"Spring is here, and pollen is in the air. While you're sneezing your way towards Summer, pop those Claritin and lose yourself in a Sultry Spring Read."
Sexy Saturdays is a weekly post we started to challenge ourselves to read more steamy books and have a lot of fun. Feel free to join in. (let us know so we can add a link to your post).
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**The books featured on SULTRY SPRING SATURDAYS are for adults. If you are under 18 years of age, or do not like smexy books, please stop here. **
Series: The Epicurean #1Category/Genre: Adult Erotic Romance
Publisher: Premier Digital Publishing
Publication Date: 5/28/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 311
Source: Received from publisher for review
She didn’t know how hungry she was… Beautiful and talented Catherine Kelly is intent on starting over as a food photographer in Chicago. With her painful past buried over 2000 miles away, she’s focused on her career and is hungry for little else. Until she meets William Lambourne, a wealthy bachelor with arresting blue-grey eyes filled with enough tragedy to match her own. William urges Catherine to step out from behind her camera and fully taste all that life has to offer, stirring an appetite in her she never knew she possessed - and it’s one only he can satisfy.
He couldn’t wait to feed her… A gourmand who takes great pleasure in food and in women, William Lambourne is rich, powerful, and gorgeous -- and as talented in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom. Longing for a woman to truly savor, William finds his match in Catherine. From the moment he meets her, he is determined to discover the perfect recipe to unlock Cat’s resolve, awaken her senses, and make her his own.
Theirs is a meal worth savoring… William is as mysterious as he is passionate, but as Catherine begins to fall for the stormy-eyed billionaire, she knows she must reveal her own dark secrets. But first, William must win Cat’s heart to ensure their pasts don’t undo them.
Book 1 in The Epicurean series, A Taste of You will leave you ravenous for more of Cat and William’s story!
Okay. I'm just going to be up-front and say this is a tough review for me, mostly because I feel a bit ambivalent about A Taste of You. I was interested in the story, yet I didn't find anything new and exciting in it. I liked the characters, yet I wanted to shake them. I enjoyed the book, yet felt annoyed by some aspects of it, too.
A Taste of You is about a lonely, reserved woman and the cultured, in-control billionaire who steals her heart. It's a nice escape for those who love their romance to be lavish and to read like a fantasy. Catherine meets William, and there is an immediate attraction between them. She's sure he doesn't really want her. Why would he when he can have any woman in the world? But want her he does, and William is determined to have Catherine.
The story has a lot of back-and-forth. Catherine wants William, but decides she's not ready for a serious relationship. She agrees to see him, but spends the entire time doubting that decision and determined to end it. But then he shows up on her doorstep, or actually talks the neighbor into letting him into the apartment, and all is well again. Catherine decides that William could never want to be really be with her, but he tells her that she's the only woman he has ever felt this way about and to please, please stay.
I never formed a strong connection to the characters. They've both experienced tremendous loss, and for that I sympathize. I think for Catherine, it was the constant back-and-forth in her decision making. Now I'm not going to say that it's not realistic, because it probably is for some people, but it just simply grated on me because I could see her mind swinging like a pendulum. And William...yeah, he was sexy and smooth and all, but so frickin' moody. He wasn't the worst cranky, controlling billionaire I've read, not by a long shot, but man was he bossy.
A Taste of You had some really steamy, sexy scenes. YAY! There's even a bit of #foodporn going on! I love a nice Alpha who knows what he's doing and knows how to please his lady. And once Catherine and William really get going, the sex is plentiful. But...am I the only woman thinks it's kind of hilarious in all of these books when a man can make a woman climax on demand? "Come. Now." Does that work on anyone? Am I alone here? Other than that, I really liked the smexy.
A Taste of You is a story with a very popular trope that many readers will love. Maybe I would have loved this if I had read it before other similar books. But at the end, there isn't a lot to make this story stand out for me. However, the story did end on a very surprising note. One that makes me think that I have to continue the series, simply to find out what happens next.
Favorite Quote:
"Open your mouth."
My gaze darted to his. His blue eyes were steel grey now. Even as I resisted his order mentally, I felt my lips part, and then sweet warmth exploded in my mouth. I groaned aloud at the taste of the pain au chocolat. I had never tasted anything so sensual, so rich, so addictive. I didn't know if it was the food or the kiss, but I was on the verge of ecstasy. ~eARC, 26%
"Open your mouth."
My gaze darted to his. His blue eyes were steel grey now. Even as I resisted his order mentally, I felt my lips part, and then sweet warmth exploded in my mouth. I groaned aloud at the taste of the pain au chocolat. I had never tasted anything so sensual, so rich, so addictive. I didn't know if it was the food or the kiss, but I was on the verge of ecstasy. ~eARC, 26%
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Yeah, I'm not a fan of the back and forth stuff so this one probably wouldn't work for me. Those books that you just feel neutral about are the hardest reviews to write!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting, but I don't know if it's one I would like so much. Great review hon!!
ReplyDeleteFoodporn FTW!!!! Seriously...if I could come on demand, I'd be a happy girl. Nice review love dove.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Andrea. I don't usually mind a familiar trope as long as the author makes it different in some way...but I think it would be hard for me if I didn't connect with the characters. I'm happy you may give this a second chance if there's a sequel...I guess the author did something right. I may eventually give it a shot. Thanks for great review!
ReplyDeleteMeh, sounds lame. Come on demand? It's a vagina, not a dvr. Seriously, speaking as someone who has lived in the ghetto ALL my life, billionaire stories do nothing for me. Now the food aspect mama like! Sounds like this one should have stuck to just the sex and food, no talky. Great review though!
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone, Andrea! Seriously, does that really happen in real life?!! Lol! If only, right? Sorry this wasn't as great as you hoped. I have a hard time liking a book if I don't connect with the characters as well. Great review. :)
ReplyDeleteI feel like we could have written the same review posted it on both of our blogs and been done with it lol. I feel the same way about this book because I wanted to like the characters but I never connected with them like I wanted to. Plus as you said there were several sexy scenes in this book and that was what kept me interested since it has been a while since I read some great steamy scenes in books. I feel a lot of romance authors are turning it down lately in their books even though the Fifty thing took over and more and more books are published as erotica none of them are the erotica I remember from before the Fifty trend. I miss those great steamy scenes so I love that this had that, just wish I had enjoyed it more.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending actually ruined it for me cause at that point I was reading it just to get to the HEA and be done and write the book off. Instead I got an ending that was left open and it kind of pissed me off.
Thanks for the great review. Sorry for the extremely long comment
Thanks for the honest review!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's just too frustrating to want to shake the characters when they are being stupid! Thanks for being honest.
ReplyDelete