Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion. She returned to save her family’s dying legacy–but found the ghosts of her past alive and well.Susan Napier’s family once lived on the success of the high-end restaurants founded by her late grandfather. But bad luck and worse management has brought the business to the edge of financial ruin. Now it’s up to Susan to save the last remaining restaurant: … last remaining restaurant: Elliot’s, the flagship in Edinburgh.
But what awaits Susan in the charming city of Auld Reekie is more than she bargained for. Chris Baker, her grandfather’s former protégé–and her ex-boyfriend–is also heading to the Scottish capital. After finding fame in New York as a chef and judge of a popular TV cooking competition, Chris is returning to his native Scotland to open his own restaurant. Although the storms have cleared after their intense and rocky breakup, Susan and Chris are re-drawn into each other’s orbit–and their simmering attraction inevitably boils over.
As Chris’s restaurant opens to great acclaim and Susan tries to haul Elliot’s back from the brink, the future brims with new promise. But darkness looms as they find themselves in the crosshairs of a gossip blogger eager for a juicy story–and willing to do anything to get it. Can Susan and Chris reclaim their lost love, or will the tangled past ruin their last hope for happiness?
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3.5 stars
I love Jane Austen, I love Persuasion, and I am a sucker for various remakes and retellings. Brianne Moore’s book, set in the Edinburgh restaurant world, is a nice little entry into that world.
Our Captain Wentworth and Anne are Chris and Susan, former lovers-turned-competitors. They’ve been apart for several years, but their breakup feels fresh to both of them. When Chris reenters Susan’s life, she feels upended and insecure. She tries to ignore the feelings she has always had for him, but it’s difficult. Their new lives become increasingly intertwined, frequently throwing her in his path–and vice versa.
I listened to Mary Jane Wells’ narration and enjoyed listening to her British and Scottish accents. She brought the characters to life, showing us their pains and joys. She makes the most of Moore’s story, one that feels far more like women’s fiction than a true romance. In fact, there is very little romance in this book, aside from what’s mentioned in passing. The feelings are there, but the action is very, very limited.
For all my joy in revisiting Persuasion, I did sometimes feel frustrated with the inconsistent pacing. There are lulls here, to the point that listening to the story made me kind of forget where I was in the plot.
Yet I enjoyed it. I like the story, the characters, and the narration. The pacing, though, was just a little too off.
What a delectable story.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator does an absolutely fantastic job of bringing the characters to life.
The story is just the perfect amount of sweet and dramatic and by god those descriptions of dishes made my stomach growl nonstop.
I have been loving me some romance lately, and I had a lot of fun with All Stirred Up by Brianne Moore. I had been seeing it around on Bookstagram and really wanted to check it out, so I grabbed both a physical copy and the audio from the library. I didn’t really laugh out loud during this one, but there were definitely moments that made me chuckle, and I also appreciated the serious moments. Despite some underlying themes that were on the heavier side, overall this was a great read and a very nice palate cleanser between other books (looking at you Betty). The audiobook is narrated by Mary Jane Wells and she was amazing. The female characters in this book can be a little screechy, and Wells nailed it. I also loved her accent for Chris.
I loved the setting, many of the characters, and definitely all the food in All Stirred Up, and I think my favorite scenes in the book are those that deal with food. There are moments that made me tear up a bit, and I liked that it touches on both grief and family. Susan was a wonderful character, and I was rooting for her and Chris the entire time. I’m not super familiar with the different tropes, but it was easy to see this is a second chance romance, and I really enjoyed that part. I also loved that the viewpoints switched between both Chris and Susan, so you could see what was happening on both sides. I thought this book was completely adorable, and I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from Moore!
Susan is on a mission to save the last of her grandfather’s restaurants in Edinburgh, Scotland. She enlists her sister to help her redecorate and prepares for the grand reopening. Christopher, Susan’s ex boyfriend, is also heading to Edinburgh to open his own restaurant. This story chronicles both of their attempts as well as the sparks that continue to fly between them.
Susan Napier goes to Edinburgh to try to rescue her grandfather’s restaurant–the last remaining bastion of a culinary empire. Unfortunately, arriving on the scene at the same time is the love of her life, Chris Baker, once a cook in her grandfather’s restaurant, whom she left shortly after her mother died.
