✩✩✩
Joe Rafferty is just as mouthwatering as the food he cooks. But if he thinks
he's going to waltz in and take over her kitchen, he's denser than a thick slice
of chocolate ripple cheesecake. Marly has invested too much of her life in
Chameleon to hand off the restaurant to someone else—especially a
cocky–as–all–get–out superstar chef. But there's no denying the man knows how to
light her fire. Question is: Can she have the sizzle without feeling the
burn?
Genre: contemporary romance
Publication date: January 2012
Mature content: yes
Review: Great food, a sexy chef, romance, a touch of suspense...this book had the potential to be amazing. But, in my option, there's too much casualness around, and it makes the story hard to believe and yucky in places.
There's casualness in the way the restaurant is run (trash shoved under the kitchen mats while food is being cooked) and in the relationships between the characters: Olivia, the owner, knows her husband is cheating on her, and slacking on his job because of if, but she only manages to admonish him when he's publicly found in a compromising situation; Marlene, the cook, is known for having slept with all the chefs in New York and she doesn't deny it for one minute - and when she hears that Joe is visiting Olivia, casual sex is all she has in mind.
Now, I'm not easily offended, and I don't object to sex scenes in books. And Scrumptious doesn't have more sex scenes than the average contemporary romance novels these days. But you know what? With so much casualness thrown around, the whole relationship between Marlene and Joe sounds cheap, as do the sex scenes. It's not love at first sight. It's not even lust at first sight. It's just two people getting together with little to no feelings involved. So when I got to the happily ever after, I was kind of wondering how did they really managed to make it happen.
In my opinion, this lack of consistency damages what could have been a great romance, so I can't bring myself to actively recommend this book. My first impulse was to give it two stars for making me lose time that could have been spent with a more interesting story, but in the end I'm settling for three stars. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because other that what I mentioned above, it's well written and I don't want to diss the author just because the story and the romance don't reflect my personal preferences. So I'm leaving you the choice of picking it up or not. Though again, in my opinion, if you search for the five-star label in the side bar, you'll find a selection of books much better than this one.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Review: Great food, a sexy chef, romance, a touch of suspense...this book had the potential to be amazing. But, in my option, there's too much casualness around, and it makes the story hard to believe and yucky in places.
There's casualness in the way the restaurant is run (trash shoved under the kitchen mats while food is being cooked) and in the relationships between the characters: Olivia, the owner, knows her husband is cheating on her, and slacking on his job because of if, but she only manages to admonish him when he's publicly found in a compromising situation; Marlene, the cook, is known for having slept with all the chefs in New York and she doesn't deny it for one minute - and when she hears that Joe is visiting Olivia, casual sex is all she has in mind.
Now, I'm not easily offended, and I don't object to sex scenes in books. And Scrumptious doesn't have more sex scenes than the average contemporary romance novels these days. But you know what? With so much casualness thrown around, the whole relationship between Marlene and Joe sounds cheap, as do the sex scenes. It's not love at first sight. It's not even lust at first sight. It's just two people getting together with little to no feelings involved. So when I got to the happily ever after, I was kind of wondering how did they really managed to make it happen.
In my opinion, this lack of consistency damages what could have been a great romance, so I can't bring myself to actively recommend this book. My first impulse was to give it two stars for making me lose time that could have been spent with a more interesting story, but in the end I'm settling for three stars. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because other that what I mentioned above, it's well written and I don't want to diss the author just because the story and the romance don't reflect my personal preferences. So I'm leaving you the choice of picking it up or not. Though again, in my opinion, if you search for the five-star label in the side bar, you'll find a selection of books much better than this one.
Have a wonderful weekend,
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