The Family Recipe

by Carolyn Huynh

A stunning family dramedy about estranged siblings competing to inherit their father’s Vietnamese sandwich franchise and unravel family mysteries.

Duc Tran, the eccentric founder of the national Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, has decided to retire. No one has heard from his wife, Evelyn, in two decades. She abandoned the family without a trace, and clearly doesn’t wany anything to do with Duc, the business, or their kids. But the money has to go to someone. With the help of the shady family lawyer, Duc informs his five estranged adult children that to receive their inheritance, his four daughters must revitalize run-down shops in undesirable, old-school Little Saigon locations across Houston, San Jose, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—within a year. But if the first-born (and only) son, Jude, gets married first, everything will go to him.

Each daughter is stuck in a new city, battling gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves, messy love lives, and struggling to modernize their father’s American dream. Jude wonders if he wants to marry for love or for money—or neither. As Duc’s children scramble to win their inheritance, family mysteries begin to unravel along the way as they learn the real intention behind the inheritance scheme—and the secret their mother kept tucked away in the fireplace, all along.

The Family Recipe is about rediscovering one’s roots, different types of fatherly love, legacy, and finding a place in a divided country where the only commonality among your neighbors is the universal love of sandwiches. And perhaps, the only ingredient is the ability to say, “I’m sorry”.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Audiobook, Food, Family Drama, Adult Fiction

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2025

About the author

Carolyn Huynh is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. She loves writing about unhinged women who never learn from their mistakes, but yearn for joy. A homegrown Californian, she resides in Los Angeles with her partner, daughter, and demon girl dog. When she’s not writing, Carolyn daydreams about having iced coffee on a rooftop in Ho Chi Minh City.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

i've done crazier things for a good sandwich than battle "gentrification, declining ethnic enclaves, messy love lives, and the american dream."

but this is my final boss.

i am a multiple perspective hater. i find that they are rarely equally strong, necessary, AND unique. i'm not a fan of books with dual timelines because i always prefer one to the other. i avoid books with many narrators because they're either interchangeable or one is annoying.

this book not only has two timelines, it has EIGHT POINTS OF VIEW. five siblings. one mom. one father figure. one evil stepmother.

there's an overarching plotline of how these siblings each need to take care of a failing shop in their dad's sandwich chain in order to win their inheritance, but that does not happen. i used to read the boxcar children series solely for the descriptions of their cheering up of old trains, so i feel like i missed out.

instead, each sibling has a romance plotline (which is abandoned). their parents have a backstory (which is kind of addressed in dialogue in a very confusing way, and also is not wrapped up). the evil stepmother is staying in various luxury hotels around the world and vaguely threatening vengeance (neither of these is explained).

on top of all that, probably because of how many loose strings there were to tie up, many of them go unnoticed or verge into complete nonsense. i may never stop thinking about how one of the siblings' exes keeps getting notifications on his phone from a woman's contact name, who turns out to be...his three year old. does she have an iphone?

it's not a long book, and there's so much going on. a lot of that is good stuff (dumb jokes! food descriptions!) but even too much of a good thing isn't a good thing.

bottom line: i wish this were simplified and took its time.

(review to come / thanks to the publisher for the arc)

[Carolyn Huynh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello dear readers! This is my sophomore book and it was struggle to finish, but one I am infinitely proud of. There's still touches of my usual chaotic brand, but with a historical fiction side quest where I dove deep into exiting media and research to give it justice. I hope you enjoy!

[Mai H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vietnamese people were always the last to change but the first to complain.

While this one took me a little while longer to get into than FORTUNES, once I was in, I was in. It flowed much better on my re-read.

I am Vietnamese American. I am from Houston. I know woefully little about the Gulf Coast fishermen that suffered racism and violence from the KKK.

Duc's Sandwiches is a bánh mì (stop spelling it bahn mi - I will find you) institution started in Houston. There are outposts in the other Little Saigons of the US: New Orleans, Philly, and San Jose.

