Julia Barrett (3)

Meh. More a 2.5 than a full 3.
The writing was fine. I really wanted to enjoy it.
But everybody was too perfect or too evil or too good looking or too hot or too unaware of how fabulous they are or too smart. Too too too.

I will say that the opening scene almost made me DNF it at that point. As the mother of a 21-year-old man, if I found he acted at 18 as the 18-year-old did in this story, he would have found his butt in a sexual awareness/sensitivity class before he knew what hit him.


This book read very much like a '90s genre with lots of hot sex, but not really that much hot sex. It seemed like it really wanted to be an erotic novel, but then it just couldn't go there.

But the foodie in my appreciated that the chef career wasn't just a "currently hot job" choice for the author. Lots of food talk, lots of food for thought. I enjoyed those parts very much. Looking at all the highlights for the food talk, I wasn't the only one that enjoyed those passages. The author really appreciates food and talked about it eloquently.


I was having issues with the book all the way through it, but then at the very end there was a scene between two women that just pushed me over the edge into WTH, and not in a good way. But took me totally out of the book.

There seemed to be a number of substory wannabes that never materialized, an unknown half brother, a evil ex-almost girlfriend who all of a sudden became relatable, a PI who violates client confidentiality to "save the day." Maybe it was just me, but I kept smelling sequel bait.

I will say the author hit one of my pet peeves many times. There were a few editing issues, some missed words, questionable punctuation. BUT she consistently and incorrectly used the wrong form for plural possessive family names. The heroine worked in the White's house, she cooked the White's dinner. Makes me bonkers. If there were just one person in the White family living in that house, that would be fine. But that is not the situation. Yeah, I know, not that big of a deal to most. To me, it can totally take me out of the story, get up on my soapbox, drill the kids to reassure they know the right way, and then huff and puff a while to vent.… (mere)

The descriptions of the food in this book are marvellous. They are numerous as well. The novel even has some pages at the end giving you some recipes. The effect of all this talking of food will make your mouth water. It is done so sensually detailed that it becomes an erotic element in itself.
Maybe not surprising as a possibility if you ever watched one of Nigella Lawson's tv cooking shows, especially when she starts to talk about chocolate.

The romance part of the novel is rather less interesting imo and the reason this turned out a did-not-finish for me.… (mere)