B
Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Romance
Theme: Off Limits Sibling or Friend
Archetype: Chef/Foodie/Bartender
This RITA® Reader Challenge 2017 review was written by HeatherMarie. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mainstream Fiction with a Central Romance category.
The summary:
Talented chef Meg Delaney hasn’t spoken to her cheating ex-fiancé, Matt Midland, for two years. Ditching him at the altar after blurting out “I can’t” instead of “I do” would sour any relationship. But now, just as Meg is finally ready to bury the hatchet, she learns closure is permanently off the menu. And the kicker? Matt’s brother, Kyle, is back in her life, stirring up feelings that are equal parts guilt and lust.
Meg was the best thing that never happened to Kyle. He couldn’t make a move on his brother’s girlfriend—even if Matt didn’t value her nearly enough. The situation is even more complicated now that Meg’s bestselling aphrodisiac cookbook has spawned a legal battle with the Midlands. Maybe he should stay away. But love, like family, plays by its own rules. And the one woman he shouldn’t want might be the only one who’s perfect for him.
Here is HeatherMarie's review:
Lovers of Romantic Comedy movies would love this. For a broken, dead inside person like myself it was “eye roll city” and not my favorite but still a fun, quick read. This book’s setup was a doozy of a meet-cute. Hats off to Ms. Fenske.
Meg, a caterer and unsuccessful cookbook writer, goes to the hospital to bury the hatchet with her philandering former fiance, Matt, who she had pulled a Runaway Bride on previously.
He was going in for a minor procedure but unfortunately there were complications with the anesthesia and he dies. His brother, Kyle, greets her as she is unknowingly on her way to deliver some balloons and kind of bluntly gives her the news that his brother is dead. Whoa!
In case it was not apparent in the summaries above Kyle and Meg are the hero and heroine of the book. There is even more drama later when Meg’s cookbook unexpectedly becomes a major best seller. Hint: things get litigious.
At the same time with all the heavy stuff of dealing with grief and lawsuits, the author is able to fit in charming and funny scenes like accidental LARPing with marshmallows, a deep, deep understanding of a cat’s true inner soul, and a viking funeral for a dildo.
Some of the tropes present were: Unrequited Love, MAJOR family drama, Estranged friends to lovers, Forbidden Love, Grief, Ex-partner of a sibling. The story in places reminded me of Romeo and Juliet or a darker timeline reimagining of While You Were Sleeping.
I like that almost everyone was flawed and complicated. The story itself was messy with a good amount of true conflict and angst. Readers who have enjoyed Penny Reid and some of Sophie Kinsella’s books would probably enjoy her style too because of the humor.
For example when Meg and Kyle meet in the beginning of the book, Fenske describes his face thusly:
He looked like a man who’d just seen a ghost, or maybe a squirrel humping an aardvark.
Both main characters are creative people. Kyle is a sculptor (the Damascus steel tutorial- fascinating!) and Meg cooks. A. Bunch. People who read and enjoyed some of Sonali Dev’s Bollywood series or Alice Clayton’s Hudson Valley series would appreciate the great food details. This book will make you hungry.
In the end I did not give this a higher rating because the hero does something unforgivable and I just can’t even with him. Also the aforementioned dead inside. Let’s just say I’m from the south and he gets a full throated “Bless his heart…” for what he does. But good on the heroine, she is a better person and they can find their HEA.
I read this on my Kindle with the whispersync audiobook. The narrator, Teri Schnaubelt, has a lovely voice and does a great job on the audiobook.
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Thanks!
As lots of other readers have said, it’s so much fun to get two reviews of the same work back-to-back. Loved your slightly-cynical-but-forgiving take on it!
I think that might be an unintentional category of romances – where the hero reeeeeaaalllllly doesn’t deserve to get the heroine back (or vice versa.)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, HeatherMarie. I read this book some time ago, and I recall that there were some laugh out loud lines. I did keep the book, so perhaps it’s time for another read.
I read ABOUT THAT FLING by this author and decided I just can’t read her — there were some very funny lines but overall the whole book was set up on the premise of an excruciatingly awkward pairing (similar “forbidden” social situation to the one described here) and I made it through the book but just can’t do it again. Having sufficient conflict to drive a plot is great, but having the whole thing be sticky family and friend issues was much too reminiscent of the messiness of real life family drama. Not what I want to encounter in my leisure reading.
No real interest in reading this but would love excerpts featuring the “deep, deep understanding of a cat’s soul” and, most especially, the (dildo’s) Viking funeral.
Dammit, just checked my library and they only have the dtv. Can anyone give me the requisite page numbers?
I really like her books! The hero doing something unforgiveable gives me pause, but I think I’ll go ahead and read 🙂
I read this book and I can attest it’s one of the best artistic works I have ever come across. I am a Lover of Romantic Comedy movies and this was my perfect match! Kudos