"Brunch at Ruby's" by D.L. White

Ruby’s Soul Food Café is the perfect spot for girls to gather, catch up on each others lives, and enjoy the delicious food on offer.  And that is exactly what Debra, Maxine, and Renee, friends since childhood, do once a month - eat, drink, and get in each other’s business.

Debra is a successful high school principal, married to her high school sweetheart and mother to their twelve-year-old daughter.  But she has a secret that will destroy both her family and her career. 

Maxine is a self-made woman, owner of a very successful high-end realty company.  Fierce and determined, she is used to getting any man she wants. Except for one, and in her quest to make him hers, she may end up losing one of her best friendships.

Renee has moved back to Atlanta to care for her father who struggles with Alzheimer’s and keep the struggling family bookstore afloat.  As she gives all of her time to caring for the father who is beginning to forget her, she is sacrificing her happiness….until she meets a man refuses to let her get away.

The three women have a lot going on in their lives but there are two things they can count on never changing.  The first is their friendship and the shoulders they have to cry on, and the second is the comfort they find on the plate at Ruby’s.

Brunch at Ruby’s by D.L. White is fun and fierce novel about friendship, love, and good food.  Readers will want to be the fourth place at the table and that is not just because the descriptions of the food will make you hungry.

I really enjoyed this book.  It is very easy to compare this to other well-known books about female friendship because this is a book about women and the support system we all need as we navigate the curves that life throws at us.  But this book easily takes it place at the front of the pack, which is a great feat for a self-published novel.

I absolutely enjoyed this book.  It was so easy for me to get a picture in my head of who these women are.  And I became wrapped up in their stories quickly.  Each character is well-written and a whole character.  Sometimes when there are a few main characters the reader is only able to get half the story, but White does a great job of writing their complete stories.  Maxine was my favourite character (I love a character with a great closet) but I found myself moved and invested in all of them.

When I purchased this book, I did not realize that it was self-published.  The only thing in the book that makes you realize this is there are quite a few typos.  It is nothing that becomes too distracting from the story or makes you want to stop reading, but they are noticeable.  So if that is something that jumps out at you, be prepared.  It is obvious when you read the book that these are just editing mistakes.  White’s style and her vocabulary show that writing is something she is meant to do.

I really hope that there will be more to come at Ruby’s.  Maxine, Debra, and Renee are three characters that I would love to visit again and again.  There is definitely more to their stories and I can’t wait to find out what that is.