This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by NoeliaR. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mid-Length Contemporary category.
The summary:
From the author of The Best Medicine comes the latest Strictly Business novel—and this time, for one woman, finding the ideal man can be a pretty tall order…
Magazine columnist Quinn Sawyer has always attracted sweet, innocent, and safe men. And something tells her it’s because she’s just as harmless. So when she starts craving a guy with an edge, she realizes she may have to get one for herself.
When her boss asks for a unique pitch, Quinn’s quest to live outside her comfort zone prompts her to suggest an idea that will cause her to break her good-girl rules. And who better than Tim Jacobs to help her push her boundaries? For a while now, Quinn’s had a hot crush on the tattooed executive chef with a checkered past. If anybody can bring out her inner rebel, he can.
It’s no surprise that as Tim and Quinn cross each task off the list she’s made for herself, the sparks between them grow more and more intense. Soon there’s no denying the attraction they each feel. But Tim’s troubled past reveals an even tougher edge than Quinn expected—which means for her, falling in love might just be the greatest rebellion of all.
Here is NoeliaR's review:
This was my first book by Elizabeth Hayley. I never heard from this author before but I chose this book mainly because the hero is a cook. As a former cook myself I like to read books about cooks – does anybody do that? Like lawyers or teachers or spies? You know, you want to see if they got it right. Only me?
Well, so here I go. The story is about Tim and Quinn (isn’t it cute that their names rhyme?) who know each other through friends in common. They meet on a pretty regular basis and Tim totally has the hots for Quinn, but she’s clueless about it. And here is what truly annoyed me about Tim: he doesn’t think he deserves to have someone to love him. I don’t know about you, but I hate that kind of hero that thinks, “Oh, I’ve been such a dick in the past, good things can’t happen to me” and constantly beats themselves over their past.
Tim was a drug addict; he has been sober for 7 years now. He wasn’t a nice kind of junkie. His parents cut him off and maybe almost had his brother killed at one point. But he made amends, he went to rehab, he got himself a sponsor and a support group of gym partners, a job, and he is a sous chef in a trendy place.
On the other side, Quinn is as nice a girl as you can get. She is a wimp, and she knows it. Quinn works for a fashion magazine writing apologies for the reader’s mail but during a meeting with the main editor she proposes to write a piece about stepping out of your comfort zone and doing badass things like asking out strangers in bars, singing karaoke and hitchhiking. The editor loves it, so Quinn is a woman with a mission.
When Tim learns about Quinn’s assignment and sees how nervous she is about it, he offers himself as a partner so they do this “challenges” together.
Overall this book left me a bit meh. It’s not a bad book, but it didn’t turn my world on fire. I felt the pacing was off and these characters weren’t really fleshed out. In the end they overcome their issues but it felt rushed compared to the first part of the book which dragged a bit.
But the big question is: Was the cook part right?
Hell, no. Besides naming the chapter after cooking methods that were slightly related to what was happening in the story, Tim could have been a dental hygienist. That man spent too much time doing inventory.
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“That man spent too much time doing inventory.”
LOL
Yes, I do get interested in books set in my field (law). The drudgery of law is rarely conveyed. In fact I can’t think of a single romance I’ve read with a character employed in law, so if I’ve read any they were profoundly unmemorable. There are scads of great mysteries/thrillers of course but that ain’t the same.
What does “mid-length” mean? Google wasn’t very helpful. Even the RWA site wasn’t helpful in answering this question, but maybe I didn’t click on the right link.
Thank you,NoeliaR, for your review.
“As a former cook myself I like to read books about cooks – does anybody do that? Like lawyers or teachers or spies? You know, you want to see if they got it right. Only me?”
ME TOO!!! But not only to see of they get it right, although i have been appalled at some concoctions I read about that are supposed to be authentically Italian, but also because they might be writing about something I personally like to do, such as knitting, writing icons, cooking, etc.
I am also wondering if they got it right for someone who writes for a magazine.
“And here is what truly annoyed me about Tim: he doesn’t think he deserves to have someone to love him. I don’t know about you, but I hate that kind of hero that thinks, “Oh, I’ve been such a dick in the past, good things can’t happen to me” and constantly beats themselves over their past.”
ME TOO!!!! My reaction to that trope is “grow a pair and go see a therapist and get over yourself.”
“Quinn works for a fashion magazine writing apologies for the reader’s mail”
While I don’t actually understand what sort of job she has, I am kinda wondering how she was qualified to write the kind of assignment she proposed. Seems a leap to me, but what do I know.
“What does “mid-length” mean? Google wasn’t very helpful. Even the RWA site wasn’t helpful in answering this question, but maybe I didn’t click on the right link.”
@Katy, good question!! I suspect mid-length is a word count in between a novella and a full-length novel. Since there is a category for novellas. But I would have thought a novella was the true definition of mid-length since it is in between a short story and a novel.
All thos speculation leads me to conclude mid-length might be a category for writes who can’t do the job in a novella and don’t yet know how to write a full length novel.
I’m no chef but the lack of authenticity on the hero’s job bothered me so much that it pulled me out of the story. He was the executive chef, not a sous chief, but never seemed to be at his job. I would have thought the executive chef would be there most nights it was open to supervise if not actually cook. I would have accepted a sous chef role since then it would have made sense that he had shifts and could leave his job at his job.
Her job also didn’t seem to actually require any work, but didn’t pull me out of the story to the same extent. I could not see her “article” ever being printed in a legitimate magazine which detracted from the story.