This one sits solidly between 2 and 3 stars for me. It definitely had potential and there was nothing explicitly "wrong" with it, but there just wasn't enough to compel me to keep reading. It's got some great food descriptions that will make you hungry, characters who are interesting but share no real chemistry, and a setup that seems like it should be intriguing but just kind of falls flat. There's certainly an audience for it, but it didn't really work for me as a whole.

Essentially, the story follows Lumi, a chef whose restaurant is forced to close. She takes a job working as a sous chef for a temperamental French restauranteur, Julien, who likes things done in a certain way. The two share a love of food and a mutual attraction, but their working relationship is volatile and sometimes tense. When feelings come out into the open, it complicates a relationship that's already strained.

There was actually a lot that I liked about this, which is why I feel bad rating it so low. I don't mind a lovable jerk hero, so I didn't really have a problem with Julien. I also love enemies to lovers romance so that worked for me to a certain extent. The author did a great job talking about food and giving this an authentic feel in regards to that. Unfortunately, most of my problems lie with the relationship itself. The writing style is not my favorite, giving this a subdued, detached feel when all I really wanted was to feel the tension between these two. There aren't any real sparks of chemistry to speak of, and I think that would've gone a long way to making this read better. I was still planning on rating this as 3 stars until an incident in the back half, which seemed like an unnecessary obstacle to a relationship that was just starting to develop. All in all, the book definitely has potential but I think it could've used further development to enhance the story. I received an ARC via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review of this foodie romance.

This is a solidly meh romance. If it wasn't a book from NetGalley, I would have quit at 20%. The premise is interesting, the female protagonist can feel the emotions of the person who prepared a food item, just by tasing it. Desperate for a job, she goes to work for a chef with a nasty reputation. When she eats his cooking, she discovers he's more than he appears on the surface. Sounds fascinating and emotional, right? Nope. I felt no emotional connection to the story or characters. What could have been a stunning plot line, falls flat here. The romance portion felt forced, there wasn't the usual build and anticipation between the characters. The characters' recipes are given between chapters, which would have been a nice touch if I cared about them.

I say skip this one, there are too many other great romances out there.

Prepare to be hungry. All the descriptions of the food made me want to eat. I am a huge fan of food-centric books, especially romance novels. This book was fun and cute. I especially loved all the recipes at the end of the chapters. I like the relationships that Lumi had with her friends and co-workers. Her relationship with Julien was rather flat until midway through the book book. There could have been more development to their story. I wish there was more about her "power", I feel like it was barely touched until halfway into the book.
Overall, it was fun and a good book to escape into.

I hate to say this but I was so confuse with A Taste of Sage story line. I do not know how else I can say it.
Reading the book was completely different from what the book summary has mention. Very briefly was her special gift was mention in the book. It was a bit back and forth about the two characters about their food opinions. Pus, there was very little interaction until the end of the book. Relationship seem very rush toward the end. I don’t want to critique but it need to be more chemistry between the characters. If there was more attraction and chemistry, then this book would have been better. It had potential with rival chef with different taste. That’s all I am saying.

I generally love food writing, fiction or nonfiction, so I was pumped to receive an eGalley of A Taste of Sage, which infuses food writing with romance. The book includes recipes at the end of most chapters, that directly correlate with the food discussed in that chapter. Despite the fact that I rarely actually end up making these recipes, I love it when books do that!

A Taste of Sage follows Lumi Santana as she signs on to be the sous chef for arrogant and easily angered Julien Dax. His explosive personality, and rigid, uncreative approach to his restaurant’s menu grate on Lumi’s nerves, but from the get-go, it was clear they were going to get together. One aspect of Lumi’s character that was very intriguing was her relationship to food and taste. Santos chose to give Lumi the gift of being able to taste the emotions individual’s had when cooking the food she eats. This clever and unexpected twist added a lot to the story.

Unfortunately, the on-and-off relationship between Lumi and Julien felt very jerky to me and I couldn’t understand how explosive each of their fights got or what they were upset about most of the time. The unrealistic nature of the romance that was at the core of the story made it hard for me to get into it.

