When in Doubt, Add Butter

I generally prefer lighter fiction when listening to audiobooks. I listen a lot while driving, walking, and cleaning, and books with heavy themes or that require strict attention can make doing all of the above difficult (or dangerous!). That’s why I love listening to books like Beth Harbison’s new novel, When in Doubt, Add Butter.

Gemma is a personal chef for an eclectic group of clients. Each weeknight, she sets up shop in a different family’s home in the Washington, D.C. area. Her clients include a woman who’s allergic to everything under the sun, a family who may have ties to the Russian mob, and Mr. Tuesday, a man she has never met but feels a strange connection to.

Gemma’s got her life mostly together, until she kills a peacock and loses a wealthy client, both freeing up her Friday nights and making a dent in her income. On one of those Friday nights Gemma hits the town with a friend and locks eyes with a handsome, funny man that she ends up going home with. Failing to get his phone number – twice – Gemma tries to forget about the guy who could be the one, until the consequences of her uncharacteristic one night stand catch up with her.

When in Doubt, Add Butter is a fun romantic novel that requires either snacks or will power at all times, as it will make you hungry. Gemma is a great cook, abides by her employers’ wishes even when she disagrees, and confidant to her ready-to-give-birth cousin. She’s not always the brightest bulb in the pack, as the reader puts two and two together in a few places long before she does, but in this kind of escapist fiction that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Notes on the audiobook: I’ve been listening to audiobooks for many years, and a feature that has been popping up a lot lately is author interviews on the last tracks. Macmillan Audio takes the interview one step further this time and has the narrator, Kathleen McInerney, interview the author! This was a fun feature and I enjoyed listening to the two women speak to each other for the first time, talking about where they grew up in the DC area as well as their thoughts on the book.