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A review by shandra
Kitchen Affairs by Brooke Cumberland
3.0
Intriguing start!
Everyone has guilty pleasures in life. Mine include naughty books, reality television, and made-for-TV movies which made this series irresistible to me! It had been recommended by more than one friend so I grabbed it (right before the blog I review for snagged an ARC for the finale, luckily for me!) for myself.
I don't regret the purchase at all.
There's something very fun about this book that comes from all the many, many subplots being mingled in with what is, ultimately, a very charming modern life.
Molly Woods is unique as far as heroines go because she's not a Perfect 10. She's a single-mom with stretch marks from having actually given birth to a child, a little girl named Stella who stole my heart from the minute she was introduced in the book, and she spends more time working on her career than her social life. She's working to finish up culinary school where she is harassed into going out with her boss, Drake Stagliano, and I completely bought her frustration with him in the beginning. There's a lot of comic relief in her clumsiness and Molly is certainly not going to be winning any awards for her acting since she's got a very bad poker face, but she's a character I could relate to easily. I liked her a lot.
Drake---oh, Drake. He's rich, handsome, every traditional romance hero right out of the gate until he starts to really get it handed to him by Molly who has more than a daughter as far as surprises go. I did enjoy him though I honestly didn't connect with him very much in this opening book since his POV wasn't really offered enough for me to bond with him on a personal level as a character.
The book did hold my attention. It was a fun evening read since it had more than just a romance going on between its pages. There were secrets that went a lot deeper than "Why doesn't she want to go out with the hot, rich guy?"
If Amazon would allow half-stars, I'd give it a 3.5, but it doesn't which lands this one at a 3 for me. There are a lot of grammatical failures in this which make it a confusing read; several times during the course of the book the tenses shifted so badly I wasn't certain whether I was reading something happening in the present, during a dream sequence, or in the past as possibly a memory? I don't know. It lost me several times. I would also note that it starts in what feels as if it is the middle of a story rather than the start of THIS story which I grew accustomed to over the course of the work. In its defense, this is a light read which could easily be cleaned up and it had enough plot and enough substance to keep me interested which meant I bought the sequel immediately after finishing this one.
I would DEFINITELY recommend reading the sequel before making a final decision on this series.
Everyone has guilty pleasures in life. Mine include naughty books, reality television, and made-for-TV movies which made this series irresistible to me! It had been recommended by more than one friend so I grabbed it (right before the blog I review for snagged an ARC for the finale, luckily for me!) for myself.
I don't regret the purchase at all.
There's something very fun about this book that comes from all the many, many subplots being mingled in with what is, ultimately, a very charming modern life.
Molly Woods is unique as far as heroines go because she's not a Perfect 10. She's a single-mom with stretch marks from having actually given birth to a child, a little girl named Stella who stole my heart from the minute she was introduced in the book, and she spends more time working on her career than her social life. She's working to finish up culinary school where she is harassed into going out with her boss, Drake Stagliano, and I completely bought her frustration with him in the beginning. There's a lot of comic relief in her clumsiness and Molly is certainly not going to be winning any awards for her acting since she's got a very bad poker face, but she's a character I could relate to easily. I liked her a lot.
Drake---oh, Drake. He's rich, handsome, every traditional romance hero right out of the gate until he starts to really get it handed to him by Molly who has more than a daughter as far as surprises go. I did enjoy him though I honestly didn't connect with him very much in this opening book since his POV wasn't really offered enough for me to bond with him on a personal level as a character.
The book did hold my attention. It was a fun evening read since it had more than just a romance going on between its pages. There were secrets that went a lot deeper than "Why doesn't she want to go out with the hot, rich guy?"
If Amazon would allow half-stars, I'd give it a 3.5, but it doesn't which lands this one at a 3 for me. There are a lot of grammatical failures in this which make it a confusing read; several times during the course of the book the tenses shifted so badly I wasn't certain whether I was reading something happening in the present, during a dream sequence, or in the past as possibly a memory? I don't know. It lost me several times. I would also note that it starts in what feels as if it is the middle of a story rather than the start of THIS story which I grew accustomed to over the course of the work. In its defense, this is a light read which could easily be cleaned up and it had enough plot and enough substance to keep me interested which meant I bought the sequel immediately after finishing this one.
I would DEFINITELY recommend reading the sequel before making a final decision on this series.