Review: Nuts by Alice Clayton

Nuts
(Hudson Valley, #1)
By: Alice Clayton
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: Oct. 20, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating:

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she’s back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

Roxie is making a name for herself in Los Angeles where she’s a private chef for the rich and famous. On one of her jobs she gets a call from her mother announcing that she made it on The Amazing Race and needs Roxie to come home for the summer to run the family diner in her absence. While arguing with her mother, Roxie has a mishap in the kitchen and soon finds herself out of a job. So, she packs up and heads east to her small hometown to take over the family diner. She only plans to stay for the summer until her mother’s return but soon finds herself falling for the very hunky farmer.

What I liked:

• Nuts is a cute and easy read. It’s perfect for those days where you don’t want to think too much.
• Leo’s daughter was a riot. A sassy little thing in deed.
• All the talk about food. I’m a huge foodie so I love reading about different recipes and ingredients. I’ve never had a black walnut cake, but after reading about it in this book, I have a feeling I’ll be making it sometime soon.
• No crazy drama. The author didn’t add any craziness to shock the reader or complicate things for the characters.
• The small town feel. Everyone knew everyone’s business and wasn’t afraid to voice their opinion. Which, sometimes made for interesting scenes.
• Roxie’s mother. That woman is off her rocker and I loved it. I wish there was more of her in the story because the things she said was pretty amusing.

What I disliked:

• The story lacked depth. Everything was on the surface. I read about emotions and things going on, but I didn’t feel them. I wasn’t invested in the characters or their relationship.
• Roxie was a bit too accident prone for me. She was always tripping and falling (literally) onto Leo in the beginning. There may have been a time or two where I rolled my eyes at it all.
• Given the title of the book and the cover, I thought I’d be rolling on the floor with laughter but that didn’t happen for me. The only times I really cracked a smile was when Roxie’s mom was in the picture. Like I said, that lady was a riot.

Nuts is a cute, light, easy read. There’s not a whole heck of a lot going on, no plot twists that you need to concentrate on, and nothing of real substance to it. It almost reminded me of a chick-lit. It was very flippant and breezy in its deliverance. This is a great book to read if you are in the market for light reading. Just be sure to have a snack handy. With all the food descriptions, you’re sure to be hungry at some point.

“Hey there, Polly, how’s it hanging?” I asked. I actually asked a kid how’s it hanging. And I know this because the words were flashing in the air, enclosed in a bubble like a comic strip. A comic strip titled “Things to Never Say to a Child.”
I looked over my should to see if Leo had caught it, and he was just staring at the ceiling, shaking his head.
Polly looked confused. “How’s what hanging?”
Flailing, I said, “Your ponytail, of course!” I smiled so widely I could feel my lips stretch.
She smoothed her ponytail with her finders. “Fine I guess.”