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A review by sarahcophagus
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
4.0
Cute and very sexy which was a delightful surprise for a f/f contemporary! These two are messy in a way that felt really realistic as well as the ins and outs of owning and managing a restaurant without rose colored glasses. It’s a demanding and time consuming line of work w/ constant money struggle and it does a great job at showing what kind of toll that can take on someone.
However I felt the story seriously lost focus and character development after the first third of the book once the characters start hooking up. It became more about the personal family dynamics of each MC that didn’t involve the other MC at all and therefore didn’t drive the plot forward. Also Amy’s control issues were dominating especially when it came to pushing Sophie’s away over her lack of queer experience and believing Sophie wasn’t invested in her job. I think the book would have benefited from showing us Amy being more introspective and interested in character growth rather than what happens which is Amy giving up on her restaurant and her burgeoning romance without considering her biz partner/romantic partner’s feelings. That’s a serious red flag and nothing about their reconciliation showed me that Amy will break this habit going forward. I think it would have worked better for me if there was a tangible story beat that gave Amy a chance to show how she trusts Sophie personally to make a decision about the restaurant as a way to demonstrate that she’s actually willing to modify her controlling nature and work with a partner.
TLDR: Spicy hot f/f romance with the most real to life food service rep I’ve ever read, plot should have focused more on the restaurant industry and less on Amy & Sophie’s family dynamics, meaty miscommunication conflict that doesn’t feel tacked on, & the resolution to the conflict wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been.
However I felt the story seriously lost focus and character development after the first third of the book once the characters start hooking up. It became more about the personal family dynamics of each MC that didn’t involve the other MC at all and therefore didn’t drive the plot forward. Also Amy’s control issues were dominating especially when it came to pushing Sophie’s away over her lack of queer experience and believing Sophie wasn’t invested in her job. I think the book would have benefited from showing us Amy being more introspective and interested in character growth rather than what happens which is Amy giving up on her restaurant and her burgeoning romance without considering her biz partner/romantic partner’s feelings. That’s a serious red flag and nothing about their reconciliation showed me that Amy will break this habit going forward. I think it would have worked better for me if there was a tangible story beat that gave Amy a chance to show how she trusts Sophie personally to make a decision about the restaurant as a way to demonstrate that she’s actually willing to modify her controlling nature and work with a partner.
TLDR: Spicy hot f/f romance with the most real to life food service rep I’ve ever read, plot should have focused more on the restaurant industry and less on Amy & Sophie’s family dynamics, meaty miscommunication conflict that doesn’t feel tacked on, & the resolution to the conflict wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been.