Four stars for this quirky novel. I knew I had to read it when I originally read the description. What I didn’t know was how emotional of a read it would be! It dragged a little and got a bit confusing for me in the middle, but the unique concept kept me reading and wanting to find out what was going to happen!

🧂 This will likely make you laugh, make you cry, and make you hungry. It’s been awhile since I read something this original— and it was a total hit for me. Thank you to @simonbooks for the sneak peek— this is out now (and there is talk it’s THE book of the summer!).

🧂 I would describe this as a literary romance with paranormal elements. Yes, there are ghosts, but this also tackles grief, love, and food’s ability to hold memories. I don’t want to spoil much— but it’s about a chef who can bring back the dead.

🧂There are some fantastical elements as well. The author envisions the afterlife and conditions surrounding that so you’ll have to be willing to embrace that and go with the flow.

🧂 Ultimately for me, this felt like a lesson in letting go, and moving forward. It’s one I’ll think about for a long time to come!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is the type of book I simultaneously want to devour in one bite, and savor like a fine wine. From the moment I started reading, I knew this book would be one of my new favorites because it combines my love of food, with magical realism, and the supernatural.

Just like the protagonist Kostya, I lost my father at a young age. The themes of grief, love, personal culture, friendship, and self discovery are ones I hold close. The author does an amazing job of describing these deep and heavy themes with delicious diction. Every adjective comes back to food, and leaves an impression that lingers long after, like the Aftertastes Kostya experiences. Five out of five stars.

Aftertaste totally surprised me in the best way. It’s a mix of food, ghosts, and grief, but somehow it works perfectly. The idea of someone being able to taste the favorite foods of the dead sounds a little out there, but Lavalle makes it feel emotional and real. Kostya is such a relatable character, trying to find peace while helping others do the same.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital book on exchange for my review.

4.5⭐️ This hit just right. Paranormal with romance and a fun concept of reuniting with loved ones that have passed but not moved on through food. In the synopsis, it says, “A food story to binge. A ghost story to devour. A love story to savor.”. I definitely agree.

Konstya’s father passed away, and it’s as if he haunting him. But this isn’t like things are moving or shadows being seen. Konstya is tasting their favorite foods. Not just his dad, but any ghost. He over time develops an idea to create a place where people can come enjoy food but also see their loved ones. Maybe Konstya can provide closure. But what if theirs more to it than that. What if there’s something bigger in the afterlife waiting to break free. A hungry so great, Konstya might lose everything.

Thank you to @netgalley @simonandschuster and @daria.lavelle.author for the advanced reader copy.

To all the readers embarking on reading this absolute journey of a book... Stick with it past Part 1. I think Lavelle does a good job of pulling you in with the beginning of Part 2, but honestly I was close to putting it down as Part 1 came to a close. The reason why being that the main character, Konstantin Duhovny, elicits at first sincere pity and then an undeniably strong sense of cringe. The woe is me of a grown man was hard to stomach for a couple of pages there. However, I am SO glad I stuck with it. This book is truly beautiful.

Lavelle hits hunger right on the head. She strikes her readers with the bottomless pit of need associated with loss. She paints a colorful adventure of a date night through New York City. She brings light to the little trophies taken and given by working in the food industry. Anything you could hunger for in life, Lavelle opens your senses to it. Genuinely left this book feeling full (okay maybe still have a craving for some varenyky).

Appreciation to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for access to this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

I can honestly say I’ve never read a book like this one. In this very imaginative tale a chef summons ghosts by preparing their favorite meal. The characters are well developed. I received a complimentary copy of this book and chose to write a voluntary, unbiased review.

Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars

Daria Lavelle's Aftertaste blends magical realism, paranormal intrigue, and romance with a distinctive narrative style to explore the profound themes of grief, closure, and connection. It's a story unlike any you've encountered, where the culinary arts become a conduit to the spectral.

The novel introduces us to Kostya Duhovny, who immigrated with his parents from Ukraine to the United States. His adjustment was tough, and a morning argument with his father tragically becomes their last interaction before his father's unexpected passing. Overwhelmed by grief and regret, Kostya soon experiences his first "aftertaste” - phantom flavors of a ghost's favorite foods that appear only when a spirit is present.

This ability evolves in a surprising way: Kostya discovers that by recreating these "aftertastes" through cooking, he can temporarily reunite the living with their deceased loved ones, offering a chance for much-needed closure. Driven by a desire to help others navigate their grief and perhaps even find peace for himself, Kostya immerses himself in the competitive New York culinary scene.