Duc is estranged from his first wife, Evelyn. Evelyn took off one day and has been missing this entire time. His new, younger wife, Connie, gallivants across Asia.

"Nothing is more petty than an angry Vietnamese mother—" "—except for a Vietnamese father"

There are five children: one son and four daughters. Jude, the eldest, has lost his way, like so many other Asian American eldest sons with too much responsibility.

Firstborn Vietnamese sons truly are the worst

The daughters are named for the Beatles, sort of. Jane is the second oldest, fled Houston for LA, and has the responsibility of a third parent to the rest of the kids. Bingo, queer, has anger issues inherited from her father that she doesn't like to talk about. Paulina, beautiful, has an ex that she has never quite gotten over. Georgia is the typical youngest child. She doesn't speak any Vietnamese and acts very wide-eyed about the world.

there they were, the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse

In FORTUNES, it was Priscilla's character that attacked me from page one, IYKYK. Here, it's Jane. While that one came on more gradually, it still hurt.

She had a set of skills that only the eldest Asian daughter could wield: Her Vietnamese was better and she knew how to talk to old people.

Duc has disappeared. Not like Evelyn, but he's gone. The family lawyer, Huey, who they call Uncle, but who is not their Uncle (so Viet, so Asian, so immigrant), calls the kids together to talk about winning their inheritance. The girls are each to be given a failing store. They are to turn it around in the span of a year. Jude's task is to get married. Whichever one of them succeeds first, wins the entire inheritance. Or do they?

Who'd ever trust a Vietnamese lawyer to actually file paperwork? She should have gone with her white lawyer.

Each of their siblings goes on a journey. Not just the journey to save their stores, or get married. There are relationship journeys. Familial journeys. Life journeys, am I right?

There was just something so sexy about being with someone from the same background and how they didn't even question putting Maggi on everything.

There's a culmination when the siblings travel to Vietnam to confront Duc. Remember Georgia's Vietnamese is nearly non-existent. She has never been. I didn't connect that much with her (oldest daughter here), but everything she felt upon landing in Vietnam for the first time was everything I felt about making the same trip.

Meanwhile, Georgia took everything in, her eyes enchanted, enthralled by the prospect of finally seeing the motherland, the country that was embedded deep in her DNA—a history that flowed through her veins, a living, invisible organism that she knew nothing about, but somehow it was the reason for why she was standing there now.

Carolyn visited Houston to get a true feel of the city, and it shows. The sights. The smells. The heat. I felt it all.

The smell of lemongrass, Old Bay seasoning, and fish sauce hit the siblings all at once, and they all breathed in the familiar, comforting scent. The coalescent beauty of a Viet-Cajun seafood boil was the magnum opus of the American South.

My favorite part about the Philly chapters was learning that locals call bánh mì Viet hoagies. Confirmed with a Viet Am friend from the city. Still laughing. I'm easily amused.

Since I'm on my preaching journey, why won't people pay more for immigrant food? I actually kind of hate the word immigrant. (We were all immigrants, unless you're actually indigenous. If so, say hi.) I hate the word ethnic.

It angered her all her life that immigrant food had to be cheap. Tacos, pupusas, dumplings, phở, gyros, kimchi, pad Thai . . . she could keep going. These were all foods worthy of double digits.

📖 Thank you to Carolyn

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

[Lydia Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Would be a good book to read for a book club. Highly recommend.

[Constantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

This is the story of a Vietnamese family in which the father, who is the owner and the founder of the Vietnamese sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, goes for retirement. So the question is, who will be managing this business?

Duc will set his children against each other to find a business successor after his retirement. But all will be according to his rules. The five siblings, consisting of a brother and four sisters, will have different objectives. Individually, each of the girls will be tasked with the responsibility of revitalizing run-down shops in a different state. While their brother has the chance to inherit everything provided he marries before the year ends!

