A review by jackiehorne
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

3.0

I liked so many aspects of this queer female romance: the two protagonists, chef Sophie and restaurant owner Amy; their backstories (Sophie, a chef just off a breakup with her fiancé who didn't respond well to her sharing her recent discovery of her bisexuality, and control-queen Amy, who has recently lost her mother and who can't stop chasing after the approval of her distant, verbally abusive father); the restaurant in danger of going under plot line; the sightings of the couple from Barrett's debut book, Wes (brother of Amy) and Corinne; Jeremy, Amy's bestie; the feminist principles upon which Amy runs her restaurant; the very hot sex scenes. But somehow all these strands never came together to form a cohesive, compelling whole. I put the book aside mid-read for several days, and then found myself skimming in spots after I picked it back up again. I loved Hot Copy, Barrett's first book, so very much, and this one had many hints of that first book's sparkle, but overall, not a book that I'll be coming back to again and again.