The Dish by Stella Newman

Title: The Dish
Author: Stella Newman
Published: 12th February 2015
Publisher: Headline Review

Review
The Dish is without a doubt Stella Newman's best novel to date. I think it has everything in it you could possibly want from a true-to-life novel and forgive the pun, but it was full of flavour.
Laura Parker has had a mini setback in life, but she's doing ok working for magazine The Voice and writing anonymously as the critic for The Dish. After a disastrous fourth date, Laura heads off to get a bacon sandwich and a custard doughnut, only to discovered the last of both has been taken by Adam Bayley, a man currently sitting at the table behind her. Upon inspection she discovers he is handsome and smart and outdoes all the previous men she has dated. Although perfect, Laura has a problem, she must keep her job as restaurant critic a secret; tricky when Laura is an honest person. And how can she expect Adam to be honest when she isn't quite telling the truth herself?
Apart from the fact that the main character has the same name as me, I could really relate with Laura. I could understand her way of thinking and her want of avoiding awkward and tricky situations. Laura is also really funny and always seems to try and make the best of a bad situation, or find another way around it. She also manages to hold her tongue around the god-awful Sandra who Laura works with, who I strongly disliked and would have liked to have said more than a few words to myself!
The Dish has an absolutely fantastic array of characters. They are all so distinctive and very likable (expept Sandra). What I loved the most though was the email exchanges between them and Laura. I actually really enjoyed this aspect as they were quick fire, witty emails that make you laugh and also establish quickly what is going on with each of the characters.
Stella writes in such a way that you very quickly and easily fall into and get lost in the story. Although I did kind of have an inkling about what was going to happen, this did not deter from my enjoyment and I can honestly say I have not read a story like it. You can really tell that Stella knows her food and I was constantly craving a custard doughnut or some sort of pastry whilst reading. There were also so many spot on little bits of life advice in The Dish as well. If you read it you will know what I mean. It was completely unexpected, but it made the story even more brilliant.
As said at the beginning, The Dish is definitely Stella's best story! Could not get enough! A deliciously fun read!