Elizabeth Stone was like the Martha Stewart of her time - famous for her lifestyle brand. When Elizabeth passes away, everyone expects her daughter, Juliet to take over the empire created by her mother. Juliet isn't sure that she possesses the same talents, but is doing her best to carry on the legacy. Juliet also takes on a project - to write her mother's biography - but in the course of figuring out who her mother was, she learns that Elizabeth was keeping secrets and wasn't at all who anyone thought she was.

I enjoyed Banash's writing and story she created about Elizabeth and Juliet. I felt for Juliet, who was blindsided by the truth she uncovered about her mother, but it was also a well written journey as Juliet went through the process of researching and uncovering bits and pieces of information about her mother's history.

The Essential Elizabeth Stone drew me in from the first page. Through her famous parties, cookbooks, and TV show, Elizabeth Stone was a food and lifestyle icon for thirty years. She was a brand. After her death, her daughter Juliet has to run the empire. She encounters secrets galore. She feels like her whole life has been a lie. The narrative alternates between Juliet's research and Elizabeth’s POV. The alternating viewpoints capture and share a wide range of emotions. We get to understand the complicated emotions and how messy relationships can be.

Elizabeth Stone pulled herself up from her bootstraps and became a national icon (think Martha Stewart). When Elizabeth dies, she leaves her daughter Jules her company. With money problems on the horizon, Jules reluctantly agrees to having a biography written of her mother’s life. As the chosen author starts to investigate Elizabeth’s life, things don’t add up and as secrets start to unfold Jules wants to pull the plug on the project and leave her mother’s good name intact. Working in the corporate world is quite cut throat and Jules finds out everyone isn’t her friend. Who can she trust and how can she keep her mother’s legacy afloat. Banish draws you in and has you rooting for Jules from the start and it’s only through the process that Jules finally comes into her own. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. The pacing was good, the characters were all relatable and likable. I struggled a bit with Elizabeth's character and the choices she made for the sake of her career and societal status. The fact that the entirety of her life was such a huge secret from literally everyone didn't resonate well with me; I actually found it an incredibly sad way to live. Juliet and her struggles were far more sympathetic to me. The past/present timeline worked well and flowed easily. Some of the more minor storylines were a bit far-fetched but overall it was a good book.

Juliet is dealing with the untimely death of her mother and trying to run the company her mother is so famous for. For Juliet, who is also writing a book about her mother, this is a time of self-discovery and healing.
I felt the book got a little more wording with details that I could have done without. The characters were well developed, but not always likeable. Overall, the book was a good read.
Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my ARC.

At the turn of the last page, I wasn't a 100% sure about what was essentially Elizabeth Stone. Was it her determination to leave her world behind and transform herself, or that she had grit to succeed against all odds, or was it her compulsion to hold her cards close to her chest and keep everyone around her on their toes, guessing to who or what is Elizabeth Stone?
You read about Elizabeth when she is already dead, and forward pages reveal a woman who was so determined to leave her mark in the world that she did not care about the damage she left behind. Ruthless and callous, we read how Elizabeth, a pastiche of Martha Stewart, has left behind a daughter, Julia, who is encumbered by her mother's legacy. She neither has the emotional grasp to make decisions for the company, nor does she have the gumption to go through with a humble thanksgiving dinner, a favourite of her dead mother. The only time she shows any backbone is when she realises that her mother may have had a secret life before she became Elizabeth Stone.
Thus begins the book. We race through past and present, anecdotes and events collide, and we learn about the mysterious past of Elizabeth that she told no one.
The exposition of the story might falter, but the narrative pace does not. I found myself engrossed as Julia uncovered every hidden bit of her mother's hidden past.
The plot would have veneered in to trite territory with the mother-daughter relationship, but thankfully it does not. There is a clear emotional attachment and slit physical resemblance between Elizabeth and Julia, and that is the crux of the book, its driving force. It is obvious when Julia tries to engage with the other characters in the book, it doesn't develop well or mean the same as to when we hear or read about Elizabeth; her character might be dead in the book, but she is almost treated as being alive by everyone.
I don't know if the other characters were written to be this weak or was Elizabeth just too strong a woman, even in past and present that the plot only moves forward because of her.
She is essential to the book, but I am still searching for what was essential about her.

I really enjoyed this book.
It is written in two POV’s in two different time periods. One of Elizabeth (Billy) and the other Juliet (Elizabeth’s daughter). Both female characters are strong and complicated. I really loved both of their stories and the growth they experienced throughout the book.
When Juliet’s beloved mother passes away, Juliet is left in the aftermath. Struggling to know how to handle her mother’s fame and legacy now that she’s gone, Juliet begins to search through her mother’s life and finds that she didn’t know her nearly as much as she thought.
Love this book. Will read more by Banash for sure.
Thank you netgalley for the read.

