This is a beautifully emotional tale of love, family, friendship, and culture that left me crying, heart-wrenched, and feeling everything under the sun.

Tropes:
🩵One-bed
🩵Slow Burn
🩵Forced Proximity
🩵Enemies to Lovers

Overall Thoughts: (including why it received it’s rating)
5/5 stars- We start with our main character, Olive, who has been gifted her father’s restaurant through her inheritance from his death. She finds herself stuck with a difficult choice: sell the restaurant or keep it, all amongst dealing with the grief of her father’s passing. Traveling to Italy with her father’s sous chef, Leo, Olive must finish the cookbook that her father was working on during his passing.

This book took me through the travels of all possible emotions. It is rare that I give a book a solid 5/5, but I felt so intensely connected to this story, and it’s ability to evoke every emotional side of me left me speechless when the book ended.

What I liked:
Culture. I grew up in a Sicilian American family, and this book felt like a direct connection to my culture. It’s not often that I see Sicily represented so accurately in a piece of literature. It is often the mainland of Italy that is focused on. The vivid imagery of the food an landscape transported me to the location of the novel. I have to say, I couldn’t pick up the book without getting hungry! It’s clear there was an immense amount of research and effort that went into the production of this novel, and as a proud Sicilian, I cannot express how incredible it was to be immersed in the experience.
Friendship. The bonds that are expressed through Olive’s friendship with Kate and Ginny pulled on every string in my heart. “The best of friends. An abundance of patience. Not a stifled yawn or a change of subject between them,” (Chapter 33). Every single person deserves to experienced friendship as such, and this book was a wonderful reminder of the importance of the bond in friendship.
Love. The growth of love in every scenario- friendship, relationship, family, culture- was a beautiful development. Through a fight with grief, as emotions are heightened, it is then we can find the most beautiful connections and the important people in our life. This book did a wonderful job at displaying various types of bonds and relationships that develop through our lives.


Overall Summary:
Thank you @netgalley, @PutnamBooks and @lizzydent for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for a review. I am honored to have been provided the opportunity to review this book.

Grief, love, friendship, and culture are guiding factors in our life. AFter evoking every possible emotion from my body, this book left me feeling whole. Through an exploration of Sicilian and Italian culture, food, family, and life, Dent created an atmosphere in which any reader would be lucky to enter. Get your food and wine ready as you dive into this novel, because you will not be disappointed!

Overall a decent enemies to lovers trope and I enjoyed the depiction of grief and how that molded the story. However I couldn’t find myself to LOVE the characters.

My favorite Lizzy Dent so far! This book dealt with grief beautifully, while still creating a sweet and believable romance against the stunning Italian backdrop. My one qualm was the big reveal at the 75% mark that seemingly came out of nowhere. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book made me hungry. Her descriptions are top notch lol. And the romance was adorable. Loved it

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Just One Taste! I’m officially hungry and needing a trip to Italy after this one! Are we calling this an enemies to lovers trope?! Were Leo and Olive ever TRULY enemies? I think it was love from the start. My only complaint is the twist at the end was perhaps a bit rushed? But it did make for an even more emotional ending, so all is well!

This is going to be a great summer read, preferably paired with a cold glass of rosé or some blood orange granita. Put this on your TBR!

This book was so good! Yes it was a romance novel at its core, but there was so much more to the story! This book was a story of grief and acceptance, and the twist at the end was so beautifully done. Usually I don’t like major plot twists, but this one felt so natural and added so much to the story.

I was surprised by how much I liked this one. For me, the best parts were the descriptions of food and Italy. I could’ve read those descriptions for ages.

This book gave me all the feels! I laughed, cried and also made me hungry. Such a fun read and makes me really want to visit the places the author talks about. I really related with the main character Olive and her struggles with her father. I did not expect the twist towards the end, but felt that just gave the book more depth. I also really enjoyed Leo’s character and the slow burn with him and Olive. This book ended so perfectly and did not want it to end. Thank you Netgalley, G.P. Putnam’s Sons publishing for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am very excited to be reading this book! My full review to follow.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wish they would have half stars because I would have given this one a 3.5! I absolutely loved the journey through Italy and the descriptions of each city and it's unique food offerings. The idea of completing Olive's fathers cookbook with his sous chef and the almost pre-destined set-up by her father was sweet. The one thing I didn't like about the relationship is that it went from 0-60 in a matter of 5-6 days. It felt like the author was trying to make the relationship realistic but with that timeline, it was a stretch for me. I think the shining star of this book was the work on the cookbook and the food journey through Italy. When she finds out the additional information about her father (not going to mention what that is because it would be a major spoiler,) I think that was underdeveloped and rushed as far as Olive's response and then ending of the book. Overall, good book, but could have been more detailed and connected portions of the book more effectively.

4 stars! Cute read but the ending dragged. Absolutely loved the setting! I think this will be a great summer read!

