Scrumptious
By: Amanda Usen
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: Dec. 1, 2011
Genre: Romance
Rating:
Sparks between love ’em and leave ’em pastry chef and poker sharp Marlene Bennet and traveling chef-for-hire Joe Rafferty when the two culinary perfectionists are forced to share a kitchen. But several suspicious accidents at the restaurant convince Marlene and Joe to work together to uncover the saboteur. Maybe a little intrigue and high-stakes poker will be the perfect ingredients for these commitment-phobic foodies to whip up a happily ever after.
This is your general romance novel with a heavy dose of drool worthy food descriptions. Marly is a pastry chef at her friends restaurant, Chameleon and when her friends sleazy cheating husband finally gets the boot, Olivia begs her friend Joe to come and fill in until she can find a replacement chef. Marly and Joe are instantly attracted to each other but Joe is looking for a serious relationship and Marly is just looking for some fun.
I liked the story but there was really nothing special to set it apart… except for the food descriptions. It’s a story about two people that want to… but don’t think that they should get together, only to find out in the end that they were meant for each other all along. Olivia sort of got on my nerves, she didn’t have a strong bone in her body. She was falling apart all over the place and contemplating taking her husband back after she say him doing the nasty with one of her other employees… at work! I was really glad that Marly was a stronger character and took the lead on a lot of things that were happening at the restaurant. One thing that confused me was the last couple of chapters. Everything was going good and then they bring in the mafia and there is a star crossed lovers moment out of the blue. It sort of felt like the author was reaching for a twist and plucked the first idea that came to mind. Not to mention how easily the “Boss” gives up on wanting to take over the restaurant.
Overall it is a good romance story with some amazing descriptions of food that anyone can appreciate.
“This is really enlightening. I didn’t know life was supposed to be easy. How could I have lived all these years and not realized life was supposed to be easy? I feel really stupid now.” -Joe
