Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m going to be posting my review of Roselle Lim’s novel Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune.

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune by: Roselle Lim: After Natalie’s mother passes away, she finds herself back on plane to Chinatown in San Francisco. When she learns that she’s inherited her grandmother’s restaurant, this sparks the inner cook in her to possibly re-open. Only, things aren’t that simple, the neighbourhood businesses are failing, but with the help of her neighbours, things could turn around for all of them. This pleasantly surprised the reader on the journey that it took. The reader was never entirely sure where the story was going to go but they were along for the ride. The overall arc was intriguing, if not a little predictable; the cadence of the ups and downs have been seen before so it wasn’t too hard to figure out where the novel would end. There were a few surprises along the way that made up for the predictability of the main story arc. There was a romance plot thrown into the mix that at first the reader didn’t like at all, but it didn’t become the focus of the novel and sort of faded to the background and let the main story shine. The reader also really loved the writing, it was so lush and the descriptions of food were so beautiful. The way Lim was able to write about Chinese culture and intertwine it with the food storyline was so well done. The characters, especially the main character Natalie, were deeply developed; the reader felt like they knew everyone who lived on the street and had been a part of their lives for years. Watching Natalie grow as she went back home and made the decision to stay and help was fun and rewarding as she started to understand herself better and her mother and grandmother too. Also seeing the friendships, she forged and the people she became close to again, it was truly powerful to read. In the end, this was such a warm, cozy read; it wasn’t the perfect read but it was still extremely enjoyable to sink into.