"The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique" by Samantha Vérant is like a culinary journey that simultaneously tantalizes your taste buds and warms your heart! 🌶️🍲❤️

Enter the enchanting world of Juliette, our spirited protagonist, as she embarks on a flavorful adventure that takes her from Paris's bustling streets to Provence's aromatic landscapes. It's not just a culinary escapade; it's a feast for the senses!

Samantha Vérant has this magical way of describing food that makes you want to devour the pages. The vivid imagery of spices, herbs, and mouthwatering dishes transported me to the heart of Bistro Exotique. I could practically smell the fragrant concoctions and taste the exquisite flavours as if I were dining alongside the characters.

The characters themselves are a delightful mix of personalities, each adding their unique spice to the narrative. There's romance, friendship, and mystery – a perfect recipe for an engaging read. And let's not forget the Spice Master himself, who adds a pinch of magic to every dish and steals a bit of Juliette's heart in the process.

But it's not just about the culinary delights; it's about self-discovery, second chances, and the joy of savouring life's simple pleasures. Juliette's journey is about mastering spices and the art of living fully.

If you're a foodie or simply someone who enjoys a heartwarming tale with a side of delectable descriptions, "The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique" is a must-read. Bon appétit!

This author delivers an adorable romance in this book. The foodie storyline is clever and different in a way you just want to keep cheering Kate on after almost all of her staff quits on her. I loved the unique approach used in this book with the focus on foods, scents and spices. This is a fast and enjoyable read.

I preferred The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux to this one. While it was a fun, light, pleasant read, I felt the characters were a bit overdrawn and stereotypical. Great Paris setting and my favorite character was the cat.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I was going to. The descriptions of food, the scents, the world of Paris were wonderful. The characters were cute and the moms wonderfully weird. I’m a sucker for chef/restaurant related stories, and even though the book started to suffer (plot-wise and writing-wise) towards the end, I’m glad I read it.

This was quite a fun quirky read set in Paris. As a lover of the French language I enjoyed the phrases added in.

I got frequently annoyed with the "Keanu reeves" phrase early in. I did keep going, and ended up loving how this community came together.

Thank you to the publisher for this advanced copy!

this book was so incredible!! i can't believe i got to read this one early! it was so much fun and such a delight! i truly hope every one of you picks this one up. and soon!!

I am sorry to say that THE SPICE MASTER AT BISTRO EXOTIQUE was not for me. I have enjoyed the author's previous books, but I just couldn't get into this one.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2.5 hearts

I was excited to read The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique. I'm a foodie sort or at least I enjoy reading about cooking and chefs. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect. There's nothing wrong with the book. It's more my personal tastes or rather distastes.

The setting was in Paris with Kate starting her own restaurant after culinary school and years of working in top places. The annoying but attractive Charles lives in the building where her restaurant is the main floor and they each have apartments on higher floors. The previous restaurant there had some shady dealings and the owner turned up dead. Kate got a deal on the place and is excited to have her own place.

And I just didn't care. The characters and plots felt to me like the kind of cozy mysteries I don't enjoy where they are so quirky and unrealistic. Charles and his family are international billionaires. Kate's mother is a sex therapist. Crazy, unusual things happen as she works on opening the restaurant. It doesn't seem like Kate has to work very hard or pay bills, and can take off for whatever at a moment's notice.

There is not enough cooking and menu planning for me either. There was a short scene going to the fish market. Some cooking of dishes but not really much detail on them. The other big thing was the psychedelic imaginings when Kate used the spices she was gifted. I just skipped to the next paragraph.

The enemies to lovers switch happened rather quickly. I guess from the tension and attraction, they got to know each other as they worked together. The change was over a short time.

This was not for me. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

Based on the first chapter I thought this was going to be a very spicy book but turns out the spice was really only in the kitchen. I loved all the food talk, the french phrases were a lot at times though. Some were explained and others were not, so I felt I ended up glancing over them more because I had no idea what the characters were saying. I felt the enemy to lover transition happened really quickly, I wanted a bit more angst. I also think the magical vibe of the spices could have been explored? I think there was a moment for some element to that and it wasn't fully acknowledged. I did love the characters; they were messy and enjoyable to get to know during this book. I liked the consent was always in question and I actually enjoyed that they wanted to take things slow, I think that is more realistic and I thought it was well done. The moms are crazy and I loved their meddling.