The story follows many characters' perspectives, but thankfully they are narrated in a third-person style. This will help a lot in distinguishing the characters from each other. I think the premise of the book is very unique. It’s not something that I have read before despite reading many books. The whole plot is about this Vietnamese American family, so expect a culture-rich story with lots of depth.

Following many characters means you will have several subplots. Some can be appealing, and others can be just OK. My overall impression is that I found this story to be enjoyable to read, and I believe the author did an excellent job with the competition and the overall dynamics of the family.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

[Rae | The Finer Things Club CA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally enjoy family sagas with a bit of mystery, but this unfortunately fell flat for me. Carolyn Huynh’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦 has an intriguing premise—five Vietnamese-American siblings are called to their Houston childhood home and are told that they must compete in a sort of game to inherit the entire estate of their father, Duc Trần, founder and owner of the Duc’s Sandwiches chain. Oldest child, only son, and directionless Jude must marry while the daughters—ambitious Jane, ill-tempered Bingo, shallow Paulina, and sentimental Georgia—are each assigned a store and need to bring up revenue. The first to accomplish their task within a year wins. With their father Duc currently AWOL, their mother Evelyn absent for the last 20 years, and almost nonexistent sibling relationships, the Trần children are determined to outdo one another and earn the family fortune.

The novel has multiple points of view—the five siblings and even their stepmother Connie. These are also flashback chapters told from the perspectives of their estranged mother and family friend and lawyer Huey. It was interesting to see the story unfold from so many viewpoints, but I feel that the constant switching of character POVs did not really give the opportunity for any of the people to come to life on the page. And it was hard for me to become excited about any of their journeys or curious about their family mystery when I did not feel emotionally invested in them.

The novel is decently written and touches on important topics like racism, depression, and generational trauma, but I struggled to connect with it. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Sara Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time staying invested in this story. I normally love books about chaotic families but this story was slow moving. There was also the view point of 5 siblings, step mom and absentee mom. I felt like the shifting prospectives took away from the story and made it hard to get to know the characters. Towards the end I really wanted more from the siblings. This one wasn’t for me.

Thanks netgalley for a copy of this book.

[Bethanys_books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

This book pleasantly surprised me! I didn’t know what to expect as I haven’t read her first book yet, but the writing was engaging and the book was overall a great read. It’s a family “dramedy” about estranged siblings competing for their father’s inheritance, and had a lot of important messages in it.

[Amanda at Bookish Brews · Rating 5 out of 5]

MORE! VIET! JOY!

I cant wait for more from Carolyn Huynh! She's a champion of giving Viet women the stories they deserve and proving to us all that we are allowed to be joyful, complex, nuanced, full, and most importantly, loved. I cant wait for this!

[Trinity Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolyn Huynh is the expert in writing messy yet endearing Vietnamese families. Crafted expertly with raw tenderness and lighthearted humor, this book explores the ways in which families (and siblings) fight with and fight for each other. I cried on the plane.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I checked out somewhere around the 6th of 8 POVs. But seriously, it was a lot to track with and I didn’t find many of the characters particularly likable.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-book ARC of this book. Carolyn Huynh did it again! Her first novel The Fortunes of Jaded Women was a masterpiece and this sophomore novel is just as good. Carolyn does an excellent job creating complex female characters with trauma. I was glad to see this book had some complex male characters added to the mix.

The premise of this contemporary novel is quite entertaining: 5 children meet in Houston to discuss their father’s inheritance (he’s not dead yet, just proactive). He sends his faithful lawyer Huey to give the terms of the inheritance game. All 4 daughters are supposed to spend a year in each of the Duc’s Sandwiches shop locations around the country (San Jose, Philly, New Orleans, and Houston) and try to bring them back to a profitable business. Jude, the only son of the family, is supposed to get married. Whichever child achieves their goal first at the end of a year will receive all of the inheritance.

