out to be an amazing friend and the complete opposite of her snobby sister. But Remi, Sophie’s childhood friend she unwittingly left behind, doesn’t make things any easier than her. At least, not until they have a heart-to-heart and romance blooms. Still, Sophie is wary. Life with her late mother wasn’t easy and left a dark shadow over her, and she never knew her father. Grand-mere Odette, though, is a force to be reckoned with even in her weakened state. She knows her granddaughter and would do literally anything to make her dreams come true. It hurt to see Sophie be continually manipulated, but it also helped her emerge from her fog of failure, to show her exactly what she capable of, and to make her see the truth of herself. I adored reading as she brought herself back to life and was finally able to discover the dream she was always meant to have.
The ending broke my heart, but also managed to piece it back together. Sophie lost a lot, but also gained a lot. It left the characters on a perfect note. It was a bit different from the endings found in typical women’s fiction novels, but I loved it. It was exactly the kind of ending I had been looking for, and it couldn’t have been found in a better book. Overall, this book delivered in terms of what women’s fiction should be: about a woman rediscovering herself, not falling in with the love interest at every turn. Sophie was a strong woman who just needed to find her strength again, as well as her feet. The ending leaves the characters on a positive, hopeful note, ending exactly the way a chapter in a real person’s real life would.
The Characters: Near Flawless
Each of the main characters was fully formed with individual personalities and depth. They interacted almost flawlessly, though sometimes it felt a little too easy, like there should have been tension at some points, but it wasn’t there or wasn’t as strong as it should have been.
I was a little bothered by Sophie in the beginning, but, as she grew as a person, she grew on me. It was hard to like her at first, but her mistakes, her jumps to conclusions, her unspoken battles with Jane, and the love she clearly has for the grandmother she hadn’t seen in 13 years because of her late mother’s meddling all helped her to endear herself to me. She wasn’t perfect, and knew it.
Jane was the most confusing to me. She clearly hated Sophie and saw her as an interloper. She has a history with the chateau that Sophie doesn’t, so her animosity is fully expected. She’s torn between her loyalties to Odette and her hatred of Sophie, so their interactions sometimes knocked me because it wasn’t as I expected. I felt it could have been more acrimonious and was resolved a little too easily. Her sister, though, was an absolute gem. Everything Jane was not, she was fun, bubbly, and loyal, and just what Sophie needed in her life to find the bright flavors of life all over again.
My favorite part of this book was that the romance wasn’t over done, that it had it’s place and knew it. It wasn’t overpowering; it was even a non-issue for at least half of the book. The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux clearly focused on Sophie getting her life back on track, while also giving her more of an incentive to stay. It was perfectly done, understated and exactly what Sophie needed.
The Setting: A Gorgeous French Chateau
Right now, I want to go to a French chateau. In particular, I want to go to this chateau, Sophie’s family home. It’s located in a quiet little French village, but still close enough to town for a day visit. But I loved the focus on the chateau and the tiny town it supports. Clearly, it’s a place everyone relies on in some way, which only adds pressure to Sophie.
It was quaint and delightful. The grounds were extensive with gardens, greenhouses, and vineyards. The inside of the chateau felt charming, but wasn’t overly described so I only got the sense it was refined and tasteful, which was mostly due to Jane’s doing. It felt quite upscale and fancy, but had so much history and nostalgia attached to it that it did somehow feel like home.
Overall: The Perfect Recipe
The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux was exactly what I had been looking for. It delivered on almost all counts. A focus on the woman in question rediscovering herself and working hard to get her life on track. Friendships that come easily and with difficulty. A romance that was light, yet serious, and hit all the right notes without being overpowering. It was the perfect recipe for my idea of the perfect women’s fiction novel. I just wish Sophie had been more likable from the start, but she did grow on me. I was dissatisfied with her and Jane’s relationship, but, when I take myself out of the book, I feel I can understand it better. Overall, it was a fun read with a lot of depth and soul searching.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
A gorgeous, uplifting story that weaves together the transformative power of food, family, and place, The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux takes the reader on an emotional journey through Sophie’s past and present to create a soaring tale of love and awakening. Awash in sensory delights tinged with the sweet ache of nostalgia, this story shines like a bright star in a velvet countryside sky.
Sophie starts out the book an underdog, seemingly crushed by an unfortunate turn of events, only to reawaken the truest heart of her passions when she must travel to France to be with her beloved grandmother. The author’s gift for setting is magical, incorporating history and the rooted nature of identity through an immersive engagement with the evocative power of the senses.
