One day as my kids were picking out books at the library, I randomly came across Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, by Roselle Lim.

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Honestly, I picked it up for 3 reasons

  1. It takes place in San Francisco where I have many ties
  2. The author is Asian (part Filipino even) and it’s always a treat to find books with Asian characters and by Asian authors.
  3. It looked like a quick easy read during a particularly busy season.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune

The book begins with Natalie finding out about the news of her estranged mother’s death. She returns home to settle her mother’s affairs and is shocked to find that her once vibrant neighborhood in San Francisco’s Chinatown is not what it used to be. Businesses are failing and families are leaving.

Natalie also finds out that she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant. It has always been a dream of hers to be a chef at her own restaurant. But before her restaurant can succeed the neighborhood seer tells her that she needs to cook 3 recipes from her grandmother’s cookbook to help her struggling neighbors who she resents for not helping her mother out more when she was growing up.

This book was a bit hard to get into for me. However, after the first 2-3 chapters, it was a fun read. I loved the magic and the whimsy and…the FOOD! Oh my goodness, the food! The way the author describes the recipes and the aromas, made me wish I was there! Where she really won me over was when she included one of my favorite Filipino recipes. You’ll have to read it to find out what it is.

This book also had a few twists which then untwisted only to twist into other directions.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim is a cute, fun book that’s great to pick up to help you out of a reading slump.

Have you read it? Tell me your thoughts!