This was a fun food- and cooking-based romance! I’m a sucker for romances that bring in food, and this one made me hungry! I loved the dynamic and competitive nature of both Beth and Adah, and I thought the alternating POVs was great snd allowed more depth for the characters. I’d definitely read more from Fisher!

Thank you for letting me read and review this book. I really love the idea of a foodie, sapphic romance. The chemistry was on point. This was a great read. I will be featuring this book in an upcoming Queer Foodie book recommendation episode of the podcast.

Was The Secret Ingredient perfect? No. Like I mentioned above, I wasn’t super sold on it at first and I found it incredibly easy to put down. I started two other books while reading this one because it wasn’t holding my attention. But halfway through, once I really understood who Adah was, my whole perspective on this book changed. I couldn’t put it down after that and was deeply invested in Beth and Adah. Now that I’ve finished, I’m still invested in them. I’m hoping some of the side characters, like Beth’s friend Nina and Adah’s friend Jay get their own books, just so I can see Adah and Beth again. I really enjoyed The Secret Ingredient and I’ll definitely read it again, especially now that I have a deeper appreciation of Adah and her journey.

The Secret Ingredient - no surprise that it's a foodie romance, right? It's also a sweet, female/female romance. Now, here's where I'll tell you that foodie romances are a bit of a hit or miss for me, but I picked this one up because I don't often run into female pairings in the genre. About the foodie aspect of this one - KD Fisher does a really good job with the details, which is usually where I struggle with this trope. All too often, we get so much detail about the food that I end up hungry but lost on where the story is going other than the meal. Fisher finds just the right balance between the story and the descriptions so that the romance doesn't get lost. Oddly enough, that's where I struggled with this one. Not with Beth. She comes across as a little flighty but easily likable. Adah, on the other hand, was a hard nut to crack. She's so set on not discussing her feelings and pushing people away that she pushed this reader away more often than not. Her past makes her actions understandable, but I think I needed a bit more development with her character. Nevertheless, I think this sweet foodie romance has its charm and will appeal to many LGBTQIA readers.

This was a fun romance by a new-to-me author. I loved the food that KD Fisher included, and the realities of the chef business were a great plotline for The Secret Ingredient. I look forward to seeing more from KD Fisher.

So sweet! I've read one of KD Fisher's NineStar Press novels and was looking forward to seeing more from them. This book had a wonderful aesthetic, and I'm always a sucker for foodie romances.

Oh my goodness. This book. *heart eyes* I'm going to struggle to give this book the review it deserves because I'm in a place, personally, where I've had to turn off my reviewer brain for a while. Such a long while, in fact, that I've reached beyond rusty to some as-of-yet-unnamed level of inadequacy. However, I will do my best to give this story the attention and praise it deserves.

First of all, one of my absolute favorite tropes/character combinations is grumpy/sunshine, and let me tell you, Adah and Beth fit the bill in all the best possible ways. Their chemistry was palpable, the characterization and personality development was detailed and rich, and the story made my heart melt into a delicious little puddle.

I'm the exact opposite of a chef. In fact, if you ask anyone who knows me, you'll find out I've been banned from more than one kitchen due to my complete inability to do anything even remotely positive with food... beyond stuffing my face with it, of course. However, it was positively charming to read these two chefs living their best chef lives and talking about all the foodie stuffs I know nothing about. In fact, it made me want to learn to cook because Fisher did such a beautiful job of making that world seem inviting and downright delightful.

At the end of the day, this book put a smile on my face, and in 2020, that's saying something. I can't recommend it enough and will definitely be rec'ing this book to anyone who asks for a good romance read with charm, spunk, and seriously good vibes!

Thank you to #carinapress for a copy of this book. This book made me so hungry!! All the dishes that they created sounded so amazing. I adore Peter who was such a cute kid and added such a sweet element to the book. I also loved how Adah and Beth connected through cooking and was supportive of each other’s career. ⁣

The Secret Ingredient is a story about two chefs, one with more of a technical training and another whose more into homestyle cooking. They meet at a small town and started their story with a little rivalry. Adah is a single mom who is new in town, starting as an executive chef in a fine dining restaurant. On the other hand, Beth is owner and baker of her well-loved homegrown restaurant.

When these two meet the felt sparks flying between them. However, the timing wasn't perfect as both are very busy in how they manage their restaurants that the question of whether it's right to start a relationship poses a threat.