Simply put, this book is utterly beautiful, such a feel-good experience, and Sophie is the perfect heroine to root for. Recommended to anyone with a passion for food and travel, searching for the next great comfort read.
Thank you to the author and Berkley for providing an advanced review copy!
The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux by Samantha Verant est magnifique! This book is a joy to read. If you love food, you’ll love the book. If you love celebrating women’s achievements, you’ll love the book. If you love second chances—whether in love or life in general–you guessed it…you’ll love the book.
This is not a heavy-handed ode to feminism, but a fantastic celebration of women. It is a lovely story of Sophie, who happens to be a chef, and her grandmother Odette, who is a chef and entrepreneur. During the story set-up, Sophie seems rough around the edges. Just when she believes she is about to get closer to her dream, she is served a life-shattering dish of sabotage that sends her spiraling downwards. Her grandmother’s ill health seems like the nail in Sophie’s coffin, but it is the catalyst for a life-changing affirmation of Sophie’s past and present passions.
I loved how Sophie blossomed while under the influence of a positive and supportive group of women. I loved that the château was primarily operated by women. I loved that Sophie was finally surrounded by people who believed in and encouraged her. Sophie might not have achieved her goal, but she is clearly on the right track. The one thing I was hoping for but didn’t get my need for Odette and Sophie to thoroughly discuss Sophie’s mother and put that nightmare to rest, but peut être one doesn’t need to rehash the past in order to have a fantastic future.
4.5 stars
Three Single Wives is a compulsively readable thriller about three women, a book club, and a murder. Anne, Eliza, and Penny are friends, who, during one wine-fueled book club meeting, have a hypothetical discussion on how they would get rid of a cheating husband. Sometime later, one of the women’s husbands is found dead, and all three women had a motive to kill him.
Three Single Wives is a very entertaining and absorbing read. I didn’t have the slightest idea who the killer was. The story kept me guessing until the end. I highly recommend this book to all domestic suspense readers.
I think women have a lot to overcome in certain industries. That’s an unfortunate statement here in 2020 but not much has changed over the years.
This book highlights some amazing facts. Women still have to fight and struggle for every bit they get. But it’s the overall passion for your work that seems to make it worthwhile.
The story offers a marvelous journey loaded with so many different aspects of life. Working in a traditional restaurant where the pressures are intense to be superior in all you do. Working with others where competition really can take a toll on everyone.
Falling from your highest point to the depths of despair and somehow learning to climb out of it step-by-step because of the resilience we have. Reconnecting with relatives who are willing to give you the world and so much more. Finding strength in friends.
This book has so many layers to it. Highs and lows, fear and strength, even hesitant romance through a second chance.
The author brings us a book loaded with passion through life and living, family and relationships. And through it all is amazing food and wines and even some recipes for us to try. I found myself addicted to the story in a very surprising manner.
It’s a wonderful journey that is loaded with the richness of life, the delicacies of food and flavor, and the sweet treat of a wonderful love story. Delightful, passionate, and fierce.
This novel in a word: magical.
Who wouldn’t want to be transported to a chateau in the south of France, surrounded by dragonflies, amazing French food, and lavender?
Sophie, is a New York chef who wants to become the head of a Michelin starred restaurant. She’s worked hard in what is a testosterone-driven world to gain her reputation and position, and she’s on the right track. But at the start of the book, when her ex sabotages her, she loses everything: her job, her reputation and her motivation and confidence to keep cooking. With her career and life’s ambition in tatters she escapes to her grandmother’s place in Southwest France, surprised to realize that it is a much grander chateau than she remembers as a child, with an entire hospitality arm.
Reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain a few years ago gave me an appreciation for how cut-throat and non female -friendly the world of professional chefs is. Sophie has tried to win in that world, and she’s had to build up her defenses and even a little cynicism as a result, but she’s not yet hardened.
When she returns to her ancestral homeland of France, although at first resistant, the question is will she be able to re-open herself to the joy and magic of cooking? And perhaps even romance?
This book has a gorgeous whimsical element to it, taking you from New York to Southwest France and the sunflower fields, gorgeous cuisine, local markets and style of French living. There are even recipes included – because you’ll be pausing at various points to drool!
If you’re looking for a read that takes you on a magical journey, not just to France but for Sophie, a journey of self-acceptance, with a dash of romance ¬ – I couldn’t recommend this book more.