An adorable romance full of food, banter, recipes, and love. And its set in the heart of Paris, mostly in a restaurant opened and operated by main character Kate. Though American, Kate has spent the majority of her adult life in Paris and she feels it is her home. She is opening a new restaurant when she runs into a most broody but aggravatingly gorgeous man who turns out to be her neighbor. If you like enemies to lovers romance and opposites attract, then you'll love the romance that sparks up between Kate and Charles. The romance is all closed door and very tame, but it's also very well done.

The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique is heartwarming hate-to-love contemporary romance that follows Kate Jenkins finally about to live her dream of her own restaurant, Bistro Exotique. But A series of unfortunate events leads to failing of her restaurant. She has no choice but accept Garrance, the self-proclaimed Spice Master of Paris, and follow her condition that is to work with her Michelin star son, Charles, who also turns out annoying neighbor she hates.

Writing is entertaining, gripping and fast paced with first person narrative from Kate’s perspective. Plot and concept of magic of spices that transport to places or hitting with hypnotic wave of nostalgia was really good.

I loved the first half of the book which is all about Kate and her dream and meeting other characters. Kate is lovely, controlling but kind, confident, full of spirit and hope. Her passion for food was infectious. Charles is not as impressive as other male characters I’ve read in romcoms. There is interesting meddlesome mothers.

The setting of Paris is one of my favorites and it was interesting to see non-touristy part of it. the farmer’s market, street rules, customs was interesting to read. I have never seen them mentioned in other Paris setting books I read before. Description of food and effects of spices and scents was second best thing.

Romance was okay. I liked initial hate-to-love arc and how both Kate and Charles connected through their love for food. I liked the drama just before the climax but climax is anti-climatic. Charles’ action was unfairand there wasn’t solid eough reason for him to beahve like he did and then Kate forgave him too easily for my liking. The end is uplifting and lovely but I didn’t end up loving the book as I expected in the beginning.

Why 3.5 stars-

In the beginning I thought this will be sraight 5 star read but second half isn’t as good as first half. I didn’t feel the chemistry and dialogues between Kate and Charles are chunky. It didn’t feel romantic when they talked. Honestly, I liked both hating and bantering in first half more than both loving each other!

Overall, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique is lovely, entertaining, and heartwarming contemporary foodie romance but I didn’t love it as much as I expected.

The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique by Samantha Verant was the perfect book to dig into during the holiday hustle and bustle. It took me to Paris, was easy to read, featured delicious food and a dose of magic – what could be better?

Sometimes, all a reader needs is an escape, and this fit the bill for me. I love Paris and the author excelled at bringing it to life. The sounds and settings were described with precision and the smells were intoxicating. I’m a foodie and loved that food played its own role in the book.

Garrance, a magical and whimsical character, was like a fairy godmother to Kate, but came with some rules. Of course, those rules led to the heat factor in this romcom as the enemies to lovers trope set in. I liked the slow burn of Charles and Kate’s romance and would love a follow up book to know how they work out.

Overall, this was fun, light and made me want to cook, especially because many recipes were included.

I loved getting immersed in this enemies to lovers story set in the City of Light.

Their meet cute is a virtual guarantee they'll remain mortal enemies. He nearly destroys her cell phone and then berates her for acting like a tourist. He is snide and disdainful and their encounter sours her entire day.

Her eccentric neighbor Garrance lifts her spirits somewhat, and they begin a tenuous friendship when the elderly woman takes her beneath her wing. But Garrance's son turns out to be the man Kate's designated as public enemy number one. Garrance makes her son Charles apologize to Kate for his rude behavior and demands he help launch her restaurant as penance.

The slow, simmering heat that builds between them as they share a kitchen finally boils over and they struggle to stick to their strictly business relationship. Especially since every time Kate incorporates one of Garrance's spices into her menu, she is overwhelmed with vivid dreams of Charles. The feelings the spices evoke scare her, because she has been burned in love before and she's determined to keep her heart protected.

Some of the things I loved about this book:
- the interwoven elements of food and love.
- the colorful cast of side characters - especially Garrance and Kate's mother, who is a sexual therapist.
- the slow burn relationship that builds between the main characters.

