Weekend Cooking: The Slow Cooker Supper Club by Sue Heath

 

Erin can't believe that she has made such a major oversight. As a seasoned traveller, she should know the expiry date of her passport and so it is embarrassing when she can't board the plane on her latest trip. Now she needs to apply for a new passport, so she needs somewhere to stay for as long as that will take.

When her aunt lines up a housesitting gig with her friend Marie, who is off on a four-month cruise, Erin says yes, knowing full well (and disclosing) that she probably won't stay for the whole time. Once she has her passport, she will be off again. Marie has only a couple of requests. Erin will need to care for her dog, Bella, and keep an eye on her section of the community allotment. Oh, and she needs to continue to host the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club.

Not long before Marie's husband passed away, he bought her a slow cooker. It sat in the cupboard for a while but one day Marie decided she would use it and invite her neighbours in the Station Cottages to join her, and the Thursday Night Slow Cooker Supper Club was born. 

The club became a weekly highlight for all the neighbours. There is Eva, the elderly but still feisty and nosy neighbour. There are Phil (as in Philomena) and Johh who both have suffered losses and then newcomer Danny, who is recovering from a breakup and trying to decide what direction he wants to take in his career. Together they forge friendships and a sense of community that sees them working together

When Marie goes on her cruise, they are going to miss her, but they are also keen to get to know Erin. Erin doesn't necessarily want them to get to know her. She has been moving from one place to another for years and so doesn't really form friendships, but it doesn't take long before she feels part of the little community. The longer she stays, the more settled she feels.

She is a bit daunted by the supper club as she isn't much of a cook, but with the direction of the local butcher, she is soon able to rustle up a dish and bring some of her own experiences to the table. 

However, there are reasons why Erin has made some of the decisions she has made, and staying in one place and growing friendships with her neighbours has her reexamining her life and maybe thinking about reaching out to her family. The one person she doesn't need to reexamine her relationship with is her ex, Tim. Will Tim get in the way of her growing friendship with Danny?

As you would expect with a book set in a supper club, there are plenty of mentions of food ranging from Poulet Breton to ox tail stew, pulled pork and bread and butter pudding I did think that food would be more central to the story, and would love to have seen a recipe or two at the end of the book 

This is my third book by Sue Heath. I absolutely adored The Secret Ingredient and loved The Storytellers. This one, I liked a lot, but if I had to rank them, then this would be the third on the list. Interestingly, Sue Heath also writes romances under the name Zara Stoneley

What each of the books by Sue Heath has in common is the coming together of a group of people to form a found family, but she does it in a way that feels quite organic and not contrived at all! Whenever I finish one of her books I am already looking forward to the next one, and this time is no exception!

We love our pressure cooker/slow cooker combo appliance. Maybe this week we will pull it out of the cupboard and use it. It has been a while. 

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with the New Release Challenge hosed at The Chocolate Lady's Book Blog

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Nothing
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Pasta Alfredo
Tuesday - Chicken Stir fry and rice
Wednesday - Italian Meatballs
Thursday - Steak, egg and chips
Friday - Takeaway

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