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bookish_smorgasbord's review against another edition
4.0
“Oh my god. Seriously? You’re a Virgo? Okay, well you better wife me up now because we are like bonkers compatible!” – Beth to Adah
Adah Campbell has worked tirelessly to provide a loving, safe home for her son Pete and build a career as a chef. When an opportunity arises for her to helm a restaurant in South Bay, Maine, she seizes it, little knowing how life-changing this decision would become. Beth Summers, on the other hand, had fled her South Bay hometown, craving a life spent traveling. She returns, however, after her mother’s retirement, to transform the old family restaurant and search for elusive fulfillment. Their attraction is immediate, though they don’t get off on the right foot at their first meeting. This opposites-attract romance delivers wonderful chemistry between not only Beth and Adah, but with the supporting cast of characters, as well. It contains a heady mixture of workplace drama, personal trauma, and falling in love. There are a lot of food-type puns and comments I can make about how their HEA unfolds (and trust me, I really want to!). It’s especially true in an opposites-attract love story that the unlikely, disregarded ingredients are sometimes just the thing you need to discover what’s your “perfect-for-you-balance” in life.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food. Foodie romances are delicious torture on so many levels (the longing, the push and pull, the menus!) and this year it seems like we’ve been blessed with a smorgasbord of them. If there is one thing I wish I would have done differently while reading this, it would have been to pair it with dinner or snacks, because I was starving! An important and well-done element of Fisher’s writing is her food descriptions. We have two women elbows deep in the restaurant industry, so it has to have a whole lot of tasty descriptions. (Can you smell that wood burning stove? I can!) And trust me, she delivers a full course menu as Beth and Adah navigate careers and romance. One thing I’m curious about is how the audiobook narrator will translate an accent that sounds like “humid thunderstorms and steamy biscuits slathered in home-churned butter”. Omg. Let me know if you listen to this book!
Fisher also has a great ear for fun, playful dialogue. Jay (Adah’s bff and pastry chef extraordinaire, they/them/theirs pronouns), and Adah's friend conversations flow easily, with their energy and perspectives balancing each other's personalities. Where Adah comes off as more reserved and high-strung, Jay is outgoing and optimistic (even when faced with personal setbacks). Their longtime friendship forms a close-knit family, supportive in good times and bad. I love their friendship so much! It’s wonderful and makes my heart happy. The relationships surrounding Beth and Adah, including Adah’s son and landlord/mother-she-wish-she-had, and Beth’s family and staff, make this foodie romance even more satisfying.
This review reflects material from Carina Press’s pre-publication edition of the book. Available October 27th!
Adah Campbell has worked tirelessly to provide a loving, safe home for her son Pete and build a career as a chef. When an opportunity arises for her to helm a restaurant in South Bay, Maine, she seizes it, little knowing how life-changing this decision would become. Beth Summers, on the other hand, had fled her South Bay hometown, craving a life spent traveling. She returns, however, after her mother’s retirement, to transform the old family restaurant and search for elusive fulfillment. Their attraction is immediate, though they don’t get off on the right foot at their first meeting. This opposites-attract romance delivers wonderful chemistry between not only Beth and Adah, but with the supporting cast of characters, as well. It contains a heady mixture of workplace drama, personal trauma, and falling in love. There are a lot of food-type puns and comments I can make about how their HEA unfolds (and trust me, I really want to!). It’s especially true in an opposites-attract love story that the unlikely, disregarded ingredients are sometimes just the thing you need to discover what’s your “perfect-for-you-balance” in life.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food. Foodie romances are delicious torture on so many levels (the longing, the push and pull, the menus!) and this year it seems like we’ve been blessed with a smorgasbord of them. If there is one thing I wish I would have done differently while reading this, it would have been to pair it with dinner or snacks, because I was starving! An important and well-done element of Fisher’s writing is her food descriptions. We have two women elbows deep in the restaurant industry, so it has to have a whole lot of tasty descriptions. (Can you smell that wood burning stove? I can!) And trust me, she delivers a full course menu as Beth and Adah navigate careers and romance. One thing I’m curious about is how the audiobook narrator will translate an accent that sounds like “humid thunderstorms and steamy biscuits slathered in home-churned butter”. Omg. Let me know if you listen to this book!