There is a historical fiction aspect to the book that was very informative. The story alternates between each of the 5 siblings, their estranged mother Evelyn, the stepmother Connie, and a POV centered on what happened in the 1980’s when Duc and his friend Huey were fishermen in Seadrift, Texas. Apparently in the 1980’s with the influx of Vietnamese refugees from the war, the KKK became a terrifying force to scare off the Vietnamese who came to Texas looking for work as fishermen on the gulf. Duc and Huey have multiple encounters with the KKK and are even involved in a trial where the local fisherman sue the KKK for their terrorism. I had no idea the KKK were so focused on Vietnamese immigrants in the 80’s on the gulf coast in Texas and I found this quite shocking.

Overall the book was so intriguing. Each of the children are so real in the descriptions of their current life situations (struggling to find themselves in their 20’s and 30’s), their internalizing of the abandonment of their mother and their not-so-great-father. I really love Carolyn Huynh’s books because they focus on generational trauma of immigrant families in a way that is healing to read. I even found myself tearing up at multiple parts of the ending of this book. Her characters are so nuanced and I’m just in love with everything she writes.

[Elena L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duc Tran, the founder of the national Vietnamese chain Duc’s Sandwiches, is retiring. In order for his five estranged children to get their inheritance, they must revive failing shops in Little Saigon locations. As for his firstborn son, he needs to get married within a year.

The inheritance game is what propels the plot and the mystery behind one character's disappearance makes the narrative juicy. I love the concept of family business plus there's something precious about immigrant food - one follows the Tran siblings, their interactions a cacophony of chaos. Huynh is gifted at crafting messy characters, whose authenticity overshadows even the unlikable nature. In this inheritance scheme, they need to find themselves again while searching for a purpose together.

Jumping between past/present and different POVs, I enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of the story in which one dives into Duc's past and understands the motives behind his actions. Huynh covers legacy, generational trauma, racism, abandonment, diasporic experience, love and belonging with a hilarious touch. My critiques are that I wish the POVs were more distinct and I was personally more invested in the family mysteries than their personal journeys.

The story is emotionally laden when questioning the meaning of home through characters trying to figure out how family works. This is a beautiful journey punctuated by invisible threads and the author, ultimately, invites the reader to find joy again and celebrate small wins.

THE FAMILY RECIPE is the epitome of a family's brokenness - it's about rediscovering one's roots and I, like the characters, learned to be vulnerable. I had a good time with this family drama that made me crave bánh mì.

[ I received an ARC from the publisher - Atria books . All opinions are my own ]

[Wendelle]

This book is an incredible family saga wherein 5 siblings are told to compete with each other for their inheritance of their father 's bánh mi empire, along the way discovering their true selves, unraveling their family lineage, and solving the mystery of their mother's disappearance. The book also shone a light on an important but lesser-known fragment of American history: murderous threats and intimidations instigated by the Ku Klux Klan against Vietnamese fishermen immigrant-refugees when these became embroiled in tensions and conflicts with local American fishermen who felt they overstepped on their fishing territories and practices. I also enjoyed reading about the well-fleshed characters and their internal monologues, as they pondered their self-perceived failings and their different dreams to find belonging.

[Kate Greer · Rating 2 out of 5]

One good thing I’ll say is that I couldn’t DNF because I wanted to know how the story ended. I wanted the secrets revealed and to know the history behind the characters.

That being said, I battled to get through this book. The characters were so unlikeable and poorly developed. The writing felt lacking and cringy.

I understand it’s challenging to write about 5 siblings and have them each be recognizable and different. But the portrayal of each came out so two-dimensional and there was not a single sibling I liked. They were all awful people.

Having the youngest cry over the death of a spider and hold a funeral for it. I was screaming and not in a good way.

And what was with all the smells and talk about scents. My god the only thing we know about this mother is what she smells like.

This book was not for me but the plot was captivating enough that I stuck it out to the end.

