Book Review - The Dish by Stella Newman

Amazon UK

Title: The Dish

Author: Stella Newman

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Headline Review

Publication Date: 21st May 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Love is on the menu. With a side order of lies.

When Laura Parker first crosses forks with Adam Bayley, she's only after one thing: his custard doughnut. But when she takes a closer look she sees a talented, handsome man who outshines the string of jokers she's been dating.

There's just one problem. Adam's job means Laura has to keep her job as restaurant critic for The Dish, a secret. Tricky for someone who prides herself on honesty.

Can the truth be put on ice long enough for love to flourish?

And how can you expect your boyfriend to be honest if you're not quite telling the truth yourself?

Wow, if people ever stop buying Stella Newman's books (which I hope never happens), Stella should be become a food writer, as I truly believe she would be as talented as food writer in her own name, as she was describing Laura, talking about food. I felt as though I could taste the pastries, and I loved all the food descriptions. They really were good enough to eat!

The story is told in a mixture of narrative and also flurries of emails between Laura, and her friends, colleagues and even occasionally that sexy chef she has been dating.  I loved the tone of the emails and they were used in a way that pushed the story on, as well as being enjoyable. 

During the story, we get glimpses of Laura's main review that was working on, and I must say it sounded like the sort of restaurant review I would have loved to read for myself.  The restaurant in question, is the most ostentatious, overpriced, pretentious place, that realistically only people with more money than sense would ever go to, and thus the details of the visit to it, when Laura and Roger visit the place, are hilarious, and easily some of my favourite sections of the book. 

Adam is the head chef at the restaurant mentioned above, and when Laura meets him, she realises she has to keep the knowledge that she's a critic to herself. But can she live with the secret?

 The Dish is written with a lot of humour, and I found the book to be very entertaining,  and I loved seeing how Laura was agonising over some of the decisions she had made. Laura clearly has integrity, and the series of "mishaps" that occur are enough to panic her into making decisions. 

I found The Dish to be a fast paced, very chatty sort of story. It felt to me as the whole of Laura's story was being told in cosy friendly way to a best friend.  There isn't a moment of rest during this book, which zooms along, and really does take you for an enjoyable journey, through the world of restaurant reviews, keeping secrets, and dealing with difficult colleagues. 

Thank you to Headline and Netgalley for a copy of this book. This is my honest review. 

The Dish is out in paperback on Thursday.