Catering to Love Review

Title: Catering to Love

Author: Carolyn Hughey

Publisher: Montlake Romance

ISBN: 9781477808658

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Gabi Johnson finally got a chance to do what she always dreamed of doing - running her own restaurant. After failing at her catering business, the Inn at Carters' Mill will be her chance to shine. However, she didn't expect to inherit a sous-chef, Corey Edwards, with a huge chip on his shoulder. Corey wanted to buy the inn for himself but was passed over for her. Can Gabi made the restaurant work and find love or will she crash and burn?

I'm a fan of cooking shows and romance books. So, what's better than a romance that revolved around cooking? And what's cool is that I know of the area where the story takes place. It made the novel slightly more personal. Overall, I like the book except for one thing - our hero, Corey. For the most part, I was just plain annoyed with him, acting like the villain of the piece. I understand his reasons but I don't agree with him taking his unhappiness out on someone who doesn't deserve it. And honestly, I don't think he didn't really redeemed himself in the end. Corey dropped the ball and you want me to forgive him so easily . . . nope. And really? How could Gabi fall in love with him? Sure, he was good-looking. But when someone is constantly undermining you, it doesn't create a love epiphany. Luckily, he was a minor detail in the overall scheme of things. The book mainly focused on Gabi running and improving her restaurant. Gabi was seriously inspirational. I can easily relate to her and she was an admirable character. And the way she handled Corey's groveling at the end was done well. All the side characters were very supportive and fun since Corey was the main friction creator. The writing was good, not verbose and nicely paced. I breezed through the book since the chapters were sweet and to the point. This was a clean romance.

An added bonus? For the inspiring chef, there was a recipe at most of the conclusion of the chapters. There were 3 recipes that I'm definitely going to try out. If you are looking for a clean, romance with lots of friction between the lead characters and like cooking shows, this is your ticket. However, if you are looking for hot and heavy and not interested in cooking, pass this one over. Overall, I liked it but not one I would read again.

Note: I received this ARC from the Amazon Vine program for an honest review.