However, his noble intentions soon lead him down a perilous path. As Kostya's unique "spirit cuisine" gains recognition, he finds himself in an increasingly dangerous situation, navigating not only the demands of the culinary world but also the unforeseen consequences of his extraordinary gift.

Ultimately, Aftertaste is a captivating exploration of the universal human hunger for connection, the bittersweet complexities of loss, and the lengths one might go to find satisfaction and closure, even if it means venturing into the unknown depths of the afterlife.

I laughed, I cried, and I devoured this book in a day. It felt kind of like Inside Out meets Elemental, for any Pixar fans.

I can’t wait to see what this author puts out next!

I really enjoyed this book. It's a tragic, descriptive, and uniquely moving story. Both Kostya and Maura were fascinating characters, and their raw, distinct approaches to grappling with grief and loss were particularly impactful. Daria's sensory descriptions of food and taste are simply stunning. The concept itself was incredibly fresh and original, making this a highly enjoyable read.

Thanks again to @simonbooks and @darialavalle for the finished copy!

3.5 stars
This book was very well written and the concept was so unique. It explored topics of love, grief, aspiration, sacrifice, friendship, loneliness and much more. The reason I’m rating this book a 3.5 is because it didn’t hold my attention as much as I would have hoped. Towards the end of the book, it was a bit more suspenseful, and I was excited to see what happened, but it wasn’t something that hooked me!

Aftertaste is so unique in that it’s a centered in the culinary world with a supernatural twist. There’s a love story, a deep tale of grief and the dangers that go along with the sprits that inhabit the otherworldly. It also explores our connections to food and the memories and emotions it evokes with certain people.
The other thing that is unique about this story is that the city of New York is basically another character. It is portrayed with so much love that it is hard not to see it as such, amd I think that is truly beautiful of the author. The main character, Konstantin, had such an incredible arc to him that it was hard to put the book down at times. I was rooting for him to get his happy ever after.
There’s something for everyone in this story-it’s a supernatural story but yet it had so many realistic elements that it feels like it could truly happen. The writing flowed smoothly and the plot twist shook Kostya’s story in the best way.
I didn’t know what to expect with this book amd I’m so glad I went in blind because I think it added to my enjoyment. I can’t wait to see what the author writes next.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for this eArc in exchange for my review.

AfterTaste
By Daria Lavelle
Pub Date: May 20, 2025

In social settings, we are often challenged with a thoughtful ice-breaker question—If you could have a supper with anyone, who would it be? Most people pick someone famous but what if your heart’s desire is to eat a final meal with a family member who has passed too soon? What would you pay to make this fantasy meal happen? In Daria Lavelle, debut novel, everyone pays the ultimate price.

Konstantin Duhovny (Kostya) is a man with just such a wish. He wants to talk to his father one last time. A father who passed when Kostya was only ten years old. This wish is compounded daily with the fact Kostya can taste his father’s favorite meal-Pechora. The flavors: burnt chicken liver, onions, fresh dill and a squeeze of lemon, make his mouth water and his heart break. He longs to make this meal but can’t get the recipe right.

With the help and the cooking expertise of his friend, Frankie, Kostya realizes he can cook to make his wish come true and that of others too. He has a gift…a gift of a “taste connection” to the spirits who are also hunger for a final meal with a loved one.

Kostya’s charging jump into the culinary world of gastronome in NYC is a bumpy and dangerous path. Not only does he have to fight the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), tasting menus, exhausted nights, questioning staff, and gangster investors, but he must fight the very underworld he is so closely connected to.

The descriptions of the food in this book are other worldly and will whet the palette of the most avid foodie. I was left hunger with every page and after every bite. My taste buds danced among the carefully crafted words representing all the world’s flavors. They left me devouring the pages in a whirlwind of food, love, loss, grief, and heart’s desire.

The volatile relationship with Maura is heaven-sent and propels the story to another level. The sacrifices made by each character heighten the story to the heavens themselves.

I am not usually a fan of fantasy and the paranormal, but this book brings home what is truly important in life: love, family, friends, and what you are willing to give up for them. I loved the ending! It left me speechless and completely sated.

Five Stars! Available now!

Net Galley and Simon & Schuster have provided me with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

#AfterTaste
#YummyFantasyGhostsPananormal
#ATastyTreat
#MouthwateringDelight
#AvidFoodieLove

A charmingly dark saga rich with magical realism. Lavelle is a new author to watch and the perfect book to take on a reflective summer vacation.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the premise. The ghosts and the potential for closure were great plot points. But overall, there was too much going on. I did not like Maura or the insta-love in their relationship and this kinda took away from the ending for me. I did really like the twists that happened, especially with Frankie.