[Emily | emilyisoverbooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Atria and Simon Audio for the gifted copies!

I adored Carolyn's debut and am so happy that THE FAMILY RECIPE was full of similar family drama and Vietnamese perspective. I love that her stories always just put the mess out there, because honestly, that's life! In THE FAMILY RECIPE, the Tran family is estranged, but brought together over the inheritance of their father's Vietnamese sandwich franchise. Each sibling's storyline was unique and engaging, full of hard relationships and sometimes division and gentrification, but brought together by this family mystery. Immigration history, the notion of the American dream, and generational trauma all come into play. Yes, you will get hungry and potentally order a bahn mi sandwich, but you'll do it while also devouring this family saga!

If you love books by Allison Larkin, Jennifer E. Smith, or Ethan Joella -- small-town family drama -- and also want to read more diversely, pick this one up!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carolyn Huynh’s debut novel The Fortunes of Jaded Women kept me laughing while learning about Vietnamese American society and I gladly read her sophomore novel The Family Recipe. It has its humor and LOL moments, and insight into Vietnamese culture, but it also takes us into a dark past, the wartime trauma that spurred immigration in the first place, and the racism and prejudice faced in America.

The Tran family is clearly dysfunctional. The five sisters and one son have gone their separate ways. Their folks had created a once successful string of sandwich shops located across the country. But their lives changed when their mother Evelyn abandoned them. Their father Duc provided for them but remained aloof and without connection. Their father’s best friend and ‘lawyer’ Huey was always there to take up the slack for Duc.

“Uncle” Huey calls the adult siblings together to discuss their father’s will. Each is assigned a task: the girls are to bring one of the failing sandwich shops into the black, and the son is to get married. The first sibling to accomplish their task in a year gets the entire inheritance.

Nothing like dividing the kids even more!

She wondered about the thread that wove them all together, creating the illusion of lineage, and whether or not the thread was thick enough to withstand what was to come. from The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh

As each sister deals with her assigned failing store in her own way, they learn about their heritage–and finds love. The son accepts the first person the matchmaker shows him. He arranges a marriage of convenience, offering to split the father’s legacy. (Of course, he falls for the girl.)

Sounds like a typical rom-com plotline, and the book has that element. But don’t be fooled. Interspersed is Duc and Huey’s back story as refugees in 1970s America, facing death threats, and why they protected Evelyn, and why she fled.

“We all have trauma,” the son remarks,” We’re Vietnamese children of refugee immigrant parents.” Added to the trauma is being abandoned by their mother.

This part of the book had me hooked as the mystery of the past is slowly spooled out.

The story climaxes with a journey for all the characters that reveals the truth about their family, forges reconnection, and a discovery of their roots.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through Edelweiss.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't want to pick up this book but I decided to force myself to finish this book since it was an arc. It had good parts and bad. I just felt like most of the characters were not likeable. I didnt care if Jude found a girl or whether any of the 4 sisters successfully turned Duc's sandwiches around. All I wanted to know was why Duc had done this to them and what happened to their mother. We do get a bit of a mystery surrounding the parents of the kids. The back and forth between all of the POVs and also the past of Duc and Huey kind of disrupted the story. It does help us piece together the mystery. I found myself skimming the book because I didn't care about any of the siblings and their lives. All I cared about was Evelyn's story. The ending was satisfying for her at least.

I did enjoy the way the author touches upon racism against the Vietnamese and also some misogyny as well.

