Sometimes you want a book to be good so much you stick with it even though it sucks. That was the story of me and The Kitchen House. I thought the premise had a lot of potential, and I got invested enough in what it could have been that I stuck with it despite how shallow, flat, inauthentic and unsatisfying the whole thing was. 
 Most of the book is narrated from the first person perspective of the pathologically oblivious Lavinia. Because of her youth and general stupidity she is a terrible point of view character. None of the other characters manage to be even two dimensional when viewed through her insipid eyes. Belle's point of view chapters are too short/sporadic to add anything of value to the text. 
 In addition to the uniformly poor characterizations this book also featured a hackneyed and predictable plot where pivotal moments are brushed over. Almost every major plot development felt totally unrealistic. 
 This just doesn't work at all. Don't read it.