What if you could have one last meal with someone you’ve loved, someone you’ve lost?

Konstantin is haunted in more ways than one and in his search to find himself, he manages to find many others who are lost and simply looking for a way home. As he copes with the loss of his own father, he helps others work through their grief and find closure with loved ones in a very unique way - he brings the dead back to life for the length of one meal.

Daria’s writing is *stunning* and her story telling is so unbelievably unique that I found myself at a loss for words when trying to describe this book. It felt like a warm hug. I was pulled in so immediately, I connected to characters within a few sentences of meeting them and the overall premise? Wow. The idea of being able to taste meals that ghosts loved as a way of bridging the afterlife with the real world was beautiful and heartbreaking and raw.

Daria depicts emotions from happiness, fear, love, heartbreak, giving up, moving on, finding yourself, losing yourself, acceptance, and ultimately, sacrifice. She describes food in a way that brings it to life, gives it a story, and turns it into a character of its own. She had me hungry for more with each page. I loved the relationships we were able to experience, and how even the most fleeting of glimpses into the seemingly minute relationships living in the background of the overall story came forward and made an impact.

This was an ARC that I got a few chapters in and immediately realized I would be buying a copy of to satisfy my need to highlight, make notes, and ultimately display its beauty on my shelf. As someone who lost my own father, this is a book my heart needed and one that made me wish, against all warnings, that I could have one more meal with him.

Cool story! I loved the idea of the aftertastes and how Kostya thought he was helping. This was a book that I didn’t feel like I had ever read before. It was new and fresh and I really enjoyed the story. It was well written, and the characters were fully fleshed out. Great work!

4.5 ⭐ rounded up!

Aftertaste was unlike anything I've ever read before. Daria told us it was part love story, part ghost story, all food story, and that is the quintessential way to describe it. You can tell SO much love and care went into the food aspect of this book. That the author connects deeply with food as a medium for love and communication and memories. There were so many dishes described that I was foaming at the mouth to get a piece of. It also had me wondering what my aftertaste might be. Who it might bring back.

The exploration of grief was stunning and handled with such care. The first real aftertaste experience had me in tears and there was a shocking twist that had my jaw on the floor. I loved Maura and Kostya's burning hot and bright romance. The salt line really got me.

The mechanics of the actual afterlife/ghost experience was just something I don't think I fully comprehended and couldn't quite grasp, which is what deducted the half star. Otherwise, what an absolutely stellar debut and I'll be reading everything that Lavelle comes out with in the future!

Very different concept- I enjoyed this one! Kostya is haunted by the death of his father, and the pain of this death comes to him in the form of his father's favorite meal, liver and onions, which coats the back of his tongue in an "aftertaste". Years later, when bartending for an absent colleague, Kostya discovers he can bring back a dead person's spirit if he concocts the perfect recipe for the aftertaste. Kostya, in conjunction with his roommate and best friend, talented young chef. When Kostya discovers there are grave repercussions to his actions for the spirit world, he has already fallen in love with a young woman, who is very attuned to the spirit world since the death of her younger sister.

The loss of a loved one is heartbreaking. Grief takes over and some can't move on. Aftertaste trys to fix that with a final meal for closure. However, is the grief of loss being fixed can it be or will it make things worse for the deceased ghost if we can't let them move on. Daria Lavelle takes us on a journey of understanding death and teaches us that we must continue to live.

What a strange and lovely book this was. When 10-year-old Konstantin Duhovny’s father dies, Konstantin discovers a strange gift—he can taste meals ghosts around him are craving. And if he creates those meals, he can summon the ghosts back for as long as the meal lasts. This power feels like a gift he can share with the world, but there are forces at play he doesn’t understand.

It took me a while to get started with AFTERTASTE, but once I hit the second half of the book, I couldn’t put it down. The writing is cinematic, pulling the reader into multi-sensory scenes that linger past the words’ afterimage. This would be an interesting book to read in a book club, to contemplate what aftertaste you’d leave behind, if you’d want to be briefly resurrected, and if there has ever been a ghost from your past you can’t let go of.

The writing has a whimsical rhythm that reminded me of Marcus Zusak’s style. At times it felt a little too whimsical—the world-building was definitely fairy-tale like and at times left me with questions. But overall, this is a compelling read that will stay with me for a long time.