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Rising Star Chef #3
Hot Under Pressure
Hot Under Pressure
Louisa Edwards
Prepare to turn up the heat with the final book in the sizzling "Rising Star Chef" trilogy from romance author Louisa Edwards.
Henry Beck thought he'd already faced the toughest kitchen challenge of his life. After all, what could top sweating it out as a Navy cook on a submarine? But when he learns his competition for the title of Rising Star Chef is the sweet hippie girl he married…and left…ten years ago, the heat is on.
Now Beck and Skye Gladwell are going head to head in the finals…and sparking up old flames every time they touch. But Skye wants more than a win over the man who abandoned her when she needed him most—she wants a divorce! Then her sexy almost-ex makes a deliciously dangerous proposition. He'll give in to her demands, but if his team wins the RSC, he has a demand of his own…one last taste of the only woman he ever loved.
Louisa Edwards
Prepare to turn up the heat with the final book in the sizzling "Rising Star Chef" trilogy from romance author Louisa Edwards.
Henry Beck thought he'd already faced the toughest kitchen challenge of his life. After all, what could top sweating it out as a Navy cook on a submarine? But when he learns his competition for the title of Rising Star Chef is the sweet hippie girl he married…and left…ten years ago, the heat is on.
Now Beck and Skye Gladwell are going head to head in the finals…and sparking up old flames every time they touch. But Skye wants more than a win over the man who abandoned her when she needed him most—she wants a divorce! Then her sexy almost-ex makes a deliciously dangerous proposition. He'll give in to her demands, but if his team wins the RSC, he has a demand of his own…one last taste of the only woman he ever loved.
309 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
15 people are currently reading
1279 people want to read
About the author
Louisa Edwards
16 books794 followersLouisa Edwards was born in Austin, but grew up in Virginia, where she started reading romance around the age of eleven. She graduated with honors from Bryn Mawr College and landed her first job in publishing as an Editorial Assistant at Berkley and built her own list of authors, earning a promotion to Assistant Editor.
Then real life romance ensued: Louisa married a journalist and moved to a small town in Ohio where she critiqued restaurants for the local paper and began writing the Recipe for Love novels, a series of contemporary romances with a strong culinary theme. Her debut novel, CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, was released by St. Martin’s Press in September 2009 to rave reviews. The second novel in the series, ON THE STEAMY SIDE came out in March 2010, followed by JUST ONE TASTE in September 2010.
The series will continue with TOO HOT TO TOUCH (on sale August 2, 2011), SOME LIKE IT HOT (November 29, 2011), and HOT UNDER PRESSURE (April 2012), a trilogy about a team of talented chefs in a high-stakes culinary competition.
Louisa recently moved back to Austin with her husband. They and their two dogs are already completely in love with it!
Then real life romance ensued: Louisa married a journalist and moved to a small town in Ohio where she critiqued restaurants for the local paper and began writing the Recipe for Love novels, a series of contemporary romances with a strong culinary theme. Her debut novel, CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, was released by St. Martin’s Press in September 2009 to rave reviews. The second novel in the series, ON THE STEAMY SIDE came out in March 2010, followed by JUST ONE TASTE in September 2010.
The series will continue with TOO HOT TO TOUCH (on sale August 2, 2011), SOME LIKE IT HOT (November 29, 2011), and HOT UNDER PRESSURE (April 2012), a trilogy about a team of talented chefs in a high-stakes culinary competition.
Louisa recently moved back to Austin with her husband. They and their two dogs are already completely in love with it!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
June 27, 2012
Loved this book! Made me laugh, made me teary-eyed--an amazing ending to the series.
April 2, 2012
3.5 Stars: Good Reading
Hot Under Pressure by Louisa Edwards is a surprising novel. This is the first novel in the Rising Chef series that I have read and I am intrigued enough to want to go back and read the preceding stories. This particular book is a very pleasing romance with an original backdrop to have people connect on an intimate level.
Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell’s relationship is very tenuous. Before the Rising Chef Competition (RSC), they have not laid eyes on each other despite the fact that they have been married ten years. To say they have been estranged is putting it mildly. So, the tension when they finally meet again runs from shock, hostility, to lust - in other words, emotional whiplash.
Throughout the Rising Chef Competition the two main characters experience emotional growth. Skye has the support of her friends from her place of business of which she is owner, Queenie Pie, and Beck has the support of a surrogate family, the Lundens who own a restaurant where he is employed through which he gains a caring family that has “adopted” him into the fold of their care and security. However, he is reticent to accept the connection due to his loner tendencies. Beck’s friend Winslow does a lot to help Beck come out of his emotional shell. Wilson also provides a little comic relief and practicality to the tumultuous feelings Beck must confront.
Beck is ex-military and the reader finds him falling back on his training to get through the competition. The use of this as Beck’s mechanism to discipline himself into a well-oiled cooking machine, to keep his focus on the RSC and to deal with Skye was a little awkward for the scope of this book.
Skye has her share of issues to deal with over and above the rivalry between the cooking teams throughout the cooking competition: her boyfriend, her feelings for her former lover, to a small extent her relationship with her parents, and the emotional trauma of feeling abandoned by Beck when she went through an emotional upheaval years ago. In an attempt to move past her feelings and move on with her life, she asks Beck for a divorce. Before he lets her go, he makes a request that she spend one more night with him. From there, their relationship flares back to life once the gauntlet has been laid by Beck.
