I read this book on the plane to RWA last week after JenReadsRomance recommended it most assiduously on Twitter. I won’t embed the thread as it’s a bit spoilery (here is a link if you wish), but there was one quote that sold me on this novel.

The heroine’s mother is a former supermodel, and when her daughter Dani, the heroine, calls her after a bad breakup (more on that in a moment), they have the following conversation:

“God, why can’t we have a conversation like normal people?”

“Normal people?” her mother sneered. “We are not normal. Normal people aren’t Michelin-starred chefs, Danica. I made love to David Bowie, for God’s sake.”

And let’s be real, a bunch of you likely want to buy this right freaking now so here are the buy links: ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). Read on and prosper.

And if you’re still with me, here’s the rest of the review!

This story opens up at the wedding of the characters from the first book in this series. Dani is in the kitchen slicing the dessert she made for the happy couple when Toni walks in, disagreeing about the wine paired with the dessert course. They’re friends of the bride and groom who have never met, and of course they end up having a very, very hot one night stand at the wedding that starts in the walk-in freezer and finishes up in his room.

The story continues a year later. As per the quote above, Danica, or Dani, is indeed a Michelin-starred chef. But she’s a “ghost-chef:” the credit for the food is given to (and taken by) Andre, the name on the restaurant in which Dani works. He’s been stringing her along in a pseudo-relationship, remaining shy about going public with their “status,” and keeping her in line with pay raises and false promises. He’s prime #TEAM DFTG material.

Dani finds out there’s a tv co-hosting deal in the works that he’s cut her out of because she’s “too fat,” then finds him banging the hostess/future co-host, so she throws wine on the hostess, drops Andre’s dinner on the floor, and walks out with her broken heart and intimidating future prospects as a chef (those stars, after all, are not attributed to her in the least). She ends up in Italy with her mother, seeks out her mentor, a chef in a tiny but exclusive and incredible restaurant, and becomes involved in his family’s restaurant venture when said mentor has a heart attack. Her scorching one night stand, Toni, it turns out, is related to her mentor. The family has several restaurants and vineyards and are about to open a brand-spanky new one IN a vineyard.

So to recap: heroine with significant professional skill and accomplishment. A hero with the same. PLUS WINE PORN.

TRAVEL PORN.

FOOD PORN.

FOOD AND WINE AND TRAVEL PORN. AKA “My Dream Pinterest Board.”

This could not have been more perfect airplane reading if it had come with a free snack box and a big glass of (free) wine. (It did not. I paid for those things but the snack box was pretty good).

Things I liked: Dani has to struggle with the knowledge that while she is very skilled and talented as a chef, she is also afraid to claim recognition for herself. Because of the way Andre and her mother have undermined her confidence, Dani doubts if she should try to claim her work under her own name.

Toni, however, thinks that Dani is incredible in every way, and works to show her how attractive he finds her, and how fantastic she is on her own. There’s some art museum scenes and fancy dress shopping scenes that are all sorts of deliciously enjoyable.

Toni has his own issues: an ex-wife who is manipulative and awful, and who wants Toni back, even though he matured and grew out of their relationship after they had a daughter. Toni is worried about the supervision his daughter is receiving, and worried that if he tries to address the issue with his ex-wife, she’ll try to take all custody and visitation away from him, a tactic she’s used in the past. He’s also got a restaurant to open, a family member in the hospital, and a really hot woman he hasn’t been able to get out of his mind back in his life, and in the perfect position to help him out personally and professionally.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that the conflicts between them are varied and realistic. The problems they face grow and recede in context, and are amplified by the fact that Dani and Toni are both tremendously attracted to one another, and trying to be responsible, professional adults about everything that’s happening around and to them. I love reading about extraordinarily talented and interesting people who are trying to be decent and kind while also achieving their personal ambitions. The healthy addition of Food, Wine, and Travel Porn only made this story more enjoyable.

Things that bugged me: this is minor, but…Toni (Antonio) and Dani (Danica) are the hero and heroine. Toni and Dani. My gosh, that was tough on my poor, travel-laggy brain.

Also, the heroine’s relationship with her mother undergoes a sort-of renovation. Dani has been shamed and scolded for her size and her appetite frequently by her mother in ways that were both terribly familiar and terribly painful to read about. Later in the story, her mother explains a lot of the reasoning and motivation specifically behind her decision to keep her daughter away from her professional life as a model, especially her photoshoots. The reasoning makes sense, but the reasoning doesn’t undo a lot of the cruelty. I appreciated that Dani’s mother had her own career, and her own life goals, and that Dani understood that her mother was not very capable of maternal coddling and emotional support. But I didn’t think the resolution fully matched the damage of her conduct. Perhaps it’s not meant to.

That said, I loved the complex, realistic, and emotionally nuanced way every character is portrayed in this story. I love that personal and professional ambition are the motivation behind a lot of their decisions, but that most of them, especially Dani and Toni, are focused on the enjoyment and savoring of pleasure, too. Just about everyone in this story is feeding or sustaining someone else in one way or another, and it was a lovely story that managed to be both an incredibly sexy and incredibly nourishing read emotionally and mentally.