Aftertaste is a richly layered debut that lingers on the palate long after the final page—much like the culinary creations it so lovingly describes. Daria Lavelle weaves food, love, ambition, and grief into a beautifully told story about second chances and self-discovery.

The protagonist, a once-rising chef grappling with personal loss and professional burnout, is deeply relatable. Her journey is filled with emotional nuance, from rekindling a complicated romance to rediscovering her passion in the kitchen. Lavelle writes with warmth and precision, giving us characters that feel alive, flawed, and worthy of rooting for.

But what truly sets Aftertaste apart is its sensuality—every dish, every memory, every touch is described with mouthwatering detail and emotional resonance. It’s a book for food lovers, sure, but also for anyone who’s ever had to rebuild from the ashes of disappointment.

Perfect for fans of Sweetbitter or One Italian Summer, this novel delivers emotional depth without losing its lightness. A perfect bittersweet bite of a book.

This was such a creative, spellbinding journey! I love the concept of food holding memories and thought this was brilliant and thought provoking. This wasn't on my radar until I got on booksta, but I'm so glad I picked this one up!! Thank you for the arc!

I thought that it was an interesting premise for a book. At first, I was engaged but as the story progressed, I felt myself getting bored with it. It felt too long, and so many of the pages are food descriptions. I can see a lot of people enjoying this story, so I'd encourage people to read it. It just fell a bit flat for me.

5 glowing stars! Aftertaste is an absolute masterpiece and my favorite read of the year so far (out of 84 books)! The premise of this book is brilliant. It is fresh, original, and unlike anything I have ever read before. The writing is ethereal and beautiful, with rich captivating descriptions of food that made my mouth water constantly.

Soon after suddenly losing his father as child, a grieving Konstantin Duhovny (Kostya) discovers he can connect with the dead through aftertastes of their favorite meals. Kostya hides this gift for many years into adulthood, unsure what to make of it, until one night when he is down on his luck and spontaneously decides to recreate an aftertaste. Kostya is in disbelief when the ghost connected with it appears out of thin air to reunite with their spouse while the meal is consumed. Kostya believes he may have found his purpose in life and ultimately decides to start working in restaurants in hopes of becoming a chef that can reunite grieving strangers with their loved ones in the afterlife and help them find closure. As he attempts this well-intentioned quest and begins to see doors open to money and fame, the plot thickens and it seems Kostya may have bitten off more than he could chew.

The book is heavily food-oriented, with rich descriptions of dishes and flavor profiles (not all fine dining or entirely delicious) that provide a fully immersive experience. It is also a story of love, life, and loss. I truly felt such a wide range of emotions while reading, as the story covers a variety of genres and topics. There are many unique supporting characters woven throughout that helped enrich the plot and progress the storyline. There are a few major jaw dropping twists in the story that completely caught me by surprise! This book is perfect for readers who love: magical realism, paranormal, foodie scene, set in NYC, and storylines involving grief, friendship, passion, and love. Aftertaste is the most unique, beautiful, stunning book I have read in a long time and I cannot recommend it highly enough! Thank you to NetGalley, Daria Lavelle, and Simon & Schuster for the gifted ARC. This is a voluntary and honest review.

This one surprised me—sexy, smart, and centered on reinvention. Elise is the kind of woman you root for because she’s flawed but real. There’s wine, spice, and just enough drama to keep the pages flying. Felt like a rom-dram that left a sweet little afterkick.
“Sometimes bitterness is just flavor that hasn’t settled.”

This is a fairly solid debut novel. There are times where it feels like it's trying to go after several trends at once (paranormal romance! cooking! ghosts!), and there's a few cases of Unneccessary Capital Letters, but overall, it's a fairly solid book set around the premise that sometimes you can cook something well enough that it can conjure up a loved one's ghost for the living. The brief interlude with the Russian mob is a bit weird. Overall, worth my time having read it.

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster for the eARC of Aftertaste!

This is definitely not a book that I would typically read but I was drawn in by food & ghosts — two of the best things. The concept felt really unique, the writing was beautiful & there were definitely a lot of emotions involved, with a huge emphasis on grief. This book feels special.

The concept of this book is fun and unique- a chef who can taste meals from ghosts and recreate them? I couldn't wait to dive in. After a slow start I kept waiting for it to pick up and captivate me but I struggled to get into it the entire way. Not quite fitting cleanly in any genre, it felt like I was floundering to find the point of the story.

They say scent is the highest sense tied to memory, and you can’t taste food without scent. This book was an amazing and unique view of evoking memories through food, love gained and lost, grief, overwhelming joy and despair, the what if’s and I should haves. If you could bring your loved one back for one last meal and convo for closure would you? Would you feel differently if you knew that your mourning was keeping them from moving on? This book looked as so many angles of grief, meddling with the spirits, and the age old sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I enjoyed every second of it!

