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J. Ryan Stradal

Author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

4 Works 2,163 Members 189 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

J. Ryan Stradal is the author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest which made the New York Times Best Seller List 2015. (Bowker Author Biography)

Includes the name: Ryan Stradal, J

Image credit: J. Ryan Stradal

Works by J. Ryan Stradal

Tagged

2015 (25) 2016 (11) 2019 (18) 2020 (13) 2021 (7) 2023 (18) 21st century (7) adult fiction (13) audio (13) audiobook (31) beer (35) book club (11) chef (19) coming of age (7) contemporary (11) contemporary fiction (15) cooking (50) culinary (7) ebook (17) family (71) family relationships (13) fiction (239) food (80) food and drink (7) forgiveness (7) humor (8) Iowa (7) Kindle (17) library (12) literary fiction (14) Midwest (40) Minnesota (104) novel (24) own (13) read (22) read in 2015 (10) read in 2016 (14) relationships (9) sisters (19) to-read (253)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
19??
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Places of residence
Los Angeles, California, USA

Members

Reviews

lakeside is a supper club that is handed down through the generations. The story of the women who ran it.
 
Flagged
sherribrari | 13 other reviews | Feb 24, 2024 |
Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed.

Ned is also an heir—to a chain of home-style diners—and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?

In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.
… (more)
 
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jepeters333 | 13 other reviews | Feb 7, 2024 |
I really enjoyed this book. It was written well and had really interesting realistic characters. I did think the pacing was a bit off in the ending, but overall I would recommend it.
 
Flagged
queenofthebobs | 57 other reviews | Feb 3, 2024 |
I listened to the audio version and the narration can make or break the book for me. I’ll never know now how much I might have enjoyed this book on my own but I’m wishing I’d skipped the audio version. The accents, the male voices, the old lady voices, were not my cup of tea.
 
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ellink | 57 other reviews | Jan 22, 2024 |

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Associated Authors

Amy Ryan Narrator

Statistics

Works
4
Members
2,163
Popularity
#11,880
Rating
3.9
Reviews
189
ISBNs
51
Languages
7
Favorited
2

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