Review posted on May 13 to:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJGTZnAawQ/
https://treatyourshelf.home.blog/2020/05/13/a-taste-of-sage-by-yaffa-s-santos-book-review/

The moment I saw this fabulous cover, I knew I had to add it to my to read list. I loved the premise and adored the splash of magical realism. Lumi had such potential as a character, and I was so ready to root for her and her dreams, but I ended up having hard time finishing this book. U I felt that all the characters felt a bit flat. I kept forgetting who the side characters were, and Julien in particular felt like I never really could understand him; his jerk turned softy transition was rapid and unrealistic in the time span allowed.. I also found the boss/employee relationship uncomfortable, and while I think it can be done well in novels, I never could get past it. Although this one fell flat, I do look forward to whatever Santos has next, since I think her sensory and descriptive writing and creative instincts are there. I still would purchase this title for the representation alone, and since I think many will gravitate towards its stunning cover and interesting premise.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A Taste of Sage has an intriguing concept, comparable to a rom-com version of Like Water for Chocolate. And in that regard, it delivers, with sumptuous food descriptions and recipes throughout, and inclusion of Lumi’s unique ability in a fun way in the plot (even if it does take an absurd turn later for the sake of plot convenience).

Lumi herself is relatable, pursuing her dream until she loses everything, and finding herself working as a sous chef under an inflexible head chef.

But I expected there to be some growth on Julien’s part in terms of rediscovering his love of food, and it’s there to an extent, but it just didn’t materialize in a way that made sense or had as big an impact on the plot.

Also, while there is major unspoken chemistry between the two prior to them getting together, especially when they were butting heads, the payoff of them being together wasn’t there, and I just didn’t root for their relationship, even in the crisis point where the break up.

This is a book that has some great ideas, but could have used more work fine tuning some of them to make a more convincing and cohesive romance. If you like foodie romance, I think this might be worth trying, just for the unique aspects.

I had to "DNF" this book at 50%. The first 35% of this book was sooo slow! I get that you have to set up the background for the story, but a lot of it felt unnecessary. It did get a little bit better after that, but not enough for me to want to continue. I wanted more romance and less cooking from this book. Don't get me wrong, I loved the chef aspect of it, but I wish that was secondary to the romance. I did think the recipes thrown in at the end of each chapter was a cute touch.

I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

This was boring to me and when in thought it would get better it didn't. This story had Spanish words which helped me sharpen up my spanish vocabulary so I enjoyed that. I hardly know anything about cooking so I was wondering what the dishes would look like. In all I give this a 3 star rating for its efforts.

I love Julien so much and I think that's what made/saved this book for me! It was a bit slow but I love most books set in the kitchen. This had an interesting dynamic with them both being Chefs and I would call it a bit of magical realism but something was missing. I enjoyed this but I just wish there was something more.

A Taste of Sage comes out later this month on May 19, 2020, and you can purchase HERE. If you want a fun rom-com involving the kitchen or loved Simply Irresistible, this one is for you!

He felt himself, but not himself. He felt more alive, but also more anxious. And he couldn't deny for much longer that he felt like his blood was boiling every time that woman was around him. Letting logic prevail wasn't working out that well after all.

Unfortunately I decided to DNF this at 22%.

I know I didn't make it very far in, but so far it's not even mentioned that Lumi can taste people's feelings in their food. That was a huge part of the description that drew me in, but it's nowhere to be found.

These characters are insufferable. Lumi and Julien both are so full of themselves that they can't even take criticism. She had someone try to help her with her restaurant, but would rather see it close than listen to good advice. I just couldn't take it!

On top of that, this writing felt so forced and stilted that it was incredibly boring. I had high hopes, but this fell flat.

This was an amazing book.I loved the food aspect, especially the amazing description of various prepared meals. The special gift that Lumi adds an amazing element to the story. This book has amazing representation, with Lumi being Dominican and that being her cuisine of choice. Even though the romance in this book was hard to get with at first, I really enjoyed the couple afterward. This book was a slow burn when it came to the romance but that is what made it more believable and helped the reader get used to the characters being together.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions of my own.

Lumi Santana is a chef with a special gift - she feels the person's emotions by tasting their cooking. After her restaurant fails, she takes a position as a sous chef at Julien Dax's French restaurant. Julien is known for his cranky personality despite being a celebrated chef. Despite their clashes in the Kitchen, he can't help but be drawn by her and once she tasted his cooking, she couldn't get enough of it.

What I enjoyed:
- The recipes - The book is filled with interesting recipes that I think I'd be interested to try! They aren't exactly the author's original recipes but they do sound really good. Much of the book is focused on the food which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I think the story could have been developed better.
- Dual perspective - I liked that it was told from both Julien and Lumi's perspective. I always love that more than just getting one side.

What did not work for me:
- The writing - it feels forced. There's no depth to their relationship or even the individual characters. There's steam but even the execution around that was not very good.

