Listen free for 30 days
-
The Restaurant Critic's Wife
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
People who bought this also bought...
-
Not Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth LaBan
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tabitha Brewer wakes up one morning to find her husband gone, leaving her no way to support herself and their two children, never mind their upscale Philadelphia lifestyle. She'd confess her situation to her friends - if it wasn't for those dreadful words of warning in his goodbye note: "I'll tell them what you did."
-
-
Couldn't listen - voice too annoying
- By jane browne on 02-03-18
-
The Family Journal
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of her rope, single mom Lily Anderson is determined to move her rebellious children in the right direction. That means taking away their cell phones, tablets, and computers - at least temporarily - and moving to the house where Lily grew up in the rural town of Comfort, Texas. But Lily has a bigger challenge than two sulking teens. The house comes with Mack Cooper, high school teacher and handsome longtime renter. The arrangement: just housemates. But Mack’s devoted attention to the kids starts to warm Lily’s resistant heart.
-
-
A touchingly true to life tale
- By "starky" on 09-12-19
-
Beside Herself
- By: Elizabeth LaBan
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she finds out her husband cheated, Hannah Bent thinks her marriage is over. Isn’t that what happens after an affair? But she’s seen friends divorce, and it’s not pretty. Plus, she and Joel have kids and an otherwise-happy life, and she still loves him, although begrudgingly. Furious and feeling stuck, she suggests having her own affair to even the score. Joel, desperate for forgiveness, agrees. But does she really want to go through with it? And how exactly does a married mother of two get back in the dating pool?
-
A Life Worth Living
- By: Louise Guy
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eve and Leah are identical twins - but beyond that, they’re polar opposites. Struggling journalist Leah envies Eve’s seemingly perfect life - the loyal husband, the beautiful twin daughters, the stellar career - little knowing that what Eve longs for most is Leah’s independence. When a shocking event upends their world, one woman seizes a split-second chance to change everything and follow her sister down a different life path.
-
-
Solid read
- By Stephanie Clarke on 07-12-20
-
The Three Mrs. Wrights
- A Novel
- By: Linda Keir
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lark has good things coming: a career as a board-game designer and a whirlwind romance with a handsome investor, who is so compassionate and supportive, he’s almost too good to be true. Jessica has always been cautious, but she can’t resist a brilliant TED-talking visionary. Holly has settled into a comfortable life with Jack, her husband of nearly twenty years. They’ve raised three children, they own a beautiful home, and they’ve founded a worthy charity. Lark, Jessica, and Holly are three strangers with so much in common it hurts. Their one and only is one and the same.
-
-
The three Mrs Wrights
- By Lisa Fisher Foreman on 18-01-21
-
The Daydream Cabin
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Substitute counselor for wayward teens isn’t how public-school teacher Jayden Bennett planned to spend her summer vacation. However reluctant, she’s hiking up her jeans and heading for remote Piney Wood Academy in north Texas. Two months. Seven days a week. Few amenities. And three troubled girls daring Jayden to make a difference. She understands what she’s up against. She has her own burdens to bear. Jayden’s not in it alone. The devoted elderly couple who run Piney Wood trusts in Jayden’s tough-love approach to get the job done. So does drill instructor Elijah Thomas.
-
-
Nice story
- By Ina Devaney on 09-01-21
-
Not Perfect
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth LaBan
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tabitha Brewer wakes up one morning to find her husband gone, leaving her no way to support herself and their two children, never mind their upscale Philadelphia lifestyle. She'd confess her situation to her friends - if it wasn't for those dreadful words of warning in his goodbye note: "I'll tell them what you did."
-
-
Couldn't listen - voice too annoying
- By jane browne on 02-03-18
-
The Family Journal
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of her rope, single mom Lily Anderson is determined to move her rebellious children in the right direction. That means taking away their cell phones, tablets, and computers - at least temporarily - and moving to the house where Lily grew up in the rural town of Comfort, Texas. But Lily has a bigger challenge than two sulking teens. The house comes with Mack Cooper, high school teacher and handsome longtime renter. The arrangement: just housemates. But Mack’s devoted attention to the kids starts to warm Lily’s resistant heart.
-
-
A touchingly true to life tale
- By "starky" on 09-12-19
-
Beside Herself
- By: Elizabeth LaBan
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she finds out her husband cheated, Hannah Bent thinks her marriage is over. Isn’t that what happens after an affair? But she’s seen friends divorce, and it’s not pretty. Plus, she and Joel have kids and an otherwise-happy life, and she still loves him, although begrudgingly. Furious and feeling stuck, she suggests having her own affair to even the score. Joel, desperate for forgiveness, agrees. But does she really want to go through with it? And how exactly does a married mother of two get back in the dating pool?
-
A Life Worth Living
- By: Louise Guy
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eve and Leah are identical twins - but beyond that, they’re polar opposites. Struggling journalist Leah envies Eve’s seemingly perfect life - the loyal husband, the beautiful twin daughters, the stellar career - little knowing that what Eve longs for most is Leah’s independence. When a shocking event upends their world, one woman seizes a split-second chance to change everything and follow her sister down a different life path.
-
-
Solid read
- By Stephanie Clarke on 07-12-20
-
The Three Mrs. Wrights
- A Novel
- By: Linda Keir
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lark has good things coming: a career as a board-game designer and a whirlwind romance with a handsome investor, who is so compassionate and supportive, he’s almost too good to be true. Jessica has always been cautious, but she can’t resist a brilliant TED-talking visionary. Holly has settled into a comfortable life with Jack, her husband of nearly twenty years. They’ve raised three children, they own a beautiful home, and they’ve founded a worthy charity. Lark, Jessica, and Holly are three strangers with so much in common it hurts. Their one and only is one and the same.