Fisher also has a great ear for fun, playful dialogue. Jay (Adah’s bff and pastry chef extraordinaire, they/them/theirs pronouns), and Adah's friend conversations flow easily, with their energy and perspectives balancing each other's personalities. Where Adah comes off as more reserved and high-strung, Jay is outgoing and optimistic (even when faced with personal setbacks). Their longtime friendship forms a close-knit family, supportive in good times and bad. I love their friendship so much! It’s wonderful and makes my heart happy. The relationships surrounding Beth and Adah, including Adah’s son and landlord/mother-she-wish-she-had, and Beth’s family and staff, make this foodie romance even more satisfying.
This review reflects material from Carina Press’s pre-publication edition of the book. Available October 27th!
kieranl's review against another edition
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
3.0
This was a pretty light read - more of a fluffy enemies to lovers, though they were not enemies for long. I thought the angst was a little overplayed but I guess it didn't take too much off the storyline. I did not appreciate the way Adah spoke to her son when he had the nail polish on, and I don't remember reading a scene where she apologizes to him though I could've missed it. Anyway, a pretty chill and fast read.
readerpants's review against another edition
3.0
Another not-terrible f/f contemporary! Not... good exactly? But thank goodness it didn't feel like another clunker from Bold Strokes.
whatselizabethreading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lisaeirene's review against another edition
3.0
I rounded up. But overall I felt like the book was lacking chemistry and depth and was honestly boring at times.
originally_olivia's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
angieinbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A few days ago I read a book I didn't exactly enjoy and for which I wrote a fairly scathing (though I believe still generous) review. My review focused on the way 1st-person point of view was used in that novel and how it just didn't work, particularly since there were two narrators in the mix. So you'll probably understand my trepidation when I opened this novel to find another 1st-person POV book with two narrators. Bonus points that it's also about food (and I have to say that it's super weird that 4 of the last 5 books I've read revolve around food/foodies). But KD Fisher did not steer me wrong here. They managed to write a book where each of the main characters narrated a portion of the novel and they had distinct voices and personalities and it was a pleasure to read.
Okay, so Adah has just moved to a coastal Maine town where she's been given the opportunity to run her first kitchen as Executive Chef. It's a big deal for the single mom who started as a line cook and she's determined to prove she's more than ready to take on the responsibility.
Off the beaten path of the tourist scene is the Yellow House Café, an award winning, farm-to-table restaurant that's run by Beth, a local woman who transformed her mother's eatery into a bit of a cult phenomenon. You know, the kind of places hipsters will drive from all over the east coast to try because some established food critic stumbled upon it one day. (Beth would roll her eyes at the description but it's true).
Adah has read articles about the restaurant and is super inspired by Beth, who preaches about making good, unpretentious food with local ingredients that anyone can afford to enjoy. She's also openly queer and advocates for the women in the industry. Well, Adah's inspired until she meets Beth, that is. And all she feels is Beth's judgment about the kind of food her restaurant is going to make--expensive, elegant, super pretentious. Adah, who feels she already has a lot to prove, is now at odds with her fiercest competition.
This is an enemies-to-lovers romance that I quite enjoyed. Neither Beth nor Adah fall in love easily in this novel. There are a lot of missteps and misunderstandings and miscommunications, and the stress of Adah's work situation and life baggage is definitely not working in her favour. But I could see how they would work and how they compliment each other and how they drive each other to be better people, better chefs. And while some of the drama goes on a little too long, I was so happy with what Fisher put on the page for me to read.
Okay, so Adah has just moved to a coastal Maine town where she's been given the opportunity to run her first kitchen as Executive Chef. It's a big deal for the single mom who started as a line cook and she's determined to prove she's more than ready to take on the responsibility.
Off the beaten path of the tourist scene is the Yellow House Café, an award winning, farm-to-table restaurant that's run by Beth, a local woman who transformed her mother's eatery into a bit of a cult phenomenon. You know, the kind of places hipsters will drive from all over the east coast to try because some established food critic stumbled upon it one day. (Beth would roll her eyes at the description but it's true).
Adah has read articles about the restaurant and is super inspired by Beth, who preaches about making good, unpretentious food with local ingredients that anyone can afford to enjoy. She's also openly queer and advocates for the women in the industry. Well, Adah's inspired until she meets Beth, that is. And all she feels is Beth's judgment about the kind of food her restaurant is going to make--expensive, elegant, super pretentious. Adah, who feels she already has a lot to prove, is now at odds with her fiercest competition.