The connection between Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell was touch and go for me. They were just missing that spark that really jumps off the pages and burrows into your heart. There was too much inconsistency in their emotions one moment they were angry and resentful towards each other and the next moment they are talking about sex; making it hard for me to completely buy into the relationship. However, I enjoyed the novel. The secondary characters helped to keep the story rolling nicely by binding the plot together very nicely.
Over all, Hot Under Pressure is a good romance novel. I enjoyed the book and I liked the originality of the use of culinary arts as a form of expressing conflict and creating an environment that can cultivate romance. I am looking forward to reading the preceding books in the Rising Star Chef series: Too Hot to Touch (Book 1) and Some Like It Hot (Book 2).
Happy Reading from Bona Fide Reflections!!
(ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.)
Hot Under Pressure by Louisa Edwards is a surprising novel. This is the first novel in the Rising Chef series that I have read and I am intrigued enough to want to go back and read the preceding stories. This particular book is a very pleasing romance with an original backdrop to have people connect on an intimate level.
Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell’s relationship is very tenuous. Before the Rising Chef Competition (RSC), they have not laid eyes on each other despite the fact that they have been married ten years. To say they have been estranged is putting it mildly. So, the tension when they finally meet again runs from shock, hostility, to lust - in other words, emotional whiplash.
Throughout the Rising Chef Competition the two main characters experience emotional growth. Skye has the support of her friends from her place of business of which she is owner, Queenie Pie, and Beck has the support of a surrogate family, the Lundens who own a restaurant where he is employed through which he gains a caring family that has “adopted” him into the fold of their care and security. However, he is reticent to accept the connection due to his loner tendencies. Beck’s friend Winslow does a lot to help Beck come out of his emotional shell. Wilson also provides a little comic relief and practicality to the tumultuous feelings Beck must confront.
Beck is ex-military and the reader finds him falling back on his training to get through the competition. The use of this as Beck’s mechanism to discipline himself into a well-oiled cooking machine, to keep his focus on the RSC and to deal with Skye was a little awkward for the scope of this book.
Skye has her share of issues to deal with over and above the rivalry between the cooking teams throughout the cooking competition: her boyfriend, her feelings for her former lover, to a small extent her relationship with her parents, and the emotional trauma of feeling abandoned by Beck when she went through an emotional upheaval years ago. In an attempt to move past her feelings and move on with her life, she asks Beck for a divorce. Before he lets her go, he makes a request that she spend one more night with him. From there, their relationship flares back to life once the gauntlet has been laid by Beck.
The connection between Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell was touch and go for me. They were just missing that spark that really jumps off the pages and burrows into your heart. There was too much inconsistency in their emotions one moment they were angry and resentful towards each other and the next moment they are talking about sex; making it hard for me to completely buy into the relationship. However, I enjoyed the novel. The secondary characters helped to keep the story rolling nicely by binding the plot together very nicely.
Over all, Hot Under Pressure is a good romance novel. I enjoyed the book and I liked the originality of the use of culinary arts as a form of expressing conflict and creating an environment that can cultivate romance. I am looking forward to reading the preceding books in the Rising Star Chef series: Too Hot to Touch (Book 1) and Some Like It Hot (Book 2).
Happy Reading from Bona Fide Reflections!!
(ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.)
February 25, 2016
I prethodni delovi ovog serijala su bili dobri, ali ovaj je mozda i najbolji; sav je 'pod pritiskom'; posebno su mi se dopali recepti na kraju :D
May 30, 2016
3.5 stars - while I felt the conflict was dragged on too long, I rounded up because of the originality of the plot.
October 7, 2012
-Pero aún así cada mañana la chica y el chico estaban completamente integrados el uno con el otro, hasta que parecía que habían nacido uno frente al otro...
Ame el final de esta serie. Cuando llegue a ella tenía una idea completamente diferente, pensaba que era mas sexual que otra cosa. Y sin embargo, esta tan cargada de sentimientos y emociones...
Beck y Skye son una de las mejores parejas de la serie. Ellos tienen su pasado, sus dramas y todo el dolor de haber compartido cosas juntos, pero cuando se rencuentran 10 años después de separarse, descubren que las cosas no están cerradas, y que están mas a flor de piel que nunca.
Ver su lucha, su entrega y resignación, la aceptación de que están destinados el uno al otro es increíble.... su historia llena de dolor se siente tan viva....
El ultimo reto, donde ellos tienen que plasmar su vida en 5 platos... fue lo mejor del libro. Realmente uno aprecia la historia completa, lo que la autora quiso lograr. Te hace entender ademas, cuan complejo es el arte de la gastronomía, y siento que hoy aprecio mucho mas este mundo, que no es solo comida, sino un sin fin de cosas y sentimientos que la acompañan.
-Este plato es acerca de como los polos se atraen -dijo Beck.-Una buena pareja, para mi, no es poner juntas las cosas obvias. Es entender dos sabores que saquen lo mejor del otro, tal vez resaltar elementos en cada uno que no existían cuando estaban solos
(...)
Con la voz tan áspera y ronca como si hubiera gritado cada palabra al vacío, Beck dijo obstinadamente- Ellos están hechos el uno para el otro. Ellos están enteros y completos cuando están juntos. Y así es como me siento sobre ti, Skye. Sobre nosotros.
Me encantó poder ver a las demás parejas, no solo las de las historias anteriores (Max y Jules; Danny y Eva) sino también ver mas de Claire y Kane, Win y Drew, Nina y Gus,y hasta de Devon y Lilah. Apreciar cuan unidos están todos, la familia que finalmente lograron formar,mas allá de los lazos de sangre o la profesión ,sexo y edad de ellos. Realmente, aprecié muchísimo esta serie.