-
-
The three Mrs Wrights
- By Lisa Fisher Foreman on 18-01-21
-
The Daydream Cabin
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Substitute counselor for wayward teens isn’t how public-school teacher Jayden Bennett planned to spend her summer vacation. However reluctant, she’s hiking up her jeans and heading for remote Piney Wood Academy in north Texas. Two months. Seven days a week. Few amenities. And three troubled girls daring Jayden to make a difference. She understands what she’s up against. She has her own burdens to bear. Jayden’s not in it alone. The devoted elderly couple who run Piney Wood trusts in Jayden’s tough-love approach to get the job done. So does drill instructor Elijah Thomas.
-
-
Nice story
- By Ina Devaney on 09-01-21
Summary
People magazine included The Restaurant Critic's Wife on their Great New Fiction list and hailed it as "thoroughly entertaining."
Lila Soto has a master's degree that's gathering dust, a work-obsessed husband, two kids, and lots of questions about how exactly she ended up here.
In their new city of Philadelphia, Lila's husband, Sam, takes his job as a restaurant critic a little too seriously. To protect his professional credibility, he's determined to remain anonymous. Soon his preoccupation with anonymity takes over their lives as he tries to limit the family's contact with anyone who might have ties to the foodie world. Meanwhile, Lila craves adult conversation and some relief from the constraints of her homemaker role. With her patience wearing thin, she begins to question everything: her decision to get pregnant again, her break from her career, her marriage - even if leaving her ex-boyfriend was the right thing to do. As Sam becomes more and more fixated on keeping his identity secret, Lila begins to wonder if her own identity has completely disappeared - and what it will take to get it back.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Restaurant Critic's Wife
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JC
- 13-10-18
disappointed
essentially a story about a woman whose husband is pretty narcissistic but she seems to gloss over that and believes all that's wrong in her marriage is caused by inability to understand him. Really disappointed to be reading something like this in 2018.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kim
- 31-01-18
Wife losing herself to her husband
I am so disappointed in his book. It’s well written but is a story of a woman losing her inner self to please a husband who can’t look beyond himself. In the book Lila allowed herself to be bullied by her husband. Lila is like a Phoenix rising from the dead after being defeated yet making excuses for the man who caused her death. Not a book I’d recommend to any woman other than a romantic who believes a woman’s job Is to reform herself to please an overbearing husband.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Fidge
- 21-05-16
So disappointing
I kept hoping Lila would come to her senses and ditch her incredibly self-centered and narcissistic husband, Sam, but no. This study in frustration wraps up tidily with Sam "agreeing" to "let" Lila work - but of course only part time.
I listened to this in my car and found myself yelling at the characters several times out of sheer annoyance. I listened right to the end in the hope that she would get it together, but I wasted my time.
And please, Lila, don't inflict your screaming children on us at any restaurant, ever.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kindle Customer
- 23-06-19
Great Book
This was a great book. I really enjoyed listening to this. The story line flowed smoothly and really held my interest. i evem learned a thimg or two about what goes into being a food critic. interesting.I look forward to reading more from this author .
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jean Austin
- 03-01-19
Good Read
I took my time getting into this story. The author has great insight into real life situations and the main character matures beautifully.
-
Overall

- lpj
- 29-12-18
Imagine a flight next to I'll behaved loud children
I enjoyed not perfect so much I tried this book. It was just painful. Some people are miserable and they feel entitled to inflict their misery on people around them. The world is not your babysitter. Idiots enjoying letting their 3yr old jump off steps. The screeching spoiled children inflicted on other diners. Yes it is too soon to take your kids out of you have not taught them how not to disturb othets. You obviously don't even want to be a full time mom and it is not your strength. You are miserable in your marriage but too cowardly to move out and start a better life. I hope no one buys this book. I wish I could get a refund.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tara
- 23-04-18
I loved this book!
This was my first Elizabeth Laban book. since this one I've listened to all her over ones! it was beautifully written, I loved the characters and narrator. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a light read who loved food narratives. Made my mouth water!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Shy G.
- 04-01-18
My Thoughts on The Restaurant Critic's Wife
4.5 of 5 stars This was one of those books that drew me in with how real it was. Real life problems, worries and frustrations. Lila was so relatable for me as a mom of two who often has her own struggles with wondering if I'm doing the right thing as a parent. I could understand the moments of feeling like you just aren't communicating well with your spouse no matter how much you love them. And I felt like I really connected with that desire to find the right balance to satisfy everyone involved. I don't often read books where the couple is established and dealing with the day to day of married life, but this book makes me want to read more of them. As I read and listened I thought thought the narrator was amazing. I loved the emotions and variations in her voice when she was doing the different characters and conveying what they were feeling. I definitely plan to check out more from this author and narrator.
-
Overall

- April Felder
- 10-01-17
not bad
The story was engaging- but I could never be married to her husband. good narrative.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- wafa
- 26-06-16
remind me of old radio stories
good writing. Everyday mothers story. Not very interesting but it might be in 50 years.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Katarina Kusmack
- 24-05-16
So-so book
I generally liked this book, but I felt like the main character/the wife was still stuck.
I don't think I could be in a marriage like that, but that was her husbands dream and that's what she went a long with.
This book is defiantly going to have me thinking for a couple days.