This book was extremely unique and a premise that I truly have not read before. It didn’t feel completely baked (no pun intended) but overall I enjoyed the read and the characters. I loved the descriptive good writing and the creativity.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a such a unique twist on a ghost story- some people can see ghosts, some can hear them but our MC Kostya can taste favored foods of ghosts. That is, when a spirit is nearby his mouth if flooded with the flavor of a food that was special to them- be it a beautiful or painful memory.
Kostya’s father died when he was a young petulant teen, and his last words to his father were angry ones. He regrets it and mourns for what he has lost. This eventually leads to him recreating a cocktail for a grieving man , and the drink magically makes the man’s dead wife appear before their eyes. More experimentation occurs and Kostya meets a beautiful girl who tells fortunes. She warns him not to mess with things he doesn’t understand. Instead he becomes a chief to gain the necessary skills to perfectly recreate the flavors and textures he experiences when the ghosts come to him via Clairgustance. mostly, he wasn’t to see his father again and to say he is sorry. Food has always been a form a love, of celebration and a way to ease grief and for ghosts it’s no different. They use food as a connection to those they left behind, those that are still hanging onto them, via the thin line that connects this world to theirs. Only when the living let go, can the ghosts move on.
The story is so beautifully told, though I did find it a bit slow in the middle, and confusing at the end. I would like to have had more emotional connection to the characters, but they fell a bit flat for me. Still an enjoyable read, would recommend.

I don't think this book liked me I tried to read it several times and just couldn't get into it. I'm gonna try again at a later date.

This was such an interesting take on a ghost story. It was a bit darker than I anticipated, but still a good story. If you are a foodie and enjoy a dark story, be sure to give this a try. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC in exchange for my review.
4 star

Wow! "Aftertaste" by Daria Lavelle was a wonderful, refreshing, creative and a new concept novel for me. A glimpse into the afterlife and the unrestful dead, mixed with passion for culinary arts was delightful and passionate. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely devoured Aftertaste. Lavelle’s writing makes every flavor come alive and every ache of loss hit home. Her idea of summoning ghosts through taste felt magical and deeply moving as I followed Kostya through ambition, heartbreak, and a genuinely sweet romance with Maura. Their playful banter, and the way the story shifts between the whirlwind of a top-tier kitchen and the quiet moments of grief kept me reading late into the night. If you’re into stories that blend food, fantasy, and a good ghostly twist, this one’s for you.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Konstantin lost his father when he was ten and he's an haunted man, since ghosts have been hovering around him ever since. Kostya can't see the, but he can taste their favourite foods and so discover there's a ghost around. One time he decide to act on what he's tasting and discovers he can help grieving people, reuniting them with their lost ones, at least for the time of eating a dish he's prepared.
When he enters the New York culinary scene, a fiery ring of Hell, he will soon learn there's catastrophe looming in the Afterlife, his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions and the person who should stop him happens to fall in love with him.

Aftertaste is a very original, haunting and intriguing story about the power of food and love, grief and pain, helping grieving people and it's a mix between a dark comedy, a love story and a painful and grieving one.
It's a story about love and loss and Kostya is the perfect main character and I truly loved reading this peculiar book. Passion and hunger, love and loss, it's a mix of everything and it's very well written!
Restaurant and afterlife? That's a unique combination!

This book was not what I was expecting at all and was a did not finish for me. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

Wow this was such a good story, I can’t believe I sat on it so long! This book is different from the stories I normally read but I enjoyed the change. The detailed explanations of food and how it is created makes me wish that I saw cooking this way. You can feel the passion of Konstantin and his work. This combined with the supernatural world and the souls he encounters makes it such a unique and fun read. I love books in which I am awed by their creativity and wonder how they came up with this story. I actually made a reservation to a local “foodie” restaurant while I was listening because I just wanted to submerge myself in the atmosphere of cooking and good food. I highly recommend the audiobook; it helps separate the different POVs and also helps to hear the different pronunciations of various foods and names.

I highly recommend this book for a refreshing new story that encompasses good food, friendships, and some of life’s struggles (all mixed with some “stuck” souls).

Let’s start off with this book was not what I was expecting it to be from the cover but was pleasantly surprised how good it was! I loved the magical realism, mystery and romance of this. I ate this up figuratively and literally! The masterpiece that is this novel.

Some books stay on your tongue long after the final page and Aftertaste is one of them.
As the reader, we follow Kostya, a Ukrainian American dishwasher in NYC who develops the ability to taste the favorite foods of the dead. What seemingly begins as a gift to grieving families turns into something darker as he open his ghosty supper club where ling between the living and the dead begin to blur.

Lavelle's writing and prose is ✨GORGEGOUS✨ Her descriptors of the food had me feeling like I could practically smell or taste a great many dishes and drinks that I'd never had let alone heard of. I did not expect such imagery and sensory stimulation to be so emotional for me. Grief is at the center of everything in this novel but she handles it with such care and warmth with plenty of dark humor along the way. I think this is such a unique concept and it worked so well, even with a bit of slow pacing in the second half which affected the momentum for me.

For lovers of magical realism, food writing or stories that leave an ACHE:
Aftertaste is not simply about ghosts or food, it's about the burdens we carry and what we all yearn for. Taste can be a memory and a memory can be love. This book was so deeply strange and such a flavorful debut.

This was arguably one of the most original novels I've read in YEARS. It's eerie and tender and sort of haunts you (in a good way) prepare to cry, prepare to be curious and most of all prepare to be hungry while reading such a profound work of art.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Daria Lavelle and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ♥