The romance recipe by Ruby Barrett

 

Published on July 12, 2022

304 pages

I read the paperback version

Back Cover

A fiery restaurant owner falls for her enigmatic head chef in this charming, emotional romance

Amy Chambers: restaurant owner, micromanager, control freak.

Amy will do anything to revive her ailing restaurant, including hiring a former reality-show finalist with good connections and a lot to prove. But her hopes that Sophie’s skills and celebrity status would bring her restaurant back from the brink of failure are beginning to wane…

Sophie Brunet: grump in the kitchen/sunshine in the streets, took thirty years to figure out she was queer.

Sophie just wants to cook. She doesn’t want to constantly post on social media for her dead-in-the-water reality TV career, she doesn’t want to deal with Amy’s take-charge personality and she doesn’t want to think about what her attraction to her boss might mean…

Then, an opportunity: a new foodie TV show might provide the exposure they need. An uneasy truce is fine for starters, but making their dreams come true means making some personal and painful sacrifices and soon, there’s more than just the restaurant at stake.

My review

It’s the first F/ F romance happening in the food world that I read, the same thing about the author. She wrote a few novels, but it’s the first that I read from her. The story contains a few intimate sequences, so it might not be for everyone. I enjoyed the scene in the kitchen.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like Amy. Our name is similar. However, she’s a bitch most of the book. I’m not sure if I can consider her as a female Gordon Ramsay, but she's close to that if you acknowledge how she treated Sophie.

I give my star to Sophie; I think she was the lovable character. She’s lacking confidence,  but when you’re trying to understand who you are, it’s normal to doubt, especially after you just broke up with your fiancé. I didn’t meet a lot of bisexual characters in books, until now. I’m glad that they have some visibility through Sophie although she’s not perfect.

As someone who likes psychology, I enjoyed the inner monologue.  It helped me to understand what the character felt. I admit, sometimes I felt there was lacking of action, but I believe it’s a most in romance when you can relate to the character or, at least, appreciate him.

Extraits

As if twenty-five dollars will cover the hundred this table was probably to spend. (p.10)

Ever since I first watched her on the final episode of Pop-Up Kitchen, I’ve wanted to kiss Sophie Brunet. The idea of kissing her hooked me but watching her hold her against the biggest asshole TV chef of our lifetime and a kitchen full of men made me want to take a chance on her. (p.14)

It doesn’t matter that I broke up with him or how right it felt the moment I’d said the words out loud. It’s like my worth, my talent was tied to him, and he took it all with hum when he left. (p.26)

Food is family and tradition and new friends and experimentation. Food is a biological necessity, it’s breathing, but within that basic human need is art. Unlike paintings and sculptures, literature or music, we get to consume this art. (p.49)