Ame el final de esta serie. Cuando llegue a ella tenía una idea completamente diferente, pensaba que era mas sexual que otra cosa. Y sin embargo, esta tan cargada de sentimientos y emociones...
Beck y Skye son una de las mejores parejas de la serie. Ellos tienen su pasado, sus dramas y todo el dolor de haber compartido cosas juntos, pero cuando se rencuentran 10 años después de separarse, descubren que las cosas no están cerradas, y que están mas a flor de piel que nunca.
Ver su lucha, su entrega y resignación, la aceptación de que están destinados el uno al otro es increíble.... su historia llena de dolor se siente tan viva....
El ultimo reto, donde ellos tienen que plasmar su vida en 5 platos... fue lo mejor del libro. Realmente uno aprecia la historia completa, lo que la autora quiso lograr. Te hace entender ademas, cuan complejo es el arte de la gastronomía, y siento que hoy aprecio mucho mas este mundo, que no es solo comida, sino un sin fin de cosas y sentimientos que la acompañan.
-Este plato es acerca de como los polos se atraen -dijo Beck.-Una buena pareja, para mi, no es poner juntas las cosas obvias. Es entender dos sabores que saquen lo mejor del otro, tal vez resaltar elementos en cada uno que no existían cuando estaban solos
(...)
Con la voz tan áspera y ronca como si hubiera gritado cada palabra al vacío, Beck dijo obstinadamente- Ellos están hechos el uno para el otro. Ellos están enteros y completos cuando están juntos. Y así es como me siento sobre ti, Skye. Sobre nosotros.
Me encantó poder ver a las demás parejas, no solo las de las historias anteriores (Max y Jules; Danny y Eva) sino también ver mas de Claire y Kane, Win y Drew, Nina y Gus,y hasta de Devon y Lilah. Apreciar cuan unidos están todos, la familia que finalmente lograron formar,mas allá de los lazos de sangre o la profesión ,sexo y edad de ellos. Realmente, aprecié muchísimo esta serie.
November 14, 2012
Two stars because Goodreads thinks people are idiots who won't understand half-star ratings.
This was my least favorite in the series, due to Skye Gladwell annoying me and the whole "Babies ever after" trope I hate.
As usual, I love the food descriptions, the recipe index in the back of the book, and the knowledge Edwards clearly has of a professional kitchen.
Down to the meat of the book, I'm glad to finally get to know the mystery of Henry Beck. As we found out in the previous book, he is still married to Skye Gladwell, though they haven't seen each other in ten years. The two married very young and, as is par for the course in this genre, Skye got knocked up almost immediately. Given that neither of them had any sort of income coming in that would even support just the two of them, let alone a baby (that, had it survived, would have had special needs to boot), Beck does the logical thing and join the Navy. Logical in the sense that the military provides not only a steady income, but pretty sweet spousal and dependent benefits. Like, you know, MEDICAL INSURANCE, for all pre-, post-, and antenatal needs. Somehow, Skye interprets this as abandonment instead as a necessary evil to properly provide for a baby. After Skye miscarries while Beck is deployed, she tells him that she never wants to see him again. Now ladies, when you say something like that, don't be surprised when the recipient of the sentiment actually takes it literally.
After that point, it was hard for me to finish reading the book. If I can't sympathize with half of the main pairing, then there's not much hope for the book. Of course, it's presented that the onus of repairing the relationship falls onto Beck. What was his major crime? Being close-lipped about himself. That's it. He just doesn't like talking about himself and reopening old wounds that he's spent years trying to heal. How many people are willing to tell everybody and their mother about how you lost your parents in a very traumatic way (bridge collapse during an earthquake) when your age was still a single digit and that you spent the next ten years in the foster care system without any sort of stability or love? And really, if you were willing to jump into a marriage with a guy you barely knew, it's a little unfair to fault him with not offering up much information afterward. Probably something that would have been worth discussing before saying, "Hey, let's go to City Hall!"
Of course, Skye is not without her parental issues. She deals with the perennial disappointment from her parents that she isn't who they want her to be, which I can sympathize to an extent. If you want to have kids, you don't get to be disappointed about them becoming human beings with their own opinions, goals, and personalities. Kids are not to be virtual clones of yourself.
The Jeremiah angle seemed superfluous to me. Obviously there had to be a reason for Skye to request an official divorce, but if it's going to be because she met another man that she's so sure is ready to pop *the* question, then he should have more of a presence, humanitarian or not. Not just some mentions here and there, oh he finally comes back to the USA and walks in on Beck and Skye post-coitus (Jeremiah and Skye had an open relationship agreement), and then his next and final scene being that he told Skye (offscreen or off=page, if you will) that he's met somebody else and that's okay because Skye has realized that she's still in love with her husband.
Beck's grand romantic gesture is taking the final challenge of the RSC (conveniently, "Tell your life story through five courses") is essentially stripping himself emotionally in front of not only Skye and Nina Lunden (who was the guest taster for Beck), but four virtual strangers. Skye does the same, but refuses to present a fifth course, essentially forfeiting the RSC title to Beck. That annoyed me quite a bit. Of course I wanted Beck to win. You don't spend three books with a set of characters to not want to see them win it all, but I wanted to see them win fairly, not from forfeiture.
Beck and Skye officially reunite and the book skips to a year later where Skye has managed to knocked up quickly again (given the time frame, a mere three months after they've reunited after a decade-long separation. You would think they'd wait and rebuild a solid marriage foundation before popping out kids, but people don't even do that in reality, let alone Romance Fantasyland). At that point, I mentally checked out and just rushed through the last few pages.
