Taste the Love

Wives Karelia and Fay Stetz-Waters (who previously collaborated on Second Night Stand) underwhelm in this busy contemporary. Six years after graduation, culinary school rivals Kia and Sullivan are thrust back into each other’s lives at a neighborhood association meeting. Sullivan now runs a highbrow restaurant on her family’s land in a communal green space called the Bois. Meanwhile, foodie influencer Kia is looking to settle down after years traveling with her food truck. Her plan is to buy the Bois and create a food truck pod where trucks can set up for longer periods of time. Sullivan wants to stop her and has the right to buy the land as a legacy owner, but can’t come up with the money. Meanwhile, the attention Kia has brought to her project attracts fast food giant Mega Eats, who are happy to outbid her. To stop them from taking over the Bois, Kia and Sullivan hatch a scheme to get married so that Kia can use Sullivan’s legacy status to buy the land. The authors put a lot of legwork into setting up this marriage of convenience plot, and all the legal drama distracts from the romance itself, leaving the emotions somewhat underdeveloped. Readers will be frustrated. (July)