Didn't You Use to Be Queenie B? - Large Print by Terri-Lynne Defino (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

For everyone who loved The Bear! An utterly winning, crowd-pleaser of a novel about a disgraced celebrity chef, her striving protégé, and their path through the kitchen to redemption.

Regina Benuzzi is Queenie B--a culinary goddess with Michelin Star restaurants, a bestselling cookbook empire, and multimillion-dollar TV deals. It doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous and curvaceous, with cascading black hair and signature red lips.

She had it all. Until she didn't.

After an epic fall from grace, Queenie B vanishes from the public eye, giving up everything: her husband, her son, and the fame that she'd fought to achieve. Her shows are in rerun, her restaurants still popular, but her disappearance remains a mystery to her legions of fans.

Local line cook Gale Carmichael also knows a thing or two about disaster. Newly sober and struggling, Gale's future dreams don't hold space for culinary stardom; only earning enough to get by. Broke at the end of the week, he finds himself at a local soup kitchen in one of the roughest parts of New Haven, Connecticut. But Gale quickly realizes that the food coming out of the kitchen is not your standard free meal--it is delicious and prepared with gourmet flair.

Gale doesn't recognize Regina, the soup kitchen's cranky proprietor, whose famous black mane is now streaked with gray. It's been more than ten years since Queenie B vanished into her careful new existence. But she sees Gale's talent and recognizes a brokenness in him that she knows all too well. The culinary genius in hiding takes him under her wing.

Teaching Gale, Regina's passion to create is reignited, and they both glimpse a shot at the redemption that had always seemed out of reach. When Gale is chosen to compete on the hit cooking show, Cut!, it's a turning point for them both.

It's Gale's time to shine. And that means Queenie B might just have to come out of hiding...

Review Quotes

"Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story is fun and funny, wonderfully exuberant, and incredibly wise. These endearing characters--their voices and stories-- will be with me for a long time to come. I didn't want to say good-bye." -- Jill McCorkle

"Delightful and witty, Terri-Lynne DeFino weaves a poignant tale about tradition, love and family." -- Stephanie Evanovich, New York Times bestselling author, on Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story

"DeFino's zesty homage to the northern New Jersey microcosm delights with its universality and specificity." -- Booklist (starred review) on Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story

"A bighearted story of a suburban Jersey Italian family...Readers will be glad to immerse themselves in the Palladinos' exuberant world." -- Publishers Weekly on Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story

"There are a lot of laughs despite the mayhem and drama, and of course, many family dinners (with recipes!), but it is love that permeates and elevates this terrific Italian family saga." -- Library Journal on Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story