Once again, I found myself wishing for a book featuring Claire and Kane. I really liked their relationship and wanted far more. I generally hate B-plot romances in romance novels because there's no way to make it fulfilling without deviating quite a bit from the main pairing and book plot and other little arcs. To give a beta pairing enough time would cause a book to increase its length substantially. This series already had a lot going on in each book that Claire/Kane really needed their own book. We barely know their characters other than the superficial. And because of that, I leave this series a little unfulfilled.
This was my least favorite in the series, due to Skye Gladwell annoying me and the whole "Babies ever after" trope I hate.
As usual, I love the food descriptions, the recipe index in the back of the book, and the knowledge Edwards clearly has of a professional kitchen.
Down to the meat of the book, I'm glad to finally get to know the mystery of Henry Beck. As we found out in the previous book, he is still married to Skye Gladwell, though they haven't seen each other in ten years. The two married very young and, as is par for the course in this genre, Skye got knocked up almost immediately. Given that neither of them had any sort of income coming in that would even support just the two of them, let alone a baby (that, had it survived, would have had special needs to boot), Beck does the logical thing and join the Navy. Logical in the sense that the military provides not only a steady income, but pretty sweet spousal and dependent benefits. Like, you know, MEDICAL INSURANCE, for all pre-, post-, and antenatal needs. Somehow, Skye interprets this as abandonment instead as a necessary evil to properly provide for a baby. After Skye miscarries while Beck is deployed, she tells him that she never wants to see him again. Now ladies, when you say something like that, don't be surprised when the recipient of the sentiment actually takes it literally.
After that point, it was hard for me to finish reading the book. If I can't sympathize with half of the main pairing, then there's not much hope for the book. Of course, it's presented that the onus of repairing the relationship falls onto Beck. What was his major crime? Being close-lipped about himself. That's it. He just doesn't like talking about himself and reopening old wounds that he's spent years trying to heal. How many people are willing to tell everybody and their mother about how you lost your parents in a very traumatic way (bridge collapse during an earthquake) when your age was still a single digit and that you spent the next ten years in the foster care system without any sort of stability or love? And really, if you were willing to jump into a marriage with a guy you barely knew, it's a little unfair to fault him with not offering up much information afterward. Probably something that would have been worth discussing before saying, "Hey, let's go to City Hall!"
Of course, Skye is not without her parental issues. She deals with the perennial disappointment from her parents that she isn't who they want her to be, which I can sympathize to an extent. If you want to have kids, you don't get to be disappointed about them becoming human beings with their own opinions, goals, and personalities. Kids are not to be virtual clones of yourself.
The Jeremiah angle seemed superfluous to me. Obviously there had to be a reason for Skye to request an official divorce, but if it's going to be because she met another man that she's so sure is ready to pop *the* question, then he should have more of a presence, humanitarian or not. Not just some mentions here and there, oh he finally comes back to the USA and walks in on Beck and Skye post-coitus (Jeremiah and Skye had an open relationship agreement), and then his next and final scene being that he told Skye (offscreen or off=page, if you will) that he's met somebody else and that's okay because Skye has realized that she's still in love with her husband.
Beck's grand romantic gesture is taking the final challenge of the RSC (conveniently, "Tell your life story through five courses") is essentially stripping himself emotionally in front of not only Skye and Nina Lunden (who was the guest taster for Beck), but four virtual strangers. Skye does the same, but refuses to present a fifth course, essentially forfeiting the RSC title to Beck. That annoyed me quite a bit. Of course I wanted Beck to win. You don't spend three books with a set of characters to not want to see them win it all, but I wanted to see them win fairly, not from forfeiture.
Beck and Skye officially reunite and the book skips to a year later where Skye has managed to knocked up quickly again (given the time frame, a mere three months after they've reunited after a decade-long separation. You would think they'd wait and rebuild a solid marriage foundation before popping out kids, but people don't even do that in reality, let alone Romance Fantasyland). At that point, I mentally checked out and just rushed through the last few pages.
Once again, I found myself wishing for a book featuring Claire and Kane. I really liked their relationship and wanted far more. I generally hate B-plot romances in romance novels because there's no way to make it fulfilling without deviating quite a bit from the main pairing and book plot and other little arcs. To give a beta pairing enough time would cause a book to increase its length substantially. This series already had a lot going on in each book that Claire/Kane really needed their own book. We barely know their characters other than the superficial. And because of that, I leave this series a little unfulfilled.
June 10, 2018
My rating for this book is 4.0 strs.
Desde el libro de Danny y Eva, vimos como nuestro chico de la marina perdía los estribos cosa que no es muy común en él, pues se silencioso es su mayor atributo. Se descubrió un poco de la vida pasada de Beck, este pasado incluía a la guapa de Skye y un matrimonio.
Existieron infinidad de momentos de tension desde que estos dos se reencontraron dentro de la cocina de Rising Star Chef, nadie sabia mucho hasta que un momento de quiebre se descubre mas de lo que ambos desean... y es que aun son pareja, pero sin realmente desearlo... o eso piensan los dos.
