Friday, January 22, 2016

Review: "Taste: A Love Story" by Tracy Ewens (Contemporary Romance)

Taste (Love Story #3)
by Tracy Ewens 

Publisher: Tracy Ewens
Series: Premiere (#1), Candidate (#2), Reserved (#4)
My Other Reviews: Reserved (#4)

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication date: October 27, 2015




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Description from Publisher:
In her twenties, Kara Malendar found herself at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, thousands of miles away from the harsh media coverage of her political family. But Paris ended abruptly when she was summoned home to Los Angeles and expected to stand in again as the senator’s perfect daughter.

Now, thirty, Kara has made a different kind of life for herself. As a food critic for the Los Angeles Times, she casts a critical eye on other people. That is, until her past finds his way back into town and opens a new restaurant.

Logan Rye, the youngest son of the Ryeland Farms family, is a chef and knows exactly what he's doing with his life. After a few years spent getting his head and heart together, he's opened a new farm-to-table restaurant, The Yard, in Los Angeles. It’s his passion, but according to the LA Times, he’s a trend.

Kara and Logan haven't seen each other since she left him in the lobby of her Paris apartment building, but when she is asked to write a feature on him, it's not long before they are rediscovering the delicious parts of each other. As things heat up, all recipes are forgotten, and Kara and Logan realize nothing was what it seemed in Paris.

If Logan can only find a way to trust, he may be exactly what Kara needs . . . if she's ever going to taste life again.


My Rating:
My Content Rating:
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.com for an honest, unbiased review. My opinion is my own.

This book caught my interest the first few pages and kept it until it was finished. It was funny, touching, and basically everything felt very natural. The characters, both primary and secondary, were well-shaped, multi-dimensional, relate-able, and likable. The story was mostly believable with just enough fantasy to keep it interesting, and I felt it was very well paced. The details about the area (Pasadena, primarily), food, restaurants, farms, journalism, political campaigns, etc. were just enough to paint the picture without killing it. (It can really bother me when an author goes into TOO MUCH detail about a characters career, hobby, lifestyle, etc.) The style really reminded me of a good rom-com movie that I might watch at least a few times.

Also like a good rom-com, their was enough sexual tension and just enough steaminess without crossing into the territory of traditional "romance novels." The sexy scenes weren't graphic, but weren't Doris-Day-Fall-onto-a-bed-end-scene either. :)
I really enjoyed the twists and didn't actually see them coming.

**SLIGHT SPOILER** I actually thought they were going to throw a wrench into the romance when Logan was getting in touch with the lamp woman and that she was going to be someone that he was also interested in (or would appear interested, at least). And I was actually disappointed at the idea! ha :) And I expected Logan's mom, once we knew she was alive, to spoil something with the Senator, so I was glad when the story didn't go too off course.
**NO MORE SPOILERS AFTER HERE*

The fact that this is the 3rd in this series of books makes me pretty happy because that means Tracy Ewens has two more books I haven't read yet! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading something light but touching "romantic comedy" style.

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