Susan has a lot to deal with besides the clash of professional/personal disasters–one sister who’s a mess of anxiety and is bleeding it off to her kids; another sister who is a spendthrift; an aunt who proves to be a little too nosy; a couple really nasty characters in her restaurant who must be dealt with posthaste. However, despite the drama, this is a light and thoroughly entertaining read. You can’t help rooting for Susan and Chris. Women’s fiction with a strong spice of romance to it, and just for fun, referring back to Austen’s Persuasion. I haven’t read Persuasion in a very long time, but clearly need to do so again. I have a feeling rereading this book after a more thorough reacquaintance with Austen will make it even more enjoyable.
Susan Napier’s family once owned and ran a range of very successful restaurants founded by her grandfather. Their name was pretty legendary in the restaurant world. That is, until their luck, and some bad management, turned and they’ve been forced to shut down nearly all of their restaurants excepts for the flagship, Elliot’s, in Edinburgh where Susan now plans to relocate and try to salvage what they have left.
When she arrives she runs into Chris Baker, a famous reality-show chef, who also happens to be Susan’s ex. Years ago Chris and Susan parts on terrible terms and neither has spoken to the other in years. Now, they’ll be each other’s competition.
Chris spent many years holding a grudge against Susan for the way their relationship ended. He’s prepared to continue that grudge now, despite the fact that they’re running in the same circles. But as they keep running into each other, both Chris and Susan begin to reevaluate the past and begin to come to some realizations of their own.
I’ve read some mixed reviews on this book. But I have to say I really enjoyed it. It’s possible that listening to the audiobook, narrated fabulously by Mary Jane Wells helped. She simply does a fantastic job with all the characters and the varying accents, giving each just a bit of difference so I was never confused about who was speaking what dialogue. She also did a fine job between the male and female voices. So much so that it was difficult to come to terms with the idea that only one person was narrating.
All Stirred Up is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. That alone grabbed my attention. You pretty much just have to say Jane Austen retelling and I’m like 99% guaranteed to want to read it. But honestly, I felt like the story stands well on it’s own merit. And you certainly don’t have to have read the source material to enjoy this book.
I’m really also a sucker for a second-chance romance and while it’s more of a slow burn romance, I enjoyed the journey in getting there which focuses mainly on Susan navigating getting her family restaurant back in good graces. Chris also has his own point of view moments, but they mainly revolved around his complicated feelings for Susan. I do wish that there was more interactions between the two characters because whenever there was, it was simply electric. Maybe that’s the power of the story, it’s certainly a reason why I kept coming back to it.
For all that I liked Susan’s journey, it’s pretty straight-forward. I found myself more drawn into Chris and putting the pieces together of his past with Susan. There’s a bit more mystery surrounding it although it’s not really a huge shock, I wished we got to explore the aftermath of the end of their relationship, the in-between times, for Chris before them running into each other again in Edinburgh.
Overall, this was a great listen (read) and I honestly would have happily taken a hundred more pages with these characters.
If you’re looking for a good listen, All Stirred Up is perfect.
This a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”. It was entertaining. I expected it to follow Austen’s a little more closely, but again, it was a modern adaptation which means issues in the early 1800′ are very different from situations today.
That said, I did like the book. It was entertaining and the characters were quirky. The point-of-view bounced between Susan and her love interest. Each regretting past encounters and hoping for better times in the future. The book is easy to read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book
Well, my emotions and opinions are all stirred up over this one, my fellow romance book loving friends. I’m not sure whether to give you the good or bad news first, so I’ll settle with reality first and let you decide where the chips fall.
Please note I read and reviewed a NetGalley advanced reader copy. Therefore, I know to overlook accidental typos and occasional grammar errors. They happen sometimes. I just roll with it. Heck, even in final editions they usually do not register on my reviewer radar at all, because I’m all about the romantic tale itself. However, in this case, especially in the very beginning, the third person narration came across like the movie George in the Jungle. The complete absence of pronouns and over usage of Chris and Susan’s names pretty much non-stop was bewildering to the point it was glaringly annoying. I half expected them both to start calling themselves by their own name (i.e. Chris leaving now to go home; Chris thinks Susan looks pretty today). Here’s to hoping a final edit resolved that blatant issue. I didn’t let it overly impact my rating, btw. Just giving you a friendly, hopefully helpful heads up.
