Chef Jake Casey has never been what you’d call… liked. By anyone. He was the odd outcast son of the town drunk, and he’s spent his adult life doing everything he can to be nothing like his father. If that meant stomping on a few dozen toes, so be it. But contrary to popular belief, he is human. It gets a little old being alone all the time. When he lands a new job on the other side of the country, Jake decides he’s going to change. New city, new restaurant, new Jake.
It’s going pretty well until his first and only friend’s ex shows up with a fiancé in tow. Ty is horrified. Jake might not have much practice with the friend thing, but he decides he’ll do what everyone in the movies always does – he offers to be Ty’s fake boyfriend. It can’t go wrong. Right?
Ty Caldecott knows better. His life isn’t a teen rom-com and situations like these always end up in humiliation. But the prospect of seeing Taran every day with that ring shining on his finger makes Ty want to vomit. Ty doesn’t want to look like a pining loser, so he tells Jake he’s in.
It can’t go wrong.
Right?
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Book 3, but can honestly be read as a stand alone. The books are definitely connected, but still, the only thing you would really miss is how much everyone HATED Jake before this book.
Jake. The chef everyone hates. The entire staff was scared of him. He stepped on as many heads as he had to in order to get to the top and he didn’t care. Ahh, brings me back. Seriously, it is kind of funny how most chefs in books are generally nice guys. FALSE. They are jerks. Assholes. Dickheads. Trust me.
In a twisted way Jake is offered and accepts the position of head chef at a restaurant of a formal rival who is now a tv star. But he is determined to not be an asshole. Literally his words. He has finally realized how lonely his life is.
Ty had a brief encounter years ago with Jake but doesn’t have the personal experience of how bad he was. So as the interim manager of the restaurant, Jake asks Ty to make sure he isn’t an asshole. It was actually kind of cute.
Most of the book was the friendship relationship growing between Jake and Ty. As well as the opening of the restaurant. But Jake had never really had a friend before, so he really kind of treasured Ty. There was silly flirting that friends do, but both of them were fairly oblivious to the fact that they liked each other as more than friends.
Several hiccups in mostly Ty’s life makes them both realize what they mean to each other.
There is no sex in this book. Zero. Which is one of the reasons why when I got to the last page I literally looked on the back of my kindle to see if I missed something. I know all of you pre-kindle book readers know what I am talking about. You’ve all done it. It’s not a cliff hanger at all. It was just incomplete.
So I assume that there is a book coming that will complete their happily ever after. If they end up being only a footnote in the next book I will not be happy. They deserve to have their couple love story told.
3.5 Pieces of Eye Candy
Tara Lain believes in happy ever afters – and magic. Same thing. In fact, she says, she doesn’t believe, she knows. Tara shares this passion in her best-selling stories that star her unique, charismatic heroes — the beautiful boys of romance — and adventurous heroines. Quarterbacks and cops, werewolves and witches, blue collar or billionaires, Tara’s characters, readers say, love deeply, resolve seemingly insurmountable differences, and ultimately live their lives authentically. After many years living in southern California, Tara, her soulmate honey and her soulmate dog decided they wanted less cars and more trees, prompting a move to Ashland, Oregon where Tara’s creating new stories and loving living in a small town with big culture. Likely a Gryffindor but possessed of Parseltongue, Tara loves animals of all kinds, diversity, open minds, coconut crunch ice cream from Zoeys, and her readers. She also loves to hear from you.
