Luscious
Grade : B

Amanda Usen’s novel Luscious is a bit like the food our heroine cooks: flavors and ingredients that appear unassumingly simple, perhaps even uninspired, but meld together wonderfully and leave you wanting more. I had fairly low expectations at the beginning, but I was happily mistaken.

Olivia Marconi is under a lot of stress. She just divorced her husband, the restaurant she owns is barely recovering from her ex driving it into the ground, and her rebound man, her friend and divorce attorney, turned her down. Instead of dealing with things, she runs off to her parents’ estate outside Verona, Italy, with no plans to return.

Sean Kindred did not reject Olivia out of any disinterest; he has actually crushed on her since they were in high school together. But the timing was bad, and he didn’t want to just be her rebound while she was emotionally fragile. So when a client demands that he serve his wife with divorce papers during her very expensive Italian vacation, Sean jumps at the chance to go and spend time with Olivia. Once the little matter of hurt pride and rejected advances is cleared up, the two embark on an Italian vacation fling.

While the set-up was on the clunky side, the majority of the novel was delightful. Sean and Olivia had marvelous chemistry together, while not being so explosive as to be unbelievable. Sex is a part of their attraction, but it is not the whole of it. Sean clearly cares about Olivia, and I enjoyed seeing him break her out of her shell. Her husband had destroyed a lot of her self-confidence, and Sean’s ability to build it back up was one of the many reasons I liked him.

Olivia’s minor breakdown was not a responsible way of dealing with her stress, but it was an understandable one. She had burned out and needed to get away. The author did a good job in conveying her anxieties, both at home and in Italy. Her parents -- well, her mother -- is not the most relaxing person to be around, and Olivia has to weigh her options and her family carefully. There is a side storyline about a long-lost secret to the vineyard’s signature wine, some mysterious behavior on the part of the chef, and unexplained financial problems. It adds intrigue, but makes the ending of the novel feel anticlimactic. It is wrapped up too quickly, and could have been much more developed.

I’m a sucker for food books, and this is a very good one. The author is a chef herself, and knows what she’s talking about, so the descriptions of the food are perfectly done - not excessive, but descriptive enough to make you a bit hungry. The story, like a good meal, had a way of staying with me after I had put the book down, and I had a hard time putting Olivia and Sean out of my thoughts. This was a fun book, and a good one, even if it wasn't groundbreaking.

Reviewed by Jane Granville
Grade : B

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : July 30, 2012

Publication Date: 2012/07

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Jane Granville

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