This is an enemies-to-lovers romance that I quite enjoyed. Neither Beth nor Adah fall in love easily in this novel. There are a lot of missteps and misunderstandings and miscommunications, and the stress of Adah's work situation and life baggage is definitely not working in her favour. But I could see how they would work and how they compliment each other and how they drive each other to be better people, better chefs. And while some of the drama goes on a little too long, I was so happy with what Fisher put on the page for me to read.
mommasaystoread's review against another edition
3.0
The Secret Ingredient - no surprise that it's a foodie romance, right? It's also a sweet, female/female romance. Now, here's where I'll tell you that foodie romances are a bit of a hit or miss for me, but I picked this one up because I don't often run into female pairings in the genre. About the foodie aspect of this one - KD Fisher does a really good job with the details, which is usually where I struggle with this trope. All too often, we get so much detail about the food that I end up hungry but lost on where the story is going other than the meal. Fisher finds just the right balance between the story and the descriptions so that the romance doesn't get lost. Oddly enough, that's where I struggled with this one. Not with Beth. She comes across as a little flighty but easily likable. Adah, on the other hand, was a hard nut to crack. She's so set on not discussing her feelings and pushing people away that she pushed this reader away more often than not. Her past makes her actions understandable, but I think I needed a bit more development with her character. Nevertheless, I think this sweet foodie romance has its charm and will appeal to many LGBTQIA readers.
00leah00's review against another edition
4.0
'The Secret Ingredient' by KD Fisher is a charming and funny small-town romance that foodies will love.
It's the story of Adah, a single mom and the head chef of a new high-end restaurant. Adah and Peter, her son, move to Maine for the opening of a new restaurant. She doesn’t have time for relationships as all her time is tied up with her son and making sure her restaurant is a success.
Beth, the owner and baker at her own restaurant doesn’t have time for anything. She’s recently won a prestigious award for her restaurant and it’s brought too much business for her to handle.
They meet when Adah and two associates go around to other local restaurants to meet the competition. Although the first meeting isn’t great, both Adah and Beth are infatuated immediately, it isn't insta-love, more like insta-attaction.
Adah, is pretty cold and standoffish in the beginning but that melts away once you get to know her and realize all the things she's overcome to get to where she is. Beth, on the other hand, is her complete opposite. She's warm, friendly and outgoing. Beth is patient and kind with both Adah and Peter and slowly works her way into Adah's heart and life.
One of the things I really loved about this book was the queer representation in the book. Its got lesbians, bisexuals as well as a non-binary character. And everyone is well developed. I didn’t really feel as any of them were there to just fill a void.
The story is written in first person alternating point of views. I happen to like that as I like knowing the motivation of the character's actions. In this case it was necessary for Adah, as she wasn't one for speaking a lot of her thoughts.
‘The Secret Ingredient’ left a smile on my face and I recommend it to anyone wanting a nice romance with a bit of an ice queen trope. Food lovers will especially love this as there are tons of descriptions of all types of food!
An ARC was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review.
It's the story of Adah, a single mom and the head chef of a new high-end restaurant. Adah and Peter, her son, move to Maine for the opening of a new restaurant. She doesn’t have time for relationships as all her time is tied up with her son and making sure her restaurant is a success.
Beth, the owner and baker at her own restaurant doesn’t have time for anything. She’s recently won a prestigious award for her restaurant and it’s brought too much business for her to handle.
They meet when Adah and two associates go around to other local restaurants to meet the competition. Although the first meeting isn’t great, both Adah and Beth are infatuated immediately, it isn't insta-love, more like insta-attaction.
Adah, is pretty cold and standoffish in the beginning but that melts away once you get to know her and realize all the things she's overcome to get to where she is. Beth, on the other hand, is her complete opposite. She's warm, friendly and outgoing. Beth is patient and kind with both Adah and Peter and slowly works her way into Adah's heart and life.
One of the things I really loved about this book was the queer representation in the book. Its got lesbians, bisexuals as well as a non-binary character. And everyone is well developed. I didn’t really feel as any of them were there to just fill a void.
The story is written in first person alternating point of views. I happen to like that as I like knowing the motivation of the character's actions. In this case it was necessary for Adah, as she wasn't one for speaking a lot of her thoughts.
‘The Secret Ingredient’ left a smile on my face and I recommend it to anyone wanting a nice romance with a bit of an ice queen trope. Food lovers will especially love this as there are tons of descriptions of all types of food!
An ARC was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review.
mdoerr's review against another edition
3.0
Competing restaurants in small town ME with a single parent and workaholic