Skye es una chica guerrera que le puede hacer frente al duro Beck, pero lamentablemente desde el momento en que el se inscribió a la Marina, ella no pudo descifrar en lo que se habia convertido lo que provoco que hubiera corazones rotos. Pero esto es superficial pues si te conectas con la historia percibes que hay mas de esa historia de lo que se esta contando. Ni Beck, ni Skye pronuncian palabra del motivo por el que los dos decidieron irse por caminos separados hasta que llega el climax del libro, el momento mas crucial y es que llore. La verdad llore, fue una velada especial donde los corazones se abrieron y estaban dispuestas a luchar y morir en el intento, pero ambos tenian en claro que no podian correr mas.
Todos, absolutamente todos contribuyeron a esta historia y no solo fue Skye y Beck, también tuvimos intervenciones sobre la vida de la estrella de rock y la directora de la revista culinaria mas importante del momento. Es como si tuviéramos dos historias a la vez, una que es la principal y la otra que es importante pero no tanto. Creo que fueron historia que tuvieron la mayoría de su desarrollo dentro de una cocina, y me gusta el enfoque que da sobre que tu comida refleje tu vida, que refleje emociones y sentimientos. Que la comida eres tu, eso es algo que nos muestras en cada libro, pues cada personaje siempre cocino algo que fue especial muy emotivo y que significo una victoria tanto personal como en la cocina.
Desde el libro de Danny y Eva, vimos como nuestro chico de la marina perdía los estribos cosa que no es muy común en él, pues se silencioso es su mayor atributo. Se descubrió un poco de la vida pasada de Beck, este pasado incluía a la guapa de Skye y un matrimonio.
Existieron infinidad de momentos de tension desde que estos dos se reencontraron dentro de la cocina de Rising Star Chef, nadie sabia mucho hasta que un momento de quiebre se descubre mas de lo que ambos desean... y es que aun son pareja, pero sin realmente desearlo... o eso piensan los dos.
Skye es una chica guerrera que le puede hacer frente al duro Beck, pero lamentablemente desde el momento en que el se inscribió a la Marina, ella no pudo descifrar en lo que se habia convertido lo que provoco que hubiera corazones rotos. Pero esto es superficial pues si te conectas con la historia percibes que hay mas de esa historia de lo que se esta contando. Ni Beck, ni Skye pronuncian palabra del motivo por el que los dos decidieron irse por caminos separados hasta que llega el climax del libro, el momento mas crucial y es que llore. La verdad llore, fue una velada especial donde los corazones se abrieron y estaban dispuestas a luchar y morir en el intento, pero ambos tenian en claro que no podian correr mas.
Todos, absolutamente todos contribuyeron a esta historia y no solo fue Skye y Beck, también tuvimos intervenciones sobre la vida de la estrella de rock y la directora de la revista culinaria mas importante del momento. Es como si tuviéramos dos historias a la vez, una que es la principal y la otra que es importante pero no tanto. Creo que fueron historia que tuvieron la mayoría de su desarrollo dentro de una cocina, y me gusta el enfoque que da sobre que tu comida refleje tu vida, que refleje emociones y sentimientos. Que la comida eres tu, eso es algo que nos muestras en cada libro, pues cada personaje siempre cocino algo que fue especial muy emotivo y que significo una victoria tanto personal como en la cocina.
March 28, 2012
Originally posted at Romance Around the Corner
Is there anything sexier than a man who can cook? The answer is yes, a man who cooks AND cleans up after himself, but we are talking about chefs here, so let’s stick to cooking. Hot Under Pressure is the last book in the Rising Star Chef series, if you haven’t read the previous books you’ll probably be able to enjoy this one but it won’t be the same so my suggestion is to read them in order.
Henry Beck is the newest member of the restaurant, but despite his taciturn personality he’s an integral part of the team and everyone considers him a member of the Lunden family. His specialty is fish and his secret past has inspired some interesting theories about him, the most popular being that he used to be in jail. Obviously that’s not the case and everyone is about to find out about it when his past comes back to haunt him and compete against him in the form of Skye Gladwell, captain of the rival team and Beck’s estranged wife.
Skye hasn’t seen or heard of Beck in ten years so it came as a surprise when he turned out to be part of one of the teams competing for the title of Rising Star Chef. They met when they were very young and fell in love almost instantly. They got married but life and a tragedy got in the way of their happily ever after. Now they have the opportunity to settle the past, at first she is resentful and interested in the competition and finalizing their divorce so she can marry her boyfriend -who doesn’t know about her marital status- but the more they talk the more they realize that their relationship isn’t as over as they thought.
This is by far the most emotional book in the series. Beck and Skye’s love story was like a fairy tale gone wrong. They loved each other very much but they were struggling to make ends meet and life had other plans for them. So decisions were made and in the end their relationship suffered from everything but lack of love, no one was to blame but that didn’t make things easier. At first they were angry and resentful, but also filled with guilt and a deep sense of loss. The reasons behind their breakup are spoilerish so I won’t mention them here, but no one lied and no one cheated, there was none of that, so instead of two people blaming each other we had two people accepting responsibility and trying to come to terms with life getting in the way of love.
Skye was a great heroine. Her parents were famous artist, as talented as they were irresponsible, so Skye was trying to get some order in her life but also maintaining her free spirit and creativity, she achieved it by being a chef and restaurant owner, the perfect mix of responsibility and art. Another great thing about her was that we finally get a female chef who looked normal, I was pleasantly surprised when she turned out to have curves.
I was dying to read Beck’s book to find out his secrets and I wasn’t disappointed. Not what I expected at all but I’ll take it. Quiet and reserved but with a heart of gold, he was a great friend and a great hero. I love men who show vulnerability and he was one of them, he needed to belong and his happily ever after is all about finding his place and a family, and he gets it with the restaurant and with Skye.
