The Chicken Sisters

Digital audiobook narrated by Xe Sands and Cassandra Campbell
3.5***

Adapted from the book jacket: In tiny Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi’s and Chicken Frannie’s have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state – and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than thirty-five-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi’s before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie’s. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda contacts Food Wars, the reality-TV restaurant competition. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly show more into the fire.

My reactions
This came to my attention as a result of looking at the “readers also enjoyed” prompt on the main book page for The Sweetness of Water. I didn’t even notice that it had been a Reese’s Book Club pick until I had the book in my hands.

In addition to the long-running family feud, which no one currently knows the origin of, but which all parties in the families nevertheless adhere to, there is a more current “feud” of sorts between sisters Amanda and Mae. While Amanda has stayed in Kansas, helping her Mom (at home, not in the restaurant where she’s not allowed to enter since her marriage to the enemy), Mae has escaped to Brooklyn where she is a nationally famous “organizing guru” (think Marie Kondo). But Mae’s carefully orchestrated life is imploding – she’s just blown her shot at TV stardom, and her marriage is on shaky ground. But she figures if she can transform her Mom’s somewhat dilapidated chicken shack into a more hip and with-it restaurant … on TV no less … that will help re-launch her career. Let the fireworks begin.

I was quickly engaged in the family’s issues, though I thought the sisters behaved like much younger people – more like teenagers than thirty-something moms. There are some family secrets that come out, a new hunky chef, a manipulative TV producer who wants more conflict, and more than one effort to sabotage the competition which all serve to keep the plot moving forward with surprises, twists and insights into the family dynamic.

There can only be ONE winner of “Food Wars” and in this case, it’s the reader.

The chapters alternate between Amanda’s and Mae’s points of view, and the audiobook uses two talented voice artists – Xe Sands and Cassandra Campbell - to bring the sisters to life. show less

A small town in Kansas. Two fried-chicken restaurants founded by sisters over a century ago. Two present-day sisters. A great set-up for a century-old sibling rivalry story.

Amanda Pogociello grew up working at Chicken Mimi's. But then she married the son of their rival family at Chicken Frannie's and is no longer allowed to step into Mimi’s. She is tired of the daily struggle of running Frannie’s and escapes into her sketchbook. Then one day she contacts Food Wars, a reality TV show that sets up restaurant competitions with $100,000 going to the winner.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based sister Mae Moore is a social media influencer with her organizational skills. Mae loves to declutter and organize her client’s spaces. But one day her show more career implodes. Once again seeking the limelight, she sees the Food Wars competition as the avenue to get her back into the public eye.

Family drama and misunderstandings. Family secrets now made public by a conniving producer. The perfect recipe for an enjoyable read. I found I could really relate to the sisters Mae and Amanda. It made me laugh (Mae, you go girl!). The sisters were vastly different and, unsurprisingly, had different goals in life. Or did they…

The author is a brilliant storyteller and has created truly relatable characters who portray real emotions and reactions.

I received this book from the publisher/author with no expectation of a positive review. show less

This is a very, very, very fictionalized account of two hometown fried-chicken restaurants, both about 30 minutes from my front door. Chicken Mary's and Chicken Annie's, the real things, are packed to the doors every weekend (we were a Mary's family), especially Sundays after church. They serve spaghetti, too, if you're interested.

The real restaurants were indeed on a Travel Channel food war show several years ago, which got tons of local media coverage, though I don't think the soap-opera "behind the camera" dramatics which create the backbone (wishbone?) of the book were an issue at the time.

Both of the Chicken Sisters use more profanity than I care to read, so keep your filters on if that's an issue for you. I stuck with it because show more of the fun, slightly inaccurate local flavor. Consider it a light and tasty summer read. show less

Two sisters, two rival chicken restaurants, and one reality show get stirred together to create a pageturner of a novel. Amanda - the sister who stayed in the small town of Merinac, Kansas and helps her Mother-in-Law run Frannie's Chicken. Amanda thinks that having Frannie's Chicken and Chicken Mimi's featured on the reality TV show Food Wars will be great for business. But then her sister Mae gets involved. Mae moved away, became an orginizatinal guru, and has her own TV show - or she does until the network cans her. So she returns home to convince her mom (Barbara) that appearing on Food Wars is a good idea - only to find that the Food Wars production team is already in town.
I enjoyed this book a lot and it was a real page-turner for show more me. As it flipped back and forth between the two sisters I found myself getting caught up in the family drama as secret after secret came to life beneath the harsh glare and never ending prodding of the Food War crew. After reading this book I would never want to be on a reality TV show - although having all the secrets finally laid bare does turn out well for the characters in the end. I also want to go eat some really good fried chicken - and fortunately I live in Kansas, where the real rival chicken restaurants exist just a short drive away. show less

With the illustrated cover and the premise of feuding chicken restaurants I went into this expecting/hoping for a somewhat playful tone but the incidents of sabotage in the food war were fairly mean spirited, one sister in particular, Amanda, lobbed some considerable low personal blows towards her family.

While I liked the artistic side of Amanda, I’m not so sure about the rest of her. I think it was mostly a matter of feeling like I didn’t have a deep enough understanding of her, maybe if there had been a little more on her experiences growing up with her mother’s mental illness, maybe if there had been more to substantiate her hostility towards her sister, and maybe if her romance hadn’t mostly taken place off the page, I could show more have managed to empathize with the character more but as is that just wasn’t happening.

Mae’s actions tended to make more sense to me than Amanda’s and her character came closest (though not close enough) to having some of the fun scenes I’d anticipated with her big city Marie Kondo ways returning to the cluttered country life, though like Amanda, I did want more from Mae’s romantic relationship, the issues in her marriage resolved a little too easily.

Issues resolved a little too easily would probably be a good description for the ending of the novel overall, even so, the final quarter was probably my favorite as things and rather more importantly for me characters began coming together a bit more allowing Chicken Sisters to at last show a bit more of the heart I’d been eager for all along. show less

What a wonderful start to my reading year. This is Januarys pick from Reeses Sunshine Book Club. I read a lot of her suggested monthly books last year and this was one of my favorite. The story of rival chicken restaurants, a long family feud, and FoodWars makes for a great plot and a book you really don't want to put down.

Take 2 chicken rival fried chicken restaurants in a small town in MI, passed down from generation to generation, run by Barbara (mother of Mae, who wanted nothing to do with a small town years ago and moved to New York to be a tv star), Amanda, who helps her mother-in-law run Frannie's since Barbara "ran her" out of her Mimi's. Amanda, writes to the tv show Food Wars, to enter the best fried chicken. Then the competition ensues and the rivalry and the back biting and much more.

It all turns out fine in the end of course and everyone loves each other again. A fun book to read.