Thank you to NetGalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review. I was excited about this one considering I’ve read one of the authors before and I enjoyed her stuff and it was a marriage of convenience trope and while I usually love those this one was hard to get into.

The characters were very 2 dimensional and hard to relate to much less route for. The premise of a mega cooperation going through the lengths they did just to get what they want only for the ending to happen the way it did. I expected more drama considering how it was written.


2.5 stars for the nature and few times I chuckled

OOF I had to DNF this book at 15%. This really wasn't doing it for me, unfortunately. From the beginning, the plot felt ridiculous and the characters were unbelievable and silly. I personally could not recommend this book to my audience.

This was a sweet culinary inspired romance. I’m a sucker for the second chance and grumpy/sunshine romance tropes. Though I found many of the parts of this book a bit far fetched, I still really enjoyed it. There were parts that I definitely thought could have been left out, for example the unnecessary focus on Grants Pass, Oregon. It didn’t do anything to propel the story and just felt like the authors needed to share their feelings about the city for the sake of sharing. I do feel for anyone who has suffered discrimination there! I did really enjoy all of the references to Portland. The tree snake was a very Oregon twist to me! I could definitely see this happening in Oregon. I’m sure it has happened in the past.

The romance between Kia and Sullivan was sweet and I loved their HEA. I did feel like Kia got dealt a hard hand and was overly villainized.

Overall, this is a sweet, quick foodie romance. Not my favorite from this author duo, but still fun. I look forward to more from them in the future.

4.25/4.5 ⭐️

LISTEN - I really just had a time with this book! The vibes just worked for me. Was it totally realistic? no. Did i care? No. That’s what i love about romance books tho! they’re an ESCAPE.

I really love a book about chefs / cooking. I just love the cozy, familial vibe it gives me while reading. This sapphic, cooking, sassy, grumpy / sunshine book was no exception.

The story line felt fresh and fun. I love a fake marriage / marriage of convenience trope, but they generally all have the same type of inheritance storyline, so this felt fresh and different and I liked that!

I feel like there were parts that dragged and felt a bit slow and repetitive but overall it didn’t make me dislike the book!

The vibes:
-Sapphic
-Grumpy / Sunshine
-Forced Proximity
-Rivals to Lovers
-Fake Marriage / Marriage off Convenience

The vibes just worked for me and the writing felt super bingable and fun. I multi formatted and listened to the audio + read the digital and really enjoyed the narration. It didn’t really add or take away of my overall enjoyment of the story but was done well.

After reading some of the reviews here, I was nervous to listen to this. It was far from terrible. It just wasn't great either. I think if romance was first focus and the environment was second focus I would have enjoyed this more. I also felt Kia was unfairly blamed for everything.

Thank you to netgalley and Hachete audio for the ALC. I had no issues with the audio and both narrators were great.

Loved Sullivan and Kia's low angst, slow burn journey from their high tension graduation kiss(es) to their HEA. And, all the woman part references on a plate that had me swallowing my laughter while I listened to this on the bus.

I'm glad they managed to pull through without much needless drama. Though there were parts of the plot where I got a little confused; like Sullivan's dating history, why she decided to return from Japan,

The audiobook featured two narrators, which was a little confusing initially. Maybe it's because I'm not very good at identifying voice pitches, but I found myself trying to figure out whose POV we were in at each time the narrators switched.

Pace slowed drastically after the intense start. I think having enjoyed this on audio helped through the bumps; I might have put it down on the slower chapters for far too long, if I were reading the book.

Also, I loved Nina for being a true friend.

"Taste the love" was a very cozy and enjoyable read. And it was that while accomplishing to talk about environmentalism and capitalism!

This book has
- lesbian and bi/pan rep
- black, femme FMC
- masc FMC
- marriage of convenience meets second chance at love
- no third act breakup
- trying to fight a big cooperation in a law suit with your badass lawyer BFF

The marriage of convenience/ fake dating felt different to other books. I also very much appreciate that there was no big miscommunication. Even when there were ways to put it in the story. In my opinion it made it better that way.

The FMCs felt unique, authentic and relatable and imperfect, in a good way. Sullivan threw out some of her mail because she thought it was spam when it wasn't. Kia uses AI to not get overwhelmed with the thousands of messages and comments she gets online. Some people might say those are not things a grown up would do or that AI is being promoted in this book. I disagree, I think this shows a real person. Both for accidentally throwing out mail and for using tools that help you when you feel overwhelmed. I agree that combined with the environment topic AI could've been a topic in a conversation between the two FMCs, but it was only mentioned a few short times on the side.

I listened to this book and the narration was done well in dual narration. In the middle of the chapter I sometimes struggled to pick up which POV I was currently listening to, but that through context clues that got resolved quickly.

Somewhere while listening to the book I picked up that it must be an interconnected stand-alone, but it was not an issue that I didn't know any of the characters from before. I might've appreciated some cameos more, I suppose, but I do consider this book to be a well written standalone.

This is an honest review in exchange for an ALC. Thank you to Hachette Audio, Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters and NetGalley for the ALC.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I really loved this second-chance sapphic love story.