What do I even say about this book? Look I’m going to be honest here, I picked this book up expecting to read for a bit & then start skimming. I figured it was what I like to call “a mom book”. But almost immediately I got pulled into this world of a grieving daughter realizing that there was more to her mother than she, or the world, knew.

I have mixed feelings on this book. Overall, I enjoyed the story but the author goes overboard in her description of things making the book seem much longer than it needed to be. 3.5 stars

THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH STONE opens perfectly: the scene of an intricately designed book launch for a new cookbook author, with the novel’s namesake in a flurry as she perfects every last detail. We know immediately that this is a woman who deliberately manages how she appears to the world - and therein lies the premise of the book that unfolds. Told in alternating timelines and narrated by both Elizabeth and her daughter, Juliet, this book has all kinds of promise: family secrets, mother-daughter tension, complicated romances.

The rest of the book was a disappointment for me. Where the book could have soared, and the characters really humanized, it just all fell flat for me. I admit that I had expectations of something more genre-defying and instead left this read with a shrug. (Fwiw, I had recently read about Julia Child’s secret life in intelligence during WWII so perhaps reading this about a popular chef with a secret wasn’t exactly well timed!)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

This book.

Wow.

It kept me guessing and turning the pages like no other. I was as engrossed in this as I would be for a thriller or a fantasy, which says a lotttt.

I would say this is written in a similar way to TJR or Kristen Hannah, so if you like them, you should like this.

I was not expecting this book to have dropped so many bombshells, but man I ate them up.

Easy, light, fun read.

Thank you Lake Union Publishing for my DRC!

Elizabeth Stone is basically a Martha Stewart. She is a brand. She represents a lifestyle. She is an idol. And now, with her death, her company is facing some financial problems. Juliet is called to run operations, but she has no idea what she’s doing. And writing a book about her late mother is a way for her to begin the healing process and keep the name Elizabeth Stone alive. And all throughout the book, this is the mood. A sense of sadness, melancholy and wandering. There is a romance subplot that doesn’t even change the tone. Juliet lost her mother, and she is suffering. That is a constant.

The writing is lyrical and overly descriptive. Towards the end, I started to skim some paragraphs describing a scene with far too much detail than I had patience for. This is something I wish to find in more books, and then when I have a book that gives me that, I don’t like it. I’m guessing this is also related to other elements of the story that didn’t work for me. Possibly, it was the mixture of it all that put me off on the writing style.

The story is told between the past and the present, jumping from the perspective of Juliet to her mother over the years. At first, I didn’t like it. It interrupted an already slow development in the present to a new perspective. It also presents what happens in the past before the main character discovers that information in the present. So, the reader knows more than the main character. And that usually removes the objective of the character. Why follow her daughter trying to uncover secrets when her mother can show them? But quickly, Jules’ perspective changes its focus to her dealing with everything. And so, it becomes Elizabeth herself telling her story. At that point, her perspective becomes more enjoyable and more fast-paced.

Something that surprised me was Elizabeth Stone’s relationship with food. That’s how she starts her career, and that isn’t apparent in the beginning. I wish even the writing style would grab the food theme and ran with it. Exploring Elizabeth and Juliet’s life through food. The different experiences it can offer. And in that sense, Elizabeth was very in tune with her cooking. It was intentional, a piece of herself every time she cooked, and I loved that. I wanted to read more about that. I wanted the food to be the theme that would join both perspectives. Can you tell I’m very passionate about food?

In a way, The Essential Elizabeth Stone reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The creation of this iconic character spawns further from the page. A character that lives outside the book. And it didn’t work out the same way. Maybe because Elizabeth is not a good character. She’s deeply flawed. She made many questionable decisions. But that’s the point of the story. Of a daughter learning who her mother truly was. Realising she wasn’t a goddess, the personification of perfection. And how she is going to deal with these realisations on top of her grief.

Maybe because of the tone of the story, I couldn’t like Juliet. I felt she lacked a lot of personality. Like she was a grey cloud hovering over the whole story. Granted that she’s lost, grieving, doesn’t know who she is or who she wants to be. Her mother’s biography is more of a journey of self-discovery for her than about her mother. She is learning who she is away from her mother and learning to forgive past mistakes.

I really enjoyed The Essential Elizabeth Stone! The dual point of view storyline allowed us to get to know both main characters. I found there to be too many descriptions of food and clothes though. Overall, this was enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

What a wonderful surprise! THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH STONE is an emotional read that will play on your heart strings as a young woman, grieving her mother's death, finds that what she the woman she thought she knew was a mystery. The home living icon Elizabeth Stone is not the woman her daughter, Julia, knew and modeled her life around. As Julia discovers her mother's history, she'll also finally find her own identity. The cover synopsis is just a small introduction to the compelling look at three generations of women and the relationships that bound them.