Okay spoilers below:

Duc says he will leave the inheritance to any one of his kids but they have to be the first to do something and then they'll get all of the money. Jude must get married. The 4 sisters must turn their Duc's sandwiches into money making machines. They all go out and try and fix it up. Jane gets entangled with an ex. Paulina also reacquaints with an ex and his daughter. Bingo meets a girl and wants to reconnect. Georgia is the one to find Evelyn and finally figure out why Evelyn left. They all eventually figure out Duc isnt their father. In the past, Duc had to pretend to be Evelyn's husband because the KKK were looking for Huey. Huey is the father to the girls. On a boating trip, Evelyn's first husband actually dies and he's Jude's father. They lied to Evelyn that he died by the hands of the KKK when in reality, he died because he was drunk and fell overboard. Im glad in the end the siblings do get along and open the sandwich story in Evelyn's real name.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Beatriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 13 of 2025 - ☑️! Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books & Carolyn Huynh for an ARC of The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh, in exchange for my honest review.

Inheritance games, as it turns out, is a genre (micro-trope?) I’ve liked since middle school. Pretty sure Mai and I had to read a book about an inheritance game at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton one year, and The Goodwin Games on Fox back in 2013 is a show I think about occasionally, where I remember really enjoying the pilot (and thinking it was cancelled too soon), but I digress.

The Family Recipe centers around the Tran family: 5 siblings - Jude, Jane, Paulina Bingo & Georgina - competing for their father’s inheritance. While the sisters are all given a Duc’s Sandwich Shop to revitalize in a city with a larger Vietnamese & Vietnamese-American population; Jude (the brother) must get married within a year.

This layered family dramedy, with a touch of mystery (family secrets abound), quickly became a 5-star read as I was reading the book. Huynh’s writing so brilliantly balances humor and heart, in the way that so many of my favorite works of literature, TV shows and movies do. I’m also a fan of anything that centers on family dynamics in a wonderfully nuanced way, the way The Family Recipe does. Throw in the portrayal of a Vietnamese & Vietnamese-American characters in a way that only an own-voices author can, and my very own hometown of Houston as central part of the book…we have a winner.

5/5 ⭐️ - would read again, would recommend to anyone. Can’t wait to read more of Huynh’s work - don’t miss this book when it comes out on 4/1/25! #NetGalley #TheFamilyRecipe 💰 ✈️ 🤫

[Jes Vu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolyn Huynh returns with another book about a dysfunctional family. The story centers on a Vietnamese American family with roots in Houston, Texas and spanning San Jose, New Orleans and Philadelphia. The story kicks off with the patriarch, Duc Tran, retiring with his 5 children caught up in his games to win their inheritance. But in the end, the game he set up unlocks the history of their parents’ past, including the disappearance of their mother.

I was lucky to receive an ARC, so I don’t want to spoil. But what I will say story is a lot of FUN, but very emotionally poignant (my eyes may or may not have watered). Through her characters’ stories, Huynh delves into history of the Vietnamese fisherman in Texas; she goes into the layers of the “American Dream” and how complicated and bittersweet the reality is when you’re a refugee or an immigrant simply trying to survive in your new home after already surviving war. But there’s still hope at the end of the tunnel - and through tough times, that’s what we need to keep on going.

[R.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I freely admit that I've lost most of my objectivity where this book is concerned, and that might be the best thing about it.

In so many ways, The Family Recipe feels like a watershed book for me. It wasn't until I was about halfway in that it hit me—I've never seen Vietnamese-Americans allowed to just be human beings in a piece of fiction before. I know it's been done before, and there are books out there by Vietnamese-Americans that I need to catch up on. But this was a first for me, and I'm a bit lost for words to describe how much that means.

When Carolyn Huynh says she writes messy people, she means messy. It's hard to like any of the characters right off the bat, though the crackling character voice of the first chapter (as well as the beautifully, stingingly on-brand descriptions of a Vietnamese-American mansion) made it impossible for me to look away. But Huynh digs right down into the core of each POV character, into what they want and what they wish were different, and who they wanted to be at one time. They're not the icky stereotypes of Vietnamese people that I grew up seeing in American media; they're not the model minority image that we're supposed to be to "earn" our place in the US. They're wacky and crazy, AND they struggle and dream and hope just like anyone else. And it's impossible not to root for them to find their healing. I related to Jane the most—oldest daughter, go figure—but I found I understood and wanted better for all of them by the end.

