If you’ve read restaurant reviews and thought that you could do better, or you would love the opportunity to try, this may be the book for you. Cassie Brooks started an Instagram account called EAT POST LIKE to keep up with her unexpected chance to enjoy Michelin-starred establishments.
Cassie actually works in a law firm, the kind that undervalues women and keeps them under pressure, dangling the possibility of making partner in five years. Her long-suffering accountant boyfriend, James Colwell, keeps his personal apartment in New York City and travels for work. One day Cassie learns that James was killed in a car accident. While sorting through his goods – he left her everything – she discovers that he ran a popular anonymous foodie account called @NewYorkSecretDiner. He reviewed the best restaurants and never told her.
This came as quite a relief to me because James’s double life was well hidden and Cassie could have found something a lot more sinister or tacky. After that, as Cassie accepts an invitation made out to the anon Insta account, I just enjoyed the food and sights. Luckily for her, Cassie enjoys photography so she swiftly gets into snapping her foods and wines. The other critics on a six-city tour of Europe are a mix of consummate professionals, and the same goes for the lovely organiser, Kelly. There is plenty of tension at the same time, as Cassie is sure she’ll be found out as a fraud. It’s one thing to run her own online account @EatPostLike but James had a lot of standing and, of course, followers. And Cassie doesn’t know an amuse-bouche from a caponata.
I noticed oddities about the foods in Copenhagen, Paris, Venice, etc. Nobody protests that foie gras is horribly cruel to the birds that produce it, so production is banned in much of Europe. Nobody wonders if sturgeon are almost extinct when they are eating caviar nonstop. Maybe people who made these statements on their accounts – or had allergies – were not invited on the tour. But it would be a good balance for the author Emily Arden Wells to mention that her lawyer had found this out during her diligent research. I also wonder at people eating ten tiny courses, each a mouthful of fish and edible flowers surrounded by foam, and calling that a meal worth the price. Clearly, there are many people willing to be conned if someone else is paying the bill, and many establishments ignore the number of hungry people in the world. EAT POST LIKE keeps us wondering what Cassie will do when the figurative bill for her tour has to be paid.
Eat Post Like is a heartwarming debut novel of self-discovery, resilience, and the transformative power of food.
Cassie Brooks has her life all figured out.
Make partner at the prestigious law firm she works at by age 35
Put in as much work as required to make goal #1 happen
Spend as much time as possible with her boyfriend, James Colwell
Work might be exhausting, but for now she’s satisfied making good money and enjoying New York City with James. He’s an accountant but has surprisingly eclectic taste in food. Cassie is starting to think he could be the one when her life flips upside down with one call: James has died tragically.
Months into her grief, she uncovers a worn diary belonging to James and stumbles upon a remarkable revelation: James was the mastermind behind the hottest, anonymous foodie account in the city. With detailed food reviews, lists of new restaurants, and a tantalizing plan to involve Cassie, James had been preparing for an adventure of a lifetime.
When Cassie unwittingly accepts a dinner reservation on behalf of James’s viral account, she embarks on a whirlwind journey filled with unforgettable meals and unexpected connections. She goes from endless hours on-call as a lawyer to savoring exquisite pasta in Italy and indulging in the finest French cuisine in Paris.
But as Cassie navigates the demands of being an influencer and embracing her newfound passions, she struggles to find balance. Does she have what it takes to maintain her secret identity while pursuing her own dreams? Can she balance her grief of losing James with the thrilling possibilities that lie ahead?
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