Wanna get away from this gray winter? Chicago food blogger Emily Belden’s debut novel “Hot Mess” is a camera-ready beach read for the couch. Allie, a twenty-something Lincoln Park Pollyanna, dates snowy-nostrilled, hot-shit chef Benji, whose life on the edge is chronicled by the minute on social media. The sex, notoriety and intensity of their relationship give her the biggest thrill of her life—it’s a career-girl-drug-addict-Twitter trifecta—so she’s okay with being his gatekeeper while he gets clean and does the occasional pop-up dinner to keep him Twitter-hot.
When a barely sober Benji gets a dream offer to run his own kitchen on Randolph Street, Allie fears he’s not ready, but she fronts him her life savings to bet on their future together. Guess who relapses and vanishes? Guess who’s now broke and contractually bound to open the next hot spot in a month, despite having zero restaurant experience and no star chef? Suspend your disbelief and imagine a twenty-something Reese Witherspoon rolling up her sleeves and learning the restaurant biz on the fly.
Do it again when Allie tries to coax her friends to “brunch” in Garfield Park so she can comb the alleys for her coked-out lover, even though the best place to get coke is a high-end restaurant. Silly Allie, Garfield Park is for heroin. Bite your tongue when she refers to her co-owner-GM, the head chef, and herself as “the girls.” Yes, this was written before the #MeToo movement, but it’s not news: women who helm some of Chicago’s real hottest restaurants would not suffer that label.
Social media looms large in this story. Its appeal—and danger—is hyperbole. But this romp isn’t cautionary, it’s a fairy tale; and Belden’s good humor still makes for a fun read. (Kate Burns)
“Hot Mess” By Emily Belden Graydon House, 416 pages, $15.99
Emily Belden launches “Hot Mess” March 22, 7pm, at Anderson’s Bookshop, 123 West Jefferson Avenue, Naperville, (630)355-2665 and reads on March 27, 7pm, Barnes & Noble, 1 East Jackson, (312)362-8792.
Kate Burns is a writer, musician and voiceover talent living in Chicago. Her voice haunted the elevator in her gynecologist’s building until by chance the practice moved. She taught preschool Spanish for three years and, like a bartender, grew to rely on the security of having a guitar, or a bar, between herself and the patrons. It’s only a matter of time before she succumbs to her family’s lobbying for a dog. You may see her walking this dog on Chicago’s wintry sidewalks with a leash in one mittened hand and a tissue in the other. She enjoys knitting rectangles in large font while binge-watching TV. She rues the fact that she hasn’t been to a movie in several adjacent seasons, but give her a book and she’s golden. She likes gardening. Plants are quiet. Her one and only child challenges her daily like the Mack truck of karma. Her favorite animals are seahorses and hummingbirds and her favorite food is popcorn. She decided on these as a teenager and hasn’t revised her opinions.
Just Another Obstacle: A Review of "The Fell" British author Sarah Moss has written another quiet yet deeply moving short novel that takes place during the pandemic over the course of about twenty-four hours.
Wanna get away from this gray winter? Chicago food blogger Emily Belden’s debut novel “Hot Mess” is a camera-ready beach read for the couch. Allie, a twenty-something Lincoln Park Pollyanna, dates snowy-nostrilled, hot-shit chef Benji, whose life on the edge is chronicled by the minute on social media. The sex, notoriety and intensity of their relationship give her the biggest thrill of her life—it’s a career-girl-drug-addict-Twitter trifecta—so she’s okay with being his gatekeeper while he gets clean and does the occasional pop-up dinner to keep him Twitter-hot. 
