3.25 Stars. This was a perfectly nice traditional romance, but there wasn’t anything that really wowed me. It’s not my favorite by Rey, but it wasn’t a disappointment either. For me this is squarely in the okay category.

I would recommend the book for people who are foodies. This story is about a woman who runs a vegetable and fruit farm, and another woman who is the new head chief at a farm to table restaurant. Food is everywhere in this book and it is very detailed. I think it caused my stomach to growl a few times. I’ve always thought it would be really cool to own a little vegetable farm so I did very much like the setting of this book.

While the setting, the characters jobs, and all the food is well written about, I did feel the book lacked a little in other places. So much detail went into the food and jobs that I don’t think Rey spent enough time on building the characters. The mains were decently developed, but I felt almost all the secondary characters could use more work. And because this book is so much about food, farming and cooking, the pace was on the slower side. I was never actually bored, but I was close. Rey writing was good enough to keep me reading but I do prefer a little more of something in my books. Even the angst was pretty low key except for the one extremely predictable scene near the end.

The romance itself was pretty good. The characters had a connection and I liked them as a possible couple. The sex scenes were decent and they had some sparks, I just wished I felt that their connection was a little deeper. It was perfectly fine but again it didn’t wow me.

Overall this is a nice foodie romance. I personally have to keep it in the just okay category, but I don’t think readers will be disappointed with this book. Not Rey’s best but not bad either.

Yes, it's a pretty simple love story between Drew and Hannah but sometimes you just want a cute story to read. This is one of those books when you're not looking for huge plot twists or vampires.

I enjoyed the fact that their relationship took time to develop. They went through seasons together. We also got a bit of the push and pull of wanting to like someone but knowing that their situation and possibly even your futures aren't right for each other. A little internal battle is always enjoyable for me as a reader.

The side characters all felt just developed enough but not focused on too much where you feel like you've been taken away from the main characters. They were also very lovely.

My biggest gripe is that the POV from Hannah to Drew would happen a little suddenly. I'm a traditionalist - in that I like chapters or chapter breaks to be where you switch from one to the other.

This book isn't going to be a staple of my favorite collection, but I enjoyed reading it and getting to know these characters. I would recommend a read through.

I enjoy reading foodie romances. Combine mouth watering dishes with a couple of mouth watering women and you have a Recipe for Love. Drew Davis is hoping to advance her career by making a name for herself as head chef of Fig, an upstate restaurant hoping to be a trendsetter offering farm to table dishes using locally sourced produce. Drew knows that success here will speed up her chances to run a kitchen back in her beloved NYC.

Hannah is proud of her market garden operation and eager to prove to her father that she is quite capable of turning a profit with hard work, good marketing and excellent produce. Her contract to supply Fig means she will have to learn to work with big city chef Drew on a daily basis. Let the city mouse vs country mouse confrontations begin.

I liked this sweet traditional slow burn romance. Drew and Hannah might be slow to act on their attraction but once they do the reader is rewarded with some pretty steamy sex scenes. I liked the way both mains dance around their feelings knowing their differences would make a lasting relationship a challenge. No surprise when their budding relationship falters and no surprise again when they find a way back to find their HEA.

More than anything I was impressed with the growth I see in this author’s writing style. I liked the pace and way she slowly doles out details about her mains to hold the reader’s interest. I know when I read a book by Rey I will want to enjoy the mouth watering dishes she describes. It’s nice to see she is adding meat to the bone with her characters and storylines.

3.5 stars

ARC received with thanks from publisher via NetGalley for review.

The story told in this book is quite common, and besides, it does not have anything that makes it especially remarkable, so it remains in only an ok read.

Actually, the two protagonists heve not been very engaging for me. On the one hand Hannah has too many worries, some of it really silly, that hinder her to get carried away and enjoy life beyond her work on the farm. And then Drew, who has so deep in her head the need to succeed in her profession, but her priorities change suddenly and surprisingly.

Also, their families play a really weird and sometimes incoherent role. 

And finally, inevitable final conflict, I know it's necessary but, please, adult women cannot have so little communication and so many misunderstandings.

In short, an ordinary romance, without much more to add.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m pretty sure this is my first book by this author, and it was a nice enough place to start. It’s a fairly by the numbers romance, but nothing too noteworthy.

The two MCs are Hannah, who runs a farm that seems to grow everything and Drew, who is a chef who has taken a role as head chef at a farm-to-table restaurant to boost her chances of running her own kitchen in NY.

The relationship gets off to a slow start, mostly because Hannah doesn’t think much of ‘city girl’ Drew and believes Drew won’t stick around for long. They do spend a lot of time together in varying circumstances, and inevitably move past their reluctance (again mostly Hannah’s) to start a relationship. Their scenes together are fun and cute, and there’s some nice secondary characters (Hannah’s sister Clare, Drew’s boss/Hannah’s friend Nick), as well as some more tertiary character like their best friends and family members that round things out a bit.

My main issue was that there wasn’t a lot of context given regarding certain aspects. Drew’s background for one, she’s described as having ‘sepia’ skin, and refers to herself being ‘brown’ (her mother and grandmother are described in similar ways), but it’s not until roughly the 60% mark that we find out that they are from Haiti, would it really have been difficult to work this in earlier? Same with Hannah’s sister, who is the youngest of four and 12 years younger than Hannah, who is the next to her in age, so one assumes she was a ‘surprise’ baby, but again, no context is given. Hannah’s brothers are mentioned but don’t even rate a conversation with her even when they appear in a scene, but we get detailed descriptions of all the crops Hannah grows and most of the meals they eat. I could have done with less of that and more fleshing out of the characters.

Anyway, that aside, the romance itself is sweet and I enjoyed it up til the ‘miscommunication/breakup’ section of the story, but I did like how it was resolved, and that the story continued past them gettting back together so that we got a glimpse of their HEA. It’s a nice enough romance, and I’d try more from this author. 3 stars.