Family Reservations

A Novel

By: Liza Palmer

Narrated by: Stevi Incremona

A powerful mother. Three daughters. And a fast-paced, cutthroat culinary legacy up for grabs in a darkly witty novel about a family on the edge by the bestselling author of The Nobodies and The F Word.

Maren Winter is a world-renowned restaurateur who has built an empire. No one heeds the whispers of her retirement more closely than her three daughters, all in service to their mother’s legacy.

On the night of Maren’s annual New Year’s Eve party, a line is crossed, and word of a humiliating family meltdown spreads like a Northern California wildfire through the culinary elite. It’s a golden opportunity for one of them to step into power—and a trigger for a spiraling descent into paranoia and blind ambition.

As the Winter family’s dissolution begins, so does a journey of competition, love, loyalty, self-preservation, and the need for three women to forge a path of their own.

©2024 Liza Palmer (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Fresh, exciting, and necessary. A must-read author.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Carrie Soto Is Back, Malibu Rising, and Daisy Jones & the Six

“Palmer tells a story like a girlfriend over lunch.”—People

“Funny and clever…a real crowd-pleaser.”—Publishers Weekly

Great change from romance

A great story about corruption and believing your own press. A mother that is a narcissistic glory hound and the three daughters that have suffered because of her. Love the restaurant atmosphere and the foodie vibe.

good clense story

a light read about three daughters all finding their place in the world, while being overshadowed by there controling and cruel mother that is acting like she is having a midlife crisis and jealous of the people closest to her.

Delicious

Compelling story, great characters, loved the nods to King Lear. Narration was absolutely fantastic! Couldn't put it down, so to speak....

2 stars

Side note, numerous hateful reviews have criticized the nonbinary identity of Raphael Luca as unnecessary. First, this is how the individual identifies - how does it affect you?? Nonbinary individuals are real and they exist! Second, my audiobook did not portray Raphael as nonbinary. If the prior reviews are correct, it is infuriating that the author/publisher seems to have ceded to a few ignorant and offensive people, altering the character's identity, which is equally offensive.

~

Family Reservations by Liza Palmer was difficult to finish. I didn't like that the story was being told to us; it was too easy to get confused as to who was talking because the focus changed without warning. I also found myself zoning out, due to sheer boredom as telling the story this way makes it hard to stay engaged. Stevi Incremona is not a narrator I want to hear from again.

I thoroughly understand Maren's anger about the pork chop. I see a lot of reviews calling it outlandish, excessive, mean, etc., but Maren's actions and feelings make sense to me. It was all about Athena's ego, thinking she knew better, which is proven later in the book. The fact that she worried about it so long without speaking up shows that she knew it was wrong but wanted to test her mom. Granted, Maren acted quite horrible in other scenes, just like every other woman did, unfortunately, but the pork chop scene was valid.

I rate Family Reservations 2 stars as it was only okay. I genuinely like Valentina; she is the only one that brought life and happiness to the book. I wish we heard more from her. However, I will not read more from Liza in the future.