C+
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Theme: Opposites Attract
Archetype: Chef/Foodie/Bartender
A Month of Sundays is a contemporary f/f romance that tries to do too much at once. The slow progression of the romance, the value placed on family and friends, and the celebration of food are lovely, but this book needed to either leave some plot developments out entirely or be longer so they could be fully explored. I’d have voted for the latter because I enjoyed these characters.
Rachel is an accountant for a huge firm where she makes a lot of money. She’s just out of an eight-year relationship and is feeding her broken heart ice cream and junk food. Rachel’s friends set her up with Griffin, a fabulously named celebrity chef with a reputation for dating a lot of women. They immediately have great chemistry, but Rachel is wary of getting into a new relationship. Instead of rushing into sex and/or an official relationship, Griffin and Rachel agree to have at least one date each Sunday for the next seven and a half months (thirty Sundays) with each date involving food from a different part of the world.
This is a short book and the core story (the romance developing over thirty Sundays) is lovely. In the middle of the book, Griffin leaves to be a contestant on a cooking reality show. This is also a fine story, but it feels like either it should be a separate book or this book should be much longer. During this part of the book Rachel gets short shrift (she’s sitting around wondering why Griffin won’t call her) and the romance gets short shrift and honestly so does the cooking show, which I was really interested in. It’s all great stuff but crammed together like it is nothing gets to shine.
I liked how this story avoids some common toxic tropes. On the reality show, Griffin’s ex-girlfriend is cast as “The Villain,” but while the producers edited the show to create that sort of dynamic, Griffin and the ex avoid it entirely in real life, being at once fiercely competitive but also mutually supportive. Griffin is a tough chef, but not mean, and she sees it as part of her job to mentor others and help them grow (especially her assistant chef, Erika). A common thread throughout the book is the many forms of support that women extend to other women.
Readers should know that early on Rachel decides to lose weight, but it’s less a matter of fat-phobia and more an issue of eating less junk food and getting some exercise. After her break up, she started living off of take out and ice cream and not leaving her apartment, so she’s trying to shake things up as part of her emotional recovery. She stops using a scale early in the book.
Readers should also know that fertility and the desire to have children or not have children are issues in the story. Rachel’s best friends are trying to have a baby through IVF, and Rachel’s last relationship ended in part because she wanted children and her partner did not. Initially Griffin doesn’t want to have kids. By the epilogue there are babies everywhere. I didn’t have a problem with any one character’s arc, but I wished that someone, anyone, even a small supporting character, could be seen happily sticking with a no kids plan, because that is a valid choice and we need more representation of this fact. Also, the phrase “start a family” is used in conjunction with having kids that makes me gnash my teeth. You don’t have to have kids to have a family. Grrr.
Speaking of families, both Rachel and Griffin have lovely, supportive families. Griffin’s family is racially diverse. Rachel’s family is delightfully embarrassing. Rachel’s mom reacts to having a famous chef over for dinner by making tuna fish casserole so obviously I love her. Griffin’s nieces subject Rachel to a full interrogation with regard to her intentions towards their auntie, which, coming from a large extended family, I have to say is legit. It all feels very loud and chaotic and real.
Ultimately, the cooking show provides an excuse for conflict and then a rushed reconciliation and ending. This is frustrating because the book could have been so much more: fix the rushed pacing, give me one happy baby free person who stays that way, and it would be sublime. As it is, it’s an enjoyable but clearly flawed read with a lot of family, friends, sex, and food.
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I just finished reading a book with a lovely romance (two, actually) and no conflict to speak of and I closed it feeling unfulfilled. I need the participants to work toward something together both inside and outside of themselves. Give me a murder to solve or a chance to save the world together. But that’s me ; )
See, I wanted to read this, but thank you SO MUCH for letting us know about the “I wanted baybiez but my last evil ex didn’t” plot and “Twu Wuv will change your mind so you want to reproduce exponentially” ridiculousness. This book is firmly in the NOPE stack now. I really hate it when childfree characters are made to want kids as a condition of love. “If you love me, you’ll have babies with me!”
Yuck.
Also, am I the only one who gets really annoyed by these butchy male names for one half of the couple in every dang lesbian romance? Can’t both women have decidedly female, non-androgynous names? It doesn’t make the characters any less lesbian. It seems to contribute to the masculine/feminine heteronormative relationship dynamic.
@ HeatherS – I was wondering what bothered me about the chef’s name – it is too butch! I had to double-check to make sure it was a f/f romance. I have run across some Southern girls with interesting first names, but no Griffins. 🙂
@ Carrie S. – I really enjoyed your review as you brought up some good points, especially about pacing and the epilogue. That said, your comments about Rachel and Griffin’s families make me want to read the book!
Authors, can we please, please stop having babies ever after plots with people who adamantly don’t want kids throughout the bulk of the narrative? You can have true love without kids!