As I read this book, I felt so happy about the LGBT rep in this book, with lesbian rep, bi rep, and nonbinary rep. The writing style is easy to read, with alternating first person POVs, the reader won't be kept guessing on the motivations of the two characters. Foodies will also adore all the food descriptions scattered around the book. My Top Chef fangirl heart was so happy.

If you're curious about how steamy it gets, I'll rate it 🔥🔥🔥/5 flames. There is on page content but the word usage is not to vulgar and the acts are quite vanilla, I guess.

Overall, a fun and entertaining read!

This started off a little slow for me. I enjoyed the characters and storyline. This definitely made me hungry while reading this book! Going into this I didn't realize this was a LGBTQ+ book. This is my first female/female book and I really enjoyed it! I read more from this author!

Heat Factor: Not closed door, but nothing too racy
Character Chemistry: Adah and Beth are adorable together, in that grumpy/sunshine kind of way
Plot: Chefs at dueling restaurants start dating
Overall: I am charmed

Adah and Beth are both chefs, but they are chefs who have had dramatically different paths to leading the kitchens they work in - and they kind of resent each other for it. Adah went to culinary school because she could make more money as a certified chef than as a line cook; she now works for a restaurant group and has been tasked to be the executive chef at a new venture in a small Maine town. Needless to say, this is a really big professional opportunity for her. Beth did her free spirit thing for several years before taking over her family’s greasy spoon and making it her own and winning a bunch of awards in the process. Beth resents the fancy group of outsiders who just assume that they can waltz in and be successful, without any ties to the local community or its ethos. Adah resents that things come so easily to Beth, that she seems to get everything handed to her. (Of course, neither is exactly right in her estimation of the either - but neither is exactly wrong either.)

I provide all this detail because I loved the chef dynamic in this book. Fisher provides a really nuanced take to chef culture that I haven’t seen all that much of in foodie romances. As a person who has consumed a good deal of chef-centered reality TV, I really appreciated this.

Once they start getting couply, Beth and Adah are really adorable together. They cook together on their days off. They hang out with Adah’s son (who is neither extremely twee nor extremely troubled). They go to the beach. Neither has been focusing on taking care of herself, so the relationship really lets them be their best selves.

A large part of their dynamic - and an impetus for some of the conflict - is that Beth is a talker and Adah is not. So Beth pushes for open and honest communication but this is HARD for Adah to do. Honest and open communication is hard to do period, so this was a nice dynamic to see.

Their different backgrounds and perspectives about food is another source of conflict. Both Adah and Beth struggle with their work, and some of their respective struggles on the job bleed out into their relationship. Again, this might be because I love me some chef struggles, but I thought the fact that their work was really well integrated into the story - not just as the thing they do, but as a source of conflict between them - was nicely done.

What can I say? I really enjoyed this one.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

I went back and forth a little with this one as I was reading it, but ultimately I did enjoy the story.

There is an instant attraction between Adah and Beth, but there also seems to be a lot of animosity between them as well. This isn’t what I would call an enemies to lovers trope really, but both have a lot of preconceived notions about the other and this causes some issues.

Beth is open to new experiences, secure in her abilities, and confident about life. She has an incredibly supportive family, her own business, and a great team of friends and co-workers. She wants to take care of people.

Adah comes from a troubled background and an unsupportive family. She closes herself off and is not confident enough to speak her mind and defend herself when she is being taken advantage of. She does not have a lot of people in her life aside from her son and best friend, but has so much love to give. She cares deeply for those who work for her and finds a family with her landlady.

Together, Adah and Beth bring out the best of each other most of the time. But until Adah is able to open up fully about her past and the issues she’s facing at work, there is still friction between them. As always, communication is the key.

While I ultimately enjoyed the story and liked the characters, one thing that bothered me a little was the constant emphasis on how beautiful and gorgeous both women were. They were constantly thinking any time they saw each other just how beautiful the other woman was. And while it’s great that they think the other is gorgeous, it didn’t need to be repeated as often as it was. Average looking people deserve love too.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Harlequin Carina Adores through Net Galley for a Blog Tour. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Secret Ingredient is a cozy, slow-burn, opposites-attract, small-town romance in a charming Maine setting filled with an intriguing cast and plenty of delicious food. Adah is a determined, ambitious heroine and Beth is an absolute delight. The supportive friendships in the story also star.

