About the Book:

Mary’s given up everything, including an unsatisfying marriage, to become a chef. But the career comes with a side dish: Kegan, her sexy but controlling new boss.

They’re soon in a relationship, and in all-too-frequent arguments, and when it becomes clear they can’t work together and be together Mary faces a dilemma: keep her dream job or her dream man?

Book Review: ★★★★★★

Sometimes, when I go looking for a good book, or a specific author — I know exactly what I am looking for.  At other times, this process is more of a whim.  Where some women walk into clothing and shoe stores and they are drawn to the perfect shirt, or the must have pair of shoes — for me it was always the cover of a book that would captivate my attention.  Frequently my favorite authors, for both my challenging reads, as well as the escapist adventures, are the ones that I have found by accident — because I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for when I found them.

Heather Wardell is one such author.  I came across her first book — Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo when I was trying to figure out how to work my NOOK.  And while I really enjoyed that book — I found myself frustrated at the end because I had formed an attachment to one character and I felt let down with how it turned out in the end.  (At least to a certain extent.  But then, when you fall in love with all the characters — not everyone can end up with the perfect ending.)

Well — Keagan is back, with all of his maddening idiosyncrasies, his magnetic personality, and his almost obsessive drive with his frequently one track mind.  And where Mary is concerned, he just won’t see the disruption of his life coming, until of course it is too late.  He has finally met his match — and it is quite a match indeed.

This book is not quite as frustrating as the first book of Ms. Wardell’s, mainly because you don’t have the triangle effect going on in the relationships of the novel.  At least not where the characters, themselves are concerned.  But there is certainly a triangular feel to the divided desires of the characters, and the restaurants they are so completely dedicated to making a success; the reader comes away wondering how anybody can mange to make a career, a relationship, and life all work in any form of a successful  manner.

The writing in this one is once again fun, without being overbearing.  I really enjoy romantic stories where there isn’t the overwhelmingly graphic sex scenes — and for that reason Ms. Wardell has become a great writer for the romance.  She allows the story to develop, and draw the reader in, rather than relying on the skin to define the story.  Also, it is fun to watch the strong personalities of two individuals come together, without one having to compromise themselves so completely in order to build any kind of lasting relationship.

Tags: Friendship, Love, Romance

Category: Fiction, Romance