This is a closed door romance that sizzles with banked anticipation. Highly recommended for readers who are as addicted to Emily in Paris and The Great British Bake-Off as I am!

𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚝 𝙱𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘 𝙴𝚡𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚂𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚊 𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝

Thank you to @PRHaudio and @netgalley for my gifted copies.

𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ⭐⭐⭐/5 {3.5}

This is a charming enemies to lovers romance, that brings a unique twist with magic spices. All I can say is, don't read this book while hungry (you have been warned)

Outside of the quaint setting and delicious food however, I was not entirely sold on the romance. I had a hard time feeling the chemistry, which in the end made the story drag a little towards the middle to end.

With that being said, this was a quick and fun read and one I am sure many will enjoy!

Stevie‘s review of The Spice Master At Bistro Exotique by Samantha Vérant
Contemporary Women’s Fiction published by Berkley 06 Dec 22

I’ve probably mentioned before that I have a fondness for stories in which a plucky heroine risks all to follow her dream and set up in business doing something she loves, and Jenny Colgan is one of my go-to authors for such plots. I’m similarly fond of any story that features recipes of one sort or another, so this novel about a budding restaurateur, complete with a selection of ‘her’ signature dishes, looked to be just my thing. Kate Jenkins has lived in Paris since she was a teenager, and her free-spirited mother moved there with her from the US. She loves the city, particularly its food, and now she’s about to open her own restaurant specialising in her own twists on popular cuisine.


While preparing for her grand opening, a series of mishaps bring Kate into conflict with two men living in her building. She has sympathy for one, and he is nothing but helpful, while the other seems to be going out of his way to antagonise her. It doesn’t help that the annoying man is sexy, while the helpful one is just nice. In the middle of all this, Kate, and then her mother, is befriended by an older, wealthy, eccentric woman, who is a great expert on spices and offers to give Kate the perfect compliments to her dishes. Kate is at first suspicious, especially when her new friend seems to be making veiled references to the fate of a previous proprietor of Kate’s restaurant. However, a disastrous opening for the bistro leaves Kate willing to try anything to turn her luck around, even working with the annoying sexy guy, who turns out to be the woman’s son, Charles.

The combination of chefs works well in spite of the conflict between them. Charles is far more pragmatic than Kate, who wants to try out her ideas for new dishes, even when the ingredients are not practical or not in season, while Kate helps him to deal with some of the issues in his personal life. Unfortunately, none of this was enough to make me actually like either of them. Charles plays some very petty practical jokes, while Kate at times comes over as a bit of a spoiled brat. On the other hand, I’d have quite liked to have seen more of the relationship that developed between Kate’s mother and Kate’s other neighbour, if only because that seemed more balanced in spite of the apparent age gap between them.

Not an author I’m likely to revisit, sadly.

Grade: D

The author warned us in the beginning of the book not to read this book hungry and let me tell you. I failed. I failed miserably. This book made me so incredibly hungry but I loved it.
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Kate is doing it. She is opening the bistro of her dreams but it is stressful. She has all of the talent in the world but bad luck is following her, until she meets Garrance. Garrance proclaims herself as the spice master of Paris but she is utterly fascinating….(can we please have a book about her life?) Anyway, Garrance offers to help her with the spices and scents that simply seem like magic but it comes with a price. Kate has to work with her son, and they did not exactly get off on the right foot.
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This book has an amazing cast of characters and like the scents and spices it transports you.
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out tomorrow!
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One Sentence Summary: When someone seems out to make Kate’s Bistro Exotique fail before it even opens, she’s forced to team up with the son of her landlady, who loathes her as much as she hates him.

My thoughts:

The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique is an absolutely delicious novel. It perfectly pairs food and romance, and throws in a couple of nutty mothers and a pampered cat. This is a really fun and fast read, but I mostly loved the restraint Kate has when it comes to her romance with Charles and how it’s mostly clean. At first, the spices that have the power to mentally transport people felt a little strange and a little too magical, but, by the end, I thought it was fun element that actually fit well with Kate. Overall, this was a lovely blend of women’s fiction and romance. It was nicely balanced, but the best part was all the food.

