Didn't you use to be Queenie B? : a novel

Didn't you use to be Queenie B? A novel

Terri-Lynne DeFino

Book - 2025

"Gorgeous and curvaceous, with cascading black hair and signature red lips, Regina Benuzzi is Queenie B: a culinary goddess with Michelin Star restaurants, a bestselling cookbook empire, and multimillion dollar TV deals. She had it all. Until she didn't. After an epic fall from grace, Queenie B vanishes from the public eye, giving up everything: her husband, her son, and the fame that she'd fought to achieve. Her shows are in rerun, her restaurants still popular but her disappearance remains a mystery to her legions of fans. Local line cook Gale Carmichael also knows a thing or two about disaster. Newly sober and struggling, Gale's future dreams don't hold space for culinary stardom; only earning enough to get by. B...roke at the end of the week, he finds himself at a local soup kitchen in one of the roughest parts of New Haven, Connecticut. But Gale quickly realizes that the food coming out of the kitchen is not your standard free meal - it is delicious, and prepared with gourmet flair. Gale doesn't recognize Regina, the soup kitchen's cranky proprietor, whose famous black mane is now streaked with gray. It's been more than ten years since Queenie B vanished into her careful new existence. But she sees Gale's talent, and recognizes a brokenness in him that she knows all too well. The culinary genius in hiding takes him under her wing. Teaching Gale, Regina's passion to create is re-ignited, and they both glimpse a shot at the redemption that had always seemed out of reach. When Gale is chosen to compete on the hit cooking show, Cut!, it's a turning point for them both. It's Gale's time to shine. And that means Queenie B might just have to come out of hiding"--

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Subjects
Cooks > Fiction.
Cooking > Competitions > Fiction.
Novels.
Genres
Novels
Published
New York, NY : William Morrow 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Terri-Lynne DeFino (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
304 pages ; 23 cm
ISBN
9780063393110
9780063433137
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Regina "Queenie B" Benuzzi was flying high. She was a culinary success, beloved by many, and simultaneously spinning out of control due to her drug and alcohol addiction. After her husband divorces her and takes their child, Regina opens up a soup kitchen in a seedy part of her hometown in the hopes of giving back and keeping a low profile. Meanwhile, Gale is a line chef with big aspirations and a history of drug addiction. He has been clean for a while, but is still haunted by his friend's overdose. While Gale struggles to get by financially, he visits Regina's soup kitchen and helps her serve food. Their friendship flourishes as Gale competes in a TV culinary competition. When Regina is out gathering items to help Gale prepare, she sees Marco, an old flame, and realizes she might not be able to keep her true identity a secret, so she makes a plan to come out of hiding. Defino's Didn't You Use to be Queenie B? is a quick read about second chances, and fans of Jennifer Weiner will enjoy the complex relationships.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

DeFino's charming latest (after Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story) delves into the broken lives of two talented chefs who meet in a soup kitchen. Gale Carmichael, 30, blames himself for the fatal heroin overdose of his friend Sean two years earlier. He's been sober for 19 months, and is broke, having held only low-paying kitchen gigs since graduating from culinary school. While eating at a soup kitchen in New Haven, Conn., he meets gruff cook Regina Benuzzi, who, unbeknownst to him, once led a glamorous life as celebrity chef Queenie B. After ruining her marriage and burning her own bridges, Regina retreated to her hometown seven years earlier to live in anonymity, atoning for her past transgressions by serving those in need. She takes a motherly shine to Gale, who works in the kitchen on occasion, and helps him prep for a spot on a cooking competition show. As a former addict herself, Regina knows how to soothe his insecurities. But as Gale advances in the competition and his mother recognizes Regina, the former star debates whether she should return to the spotlight. DeFino skillfully weaves Gale's and Regina's stories, revealing how both have sabotaged themselves out of a fear of losing control. It's an immersive tour through the highs and lows of a chef's life. (Apr.)

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