The Restaurant

By: Pamela M. Kelley

Narrated by: Leslie Howard

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma, and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-30s and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Billy, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. There never has been, but Jill is starting to wonder if there could be.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and an aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over 15 years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy has two children and is married to her college sweetheart, Cory, who runs a wildly successful hedge fund from Nantucket. Now that the children are older, Mandy has more free time and is eager to do more than just volunteer with local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds something unusual in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

The girls are stunned when they learn about the restaurant, Mimi's Place, and the condition their grandmother added to the will, leaving the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill - and also to Paul, the chef for the past 12 years, and Emma's first love.

©2020 Pamela M. Kelley (P)2020 Pamela M. Kelley

Descriptions are necessary

I truly wanted to like this book. First off, the premise is great and is the typical type of story I like to read. The characters are likable and the setting is a desirable one. However, in any book it is necessary to show vs tell, but especially when writing about food. There is no description about anything in this book, only facts: she wore a blue dress, he ordered the steak, etc...There were missed opportunities in every chapter to truly show the reader what was happening instead of just telling them. I was surprised to see this author had written several other books before, this felt pretty amateur. I'm not one to give harsh reviews, but I was sad when this book was about halfway through as I realized the potential of this story wasn't going to be realized. If there was some good description I would read it again because the story did have some merit.

Intriguing story line with great characters

I was a bit wary about the story line because some authors will contort the characters and story to fit the premise of the book. Not so in this book. Three sisters are left a popular, but somewhat dated restaurant on Nantucket by their grandmother. They were genuinely surprised since they didn't realize that she owned it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters who seemed like real individuals. I thought dialog flowed well. I also liked the back story that the women's grandmother won a restaurant many years ago in a card game. The history comes out through a found diary, written by Gram many years before.
Each sister has a busy life already, but work together to meet the terms of the will. The author enjoys food and cooking and that comes through in the book.

This is the first book by this author that I've read. I'm looking forward to reading more. I listened to the audio version of the book and I found the narration to be very well done.

Every word was delicious!

The Restaurant was a celebration of life from start to finish. The main story line of three sisters having to spend a year together at their beloved grandmother’s restaurant in order to inherit it was weaved like a fine tapestry with numerous secondary stories. Sometimes I wanted to cry; but, mostly I wanted to cheer as the sisters triumphed individually and together. The narration was also excellent. The Restaurant was was a joy to read. I do very much recommend it!

uggg

boring. predictable. not the authors fault.. I didn't do enough research on the kinds of books she writes. I guess I just wanted something different. great food discriptions. I was hungry through the entire read.

Wonderful read

Not highbrow, but nicely written, fun story, enjoyable! I recommend to women who don’t like junk.

Enjoyed this book - nice way to relax!

Great way to relax and take my mind off of all this COVID !!!

Not my cup of tea

I kept waiting for something to happen, but it was just one bit of fluff after another. Saccharine sweet and boring. A complete waste of time.

GREAT STORY

I loved it! This was my first audio book. I totally enjoyed the story and listening rather than reading.

Wish it was longer

I really did enjoy this book. However, I feel like by the time I really started to get into the characters and storyline, the book was over. I was pretty bummed about this.

Minus 1 star for contrived tidy endings

Minus 1 star for contrived tidy endings...
I was really enjoying this book when the author decided it should be over. I hate authors skipping over the final few weeks/ months prior to the climax, or skipping it entirely by doing a "climax summation sentence" that begins with "X weeks later ...." TELL me about how Paul and Mandy made their decisions, TELL me about how the divorce got worked out, TELL me about the plans for the wedding... just do not engage in hand-waving magic and call it a proper ending for a novel! it's like all the foreplay builds up to missing the orgasm, unsatisfying to say the least.