When reading, I am always so excited when I see a recipe in the book, within days I am attempting to replicate the dish in my own kitchen. That is probably why I am so excited of mysteries that involve cooks, caterers and bakers. When I originally picked up this book, I never thought there would be recipes accompanying the story. what an excellent surprise when I reached the end of the book and I saw them! (I was especially excited for the recipe for the biscuits… you’ll see.)
On the Steamy Side has both positive and negative notes for me. The story is about Lilah Jane who leaves a broken engagement, overly stuffy Aunt and her life in Virginia and moves to New York City to be free to be herself. She was raised to be prim and proper – the debutant of them all, so she purposely does what her Aunt would not want her to do – go to a dive bar, pick a fight with a jerk and end up leaving with a stranger – and goes back to his place for a little (a lot) of fun that night.
In a twist of fate, the guy she went home with ends up being a famous chef – and stubborn and temperamental. As the saying goes – everything happens in threes – and for Devon the Chef – it does. He has to take charge of a restaurant, ends up with his son while the boys mother is in rehab, and ends up having his one night stand living with him because he irrationally hired her as a live in nanny.
One thing that I really liked was the fact that there were other point of views and stories sprinkled into the story. It gave a fresh perspective of the novel. After I read that this was part of a series, I understood why she did it, but she did it really well. I liked her character development, the fact that the characters actually fought (legitimate fights real people have) and they did not perfectly fit the romance formula made it even better. There are only a few points that I did not care for. The book opened with a bang. Er, well, literally… That one night stand I mentioned earlier? happened in the first 20 pages. That was a little shocking. The other park that I could have done was the sheer amount of swearing that happened. I am ok with the occasional slip, but like the Lilah, I was not amused by Devon’s use of language.
I have not read Louisa Edwards before, and after reading On the Steamy Side I think I am going to put her on my list of usuals. This is a better than average contemporary romance escape, but I am still on the fence. She has not jumped to the top of my list, but I am willing to give her book another chance.
Louisa Edwards has a website, you should check it out to see what else she has written.
reading fluff & stuff 