If you have read the books you will know that there’s a secondary romance developing throughout the books and in this book we finally get a resolution. It involves two of the judges, Claire Durand and Kane Slater. Claire is more than 15 years older than Kane so their conflict comes from the age difference as well as her trust issues. This story started strong in the first book but it lost some steam in the middle and I wasn’t as invested in them as I was at first, however, I was glad to see them happy.
The book has some weak parts. First, Skye and Beck go from being angry to being in lust very fast, and Skye has a boyfriend, they had an open relationship but for a woman like her, cheating is cheating open relationship or not, and yet she sleeps with Beck. She feels guilty about it and the boyfriend doesn’t really mind, but I didn’t particularly like it. Second, the ending was a bit cheesy, I’m not a fan of the big gesture and the gesture in this book is huge, maybe you will love it but I always feel embarrassed when I read scenes like that. And finally, the competition ends in a predictable way. But overall this was a great book and I loved it just as much as the first book, maybe a little bit more. If you like contemporary romance, men who cook and emotional stories, I’m sure you will love Hot Under Pressure.
Source: we received an e-ARC of the book from the author through NetGalley for review purposes.
Is there anything sexier than a man who can cook? The answer is yes, a man who cooks AND cleans up after himself, but we are talking about chefs here, so let’s stick to cooking. Hot Under Pressure is the last book in the Rising Star Chef series, if you haven’t read the previous books you’ll probably be able to enjoy this one but it won’t be the same so my suggestion is to read them in order.
Henry Beck is the newest member of the restaurant, but despite his taciturn personality he’s an integral part of the team and everyone considers him a member of the Lunden family. His specialty is fish and his secret past has inspired some interesting theories about him, the most popular being that he used to be in jail. Obviously that’s not the case and everyone is about to find out about it when his past comes back to haunt him and compete against him in the form of Skye Gladwell, captain of the rival team and Beck’s estranged wife.
Skye hasn’t seen or heard of Beck in ten years so it came as a surprise when he turned out to be part of one of the teams competing for the title of Rising Star Chef. They met when they were very young and fell in love almost instantly. They got married but life and a tragedy got in the way of their happily ever after. Now they have the opportunity to settle the past, at first she is resentful and interested in the competition and finalizing their divorce so she can marry her boyfriend -who doesn’t know about her marital status- but the more they talk the more they realize that their relationship isn’t as over as they thought.
This is by far the most emotional book in the series. Beck and Skye’s love story was like a fairy tale gone wrong. They loved each other very much but they were struggling to make ends meet and life had other plans for them. So decisions were made and in the end their relationship suffered from everything but lack of love, no one was to blame but that didn’t make things easier. At first they were angry and resentful, but also filled with guilt and a deep sense of loss. The reasons behind their breakup are spoilerish so I won’t mention them here, but no one lied and no one cheated, there was none of that, so instead of two people blaming each other we had two people accepting responsibility and trying to come to terms with life getting in the way of love.
Skye was a great heroine. Her parents were famous artist, as talented as they were irresponsible, so Skye was trying to get some order in her life but also maintaining her free spirit and creativity, she achieved it by being a chef and restaurant owner, the perfect mix of responsibility and art. Another great thing about her was that we finally get a female chef who looked normal, I was pleasantly surprised when she turned out to have curves.
I was dying to read Beck’s book to find out his secrets and I wasn’t disappointed. Not what I expected at all but I’ll take it. Quiet and reserved but with a heart of gold, he was a great friend and a great hero. I love men who show vulnerability and he was one of them, he needed to belong and his happily ever after is all about finding his place and a family, and he gets it with the restaurant and with Skye.
If you have read the books you will know that there’s a secondary romance developing throughout the books and in this book we finally get a resolution. It involves two of the judges, Claire Durand and Kane Slater. Claire is more than 15 years older than Kane so their conflict comes from the age difference as well as her trust issues. This story started strong in the first book but it lost some steam in the middle and I wasn’t as invested in them as I was at first, however, I was glad to see them happy.
The book has some weak parts. First, Skye and Beck go from being angry to being in lust very fast, and Skye has a boyfriend, they had an open relationship but for a woman like her, cheating is cheating open relationship or not, and yet she sleeps with Beck. She feels guilty about it and the boyfriend doesn’t really mind, but I didn’t particularly like it. Second, the ending was a bit cheesy, I’m not a fan of the big gesture and the gesture in this book is huge, maybe you will love it but I always feel embarrassed when I read scenes like that. And finally, the competition ends in a predictable way. But overall this was a great book and I loved it just as much as the first book, maybe a little bit more. If you like contemporary romance, men who cook and emotional stories, I’m sure you will love Hot Under Pressure.
Source: we received an e-ARC of the book from the author through NetGalley for review purposes.
July 3, 2012
Let's face it. I started this series mostly because of my interest in the culinary arts...
Okay okay, it was the cover of this book that cinched it. I wanted to jump start this one right away, but I like to read series in actual order. So when I finally got to this book, I savored every morsel of it. Needless to say, this was my favorite in the series!
In the second book, we learned that there was a connection between Beck and Skye... that they were married. Life has dealt them both some hard blows. From the time Beck was 8, to Skye being alone, dealing with one of the toughest situation any woman has to go through. So when Skye told Beck she wanted a divorce, he wasn't going to go down without one last fight. By making a bet during the Rising Star Chef competition. If skye wins, she gets the divorce. If Beck wins, Skye will still get her divorce but he would also get a one last night with her before she walks out of his life.