EXCERPT: Harold approached, taking her hand in his own and squeezing it reassuringly, looking over with an encouraging smile. His full head of salt-and-pepper hair shone in the light, and his suit of cream-colored linen was one of the many he'd had tailored at a small shop on Madison Avenue. 'You know what to do,' he whispered gently, the low timbre of his voice barely audible over the buzz of the courtyard. 'Just be yourself.'
She nodded, her lips stretching into a smile, one unadorned by lipstick, just a swipe of clear gloss that glistened in the late-afternoon sunlight - golden hour, her mother had always called it. The white cotton shift she wore set off the beginnings of her summer tan, and a curtain of butterscotch hair grazed her shoulders in a neat line. Just below her wide blue eyes, a spray of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks like the faintest dusting of nutmeg on a peach tart.
Be yourself. But who was that exactly?

ABOUT 'THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH STONE': For more than thirty years, Elizabeth Stone has been an irreplaceable fixture in homes around the world, a food and lifestyle icon with a brand as warm and inviting as New England brown bread. Until, after her sudden passing, she leaves her legacy and her multimillion-dollar empire to her daughter, Juliet, who is expected to step seamlessly into her shoes.

Juliet finds herself at both a personal and professional crossroads in her life, fearing she won’t be good enough to maintain the image and brand of a woman she adored. With the company in financial trouble, Juliet is urged to write the definitive biography of her mother—self-made entrepreneur, perfect mom, and homespun everywoman whose own childhood in Maine was filled with comfort food and simple elegance. But other than what little Juliet has been told, she doesn’t know much about her mother’s past.

The truth is, no one does.

As she digs through her mother’s possessions, tracking down those who knew her, Juliet is stunned to uncover a lifetime of secrets and lies. As she uncovers the truth, she is forced to reckon with her grief over missing someone she isn’t sure she ever really knew. Faced with decisions about the fate of her mother’s empire, as well as Juliet’s own marriage and future, she will first have to answer the question on everyone’s mind—who was Elizabeth Stone?

MY THOUGHTS: The Essential Elizabeth Stone is not a particularly long book, but it took me almost a week to read. I would go back and reread phrases, whole paragraphs, turning the words over in my mind, savoring them. I would unconsciously stop reading, my mind wandering off to some place that something in the book triggered (in a good way!). It led me to examine my relationship with my own mother.

I was totally immersed in the narrative - I could see Elizabeth; I could feel Juliet's frustration and anger; I could feel the warmth of the summer sun on my face and taste the delicious food Elizabeth prepared.

The characters are so real, they could step off the page. Eunice is a revelation - I loved her, possibly more than Elizabeth. Juliet is a bit of an enigma; she has lived in her mother's shadow and allowed her to orchestrate her life. Following her mother's death she is rudderless, ill-prepared and swamped by conflicting emotions.

There are three generations of women and two of motherhood examined in this novel; Elizabeth's rocky relationship with her own mother, Grace; and her relationship with her own daughter, Juliet.

I loved this quiet and absorbing novel. There was never a moment I was bored or irritated by the characters. I loved the family dynamics in both Elizabeth's and Eunice's families and loved watching Juliet grow into her own person.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.4

#TheEssentialElizabethStone #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Banash lives and writes in Los Angeles, California, with her partner, Willy Blackmore, and their daughter, Story.

DISCLSOURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Essential Elizabeth Stone by Jennifer Banash for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

If you’re looking for a book that is the same but has different aspects about it this is the book for you. This book is told in a dual time line by mother and daughter, it is told approximately 30 years apart. The author weaves a very realistic and human felt story. A very understanding story about the volume and fragility of relationships. In my opinion, this book has some rather long descriptive paragraphs. It takes one along time to sink into the storyline, because the developing emotions and reactions of Jules' grief seemed to slow the story's progression. However, once you get into the story you will be hooked and find it hard to put it down. I had never read anything by this author but she weaved this story with great elegance and I think anyone who likes contemporary fiction will love this book as much as I did!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Essential Elizabeth Stone by Jennifer Banash really drew me in and held me until the end.
I really enjoyed the story and the characters are heartwarming and well written.

The Essential Elizabeth Stone is not my typical read, however something about the blurb had me hooked. I loved how the book followed the struggles of both Jules and Elizabeth, with a dual POV really capturing the essence of the story. The story focuses on grief, depression, cheating etc, however Jennifer Banash did a good job at capturing the issues and resolutions. The scenes within each chapter were describe in such a beautiful and all capturing way that I had perfect images of what was going on. I loved that Juliet in learning the truth about her mothers past, discovered who she truly is and decides that she should make changes to get the life she wants. I would have enjoyed to learn more about her new life and feelings for Noah. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend as its definitely worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was a very slow read for me. There wasn't anything in the story that got me excited to pick it up each night, so some nights I just didn't.

I'm not sure I can point out what didn't work for me. The story was just blah, and there were too many descriptive lines that kind of lost me. Don't get me wrong, descriptions are great, when necessary. The sheer amount of them in this book felt way overdone.

I don't think I'd recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.