The Secret Ingredient is sweetness or maybe it is patience in KD Fisher’s contemporary romance. Two women who could not approach cooking or life more differently meet and sparks fly in chemistry and attitude. Isn’t this how we like our romances? Fiery? Passionate?

Fisher includes cute moments as Adah is also sensitive and adorable in her bashfulness. The secondary characters bring more than just a diversified flavor to the book as I would love to see their stories too. Well all except for one person’s and he will go nameless since he will be just a flash in a pan...pun intended. (laugh)

Fisher’s descriptions of Maine are beautiful and make me wish I was back there. I do not know enough about cooking to know if what they were talking about would taste good, but I did get up for snacks multiple times while reading...just saying.

Read The Secret Ingredient and tell me what you think the secret is...it could just be Fisher’s magic.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher

Adah and Beth are wonderful people that deserve to have a happily ever after even if it takes them a bit to work it out. Their backgrounds were so different and yet their goals and dreams similar. I liked them and their story.

What I liked:
* Adah: dedicated to her profession, a loving mother, afraid to trust, has difficulty communicating feelings, ripe for love, a woman with a tough backstory.
* Beth: positive, loving, warm, caring, open, communicates easily, excellent at what she does, an earth mother type, colorful, cheerful, everything that Adah needs.
* Pete: a wonderful son, full of life, giving, caring, a beautiful boy
* Vanessa: retired, great landlord, excellent friend, good with Pet and Adah, nice person
* The story, writing and eventual happy ending
* That the creepy dude didn’t win

What I didn’t like:
* Sean and Ric – out for the profit only and very wrong as bosses to Adah
* What Adah experienced growing up
* Having to say goodbye to the people in the story

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

This was a sweet, sapphic romance. Beth and Adah were dynamic, interesting characters, and their progress from competitors to lovers, though fast, was believable. Oftentimes romances that feature food fall flat to me (rarely do I think that authors get food descriptions right, especially when trying to describe classy dishes), but I thought KD Fisher did an admirable job of also making the food sound delicious and believable. Highly recommend.

This is a solid 3 1/2 star book for me.

Beth and Adah come from very different backgrounds, nearly everything about them appears to be the opposite of each other, except for their love of cooking - although they both believe that the others philosophy on cooking is different to themselves.

Beth appears to be a fly by night, disorganised character, yet she runs a successful family business that is gaining a reputation on the east coast. Adah is a complicated character due to her background and the majority of her cheffing experience is working at high end restaurants. Both characters shine when they are together. Adah grounds Beth, whereas Beth gives Adah the opportunity to open up and want more.

I enjoyed all of the additional characters in the book, especially Adah’s son Pete and her best friend Jay. Fisher managed to make it so that both MCs were supported by great additional characters who helped to add to the depth of the story and each character.

I loved the amount of representation throughout the book, be it gay, bisexual, genderqueer or a butch single mother and really appreciated Fisher’s style of writing. I will definitely want to read more of Fisher’s work. The writing relating to both the food and the places the story is set work really well - giving you enough information to paint the picture in your head.

There is something missing from the narrative that means the book isn’t elevated into the four star world for me - but I would definitely recommend this to fans of opposites attract romance and another other wlw romance fans.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I choose to read The Secret Ingredient because of the nice little synopsis that was written. I have read a few other romances that centered about food/chefs and I found that I do like the setting. This one for sure fit into that category and I found that it was a nice enough romance. Nothing stood out that help to make it exceptional.

Adah Campbell and her son moves to a small town in Maine (from Chicago) to run a new restaurant as head chef. She knows this is a really good chance for her to prove that she is an excellent chef. She knows that she will have to work hard to prove herself to the sexist and egotistical General Manager. Beth Summers runs a small restaurant in the same small town. Her restaurant is completely different from Adah's and Beth has proven herself that her restaurant is the real deal. These two get off to a bad start from the very beginning when Adah offends Beth the first time they met.

What I enjoyed most about this romance was Beth Summers. Her character was delightful, forgiving, honest and free. She doesn't have to try to be a good person, she just is. Adah on the other hand is a little off putting. She is distant, cold and not really friendly. Sure there are some things from her past that have shaped the person she is today, BUT it would have been nice to see this early in the book. Since it takes a while to get there I found myself not really caring for her and wondering why Beth really wants to have anything to do with her. Adah is not all bad. She is good with her son and neighbor. I found myself wanting to like her if I could just figure out what was going on with her.

