A Dash of Salt and Pepper is a delightfully warm-hearted tale about two chefs who find love together in spite of their career doubts and family pressures. The romance is heady, the scenery beautifully described, and the food porn gorgeous.

Xavier Reynolds is stuck rebuilding his life from basic ingredients. He’s just been through a break-up when being passed over for an important fellowship forces him to move back to his tiny Maine home town. He becomes a prep chef at The Wharf, a new restaurant opening there, not expecting that love will come calling for him.

Logan O’Hare is just trying to get The Wharf up and running while raising his daughter Anna. He and Xavier don’t have meshing attitudes, but as they start spending more time together in the kitchen they discover a shared harmony. Might that joy be complicated as Xavier’s skills become sharper and the possibility of further career moves lie in wait?

A Dash of Salt and Pepper is cozy in the best of ways. Xavier changes and grows as a chef; Logan mentors him, and Xavier must grow up and rise to the mantle of chefdom, and he does so with sublime skill. Logan, meanwhile, learns to let go and let Xavier have a little authority of his own.

I liked the connection each man forms with Anna, and the complicated feelings Xavier has about meshing with his family after losing so much and being forced to return to Maine. The scenery, food, and feeling of the area is, by the way, impeccably recreated. Everything about the book sings, although if you don’t like boss/mentee relationships, then it might not work as well for you as it did for me.

Ultimately, this is simply a treat of a book, head to toe and end to end, and one of the best contemporary romances I’ve read this year. Pick it up and sink in.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop

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