Duck a’ l’Orange for Breakfast, by Karina May

Maxine is having a bad run. Diagnosed with a brain tumour and scheduled for surgery, before she can tell her long-term partner, Scott, she discovers he has been cheating – at Christmas. In the safety of her best friend’s flat Max soothes her broken heart and distracts from her upcoming operation with a Tinder flirtation. She has no intention of taking it offline and enjoys a few weeks of competitive cooking from Scott’s family recipe book – project ‘fork him’. Elements of this novel are both entertaining and interesting and it is fabulous for foodies. The brain tumour aspect is poignant and believable and the portrait of the dreadful stand-up comedian is amusing. It reinforces a theory heard recently about how horrible they are to date. But the plot rests on too many unlikely coincidences and the new love interest has little credibility. This makes the final third a bit of a yawn, basically down-to-earth Greek wins over pretentious French – in food and in life.