The Welcome Home Diner - Peggy Lampman

The Welcome Home Diner

Hey! Thanks for reading my blog! Make sure you make it to the end of this post, because I'm giving away a copy of this book courtesy of TLC Book Tours!

Title: The Welcome Home Diner

Author: Peggy Lampman

Publication Date: 10/10/2017

Pages: 352

Genre: Chick Lit / Food / Fiction

How I Found It: TLC Book Tours

Date Completed: 10/7/17

Summary: Two cousins start a diner in Detroit with the hopes of invigorating the local community and economy. They end up facing both internal and external obstacles on the way to their goal. 

What I Thought: This was a sweet little book. Even though Lampman deals with some heavy topics (gentrification, race, sex trafficking), she does so in a way that still feels friendly and relatable. Those issues are pieces of the puzzle but the book is not really about them. Rather, it's about relationships: family relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, workplace relationships, and community relationships. 

I always love when the theme of food is so closely intertwined with a plot. Here, it is inescapable, as the central location of the story is a diner and one of the main characters is the chef. Though I would not classify this as a food-centric book, there are wonderful descriptive morsels (no pun intended) throughout the story that will leave wishing the Welcome Home Diner was around the corner. Thankfully, Lampman does have some recipes in the back of the book if you find yourself craving one of those Heartbreaker cookies. 

The narration vacillates between the two main characters, Addie and Sam. I have to say, I greatly preferred Sam's chapters. She felt much more grounded and relatable to me. Addie got on my nerves at times. I understood her desire to get her relationship with David moving to a solid place of commitment, but at times that came off as a desperation for a ring. In general, I just found her character less stable and more irritating, although I think some of that was intentional as part of her character development. 

Peggy Lampman

I liked that the book covered so much time. Months passed between chapters and it kept the story moving at a good pace. It also made the timeline of events feel more realistic. These characters aren't dealing with new drama every few days; rather, it's spread out over the course of a year. 

Everything did feel a little too neatly tied up for me at the end, but I think that's the struggle I often have with books of this type. Most people will like the tidy ending, so don't let my penchant for loose threads deter you from reading the book.

*To read other bloggers' thoughts on The Welcome Home Diner, check out the full tour schedule.*

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Will I Re-Read: Probably not

If You Liked This, Try: The Restaurant Critic's Wife / Commencement / Girls in White Dresses

A Reduced Review: Though it does deal with some big issues like gentrification, this heart-warming book is really all about relationships.

I always love when TLC lets us blog tour hosts give away a copy of the book. There's nothing more fun then knowing someone will get a good book because of me. You can enter the givaway for a copy of The Welcome Home Diner below. Come back every day this week to enter multiple times!

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