RELEASE DAY BLITZ: REVIEW, TEASERS, AND GIVEAWAY: Monster Chef by Margaret McHeyzer

Holly Walker had everything she’d ever dreamed about – a happy marriage and being mum to beautiful brown-eyed Emma – until an accident nineteen months ago tore her world apart. Now she’s a widow and single mother to a boisterous little 7-year-old girl, looking for a new start. Ready to take the next step, Holly has found herself a job as a maître d’ at Table One, a once-acclaimed restaurant in the heart of Sydney. But one extremely arrogant Frenchman isn’t going to be easy to work with…

Twenty years ago, Pierre LeRoux came to Australia, following the stunning Aussie girl he’d fallen in love with. He and his wife put their personal lives on hold, determined for Pierre to take Sydney’s culinary society by storm. Just as his bright star was on the upswing, tragedy claimed the woman he was hopelessly in love with. He had been known as a Master Chef, but since his wife’s death he has become known as Monster Chef.

Can two broken people rebuild their lives and find happiness once more?

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23909559-monster-chef

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Review

Monster Chef is a story of loss and second chances; it illustrates what happens when someone falls so deep into the darkness after losing someone that it’s hard to get up every morning in order to fight through another day. It’s a text that takes its characters through the cycle of mourning and then offers tiny glimpses into what life can be like if only someone can be strong enough to move forward instead of being held down by grief, pain, and anger.

Holly Walker and Pierre LeRoux handle the loss of their spouses in much different ways, but it’s those differences that bring them together and allow them to begin to heal each other. I love that readers are given both Holly and Pierre’s perspective because it allows us to understand why they are the way they are and what they need in order to endure the heartbreak they are experiencing.

Holly is an incredibly strong heroine who carries on after her husband’s death because she chooses to do so. It’s not easy being a single mother, but she does it. It’s not easy putting herself back in the work force or standing up for herself in the face of nasty comments and actions, but she does it because that’s who she is. She’s a fighter, and she wants to be a good example to her daughter so that she understands that even though life may be difficult, it’s how one chooses to cope that defines her.

Pierre is an arrogant, volatile man whose entire world imploded due to the loss of his wife and his inability to cope. I was blown away by Margaret McHeyzer’s ability to illustrate the raw pain he continues to feel even four years later. He’s lost his way…who he is…what defines him, and at the beginning of the text, he doesn’t want to find himself again because he’s trapped in misery and consumed by the desire to join his wife. Every feeling expressed and statement made by Pierre, subconsciously, speaks to the honest reality of what occurs when someone loses the one person who defined his life. It makes his hardened, asshole exterior easier to accept because it only exists as a shield from the pain…a way to make it through the day and keep everyone at bay.

This was my first read by Margret McHeyzer, and I really enjoyed it. The emotional writing and transforming characters had my attention from the beginning, and the dirty talking, passionate Frenchman had me wanting to find my own to be able to experience the kind of heady feelings that he brings out of Holly.

**Bound by custom or unique by choice.**

There’s something about the written word that’s pure magic.
Possibly it’s the fact that there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and they can create something so beautiful or so empowering that they’re able to change our lives.

How important is it that we break suit and stretch our minds?

I like to think of myself as ‘unique’. My stories aren’t for everyone, and sometimes I may push what you believe to be ‘normal’.

Normal is subjective.

I prefer to be known as a person who’s never been ‘bound by custom’ but is ‘unique by choice’.

Until next time
Mxx

Fairest Of All Book Reviews