Can the most painful events of your life turn into something great?

Synopsis

Could a blast from the past be the secret ingredient to their future?

Asher Wright has spent his career creating and concocting the perfect dishes and is about to open his very own restaurant. Life is good. His love life, however, is far from cooking! He hasn’t thought about Lucy Gray in years – not since they both graduated, reeling from the shocking loss of her then boyfriend and his best friend Kris, who tragically died at 18. So when he witnesses the breakdown of her wedding in all its humiliating glory – old wounds and long-buried emotions resurface.

As Lucy lands a right hook on her soon-to-be ex-fiancée in front of their entire wedding party, she has a moment of realization… Love is not on the menu for her! Fate, however, has other plans… A chance twist of events lands Asher as the private chef for Lucy’s spirited grandmother, Mitzi, and what begins as awkward encounters in Mitzi’s Portland mansion soon evolves into a simmering connection she never expected.

As Asher and Lucy work through their past they discover a bond that feels both familiar and excitingly new.

My review

Lucy Gray didn’t expect that her wedding day would end with her breaking her fiancé’s nose just minutes before saying ‘I Do’. But of course she didn’t expect to see a video of him at his bachelor party getting a bit too close and intimate with another woman. And apparently he hasn’t been that monogamous at all… Now Lucy has decided that love isn’t on the menu. Not only love, but men in general. But then a man enters her  life… Or rather re-enters her life. Because the private chef her grandmother Mitzi has hired is no other than Asher. Asher, who not only revealed Brandon’s real character, but was also best friends with Lucy’s high school sweetheart, Kris, who died tragically in an accident. Now Asher is ready to open a restaurant with his brother. Things are going well for him, except when it comes to love. Because he hasn’t been all that lucky in love in the past… While initially things are a bit awkward between Asher and Lucy, bit by bit, a friendship starts to form, a complicity that they both didn’t expect to find with each other. But will their shared past allow them to move on together? Or will it be something that will keep them apart?

When we were teenagers, haven’t we all have had a sweetheart? In most cases, that relationship, if we can call it like it, may seem like the real deal, that it will last a lifetime. But in most cases, it is just puppy love. The relationship ends, and eventually, hopefully, we will find that real deal, that amazing love.

So when I learned in this book, that Lucy’s relationship with Kris ended way more tragically, of course I felt for Lucy. Because even if their future together perhaps wasn’t written in the stars, Kris’s premature dying ends things too abruptly and without any way of appropriate closure. And that made me fear that Lucy would be holding to this perfect version of her relationship with Kris. As no matter who she would be meeting, he would never be able to live up to the image of Kris…

Of course we know what is going to happen in Vegas and her wedding day, that in a way only confirmed my suspicions, that she isn’t able to find someone right for her, that she is blind to the red flags.

Yet I admired her feistiness when she is shown his betrayal and does stand op herself and even shows her strength, literally and figuratively speaking!

In the real world, it would never happen, or the stars would align very strangely, to let Lucy and Asher meet again after so many years, in Vegas, just moments before Lucy is getting married. But as his is a book, anything can happen in it, doesn’t it? 😊

It was sweet, to see how Lucy meets Asher again, after all those years. Having lost the same person they loved, connects them in a way that no one else could understand, or could be. And while they were both happy to see each other, it reminds them again of what, or rather who, they have lost. It is a bittersweet encounter, that they have, yet it is also a genuine one.

It is clear from the first time that Asher enters the scene, that he is truly one of the good guys. He  is genuinely happy for Lucy, and wishes her all the best. And even when he is faced with the truth about Lucy’s fiancé, he knows what the right thing to do is, no matter how much it will hurt Lucy initially.

I liked Asher immediately, for so many different reasons. He is genuine, honest, loyal and reliable. And yes, food is the only way to my heart, so him being a great cook, and on the verge of opening his own restaurant made my admiration for him only grow.

I have to also admit, I found him also very adorable. And while perhaps that doesn’t sound very attractive, it fits for Asher!

On the other hand, I also felt so sorry for Asher too. Reading about his past relationships, and how they all ended, just saddened me. Asher didn’t deserve to be treated that way by those women… And that made me understand his reticence, his insecurities and even his doubts all the better.

It was funny to read how Asher and Lucy suddenly are seeing each other each day, due him being Lucy’s and Mitzi’s personal chef. And even more reading how Lucy is falling for not only Asher’s cooking skills, but slowly, very slowly, also for Asher.

The more time they spend together, the more their complicity grows, the more their friendship grows, the more their understanding of each other grows. Yet as a reader it was also a bit frustrating to read how they find it so difficult to admit what they are truly feeling, not only to each other but also to themselves.

This book is filled with so much laughter and sweet smiles. But it is also obvious and mainly about characters finding their trust in love again. Both Asher and Lucy have been through a lot, a lot of pain too. And they have to see and learn that love is in fact a beautiful thing, if you can find the courage to let it in. It is also about letting go of the past, and move on from it. Moving on, which doesn’t mean forget, but to allow yourself to live your life and love at the fullest. And seeing Lucy and Asher going through this discovery together, is not only heart – warming but also inspiring!

The pace of this book is perhaps on the slower side, but it the perfect pace for the story. Because feelings, emotions, thoughts, don’t just change overnight, it is all whole process to go through. If the pace would have been even a tiny bit faster, it wouldn’t fit with the main characters’ personas. With this gentle pace it was not only easier to relate with them, but it was also more realistic.

I had high expectations for this book, as I have read several books from this wonderful author, which I all adored. And I can gladly say that this book will be added to that list!