What first intrigued me about this book was the cover and my love for Italian food! I had to see what it was all about! My dream is to travel to Italy one day and the way the author describes everything as Olive and Leo travel around Italy marked me want to go there so much more to just experience the food and the scenery! I enjoyed the story and how it all came together, this was my first book by this author and I’ll be adding more of her books to my to be read list!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

4.5 stars
My favorite Lizzy Dent so far. This is a slow burn romance but the chemistry sizzled right from the start. Olive and Leo's banter was great. Her relationship with her two best friends was perfect, loving, and supportive. Lots of laughs throughout. The towns in Italy that they visit become characters of their own. I love how Dent describes everything so you feel you're there with them. I'm not a foodie at all and hate to cook but I enjoyed the premise of watching Olive and Leo fall in love while writing a cookbook on their tour of Italy. The food sounded amazing. And the picnic on the hill? Swoon. If not for the big twist towards the end that was kind of abrupt then quickly put to rest, this would be 5 stars for me.

3.5 Stars

The setting of this story took us all the way through Italy, and it was so fun. This book left me with such intense cravings for authentic Italian food. This was a fun and funny story about two people who really didn't want to like each other, but they did anyway. I wasn't really invested in the ending of the story and somewhat lost interest after the twist, but the book up until that point was really fun and interesting.

ARC from NetGalley and Penguin

i need this book to be a thousand pages long, adapted into a movie, and tattooed on my skin. maybe i’m exaggerating, but i really did love this.

i loved it so much that i ran to my local bookstore and had all of lizzy dent’s books special-ordered. all of them. despite being extremely selective (recently) when it comes to buying books. that’s how much i loved her writing.

where do i even begin?! just one taste ensnared me from the onset, what with its delicious banter, lovable characters, and seriously exquisite descriptions of italy and food. i need to be on a plane headed to italy, asap, with a leo on my arm. pronto. now. i’m not even kidding.

you know the feeling when you start a book, and part of you wants to read it as slowly as possible because you know, deep inside, that it’s going to be good and you want to savor it? but another part of you is desperate to know what happens next… so you down 75% of the book in two hours. that’s what it was like for me—and that includes all the yelps, tears, and banging-my-head-on-the-table-because-i-am-swooning-the-crap-out-right-nows.

i mentioned in my mini kilt trip review that the books are pretty similar in their premise, in the sense that it involves an aspect of travel and grief. just one taste tackles grief a bit differently, one that really managed to rip my heart out, especially towards the latter end. the narrative surrounding olive and her father is incredibly special to me, especially since i’m really close with my dad. believe me when I say that the last 20% of the book will have you reaching for your dad to give him the biggest hug imaginable. that’s what reading this felt like.

lizzy dent has such a way with penning tension and romance—so deliriously delicious and overflowing with the best banter and the funniest antics. i can’t tell you how many times i cackled and clenched my fists in anticipation—the chemistry here was just SO GOOD that i was casting this book in my head. it’s THE book you need for this summer; just make sure you get your wallets ready because you WILL want to go to italy after reading it.

seriously can’t wait for this book to come out so i can scream about it to my heart’s content. the easiest 5 stars i’ll ever give.

You need to read this book if you love Italy and are a foodie. You also need to read this book if you are a picky eater and have never been, like me. Lizzie Dent has a way with words and transported me straight to Italy on this amazing food journey with Olive and Leo. Although an unlikely pair they are forced to take a trip to finish Olive’s late father’s book and Olive must make a decision on whether or not to sell the restaurant he left her. Will falling in love help change her mind or will a twist change everything? Lizzie Dent is a must read author for me since “The Summer Job” and her latest did not disappoint. This was sent to me as an ARC through Netgalley.

Easy going cookie cutter (in the best way) romance about grief, love, and Italy. I like the characters in this book. The female main character has a unique job of food critic and inherits her father's restaurant after being estranged her adult life. The male character is a bit of a doormat, but that's really what makes this romance so swoony. They must travel together to Italy to finish the cookbook her father started and process the stories of his life. I liked the deep focus on the descriptions of italy and the food which made me hungry the entire time. I liked this book. It wasn't so novel and revolutionary but not every book needs to but it was a joy to read.

I am typically a huge fan of this author and found the Italian backdrop of this story to be dreamy, but struggled to connect with or like Olive’s character in this one

I really enjoyed this trip through Italy with Olive and Leo. Olive's estranged chef father dies suddenly, leaving his unfinished cookbook and his restaurant to Olive. I could see the scenery and almost taste the food as Olive and Leo tour Italy. I really enjoyed the characters, and the story flowed for me.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC!

Olive's estranged dad unexpectedly passed away, leaving her his restaurant and the chance to help his surrogate son and chef, Leo, finish his cookbook. Olive and Leo travel to Italy to work on the cookbook and as they understand each other more, sparks fly. I love this story of family and love!