For those who love an element of foodie-ness in their fiction, Delicious! is a tempting piece of women’s fiction about self-discovery centered around people’s love of food. Its cast of eccentric characters is very Alice in Wonderland-esque, but too many pans in the fire and the heroine’s infallibility tended to make the book a bit of a slog.

Billie Breslin has traveled to New York from California to take a job at a food magazine named Delicious. Food has been a large part of Billie’s life, though she hasn’t cooked in a while because of Mysterious Reasons. However, part of her interview process requires cooking for the editor. Long story shot, she makes a gingerbread cake that wows everyone and she gets the job. What follows is a bit of a coming of age story as Billie tries to establish herself far away from home. She makes friends, loses friends, struggles with tough assignments at work, is sent reeling when the magazine closes, and meets a whole slew of interesting people in the food world. There’s also an epistolary side story wherein Billie finds some old letters (WWII era) at the office between a young girl named Lulu and James Beard (yes, that James Beard), who used to work at the magazine.

To me, there’s no main conflict to the story that’s a major driving force, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But there isn’t a bad guy to foil or an item to find. It’s just Billie learning about herself and becoming a self-sufficient woman. And sometimes it’s nice to read a book that’s more leisurely than action-packed with twists and turns. This book – for the most part – is light and fun, and I loved how food was such a pivotal aspect of Billie’s interactions with other people because food is a pretty universal language, I think.

Billie has a complicated relationship with food, both loving it and also associating it with a source of sadness and trauma. Sal, another character, runs a cheese shop with his family and the scenes there provide a wonderful sense of community between the family and their regular patrons. Food also gives way to romance and even separations. I’m sure for many of us, we have family food traditions or we may even associate certain foods with particular memories. Carvel ice cream cakes remind me of my brother’s birthdays. Deviled eggs will also make me think of my grandfather and how, without fail, a piece of egg shell would wind up somewhere in the filling. The ways that food connects to memories and moments for the different characters form a big part of the book, and readers who have nostalgia for specific dishes or equate food with different emotions like sadness, comfort, and the like, will really enjoy Delicious! in that regard.

There’s a letter that Lulu sends in which she recounts taking her mother to New York to finally meet James Beard, and experiencing such a wide array of food in the city:

I remember every morsel, from the sole in its silken sauce to the chicken with black truffles. Isn’t it odd that it took a luxurious meal like that to make me understand what Mrs. Cappuzzelli has been trying to teach me all along? A great meal is an experience that nourishes more than your body.

The feel stayed with me. The next morning, when Mother, Mr. Jones, and I were walking through those strange, crowded downtown streets, where people were sticking their hands into pickle barrels, pointing to smoked fish, and eating sliced herring, I saw the scene in a whole new way. They weren’t buying food. They were finding their way home.

It’s a lovely thought.

But where the book loses me is with its main character, Billie. Compared to everyone around her, she seems so…bland. At the same time, she’s utterly perfect. There’s a makeover moment where people try to make her realize how beautiful she really is, if only she’d get a different hairstyle and some new clothes. Her mistakes are seen as quirky and endearing, and while I liked the transformation in her confidence, the book made it seem too easy. There was only one person she met that didn’t immediately love her. Maybe I’m cynical, but I have a hard time feeling that one person can be that likable and easily accepted by nearly a dozen different people.

There’s also a lot that happens in the book. Billie’s hiring, the magazine’s closure, a secret library, Billie manning the Delicious magazine helpline, romance, a friend’s depression, family tragedies and secrets, and of course, Lulu and her letters. I think the epistolary side plot could have been tabled in favor of deepening Billie as a more complex character. Give the girl some flaws, instead of a tragic, mysterious background, which always feels to me a bit like shorthand in the way of characterization.

Delicious! is a quick read. It was light and perfect in helping to ease some of my pre-holiday stress when I read it. Anyone with a love of food will probably really enjoy it, but I do caution you to take Billie with a grain of salt, as she’s far from the most interesting character in the book. Unfortunately, she’s also the main character.