Verant showed her strength with women’s fiction with The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux and slowly moved it into romance with its sequel. Here, she shows her hand with perfectly balancing women’s fiction and romance. It’s focused on Kate and her laboring to get her Paris bistro up and running while someone seems intent on ruining her before she can even really open. Luckily there’s a lady willing to help her, with stipulations, of course, if only Kate can figure out whether she can trust this woman. It was fantastic to watch Kate do what she had to in order to save her dream, and an irritating yet handsome chef isn’t going to get in her way. And thus enters the fun romance. These two chefs have knives at each other’s throats. Sort of. There’s definitely something sizzling between them, if only they can get past their walls. It was so much fun watching them together, and then so sweet watching them fall for each other while working together.

I loved Kate. As an American transplant, she lives somewhere between being American and French, and it was nice that this was shown. But the fun part of her was that she was a little crazy. She wasn’t chaotic, but was definitely high energy and much more uptight than her mother, who freely talks about sex and will sage her daughter’s bistro and upstairs apartment as often as she can get away with it. Kate gets some interesting ideas, but I’m not always convinced it’s not because of her mother and her mother’s new friend, Charles’ mother. These three women were a ton of fun and they kept me highly amused. Unfortunately, Charles felt a little jerked around by the story so I only really got a sense that he was a decent guy with sadness in his past, but he and Kate were great together.

Much of The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique is set at Kate’s bistro and her apartment, so the world felt a little narrowed. But, with all the strange people inhabiting Kate’s orbit, it was great to have all that crazy confined to a small space. There are some scenes that take place away from the building, but I did love that it felt centered around one location. It made it feel like there was a lot of life going on and the mothers just brought a wildly fun light to it. These two women are so different, but I loved that they were thick as thieves. And it didn’t hurt that there’s a highly pampered and spoiled cat who loves finding his way into Kate’s space, both forcing her to take care of him and deal with the intensity of his stare. He’s quite a character all on his own.

Really, it’s the characters who made this story for me. I liked following Kate’s journey to opening her bistro and the pitfalls that come with being associated with a wealthy family. I liked the story, but it did take second fiddle to the characters. It was fun and fast paced and really let the characters lead. I did enjoy that it wasn’t just a blend of food, romance, and women’s fiction, but also threw in references to movies and music that I won’t even pretend to get. All the elements worked fantastically together, mostly because the characters were just so incredible.

The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique perfectly blends so much together. The characters are amusing and fun and really carry the story well. The world is romantic, but also hints at the cutthroat culinary world. The romance is sweet and relatively clean. The power of the spices Kate is gifted knocked me for a bit, but it fit with the slight craziness woven into this story thanks in large part to Kate. This was very different from Sophie’s story, but it was still a lot of fun and absolutely delicious.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed all the gorgeous descriptions of food and flavor in this one, but the romance aspect of it didn't work for me at all, really. It felt like it was a far too easy transition for the "enemies to lovers" trope. Good characters and a lovely Parisian setting, along with the food, saved the story.

This is definition of a slow-burn which is nice, but I felt the chemistry was lacking. That being said, the FOOD was not. If Verant wants to try out cozy mysteries focused on food, I'd be game for that.

Kate Jenkins is finally ready to open her own restaurant in Paris. She just has to get through her own challenges, and boy, does she have a lot. When she finally loses her staff and her dreams, she must rely on Chef Charles (this reclusive rich guy) to help her succeed in Pairs. The only problem is she can’t stand Charles.

Chef Master Charles is the complete opposite of Kate. He finds her A personality to be kind of annoying. However, he can’t deny that the more time they spend together in the kitchen, the more he likes her.

If you are a foodie and love to travel, this is the perfect cozy romance to read. The author gives beautiful descriptions of Paris and all the places to eat. I can’t wait to travel there one day. The author adds a few recipes that I can’t help but to try one day.

Here is the thing with this story it has a lot of the elements that I typically love, but they somehow fall short. The romance is a bit lighter than I had anticipated. Kate has a lot of anxiety and issues around intimacy that I just couldn’t buy into, but at the same time, there is this lustful spirit of hers. It just takes entirely too long for them to fall in love the way that I had hoped.

The author uses a lot of French in the story. While that normally wouldn’t bother me, I think I would have enjoyed the audio version of this story much more. To hear the author’s words in my ears would have made the story come to life.

Overall, if you love food and cute, funny romance, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique is for you. I look forward to trying other books by Ms. Verant.

~ Samantha