Overall, has potential but fell flat for me.

This had a lot of potential. I like a lot of the concepts and there should be more chef romances. But, ultimately, it was lacking. I'm going to be as positive as I can because I'm sure someone will love this.

Let's start with characters. Lumi and Julien could be compelling, but come across as shells. Julien is especially underdeveloped. There were attempts at backstory, but it was never fully realized. Lumi felt the most real when she was cooking. They were also pretty bland.

The romance. There was no chemistry or attraction between them. I have no idea why these two fell in love other than they were supposed to for the plot. That doesn't create a romance.

I think part of the problem with the romance comes from the pacing. I was constantly confused about how much time had passed. And sometimes it was written like months had passed which I'm supposed to interpret as time for character development, but it was like one day. I swear there were continuity issues, but don't have the desire to re-read to confirm.

There's also a magical realism element to this story. Or at least that's what I'm going to call it. Now, I don't read a lot of magical realism so maybe there are genre norms I'm unaware of. It felt forced. It was an interesting concept, but I don't understand Lumi's "gift". It seemed like a convenient plot point for drama, but like the characters was poorly developed,

I really struggled with what to rate this book. I didn't think it was bad, but there were certain things about it that fell flat to me. I think this is a debut, so I think it can be so hard with a first book. In general, I enjoyed this book but there could have been some finessing.

I saw a lot of reviews really not like Julien at all. I honestly didn't think he was that bad? He was a jerk but it was interesting to me that Lumi saw him as more having high expectations from his staff. I think this was supposed to be a little enemies to lovers, but I didn't feel like her hatred of him was all that strong throughout the book. I also felt like there could have been a little more to when they do get together. Also on another note, I will continue to harp on romance books that don't use any form of birth control in intimate scenes. It bothers me so much! I just assume they book will become an accidentally pregnant book.

One thing I was really bummed about was Lumi's gift. I thought this was a cool element to bring in and it is part of a huge conflict later in the book. I just had a lot of questions about it and none of those got answered. I think I just wanted a little more about this. It felt like it was a heavy part of the book early on but then once it comes back into play I had kind of forgotten about it.

I liked that this book also included recipes at the end of the chapters. I thought that was a cool thing to add! I'm a vegetarian so I would never eat half of them, but I thought it was a nice touch for a book about chefs.

I think I would read another book from this author. I think this was good, not bad, but I could have liked a few things done differently.

*I received a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was a solid "meh" for me.

Though the addition of recipes is cute, and the idea of a character who can taste the emotions of others in their food is novel, this book doesn't work. The characters don't feel super solid, the chemistry is asserted more than developed, and some of the dialog is very weird. At one point the hero feels an emotion and wonders when he got to be such a "pantywaist" which... stopped me cold. There's also no discussion around protection when the characters are intimate, something which always pulls me out of a book.

I didn't feel a single spark while reading this. :(

That said, I would try another book from this author to see how their writing develops, since the bones are there.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

I loved the writing style of this and the diversity. I love own voices stories. This book made me want to eat everything. I laughed out loud at some parts and teared up at others. The relationship felt rushed at times and not completely believable, but I did love both characters separately. I wish there was just more to the characters. I do think this was a solid and enjoyable book and I hope to see more from Yaffa S. Santos in the future.

I wanted badly to love this book. Rival chefs forced to work together and then becoming lovers? It sounded right up my alley.

Let's start with the good: I loved our protagonists. Lumi and Julien were some of my favorite leads I've read in awhile, even if I didn't fully love the romance/situations itself. I was pleasantly surprised by Lumi's "secret ability" to feel whoever made the food felt at the time of their making it, although it reminded me of branches of synesthesia. Santos also made me feel like I was in NYC, a city I hadn't visited since I was in middle school, and I appreciated the distinct sense of place throughout the entire book. Not to mention, the recipes placed at the end of the chapters made me want to find the ingredients to try them myself!

Unfortunately, this book leaned more towards "not-for-me" than I wished. Something about the writing didn't fully connect with me. I also am not a huge fan of the nursing-back-to-health-fall-in-love trope, which this book did in the second half. However, Santos is a romance writer to watch, and I'd definitely still be interested in reading more from them in the future.

The descriptions of food and culture in this book were lovely, and the recipes throughout the book are a great addition. Overall, the romance felt a bit rushed and forced. I would recommend to lovers of the romance genre, but not to anyone new to the genre.

I was really looking forward o his book and I was so good! I loved the characters! I love food so this was a great combo for a book!