The food aspect of this was really good. I found myself wanting to be able to taste some of the foods or find a recipe similar to the meals being prepared. Out of the few books I have read that centered about food, I liked this aspect the best of all of them.

Despite the difference between the mains, I did find that there was some chemistry between the two. There is some angst in this one. I just wish Adah was more likable so I would not feel like Beth should just walk away. Despite these things, I still overall thought it pleasant read.

3.5 stars

This arc was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

“Oh my god. Seriously? You’re a Virgo? Okay, well you better wife me up now because we are like bonkers compatible!” – Beth to Adah

Adah Campbell has worked tirelessly to provide a loving, safe home for her son Pete and build a career as a chef. When an opportunity arises for her to helm a restaurant in South Bay, Maine, she seizes it, little knowing how life-changing this decision would become. Beth Summers, on the other hand, had fled her South Bay hometown, craving a life spent traveling. She returns, however, after her mother’s retirement, to transform the old family restaurant and search for elusive fulfillment. Their attraction is immediate, though they don’t get off on the right foot at their first meeting. This opposites-attract romance delivers wonderful chemistry between not only Beth and Adah, but with the supporting cast of characters, as well. It contains a heady mixture of workplace drama, personal trauma, and falling in love. There are a lot of food-type puns and comments I can make about how their HEA unfolds (and trust me, I really want to!). It’s especially true in an opposites-attract love story that the unlikely, disregarded ingredients are sometimes just the thing you need to discover what’s your “perfect-for-you-balance” in life.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food. Foodie romances are delicious torture on so many levels (the longing, the push and pull, the menus!) and this year it seems like we’ve been blessed with a smorgasbord of them. If there is one thing I wish I would have done differently while reading this, it would have been to pair it with dinner or snacks, because I was starving! An important and well-done element of Fisher’s writing is her food descriptions. We have two women elbows deep in the restaurant industry, so it has to have a whole lot of tasty descriptions. (Can you smell that wood burning stove? I can!) And trust me, she delivers a full course menu as Beth and Adah navigate careers and romance. One thing I’m curious about is how the audiobook narrator will translate an accent that sounds like “humid thunderstorms and steamy biscuits slathered in home-churned butter”. Omg. Let me know if you listen to this book!

Fisher also has a great ear for fun, playful dialogue. Jay (Adah’s bff and pastry chef extraordinaire, they/them/theirs pronouns), and Adah's friend conversations flow easily, with their energy and perspectives balancing each other's personalities. Where Adah comes off as more reserved and high-strung, Jay is outgoing and optimistic (even when faced with personal setbacks). Their longtime friendship forms a close-knit family, supportive in good times and bad. I love their friendship so much! It’s wonderful and makes my heart happy. The relationships surrounding Beth and Adah, including Adah’s son and landlord/mother-she-wish-she-had, and Beth’s family and staff, make this foodie romance even more satisfying.

This review reflects material from Carina Press’s pre-publication edition of the book. Available October 27th!

Adah and her son have just relocated from Chicago to Maine so she be the head chef for a restaurant group’s newest venture. She doesn’t know a single soul in the entire state, but she’s looking forward to the fresh start after working her butt off for over a decade.

Beth has always lived in Maine, and she transformed her parents’ café into a culinary sensation.

Adah and Beth cross paths via the restaurant scene, and while their first encounter was not as disastrous as when Lizzie met Darcy, it is not much better. But there’s a spark, and curiosity gets the better of them, and they begin to date.

This book was so sweet. Even though both women are chefs, their personalities are completely different. Adah is used to being independent because she’s been on her own for her entire adult life and she doesn’t like to ask for help, even when she needs it. As talented as she is, she’s still at the mercy of the restaurant owner, who doesn’t always read the room—or listen to Adah—when determining dining trends.

On the other hand, Beth is a bit more relaxed. She may have taken over her parents’ restaurant, but its success is due entirely to her hard work (and that of her employees).

Adah and Beth have such wonderful chemistry. It’s clear they care for each other, but love isn’t always easy. One of my favorite scenes was definitely when Beth took Adah swimming at a little beach a little hike away from the crowded tourist spots.

The secondary characters added such lovely layers to the narrative. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to, it would be Adah’s friend Jay, who moves to Maine after a breakup. I hope they get their own book next!

I would absolutely recommend The Secret Ingredient. This makes the second romance I’ve read this year set in Maine, and frankly, I want more! I loved the combination of “rival” restauranteurs with a small town. I am looking forward to reading more from Fisher in the future.