Once I inoculated myself to that form of script, I was starting to get pulled into this relationship angst, chef themed romance. But well past midway with little to no interaction between the main couple, who even started dating other people, I found myself disappointed in the lack of progress between these two supposedly destined to be together lovebirds.
Yeah, a big reveal and parts of a rather alarming explanation gets told about what actually happened ten years ago, but really? Was I just supposed to roll with them dating and lip locking with other people after repeatedly running into each other again? It’s a personal preference, folks, but I always only want my main couple to have eyes, lips, and hands for each other. I know Susan and her brief boyfriend didn’t get very far around the bases, but I can’t help but wonder about Chris. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed he actually did stay too busy to get overly busy with that OW, who was a very close relative of Susan. What a shame it even had to cross my mind though.
Another romance book recipe tip I’d like to make here is to cut back on the descriptive tour guide speals regarding names of buildings, bridges, rivers, streets, water ways, etc, in this city that popped up more than once. I appreciate history and geography as much as anyone, but they were overly lengthy and didn’t seem to fit a purpose. Unless you already were quite familiar with this area, that likely went over your head like it did mine. Mostly because it wasn’t presented in a novice to the region type manner.
The restaurant biz business also stole loads of time away from the romantic plot. I’m thinking the actual romance was only about 25% of this book, meaning it was there but simmering on the backburner most of the time. The family dynamics on both sides did contribute to the main couple’s life situations so their appearances were more understandable.
What the author did accomplish was tug at my heart strings for the loss of time and love both these characters missed out on during their ten year l-o-n-g separation. Finally knowing the full scoop was enlightening, surprisingly mostly on Chris’ side. We pretty much knew Susan’s big misstep story upfront, except for a rather predictable reveal. Granted they both seemed bent on getting over it now with other people. Susan didn’t fight hard enough for love back then, and I wasn’t quite sure either were going to now. Chris actually had a good reason to initially want nothing to do with her. Despite all this, the author still had me wanting them to push everything and everyone aside and reconnect. So that is saying something, folks. Cuddos for that. After all, it is romance that I always root for.
Chris being instantly aware and attracted to a gorgeous relative of Susan’s, who he chose to start dating didn’t do me any favors. Movie star other man making moves on Susan evened that playing field you could say.
All said and done, sadly they both should have been upfront and honest about the issues that were drowning their relationship way back when. In summary, I’d call this a slow burn, ruined once but resurrected out of the ashes romance come back story.
P.S. Susan’s dimmed witted, spoiled, vane, self entitled daddy didn’t deserve any type of wealthy lifestyle. All he did was whine and complain about their reduced, downgraded circumstances from being insanely rich to just still wealthy, when he was the main reason for it. Everyone seemed to placate him and that really irked me. It would have been nice if he would have been remorseful and owned up to his mistakes.
Title: All Stirred Up, Author: Brianne Moore, Pages: 320, stand-alone, slow burn second chance after l-o-n-g separation, OM scenario, OW scenario, business manager & pastry chef heroine, not romance safe for some, third person narration.
(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review. There is no affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)
Yup. Nope. I gave this a go and I wasn’t a fan.
The pacing was too slow for me and at least ½ the novel was based on the restaurant remodel that I care less about and could have easily found something similar on the Food Network/DIY channel if I wanted a bite, there was barely any interaction between Chris and Susan until ⅓ mark and by then I was no longer invested in their relationship, the side characters were annoying as fuck, and the tedious details on what was being done to save the family restaurant just about put me to sleep.
This culinary second chance romance novel nearly made me weep in displeasure and was an utter waste of time and energy. I had skimmed more than what was actually read and I was left with no desire to make it to the big finale. So with that being said, off to my dropped pile you go!
A nice enjoyable read with a second chance romance and a lot of great food talk. I mean, I wanted to put the book down and start cooking or baking something really
I can’t say I got close to live any character but I enjoyed their banter and how each one was trying to give the best of them to earn that place.
It’s funny at times and a light read that many people will enjoy.