*A Taste of You by Sorcha Grace

A young food photographer's appetites are awakened when she is swept off her feet by a handsome billionaire gourmand.

Beautiful and talented Catherine Kelly is starting over as a food photographer in Chicago. With her painful past buried in California, she’s focused on her career and is hungry for little else. Until she meets a wealthy bachelor with arresting blue-grey eyes filled with enough tragedy to match her own. William Lambourne is rich, powerful, and gorgeous -- and as talented in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom. From the moment they meet, William is determined to discover the perfect recipe to unlock Cat’s resolve, awaken her senses, and make her his own. Book 1 in The Epicurean series, A Taste of You will leave you hungry…for more!

First of all, I absolutely love food seduction! And, I'll start by saying that I'll never be able to look at a chocolate filled croissant again without smiling. There was one scene in this book involving this food that had me grinning from ear to ear. It was delicious! In more ways than one... :) I feel the same way about the frozen grapes used in another scene. In fact, without the yummy food seduction scenes I may not have liked this book very much at all so it gave this been there done that story the little bit of spice it needed to keep me turning the pages.

So... been there... done that... got the orgasm! Yeah... this book had me thinking "deja vu". One scene brought me back to one vaguely similar in Beautiful Bastard, another brought me back to the beginning of it all with a clear resemblance to a scene from Fifty Shades of Grey. And, the yummy food seduction scenes brought back memories of that iconic 9 1/2 Weeks movie from so long ago. You know, the food scene in front of the fridge! There was a word that I hated in Fifty Shades... cupped... Oh my googily goodness... I started rolling when I saw it again in this book at the end! I had hoped I would never see it again after FSOG but there it was staring up at me from the page. UUgghhhh... I don't know why I hate the word. I just don't find cupping a woman's sex erotic.

And here it comes... the big no-no for me... well two big no-no's... and two issues that if they had been handled better would have greatly improved the story for me.

The first was what has become sort of a tradition... the standard good looking mysterious "billionaire" who has control issues and secrets. I think I would've loved this story more if the guy had been a plumber, or an electrician or even the friggin' pizza delivery guy! Please stop the madness! Ordinary guys with ordinary jobs can be great lovers too people!

The second no-no is the whole love at first sight or "lust" at first sight whirlwind romance. I prefer a properly paced romance. We need flirting... we need build up... we need time to actually get to know the characters and fall in lust WITH them. It was hard for me to like William because we never got to hear anything from his POV. And, being inside Catherine's head the entire book was slightly tiresome. She questions and over thinks everything...

I did love a few things about this couple, however. William was sometimes sweet, and other times controlling... but not in a bad way... in a seductive way. He seemed genuinely concerned about Catherine, he tried hard to please her and always put her needs first. He was a great cook and I love a man who can cook. He was a healthy balance of all of the things we need our men to be. Sometimes we want sweet and sometimes we don't... it's about living in the moment. I liked his back story. Catherine also had a great back story. We all remember our first loves... those heart breaks that we can't seem to ever really get over. Hers was even worse because she lost her first love in a tragic accident and now she was a widow struggling with how to let him go. There was a scene at the end of the book that had me swelling with tears as she was remembering her first love Jace. :( I also loved that she was a fully grown independent woman with a great career.

So, there you have it... this book did make me smile, it also made me cry, it also made me roll my eyes a time or two. But, I was fully engaged till the very end. So, despite the fact that he is just a boring ole' billionaire I'll be picking up the next book... yes, it ended on a cliffy. Did I mention that I hate cliffhangers??? Yes, I do... but, it is what it is. 
K~

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I'm giving this one a 3.5 rating...

I concur K! 3.5 Stars for A Taste of You.

I want a man to bring me warm chocolate and help me eat it. Who are we kidding….. ya’ll know I don’t share my chocolate!  LOL.  

Yes, there are a lot of similarities to other books in the genre. Yes, foodie books tend to be in fashion at the moment and yes, billionaires are all the rage for dominance. So what’s one more?

Keeping this short and sweet since my buddy K pretty much summed it up already in her review.

Instant attraction – check

Billionaire playboy – check

Catty Ex – check

Hot sex – check

Abrupt mood swings – check

Sassy Gay friend – check

Go head get a bag a candy and settle in for a fun cute read.

T~