Virtually Perfect

August 21, 2017
Roberts’s debut novel is both entertaining and incisive. Thirty-year-old Lizzie Glass feels she’s already a has-been. Her television cooking show, Healthy U, has been cancelled, along with her magazine column. Her only way to make ends meet is to take a summer job as the live-in private chef for millionaires Jim and Kathryn Silvester at their Jersey Shore beach house. As she meets Silvester family members and friends, Lizzie’s life will be most affected by the Silvesters’ 23-year-old daughter, Zoe, who has a successful “clean living” health website and brand. Meanwhile, Lizzie’s mom, Susan, has her own problems that she doesn’t want to burden Lizzie with, but ultimately Susan’s and Zoe’s lives intersect and Lizzie is determined to help. Lizzie’s intelligence and moral compass ground the story, and although she is flawed herself, her self-awareness makes her an inspiring heroine. Readers are treated to ample helpings of snappy dialogue and vivid characters. The book contains plenty of humor, but the ending turns more serious, giving readers some food for thought.

September 1, 2017

When her famous cooking show Healthy U is canceled, followed by her monthly magazine column and cookbook deal, Lizzie Glass quickly becomes a has-been, leaving New York City and moving in with her mother. But her Aunt Linda pulls some strings and lands Lizzie a summer job as a personal chef to her boss's family, the wealthy Silvesters. From their outlandish beach house on the Jersey Shore to summer parties that put celebrity shindigs to shame, the Silvesters are not ashamed to flaunt their luxurious lifestyle. However, the more Lizzie learns about the family, in particular their daughter Zoe, the more she learns how looks can be deceiving. Roberts's spot-on debut novel delves into the virtually perfect facade of an internally imperfect family. The author also eloquently splashes in a dash of humor, from scenes of an overweight, overly tanned, and chauvinistic family friend who ends up drunk in the ER, to an Eagle ice sculpture with an oversight. VERDICT Readers who enjoy novels with cooking themes will laugh and commiserate with Lizzie as she sweats her way through a summer of gourmet requests, grandiose demands, and secrets she learns about almost too late.--Erin Holt, Williamson Cty. P.L., Franklin, TN

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