As the first 2 books showcased the new connection between the couples, this one showed the re-connection between husband and wife, albeit estranged as they are, after 10 years. The emotional turmoil pouring from both of these characters really tug at your heartstrings in every single direction. Your heart will break from reading their stories!!
Beck is one of those strong and silent types, who keeps his emotions wrapped up because exposing himself would make him all too vulnerable. When he realized he might actually lose the one woman he truly loves, he decided to lay himself bare. And the way Beck poured his heart and soul into his dishes in the final leg of the competition... I melted. Gah. The big strong man is just all full of soft yummy goo inside.
I can't leave without saying that I loved Winslow throughout the entire series. But I love, love, love him even more in this one, because he was the best friend that Beck never had.
Definitely a great end to a great series.
Okay okay, it was the cover of this book that cinched it. I wanted to jump start this one right away, but I like to read series in actual order. So when I finally got to this book, I savored every morsel of it. Needless to say, this was my favorite in the series!
In the second book, we learned that there was a connection between Beck and Skye... that they were married. Life has dealt them both some hard blows. From the time Beck was 8, to Skye being alone, dealing with one of the toughest situation any woman has to go through. So when Skye told Beck she wanted a divorce, he wasn't going to go down without one last fight. By making a bet during the Rising Star Chef competition. If skye wins, she gets the divorce. If Beck wins, Skye will still get her divorce but he would also get a one last night with her before she walks out of his life.
As the first 2 books showcased the new connection between the couples, this one showed the re-connection between husband and wife, albeit estranged as they are, after 10 years. The emotional turmoil pouring from both of these characters really tug at your heartstrings in every single direction. Your heart will break from reading their stories!!
Beck is one of those strong and silent types, who keeps his emotions wrapped up because exposing himself would make him all too vulnerable. When he realized he might actually lose the one woman he truly loves, he decided to lay himself bare. And the way Beck poured his heart and soul into his dishes in the final leg of the competition... I melted. Gah. The big strong man is just all full of soft yummy goo inside.
I can't leave without saying that I loved Winslow throughout the entire series. But I love, love, love him even more in this one, because he was the best friend that Beck never had.
Definitely a great end to a great series.
February 12, 2015
It was definitely much better than the previous book which I gave only two stars. Again, the beginning was rather slow but the characters were less annoying and their story was much more engaging.
Even though I didn't like the second book in the series, I decided to read this one because I was interested in Beck and Skye story. I liked them both since the previous book, definitely much more than Danny and Eva.
The only thing that bothers me is the time Beck spend in the army. He enlisted and after three months he was already sailing in a submarine. I mean, aren't there some trainings for soldiers-to-be where they learn all these things? I also heard somewhere that the ones who serve in submarines are the best ones of the Navy, that you can't become one of them just like that. Maybe it's different with the cooks.
Anyway, the second half of the book was really good. I just couldn't imagine it's a book by the same author that wrote Some Like It Hot. I'm still thinking about raising the note.
Even though I didn't like the second book in the series, I decided to read this one because I was interested in Beck and Skye story. I liked them both since the previous book, definitely much more than Danny and Eva.
The only thing that bothers me is the time Beck spend in the army. He enlisted and after three months he was already sailing in a submarine. I mean, aren't there some trainings for soldiers-to-be where they learn all these things? I also heard somewhere that the ones who serve in submarines are the best ones of the Navy, that you can't become one of them just like that. Maybe it's different with the cooks.
Anyway, the second half of the book was really good. I just couldn't imagine it's a book by the same author that wrote Some Like It Hot. I'm still thinking about raising the note.
May 3, 2012
There are a lot of readers who will enjoy this book more than I did. For some reason I didn't connect with the characters, even though there was a good bit of character development and a decent amount of angst in the story. I think anyone who is a fan of Louisa Edwards and has read the Rising Star Chef trilogy will want to read this final installment. It certainly has more emotional depth than the first book in the trilogy. (I realized I hadn't read the second one after I started this book. After reading the synopsis, I decided I wouldn't like the heroine of that book and decided not to go back and read it.)
Story synopsis: Two people who fell in love and got married young end up splitting because of emotional baggage left over from childhood, lack of maturity, and poor communication Skills. Ten years later they meet unexpectedly and finally work though the baggage, the lack of maturity, and maybe gain a few communication skills.
Story synopsis: Two people who fell in love and got married young end up splitting because of emotional baggage left over from childhood, lack of maturity, and poor communication Skills. Ten years later they meet unexpectedly and finally work though the baggage, the lack of maturity, and maybe gain a few communication skills.
May 2, 2017
por fin acabe los tres libros
May 22, 2015
Soooo much better than second book. Loved Beck & Skye!
June 7, 2020
Saya sungguh beruntung membaca novel ini. Dari pembukaan sudah kembali lagi aura kompetisi kontes masak RSC ini. Gak heran saya bisa membaca cepat novel ini.
Henry Beck yg sudah "terguncang" sejak buku kedua, kali ini dipasang sbg lead hero-nya. Gampang ditebak tim Beck dan Skye dipasangkan dlm final RSC. Skye mau bercerai dari Beck krn Skye mau serius dgn Jeremiah, pacar dgn hubungan terbuka (sampai sekarang saya gak mudeng dgn status "hubungan terbuka" ini). Beck tidak memberikan hal ini dgn mudah. Beck membuat jadi taruhan, bhw Beck akan memberikan perceraian jika Skye menang. Dan jika Beck yg menang, Skye tetap mendapat perceraian tetapi Beck minta satu malam.