Also, Huynh is a fabulous storyteller. She juggles a million subplots and viewpoints, and brings them all together with constant twists and turns. I did find the pacing in some places felt a bit rushed, and I would have enjoyed a bit more development of the ending (particularly for Jude, who I did not expect to be so fond of—I was hoping so much that he'd be closer to finding joy and peace when things wrapped up). Given the nature of the plot setup, I'd really have loved to have seen parts of this book be allowed more room; to blazes with genre-based wordcount limits. And I'd be SO happy to see this as a TV series.

(And can we please have more cultural conversation about that KKK fiasco? The amount of history America conveniently kicks under the rug is wild.)

I'd heard so many Vietnamese-American reviewers rave about this book, and wasn't 100% sure whether I was going to connect in the same way since I didn't grow up in a Vietnamese-American community and still don't really have one outside my extended family. Honestly, one of my favorite things about The Family Recipe was that it reminded me that yes, being Vietnamese-American is actually a formative part of my life, even beyond the obvious things like food. I could cackle over the inside references and feel the disconnects and so much more. Again, this is where the subjectivity started to take over. And I'm realizing that's not a bad thing. The book reached me, which means it did its job.

If I had to sum my thoughts up, I'd say The Family Recipe is one of the most deeply humanizing books I've ever read. Not perfect, and that's kind of the point.

Content advisory: Family dysfunction, violence, racism, PTSD, a couple scenes where sex is implied, swearing (including f-words)

[Nursebookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolyn Huynh’s The Family Recipe is a deliciously tender and sharply funny exploration of family, identity, and the complicated bonds that both tie us together and pull us apart. With her signature wit and deep emotional insight, Huynh crafts a vibrant, multigenerational tale full of heart, flavor, and healing.

At its center is a fractured family forced back into each other's lives by a father’s peculiar inheritance challenge. Each sibling’s journey—from the banh mi-scented corners of Little Saigon to the deeply buried secrets of their mother’s past—is both personal and universal. Huynh beautifully captures the ache of displacement, the tension between tradition and reinvention, and the quiet, persistent hope that reconciliation is still possible.

What makes this novel truly unforgettable is its celebration of Vietnamese-American identity through food, place, and memory. The Family Recipe isn’t just about sandwiches—it’s about legacy, love, and the messy, painful, sometimes absurd ways we find our way home.

This is a story that lingers long after the last page—warm, wise, and full of flavor.

[Nnenna | notesbynnenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars | I was immediately intrigued by the premise (five siblings competing for their inheritance) and overall I enjoyed this family drama.

There were definitely some complicated family dynamics at play. The author explores gender expectations as the only son and the daughters of the family are given different tasks to play at the inheritance games. Then there was the discussion of Evelyn’s mental health and how each sibling dealt with feeling abandoned by their mother. Hunyh also writes about inherited trauma and I found it so interesting to read about the immigrant experience from the perspective of several Vietnamese characters.

I thought the writing was good, but there was something that was keeping me fully immersed in the story (and it definitely could have been my own fault for reading this in scattered bits & pieces over the course of two weeks). I was definitely interested in the themes that were explored and in the end I thought it was a solid novel.

[Mayumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

liebe eifach messy asian diaspora gschichte

[Olivia Duban · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Too much telling, not enough showing. The pacing and writing style felt disjointed: “Paulina allowed herself to cry for the first time in years…. Back at Duc’s Sandwiches, Paulina stood amazed and shell-shocked.”

Too many characters, too many POVs, too many side romances (huh?), and I didn’t care about any of them. I also feel like there were too many story lines I was supposed to be invested in, and yet I didn’t care how any of the stories turned out.

Maybe it’s just me, but I just don’t feel like spending any more time trying to make myself interested.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why does everyone know what “bourbon vanilla” smells like???

