I always like a book about cooking as you can often learn new things - I am a bit of an experimental cook myself and often change recipes around depending on how I sense / smell the food is going - add another spice or herb, change the protein etc.
I thought this was a nice book but did wonder if our Chef shouldn't have gone for grief counselling - to lose a twin must be devastating especially if you are identical and live / work / and play together as these seemed to.
The book was written in a light style but rather superfically in places - it could have explored emotions more for instance. The setting was nice but again, unless you knew the Californian coast it rather flew over the readers' heads. Luckily I do, and understood Monterrey and thus the setting and type of small town it would be.

Unfortunately, I didn’t engage with the characters and found the plotline too simple. I don’t post negative reviews, so have declined comment.

So, I liked the premise, but I think it had a couple too many things going on that meant that it didn’t have enough time to properly develop the various plot strands. Between saving the inn, protecting her gran, learning to cook, entering the competition, just Abby has a lot going on and that’s before you get to Jason - recently bereaved, trying to rebuild his life and career, family business in peril - or the two of them falling in love. If it had had even one less piece of conflict then I think it would have given it a bit more time for making the reader understand what is going on.

Found this a bit hard to get into as the heroine felt over the top and the hero's backstory was such a sob story, it definitely made for a too-sweet taste settling in from the get-go. Still, the town life was engaging, and the whole thing around the festival kept it going even though the romance was a bit of a let-down

I really enjoyed this book, I liked the main characters Abby and Jason and thought it was well written.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for a review. I will be putting this review on Amazon too.

This was such an enjoyable read from the start!.
The Inn that Abby's grandparents have been running their entire married lives is not doing as well as it has in the past. The building is in serious need of a makeover, and a never ending list of repairs has mounted up. Abby is determined to help in anyway she can, however when she takes over the running of the Inn one thing is seriously going to hinder her making it a success once more, and that is the overwhelming fact that she cannot cook at all.
This is where Jason comes in. He is an ex celebrity chef who has booked himself into the Inn for a much needed break, allowing him to recover from a family tragedy along with his employment problems.
Abby and Jason come to an agreement between themselves - Jason will teach Abby how to cook so that she can partake in a competition that could change the future of the Inn, and in turn, it allows Jason to face his fears head on.
I loved the romance that blossomed between Jason and Abby, and the ways in which they grew as individuals as the story progressed. A beautiful, light hearted read!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Harlequin Heartwarming and Anna J Stewart for the e copy of this book.
I really enjoyed this book. I found the characters engaging, caring and just joy to read about. This is the story of Abby and Jason. Abby is running the inn where her grandparents lived all their married lives. Her grandmother still lives there but the Inn is not doing well and is in need of a major makeover. Unfortunately, the owner is not up to doing the repair and the Inn is not making the money to pay for the repairs. There is a solution but the main obstacle to that is Abby can’t cook – at all.
Enter Jason. An ex celebratory chief, who is booked into the Inn to recover from a family tragedy and employment fiasco.
Abby and Jason come to an understanding that he will teach her how to cook, in order to participate in a cooking competition, that if she wins would see her be able to bring the Inn back to its former glory.
The scenes with Abby learning to cook and Jason overcoming his fear of being back in a kitchen were really well written. I loved the description of the farm garden they went to. Meeting the friends Abby had in the small town was so nice. Everyone roots for Abby and I just really enjoyed reading this book.

Abby would do anything to save the hotel that she and her gran have lived in since she was a child but it’s in serious financial difficulties. With a food festival coming to town and an amateur cooking contest with a large prize pot it could be what she needs, only one slight problem though, Abby can’t cook so in steps Jason, a professional chef who is escaping New York following his twin brothers death
I loved Abby, she is a great fun character full of life, she says what she thinks which sometimes gets her into trouble but the people she cares about accept her no matter what. She struggles with slowing down and when she panics things can get a bit dicey, especially in the kitchen
Jason is really struggling emotionally when he comes to the inn and all he wants is to escape his life in New York and not cook again. Seeing him start to accept what has happened with the support of Abby and her friends makes me love him as a character, he is somewhere where people don’t judge him on his past but on what he does now which is something that I would hope more people could do
The town is Butterfly Harbour and there are unsurprisingly a lot of butterfly related things in the book, one I loved is that the senior citizens group is called the Cocoon Club. There is a huge amount of community spirit in the town and that drew me in almost as much as Abby and Jason’s story
I would recommend this book to whose who enjoy a story full of fabulous characters learning about themselves in an amazing setting

Jason is running from everything he has ever known, ever since he can remember he has been a chef and in the food business, but when his twin dies he finds himself lost and in trouble when it is revealed he has cheated in a food competition so he escapes to a small town where he hopes no one will know him, but when he arrives he is quite literally thrown into the fire when Hotel Manager Abby has set the kitchen on fire.
Abby is entering a local cooking competition to win $50,000 which she needs to save her beloved hotel but there is one thing standing in her way...she can't cook! She enlists Jason to be her teacher but soon finds out there is more going on in the kitchen then just cooking. She is falling head over heals for her chef!