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hspfost's review
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Fun read. The ending was too Hallmark-y for me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
kelly_e's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Title: The Chicken Sisters
Author: K.J. Dell'Antonia
Genre: Women's Fiction
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: December 1, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Layered • Fun • Mouthwatering
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Welcome to Merinac, Kansas, home of Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's, two restaurants started by sisters, with a centuries old rivalry and a ton of history. On a whim, Amanda invites reality TV show 'Food Wars' to settle the debate once and for all, but she has no clue what she is in for. Amanda's big city sister, Mae, has no desire to step foot back in Kansas. But when her career implodes, and she catches wind of 'Food Wars' coming to town, she seizes the opportunity to step back into the limelight. The Chicken Sisters is a story of family, rivalry, and discovering ourselves.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I absolutely loved the premise for this book: family drama, chicken, small town vibes - sign me up! Although it took me a little bit to get settled in with this story, once I got going, I ended up enjoying the ride. At first glance it seemed like a light, fluffy read, yet there is quite a bit of depth to the characters and a whole host of complicated storylines scattered throughout. For instance, I really appreciated the mom's storyline. There's a little romance and a little humour coupled with a whole lot of family dysfunction and so much heart. The reality tv aspect was definitely an interesting choice, and helped expose all of the internal struggles faced by both Amanda and Mae. I connected with Amanda right away, given our shared widowhood, and was rooting for her the whole way through. It quite possibly could have been shorter, by avoiding a lot of miscommunication, but it may not have been as entertaining, and the historical aspect of the restaurants felt necessary and was my favourite aspect of the book, as I love discovering hidden gems when I travel.
At the end of the day, The Chicken Sisters is about the importance of family, and left me reflecting on my own life and craving some good 'ol fashion fried chicken.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who enjoy stories about sisters
• foodies
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The spaces around us reflect the spaces inside us, and when those things don’t go together, that’s how we know we need to make a change."
Author: K.J. Dell'Antonia
Genre: Women's Fiction
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: December 1, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Layered • Fun • Mouthwatering
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Welcome to Merinac, Kansas, home of Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's, two restaurants started by sisters, with a centuries old rivalry and a ton of history. On a whim, Amanda invites reality TV show 'Food Wars' to settle the debate once and for all, but she has no clue what she is in for. Amanda's big city sister, Mae, has no desire to step foot back in Kansas. But when her career implodes, and she catches wind of 'Food Wars' coming to town, she seizes the opportunity to step back into the limelight. The Chicken Sisters is a story of family, rivalry, and discovering ourselves.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I absolutely loved the premise for this book: family drama, chicken, small town vibes - sign me up! Although it took me a little bit to get settled in with this story, once I got going, I ended up enjoying the ride. At first glance it seemed like a light, fluffy read, yet there is quite a bit of depth to the characters and a whole host of complicated storylines scattered throughout. For instance, I really appreciated the mom's storyline. There's a little romance and a little humour coupled with a whole lot of family dysfunction and so much heart. The reality tv aspect was definitely an interesting choice, and helped expose all of the internal struggles faced by both Amanda and Mae. I connected with Amanda right away, given our shared widowhood, and was rooting for her the whole way through. It quite possibly could have been shorter, by avoiding a lot of miscommunication, but it may not have been as entertaining, and the historical aspect of the restaurants felt necessary and was my favourite aspect of the book, as I love discovering hidden gems when I travel.
At the end of the day, The Chicken Sisters is about the importance of family, and left me reflecting on my own life and craving some good 'ol fashion fried chicken.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who enjoy stories about sisters
• foodies
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The spaces around us reflect the spaces inside us, and when those things don’t go together, that’s how we know we need to make a change."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Mental illness
death of partnersilver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I read this for book club, and for the first couple chapters I thought this was going to be a three star book at best. The characters were annoying, the set up seemed insipid, and yet somehow left enough room for everyone to be making bad life choices (but I just repeat myself about the annoying part)...