[Cheer is Currently Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE FAMILY RECIPE
RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
GENRE: Fiction, Historical, Diaspora

Carolyn Huynh returns with her sophomore debut, The Family Recipe about an enstranged Vietnamese family. This book takes the Tran siblings across America to complete against each other in order to “win and receive” their inheritance from their father, founder of Duc’s Sandwiches, in this messy story of identity and the meaning of family. The five Trans siblings, who have not been in the same room over ten years, are forced to confront their family dynamics and who they really are.

Huynh brings to attention the struggles of Vietnamese refugees in area through the eyes of the parents and their journey in America. It really opened my eyes to towards who chose to settled in non-dominant Vietnamese areas and the racism they expereiced.

I enjoyed following the family’s journey along with the bit of mystery in intertwined in their stories. As an eldest daughter, I think Jane’s character spoken to me the most as someone who had to act as a third parent to children of an immigrant family. I’ve mentioned this before, but I love the bits of Vietnamese phrases sprinkled throughout the novel. There’s some phrases or words can’t convey the true meaning in English and the sentiment is in the actual Vietnamese phrases - especially in the scene between Georgina and Evelyn. I won’t say more without spoiling it but I felt my heart breaking when Evelyn says those words. It just seems to resonate harder in Vietnamese.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for this e-ARC of The Family Recipe. I loved this book as a second-gen Vietnamese American and felt seen through the children’s struggles to fit in America. Please pick up this book when it releases on 4/1/25. I know I will!

[Victoria Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Family Recipe starts off when the five adult Tran siblings are brought together by their father’s lawyer to learn that their father has changed the rules to determine who will receive an inheritance, upon his passing. He determines that each of his four daughters must revive one of the family sandwich shops within a year, in different cities across the US, but if his son gets married first, it will all go to him.

The premise of this story interested me off the bat, namely in the unfair nature of these new inheritance terms. Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was a real character study, focusing on each of the five Tran siblings, as they uncover things about themselves in this experience and uncover long-held family secrets. Some of these plot lines did feel a little too tidy or too much like convenient coincidences but, if you can look past that, it is still a fun book to read. It is an engaging story that is light enough but, still filled with enough meaningful conversation and topics at hand, so as not to feel like fluff. I think this would be a great beach read. These characters are certainly flawed and the story is messy but, still heartwarming.

I would recommend this story to contemporary fiction fans and look forward to seeing what others think when this is published!

[Jillian Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a wild ride from start to finish, following the paths of 5 siblings over the course of a year while also dipping into the past to learn the history of their parents’ marriage. At the heart of this book is a fun plot device- a rich and distant Vietnamese father challenges his children to compete for their inheritance- his four daughters must attempt to revive four of his failing sandwich shops while his son must seek a wife. Whoever succeeds will be the sole beneficiary of their father’s will. However, the reality behind this challenge and the truth of their family’s history as they know it is not so simple and every character will learn quite a bit about themselves and their parents by the time the novel ends.

Overall, I found the premise very fun, if a bit zany and unrealistic. The cast of characters was sort of unwieldy but each of them was lovable and flawed in their own ways. The whole thing was quite charming but unfortunately somewhat clumsily executed. I think this book could really have benefited from being pared down a bit, character-wise, so the plot would feel less busy and so the reader could feel more emotionally invested in their stories. Overall, I’m glad I got to enjoy this very original, messy, and heartwarming family story. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing an e-galley of this title in exchange for my honest thoughts!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carolyn Huynh has done it again! With her second novel, she has captured in my opinion, not only elements of the Vietnamese culture, but also the incorporation of humor and drama. She begins with many characters, including the lives of five siblings, but how I loved diving into each one of their lives. The storyline was beautifully interwoven between past and present and while my heart was breaking for this dysfunctional family, I also found myself laughing out loud at certain parts of the story. A must read and can’t wait for her book debut!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!