Yes, Chef!

BEHIND! (wink)

Like any good tasting menu, I’ve arranged three dishes served at exactly the right temperature that offer a unique experience while still feeling like part of a set. Or, put without a clumsy food metaphor, I’ve picked for you three very different books with a chef protagonist to enjoy depending on your mood! And if you’re still hungry for more (lololol) my pal and fellow author Alyssa Jarrett recently did a similar post with a bit of overlap!

Dear Enemy by Kristen Callihan. Recommended to me by my friend (and fellow author) Rebecca V Archer, this book is a master class in romantic tension. It appears more low-stakes than it feels, in all the best ways. Also, there’a a major epistolary element, which you know I love!

After being immediately rebuffed in friendship by her new neighbor, Macon Saint, Delilah spent the rest of her childhood at odds with him and his girlfriend, also known as her kinda evil younger sister Samantha. Their war of words (and sometimes more) culminated in a particularly humiliating prom moment, because of course it did, and they haven’t spoken in a decade. Not until Samantha steals a valuable heirloom from him and Delilah agrees to be debt collateral to the now famous actor Macon until she can lure her sister back from wherever the hell she went.

Macon, for his part, is recovering from a major car accident in between seasons of his popular TV show. A major car accident caused and exploited by a pair of stalkers he’s been dealing with. And his ex girlfriend turned temporary assistant turned thief Samantha left him in the lurch in more ways than one, so when it turns out the phone number he’s calling demanding her to return his mother’s brooch is her curvy, sharp-tongued sister Delilah… well, at least he’ll have an outlet for his feelings of fury and fear.

Delilah just sold her catering business, but instead of spending her new savings traveling to learn new cuisines to inspire her as a chef, she’s essentially indentured to her old enemy as his private chef and executive assistant for a year, or until her sister turns up and returns his property. Extreme martyr complex stuff, and unfortunately, extremely my shit. Can you tell I was raised Catholic?

Anyways. The yearning and ways in which these two find to punish both each other and themselves are delicious. Truly you could cut the tension with a chef’s knife. I’m obsessed with these two and they way they are obsessed with each other, even when they’re technically obsessed (derogatory). Plus, he’s her evil sister’s ex?? YES! (available on KU)

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver. The shortest way to recommend this book is that it’s about two Dexters (serial killers who kill other killers/awful criminals) who were fans of each other from afar, meet up by chance, and begin a yearly challenge where they are sent by a third party to a location where there’s a serial killer and they have to root out and kill the killer first. Also they fall in love and it’s genuinely one of the more believable, romantic pairings I’ve read in a long time.

The longer way to recommend this book is to tell you a little more about our deranged little weirdos who are some of my favorite characters of all time. We’ve first got Blackbird, aka Sloane, who became a killer when she and a friend were abused at their fancy private school and she took care of the issue once and for all after going through the proper channels failed. She’s known as the Orb Weaver because her killing involves eyeballs and webs of stuff (which is actually an elaborate map to the newly dead serial killer’s crimes), and she’s got trust issues longer than her list of victims.

We’ve also got Rowan, aka the Butcher, aka a chef from Ireland who kills after he and his brothers (the heroes of the next two books) killed their abusive father and fled to America. He’s a lot more emotionally regulated than Sloane (which is saying a lot for a serial killer) because at least he has a supportive community, so he takes great pleasure in trying to draw Sloane into it more and more over the course (restaurant pun) of their yearly kill fest.

There’s some other plot stuff, but essentially it’s two killers killing killers and getting romantic in between (and sometimes during). Definitely read the content warnings, though, friends.

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Savor It by Tarah DeWitt. Ok we’ve had toxic enemies to lovers chef and serial killer chef books, now let’s try a small town chef book! Sage is an elementary school teacher and hobby farm owner with a bunch of mismatched rescue animals, and has lived in her tiny hometown in Oregon all her life. Which has a lot of benefits… and also drawbacks, like when your relationship of 5 years to a hometown golden boy falls apart, then he gets engaged, and now you live in a panopticon. She needs to claw back some pride, and part of that is competing in her town’s summer festival activities. But it’s a team effort, and she’s suddenly teamless…

Enter: Fisher, a chef from NYC who flamed out of his career after the death of his sister and the sudden guardianship of his teenage niece. He’s in Sage’s town for the summer to help design the menu for a new restaurant, and happens to be renting the house next door to hers. After a bit of neighborly disagreements (often involving her veritable zoo), they end up teaming up for their mutual pride comebacks: she’ll help him with his restaurant stuff, he’ll compete with her in the festival and lowkey pretend to be her boyfriend.

But he’s leaving at the end of the summer, so when their fake deal becomes real real fast, it doesn’t matter. It can’t matter. Right? Right?? Tarah DeWitt always delivers sexy, heart-wrenching, community-embedded stories, and this latest is no exception. And that COVER. Whew!

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥

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Next week, I’ll be recommending books about arranged marriages involving culture shock for one or both of the newlyweds!

What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!

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Available now: my debut marriage of convenience romance Rehabbing the Billionaire! Buy your copy on Amazon, or snag it on Kindle Unlimited! Then, rate it on Goodreads to help more people discover it!