The Lost Recipe for Happiness

by Barbara O'Neal

Snappy Review

It’s sweet and sentimental, wrapped up in mouth-watering recipes and descriptions of food!

Book Synopsis

A mouth-watering tale of love, loss and letting go. A mouth-watering tale of love, loss and letting go.

‘My grandmother’s homemade tamales, fresh out of the steamer. A cup of hot chocolate in Paris. A plate of blue-corn cheese enchiladas with green chile in Santa Fe, a bowl of buttered squashes and a roasted garlic soup in New Orleans …’

Elena Alvarez’s passion for creating sublime recipes inspired by her Mexican upbringing has made her reputation as a chef in a man’s world. But for Elena, her kitchen is her sanctuary, the only place where she can keep the ghosts of her tragic past at bay. When a glowing newspaper review leads to her being fired and the end of an affair, Elena is made an offer she can’t refuse by enigmatic film director-turned-restaurateur Julian Liswood to create a unique new restaurant. Packing up her old life and her faithful hound Alvin, the first of her many challenges is a cook-off to tame a brilliant but resentful sous chef and win over her unruly new kitchen crew. However the most difficult task of all is resisting a dangerous attraction to her new employer. But through the inspired new dishes she creates and the friendships she forges, Elena is gradually learning to lay her ghosts to rest. Interwoven with the mouth-watering recipes she creates along the way, THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS is a celebration of the healing power of love – and good food.