I don't think I have read a book of a romance based in the food industry, so that was cool.

I also enjoyed the marriage of convenience element.

What better to read during Pride month.

Highly recommend!!! I had a great time listening to this audio. The production quality and narrator were great. Truly bringing Sullivan and Kia to life.

I am a SUCKER for a second chance romance plus a marriage of convenience too?! Sign me up. The cherry on top is that it’s a sapphic romance and it’s everything.

Everyone is saying to bring back yearning and this book did it for me!!!

I also really loved the emphasis that was put on both the negatives and positives of living in a world so focused on social media but also the spotlight on eco friendly dining. In addition I think it’s so important to highlight not only sapphic relationships but also interracial relationships and these authors weee able to write about it through experience which makes it even more authentic and lovable.



Thank you to the publisher & netGalley for the chance to listen to this early in exchange for my honest opinion 💘

I found myself pretty invested in Kia and Sullivan. The tension and chemistry between them were palpable, but at times, I didn't feel like they really fit together. Kia could be a little difficult to truly love at times because sometimes she just disregarded others altogether. I did enjoy the restaurant industry setting and the way both eventually worked together to find what was best for everyone. Overall cute and easy read. I thought both narrators did a solid job and helped elevate the story (I previously read this as an ebook)

I devoured Taste The Love. It was so wholesome and sweet. I couldn’t take my earbuds out. I loved the narrorators!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Rating: 3.75/5
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️

This was a really great book, and it was fun reading from an author I’d never heard of before. This was a beautifully written rivals to lovers (kind of)/second chance (also kind of)/marriage of convenience romance that I’m glad had a solid plot to back up everything that was going on. The stakes felt real and I’m really happy with the way the conflict resolved, no third act break up!

Personally, this romance was longer than I like them to be, so the beginning felt a bit sluggish. I enjoyed each of the characters, they felt like real people that spoke regularly and had their own ways of going about things.Sometimes I felt some of the characters’ qualities were hammered a bit too hard, more telling than showing, but it wasn’t too bad.

The romance itself was very cute and it was much more emotional than sexual (though there were some good scenes too). Not emotional enough to make me cry, but definitely enough to genuinely root for them as if they actually exist.

Overall, enjoyable read, felt connected to the story and the characters, and would definitely read from this author again for another sapphic love story.

Great dual narration that brought the characters to life.

Although this had some classic romance tropes like marriage of convenience and fake dating/fake marriage, it was done so uniquely. I was drawn right in with the fresh and spirited writing. It very much reads like an exciting, messy, and sexy dramedy on tv.

With the loops and humps with new struggles and hoops they FMC's must dance through I was either deeply invested out of nosey-ness or I was cheering the lingering looks and touches.

I love and will always champion messy characters, especially messy women in books. They are what feels so authentic and relatable and both the FMC's in here are exactly that. I gravitated to both of them even though they are vastly different, so much!

Great romance with entertaining plot!

I listened to the audiobook of this book a. Unfortunately the narrator was difficult to listen to and not zone out a lot.

The story was a bit too unmature and unbelievable since about two women in their 30's. The lawsuit just too much and I do not understand why a fake marriage is needed nor why they do not just hook up from the start since they were into each other from way back. Also calling it a romcom a bit strange since I did not laugh once. The story would have been enhanced a lot if the character build-up was a bit better so I would have felt more invested.

Thank you so much Hachette Audio for the ALC of this book.

The plot of this book very much interested me when reading the description. Unfortunately, the execution of it left me feeling beyond bored and annoyed with the writing structure.

For the first 25% of the story, I had a hard time understanding who was who in the way the POVs are written. And ever after that, there were times I found myself confused. The way the plot is written feels all over the place to me. Why did they jump into everything with no plans to begin with. All the obstacles that kept coming up genuinely annoyed me.

Kia, brought all these vendors who were supposed to be a great opportunity to them, to a place that didn’t even officially exist. I feel like she wasted these peoples time, energy, and the respect for this business ??? Also the narrative written that she uses AI to respond to comments on social media in this current world felt wrong. AI has been proven to be incredibly destructive on many levels so it sucked seeing that sort of “promoted” or seen as a cool thing here.

And as far as Sullivan goes. Her character was so confusing to me. Did she care about anything actually??!! She wanted everyone to seem to think she did but where was any work put in???? She just threw away her mail without reading it as a 35 year old. Idk it just feels like you did it to yourself type of thing. Additionally, why is she described as being a masc lesbian while also describing men fawning all over her. Huh?????

Over all, this was a disappointment.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio | Forever for the free alc and arc copy. My opinions are being left voluntarily. I love the wives duo writing. I loved seeing characters in older books. Something I love about their books is the well researched information comes across as well informed and usually for a positive change and ways for us all to improve. Their books are so hott I was doing a diamond art and had to go make an iced drink.

I appreciated the no 3rd act breakup up nor miscommunication trope.

Suggest giving it a try if you read ff open dorlor romance.

5/5☆