Konstantin Duhovny has a special skill. He can sense the aftertaste of a loved one, the special flavor that can bring them back for a final goodbye. He's convinced his mission in life is to reunite people with their loved ones and give them closure. But not everything is as simple as it seems, and Kostyas ambition snowballs his efforts into more than he could have bargained for.

Like with any good cooking, this one needed time to simmer before it could really pop. But once things get going, it's one perfect bite after another. Kostya is driven as much by ambition as by grief. He has unfinished business with his deceased father, and making that right is a big part of what drives him. He's not entirely selfish, but he does let his desire to help and the high he gets off it cloud his vision.
What keeps spirits behind in Lavelle's afterlife is connected to memories and food, which I found to be a profoundly beautiful detail. It's common to ask who you love to have at a dinner party, but it's not often that it goes into the depth of reliving a loving memory with a loved one who's already left.
The writing, when it comes to food, will leave you drooling. The language Lavelle uses to describe dishes and their flavors is a genre of its own. You will walk away craving dishes you didn't even know existed simply from how mouthwateringly they're described. It's a boon to a story that holds its heart on food and the experience of sharing food with loved ones.
My one complaint is that the love interest, Maura, veers a little too close to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl with a dark secret trope for my liking. The plot eventually makes this element pay off, but I kind of wish there was more to her from the beginning than just the adventuresome girl who helps Kostya have a good time whenever he's not doing his food thing. She winds up being so much more than that, but the first impression lingers.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the deliciously poignant read!