I have read three of Ruth Reichl's nonfiction books and loved them. I immediately jumped on this book, her first novel, expecting mouthwatering food descriptions and humorous stories. Well, not exactly. 
 It's hard to summarize this book as there are many stories within the story, so I'm not going to try. It was alright. I felt like it was much too long and jumped around too much, there were not nearly enough food/cooking scenes, and much of it was so unrealistic that it truly felt like fiction. I sympathized with the main character and liked her, as well as much of the supporting cast, and appreciated the mystery of the library and intrigue of the past. However, considering how long this book is most characters were not fully developed and the drawn out nature of finally getting to the main character Billie's past trauma started to annoy me. The romantic relationship was tacked on as if the story needed it but felt forced and completely unrealistic. 
 Perhaps Reichl's next novel will be better and I am sure I will read it just because I like her and her nonfiction so much.