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A review by angieinbooks
The Secret Ingredient: An LGBTQ Romance by K.D. Fisher
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.