Book Review: The Charred Grape by Caroline Baccene

Author: Caroline Baccene

Title: The Charred Grape

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Short story

Format: ebook

Pages: 36

Published: March 5, 2025

Where I got It: My shelf (Amazon)

Summary: 

Rachael, a hardworking single mom, juggles the chaos of making ends meet as a waitress at the beloved restaurant The Charred Grape and always strives to be the best mother she can for her young son, Leo.

When the restaurant is bought out and taken over by a new owner, Rachael and the rest of the staff are understandably more than a little nervous. Will they lose their jobs? Will new management be so unbearable they'll be forced to quit? Will their loyal customers accept this change of hands?

Those nerves turn into something else entirely as the days pass and Rachael learns more about her new boss and also becomes friends with the new chef. What starts as an easy and carefree back-of-the-house and afterhours friendship quickly seems to be turning into something else, but can Rachael find space in her busy, high-stress life for romance?

Review:

A nice short story while decompressing after the Xmas chaos of joy.

Rachael is your atypical hardworking and single moms. She is juggling her job and her private life. When the restaurant she is working at is bought out and taken over by a new owner, Rachael and the staff are concerned for their jobs. However, things turn to hope when she is offered a promotion and she becomes close to the new chef. 

This was short and sweet. Lovely to read over a couple of coffee like me.

Rachael was a sweet pea. She deserves the best. 

The chef (I can't remember his name) was meh. I didn't like his reaction at the bar. He just jumped to the worst conclusions even though she had mentioned her son before. Like...what?

Rachael is a gem and deserved better. I hope he groveled at some point. We didn't really get to see that. It was a quick fix and next thing we know it was the epilogue. I would've liked to see him grovel JUST a teeny bit.

I'll give this 3 stars. 

Short and sweet to read over your coffee.