It really, really grew on me though. I liked the themes about family, and how difficult family can be, but difficult doesn't mean it has to be bad. I found I really related to some of the situations, even though the versions in the book were more extreme than in my own life. I loved how the book didn't paint either small town or city life as 'bad' or 'boring/shallow/etc', but did expose some bad reasons for choosing either/any type of life.
It really, really grew on me though. I liked the themes about family, and how difficult family can be, but difficult doesn't mean it has to be bad. I found I really related to some of the situations, even though the versions in the book were more extreme than in my own life. I loved how the book didn't paint either small town or city life as 'bad' or 'boring/shallow/etc', but did expose some bad reasons for choosing either/any type of life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content, Death, and Car accident
madsmcw_reads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was so excited to read this book, and it ended up being a huge let down. I was expecting a fun food competition with crazy, over the top antics, and laugh out loud scenes. What I got though, was a super emotional family drama/midlife crisis kind of story.
I honestly didn't like Mae or Amanda for most of the story. They're just really unhappy people (for good reasons I'll admit) but they tend to make everyone else around them unhappy too. And a lot of the issues just came down to people not communicating with one another and those kinds of stories just end up annoying me.
I did like about the last third of the book. I enjoyed watching the families come together and support one another. I just didn't enjoy the ride of getting to that point. I was bored for a lot of the book and just waiting for something to happen. The ending was great, but I think this story could have benefitted from an epilogue to see what happened after the show wrapped.
I honestly didn't like Mae or Amanda for most of the story. They're just really unhappy people (for good reasons I'll admit) but they tend to make everyone else around them unhappy too. And a lot of the issues just came down to people not communicating with one another and those kinds of stories just end up annoying me.
I did like about the last third of the book. I enjoyed watching the families come together and support one another. I just didn't enjoy the ride of getting to that point. I was bored for a lot of the book and just waiting for something to happen. The ending was great, but I think this story could have benefitted from an epilogue to see what happened after the show wrapped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Chronic illness and Death
rinnykitty's review
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As someone who has mostly been watching Food Network for the past month and have a guilty pleasure of watching reality TV, this book was right up my alley.
This book was so goddamn wordy I found myself skimming a lot of paragraphs. I felt like it was going so slow and not going slow at the same time. I've seen reviews complaining of the miscommunication, but that's what makes good reality TV so I thought it was somewhat fitting. Despite my first complaint, I thought this was very well written. I felt Amanda's existential crisis of living in a small town only working at a chicken place every day for possibly the rest of your life, and I dont even live in a small town. This book also made me crave fried chicken, all I wanted while reading this was a big bucket of fried chicken. The drama was good enough to get me anxious thinking "oh no you messed up real bad this time, let's see how you solve this". The ending took a lighthearted turn which I enjoyed, but oh wait did I say the ending? I meant the last chapter. Because the publisher thought it'd be a good idea to take the epilogue out of the kindle version and put in a link to enter my email. I never got the email with the link to the epilogue. So I'm sitting here wondering what they ended up doing afterwords. I dont know, maybe never will, but damn I hope they all live happily ever after.
This book was so goddamn wordy I found myself skimming a lot of paragraphs. I felt like it was going so slow and not going slow at the same time. I've seen reviews complaining of the miscommunication, but that's what makes good reality TV so I thought it was somewhat fitting. Despite my first complaint, I thought this was very well written. I felt Amanda's existential crisis of living in a small town only working at a chicken place every day for possibly the rest of your life, and I dont even live in a small town. This book also made me crave fried chicken, all I wanted while reading this was a big bucket of fried chicken. The drama was good enough to get me anxious thinking "oh no you messed up real bad this time, let's see how you solve this". The ending took a lighthearted turn which I enjoyed, but oh wait did I say the ending? I meant the last chapter. Because the publisher thought it'd be a good idea to take the epilogue out of the kindle version and put in a link to enter my email. I never got the email with the link to the epilogue. So I'm sitting here wondering what they ended up doing afterwords. I dont know, maybe never will, but damn I hope they all live happily ever after.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Miscarriage, Child death, Death, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
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