Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah

After finishing Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah, I am a little surprised to look back at Amazon and see so many five star reviews. It's not that I think it's a bad book, I actually enjoyed reading it, but it was very predictable and there isn't much that makes it stand out.  The story is about Isabelle, a Chinese American woman approaching her thirties, who has lost her job at a New York magazine and is looking for a fresh start. She decides to move to Beijing to live with her sister, Claire. Once she is in Beijing she finds a job as a food critic for an expat magazine.  The typical chick lit romantic storylines follow.
 
Isabelle didn't evolve much as a character, but she did find her way to happiness as the main characters tend to do in these type of books. I did learn quite a bit about Chinese cuisine, and a little bit about life in modern China.  This is a book that I would easily suggest to a friend heading on vacation. It's light and easy to read, and at times it is pretty funny.  However, I would not consider it for a bookclub discussion so the reading group guide in the back surprised me. I would rate this one as a 3/5.