I love foodie romances, so when I read the blurb for Laurin Kelly’s Under the Knife, I could hardly wait to dive in. An M/M romance with a delicious setting—a fiercely competitive reality show—this was an enjoyable if not perfect read. Nate Pasternak is a little out of his depth from the moment he arrives…
Books that create a balance between the familiar and the surprising often rocket to the top of my recommendation list. If a story makes me feel like I have my footing in its world, but also keeps me rapidly turning pages – that book has my allegiance. Take Me Home Tonight is that sort of…
I’ve enjoyed some of Alice Clayton’s books in the past. After reading Wallbanger, I realized I could count on her for a well-written, laugh-out-loud romance novel full of jokes and innuendos. Although I try to stay on top of the release schedules for authors I like, Nuts somehow wasn’t on my radar. As soon as…
What happens when a grumpy, arrogant Scottish chef meets a young widow on the set of a reality cooking show? Sparks fly on and off camera in this delightful romance. Sophia Brown tragically lost her beloved husband after many years of marriage and raising two daughters. She loves to cook, turning even simple meals into…
I expected to like this book. A lot. Not only does it feature an “older” heroine, but she’s a chef with an interesting background. With an ex-athlete as hero, it seemed made to order with seemed being the operative word. Add into the mix excessive information dumps, no real build-up of a relationship between the…
Public humiliation must be very difficult to deal with, but celebrity chef Madeline Durand handles it with aplomb when a video of her celebrity chef husband and a married heiress having sex goes viral while Maddie is giving a cooking demonstration in Omaha. That’s not to say Maddie isn’t devastated because she is. But there’s…
Right up front Sarah Mayberry confesses that Burning Up is all about wish fulfillment. Part of it is the beautiful location, part of it is the delicious food, but mostly it’s about a gorgeous movie star playboy falling for a not-so-gorgeous girl instead of a supermodel. It’s a fun, sexy story from an author I’ve…
Confession time: I’ve got the chef fantasy thing bad. For months and months now, I’ve been seeking out books featuring chef heroes searching in vain for one that would include the unique restaurant sensibility of Kitchen Confidential, the requisite food porn, and a hero who could evoke my wildest chef fantasies. The search, fellow readers,…
Delicious, Sherry Thomas’s second book, has a number of elements that will appeal to many readers: interesting characters, including a fiercely independent self-made woman and a powerful hero of ignoble birth, well crafted writing, steamy love scenes, and copious references to delectable foods. Unfortunately it also has some not quite credible plotting, upon which the…
Shannon McKenna’s books rate as guilty pleasures. Her heroes are barely civilized sex machines, her heroines are nice enough but hardly memorable, and she can write some very nasty torture scenes. Also, her prose is deeply, darkly purple. And yet, I love her books and buy them in trade paperback. Extreme Danger is her latest,…