I received an arc from Netgalley. Counterfeit money and missing paintings in the White House are what government agents are working on. Is it the pastry chef in the kitchen behind the whole thing? The curator? OR some other unknown. That is the question.

When Griffin meets Marin (the pastry chef) he has a hard time not feeling the attraction and staying level headed in the investigation process. Lots of drama and action rolled into this book.

I finished this book in one sitting and would give it 4.5 stars.

A hold your breath, tension and intrigued filled romance that will surprise as well as entertain you. As you travel through trying to determine who the perpetrators of the crimes are, your guesses will be astoundingly wrong. That, along with such engaging characters is what makes this a story that you just can't put down. You'll be swept away from the first page to the last...experiencing suttle humor, even an all out chuckle or two, along with sharp dialog and witty banter as you weave your way through a really good story from a masterful storyteller. All the components are within these pages to leave you wanting more stories from this author.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Is it wrong if I admire The Artist's chutzpah?

She works at the White House, and she's the First Lady's goddaughter? Shoot, I need better connections.

Check the package, Arnold!

Diego is involved, somehow.

I love the little girl, Arabelle.

Aww.

Burn! Enjoy your spam, buddy.

Bastards...

What the...? Plot twist.

Serious lack of communication, people.

Attagirl, Ava.

I definitely enjoyed this story about Marin Chevalier, a White House pastry chef who crosses paths with Secret Service Agent Griffin Keller when art goes missing from the White House, and disaster begins to follow Marin wherever she goes. I liked the details in the descriptions of the White House. It made you feel like you could almost picture it, and maybe you were in on some kind of secret, being able to see behind the scenes. The characters were likable, and the story fun to follow. I would certainly read more by Tracy Solhei.

LOVED! Recipe for Disaster was delicious! Not only was Agent Griffin Keller yummy but the promise of Adam and Ben leaves you hungry for more.

Chef Marin steals the show with her brilliance in the kitchen and with her family and friends. She comes across as a likable person you want to be friends with. Her interaction with Annabelle and her godmother are precious! Put her with the smoking hot Agent Keller and it's a recipe for success.

I loved the plot line, the mystery to the story. Marin being the focus of Agent Keller for more reasons than her looks brings these two together in a cat and mouse chase Marin doesn't even realize she's partaking in. The string of murders and the mystery of who is responsible for stolen artifacts from The White House are suspenseful and entertaining. The chemistry between Marin and Griffiin top off the thriller to make this book anything but a disaster.

Having gone into this thinking this was straight up romantic suspense with the rather unusual pairing of a Secret Service Agent and a well-connected White House pastry chef, I wasn’t entirely too sure personally, if ‘Recipe for Disaster’ really fell into this category.

It’s perhaps best called a mix of some mystery and some romance, as all the parties involved seemed nicely ensconced in their white-tower (or house, is this case) in a way that made it difficult to relate to them, let alone get invested in a pairing that felt forced together only because a special set of circumstances that caused their paths to meet. The huge cast of characters that came in also felt more like a distraction than a boon to the story, seemingly padding out the narrative just to show how they interacted with each other without really achieving anything significant.

When it came down to the protagonists, I found Marin too weepy (or at least on the verge of sobbing) and her constant deep blushing almost anachronistic for our times; her insecurities regarding her body and her elevation of Griffin as the man who wouldn’t date women like her was annoying after a while, as was the insertion of Griffin’s FBI ex-fuck-buddy who flitted in and out of the picture. That Griffin found her resilient and strong baffled me, and the repetitions of the way he thought about her soon came across as a case of the author trying to convince us of Marin as a heroine worthy of Griffin.

Sad to say, while I was very excited about the premise of this from the blurb, ‘Recipe for Disaster’ ended up being a story I struggled to plough through, so clearly this is not the book for me and to use a trite and clichéd phrase…’it’s not the story, it’s me’.

This romantic suspense story gets 5 stars for imagination and effort. The author kept the pace fast and there is one action scene after another. Three stars for choppy writing at times and a main character who isn’t a man I liked for much of the book. Four stars overall.

This is a fantastic book chock filled with action, romantic mystery and twists. An innocent White House pastry chef suddenly becomes the prey for a ct-throat killer who is ruthless in pursuit of her. On her side is a gorgeous hunk of dimpled cheeks who is driven by his dedication to service and to her survival. The fact that she upsets his perfectly orchestrated world is priceless.

This is the first book I've ever read by this author, and I enjoyed it immensely. It actually started out a wee-bit slow for me, but as it turned out, that was a necessary evil as the characters in this new series were introduced. Once Griffin and Marin met, however, the action erupted and never slowed down. I was riveted to the story, anxious to find out who the mole in the White House was. I liked both Griffin and Marin a lot, and I actually would have enjoyed learning more about them and their backgrounds, but the suspenseful action was the most important element in this story, and it was well done. I really liked the secondary character of Adam, as well as Ben, and I'm hoping their stories are next in line. I'm excited to have found this new-to-me author and look forward to the upcoming books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I enjoyed this romance and the mystery of why anyone was after Marin kept me guessing. Marin and Griffin have great chemistry and a steamy romance. Griffin was a total alpha male, which I like. This was a great read!