A review by lezreadalot
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

4.0

As much as I want to fight with her, I want to burn my tongue on this woman too.

I really really enjoyed this! It was an easy-to-read, sexy restaurant romance with characters I really came to adore in a short amount of time. Amy is the sarcastic, kinda prickly owner of a struggling restaurant; Sophie is her head-chef, who came to her after her 15 minutes of reality TV cooking show fame. They've both been sort of mutually, obliviously pining over one another since beginning to work together, and now that Sophie is ready to be more open about her newly discovered bisexuality, things starts heating up. Most of the plot involves them trying to find a way to keep the restaurant from going under, exploring options with a possibility for a shot on a new reality show, and exploring their chemistry and relationship.

And they had such good chemistry. I just loved every scene where they were together, how they were quietly giddy over one another, and then eventually got vocal about their feelings. This isn't enemies-to-lovers or hate-to-love, but they did bicker and butt heads a lot, in a way that was actually fun to watch and not frustrating. There were so many sparks! And it was sooooo sexy. Sophie is a little shy, but undergoes a lot of growth, and it was great to see her standing up for herself and the things she wants. Amy is a flawed character who's maybe a little hard to like (but still really wonderful), and I just love it when authors are brave enough to give their characters actual foibles that they have to work through. (And it was fine by me, because I really love prickly women.) I really enjoyed the way different family dynamics played into the characters' personalities and their approach to conflict. If there was one things I didn't super love, it was how quickly the end wrapped up after the conflict; I wanted to see that drawn out a bit more, with a little more grovelling from a certain character. Also, for a romance set in a restaurant, I wanted a few more foodie scenes!

Listened to the audiobook as read by Natalie Naudus and Chelsea Stephens. I'm a big fan of Naudus, and Stephens was so good as well. I can't say this was super innovative, but it really was a lovely, swoony romance that gave me a bunch of butterflies. Definitely recommended.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

past parental death, mentions of cancer

It seemed completely normal to want to rip my heart out of my chest and put it in her hands for safekeeping, as long as she’d always smile at me like that.