A review by bookswith_sk
Taste the Love by Karelia Stetz-Waters, Fay Stetz-Waters

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Delicious, Dramatic, and Delightful, this book was full of great food and sweet sapphic love!

I knew I was going to love Kia and Sullivan’s story as soon as I saw that they were school rivals being reunited. There’s just something about years of sapphic yearning that is just *chefs kiss*. 

Taste the Love was incredibly emotional, but exactly the kind of story I needed to read. Sullivans journey takes her through the traumas of a past relationship, as well as the potential threat to her home and restaurant. Kia’s journey takes her through the lows of losing a big deal to the highs of finding a new purpose in life beyond what she originally imagined. And both of them learned that love is messy, and complicated, but it changes you in ways you wouldn’t expect. 

This books reminded me that being on social media can quickly consume you. The point of social media shouldn’t be to fabricate yourself for the enjoyment of others. It should be a way to share what you love with others, but it shouldn’t be your life. It has reminded me that authenticity is more important than any follow count. The best way to live is for yourself, not for your social media followers. 

I was also reminded of how important it is to stand up against big corporations, and to uplift the people they displace. Through the book I continued to get angrier and angrier with Mega Eats. But justice prevailed, and I was left inspired and satisfied with the end of the story. 

I enjoyed all the food elements of the book. I couldn’t read it without getting hungry! Also the fact that there are recipes for Kia and Sullivan dishes in the back?!?!? I adore that! 

My only criticism about this book was that the writing style bugged me occasionally. I felt like the POV was overly complex and would have preferred if the book was in first person POV. However, this is just a personal preference, and it only distracted my reading experience a handful of times. That aside, this book was beautiful and I absolutely enjoyed it. 

Thank you so much to Forever for the gifted copy!