Bad-boy chef Wes Murphy is dreading his final-semester cooking class-Food Chemistry 101-until he meets the new substitute teacher. Dr. Rosemary Wilkins is a feast for the eyes, though her approach to food is strictly academic. So Wes decides to rattle her Bunsen burner by asking for her hands-on advice-on aphrodisiacs...
She's got love down to a science.
Rosemary is a little wary about working with Wes, whose casual flirtations make her hot under the collar. But once they begin testing the love-enhancing power of chocolate, oysters, and strawberries, it becomes scientifically evident that the brainy science nerd and the boyish chef have some major chemistry together-and it’s delicious...
Review: I mentioned this book about three weeks ago as one of my Waiting on Wednesday reads. I was looking forward to the easy, flirty, sexy and fun read I've come to expect from Louisa Edwards after Can't Stand the Heat and On the Steamy Side.
I think I'm still waiting...
The attraction between two characters in a mass market romance has to be immediate. You can't spend 150 pages developing it...that's half the book...in some cases, almost the whole book. Louisa Edwards did a FANTASTIC job of establishing this connection in Can't Stand the Heat. The chemistry was there from the first initial pages.
In this particular book, I feel like the chemistry between Wes and Rosemary is forced from the get-go, which sucks because Rosemary is such a likeable character. She's a genius...she's book smart about everything bus has no insight into the messiness that stems from human relationships. It's refreshing because she's not overthinking this relationship...this book doesn't focus on her wondering what's happening because she really has no idea she's supposed to, making her an odd but loveable heroine.
On the other hand, Wes (the chef in this book) is kind of...blah. He lacks the strong personality of your typical romantic hero. I think the whole draw of romance novels, for myself at least, is the strong masculine man--self-assured & confident, strong with some sort of...animal magnetism. (Eek...I really did just use that term. I apologize profusely.) Wes, somehow, seems to lack that and comes off as a large child. It's not attractive in life and it sure ain't attractive in fantasy.
The combination of these two personalities, along with the lack of an actual story, fell flat.
I really, really wanted to love this book. It just seemed to lack the personality (the charisma?) of the first two.
LitSnit Grade: C
**However, I encourage you to read all three...if not for the main characters then for the minor romance that is followed throughout all three books between Jess (Miranda's brother from Can't Stand the Heat) and Frankie (Adam's best friend and sous chef in the same book). The romance between these two men is genuine and I honestly will continue to read Edwards's books for this story alone!