Tantangan utk final ini unik krn masing-masing tim hrs mengirim 2 chef-nya utk maju ke final. Karena Gus mendadak tidak fit dan memanggil pulang semua anak-anaknya termasuk Jules, jadi menyisakan Beck dan Win utk menghadapi Skye dan Fiona. Toh tidak butuh utk menentukan siapa pemenangnya, Beck dan Skye tidak bisa menolak ketertarikan mereka yg masih kuat.
Saya suka cara author mengisahkan kisah cinta masa lalu Beck dan Skye yg lumayan mengharu biru, nikah muda dan keguguran di usia yg relatif muda, 18 thn. Beck terpaksa tidak menemani Skye saat keguguran krn pelatihannya di Angkatan Laut. Dan saya suka Beck yg tidak menyerah dan tetap gigih utk mendapatkan kembali cintanya pada Skye. Lewat makanan yg disajikan saat final spt napak tilas kehidupan Beck selama ini yg kebanyakan getir.
Sbg penutup seri "Rising Star Chef" novel ini lumayan memuaskan saya. Transformasi kedewasaan Beck dan Skye sangat memikat, dan menurut saya seharusnya novel-novel spt inilah yg diterjemahkan oleh Elexmedia dan GPU drpd yg over drama dan tokoh-tokoh yg usianya dewasa tapi kelakuannya kekanakan dan mirisnya gak ada perubahan hingga endingnya. Sptnya linimasa romance terjemahan butuh masukan yg bisa membuat pembaca romance di Indonesia bersemangat membacanya.
Henry Beck yg sudah "terguncang" sejak buku kedua, kali ini dipasang sbg lead hero-nya. Gampang ditebak tim Beck dan Skye dipasangkan dlm final RSC. Skye mau bercerai dari Beck krn Skye mau serius dgn Jeremiah, pacar dgn hubungan terbuka (sampai sekarang saya gak mudeng dgn status "hubungan terbuka" ini). Beck tidak memberikan hal ini dgn mudah. Beck membuat jadi taruhan, bhw Beck akan memberikan perceraian jika Skye menang. Dan jika Beck yg menang, Skye tetap mendapat perceraian tetapi Beck minta satu malam.
Tantangan utk final ini unik krn masing-masing tim hrs mengirim 2 chef-nya utk maju ke final. Karena Gus mendadak tidak fit dan memanggil pulang semua anak-anaknya termasuk Jules, jadi menyisakan Beck dan Win utk menghadapi Skye dan Fiona. Toh tidak butuh utk menentukan siapa pemenangnya, Beck dan Skye tidak bisa menolak ketertarikan mereka yg masih kuat.
Saya suka cara author mengisahkan kisah cinta masa lalu Beck dan Skye yg lumayan mengharu biru, nikah muda dan keguguran di usia yg relatif muda, 18 thn. Beck terpaksa tidak menemani Skye saat keguguran krn pelatihannya di Angkatan Laut. Dan saya suka Beck yg tidak menyerah dan tetap gigih utk mendapatkan kembali cintanya pada Skye. Lewat makanan yg disajikan saat final spt napak tilas kehidupan Beck selama ini yg kebanyakan getir.
Sbg penutup seri "Rising Star Chef" novel ini lumayan memuaskan saya. Transformasi kedewasaan Beck dan Skye sangat memikat, dan menurut saya seharusnya novel-novel spt inilah yg diterjemahkan oleh Elexmedia dan GPU drpd yg over drama dan tokoh-tokoh yg usianya dewasa tapi kelakuannya kekanakan dan mirisnya gak ada perubahan hingga endingnya. Sptnya linimasa romance terjemahan butuh masukan yg bisa membuat pembaca romance di Indonesia bersemangat membacanya.
June 11, 2017
Para mí el mejor de los tres que he leído de esta saga.
November 16, 2025
grown man took ten years and three days to learn to talk about a feeling
April 12, 2012
Beck is competing in the Rising Star Chef competition. Beck is the newest member to join the East Coast Team There are four teams competing in the competition. One of the other teams involves Beck's estranged wife, Skye.
This is the first time that Beck and Skye have been in the same room in a long time. Skye tells Beck that she wants a divorce. Beck is not ready to let Skye go without a fight. Beck makes a challenge with Skye. If Beck's team wins, then he will give Skye, the divorce she wants but not before spending one last night in the bedroom together. If Skye's team wins, then Beck will sign the papers.
Hot Under Pressure is the last book in the Rising Star Chef series. If you have not read the prior two novels, than don't worry as this book can be read as a standalone novel. This book had some cooking in it but I would have liked to see a little more. As the concept for this book was about a cooking challenge like Top Chef. Which I love this show by the way. It is one og my guilty pleasures. It felt like the romance was the main focus. Although, the romance between Beck and Skye was not bad. They had chemistry. Hot Under Pressure does heat up in the kitchen and you better watch out of someone will get burned!
This is the first time that Beck and Skye have been in the same room in a long time. Skye tells Beck that she wants a divorce. Beck is not ready to let Skye go without a fight. Beck makes a challenge with Skye. If Beck's team wins, then he will give Skye, the divorce she wants but not before spending one last night in the bedroom together. If Skye's team wins, then Beck will sign the papers.
Hot Under Pressure is the last book in the Rising Star Chef series. If you have not read the prior two novels, than don't worry as this book can be read as a standalone novel. This book had some cooking in it but I would have liked to see a little more. As the concept for this book was about a cooking challenge like Top Chef. Which I love this show by the way. It is one og my guilty pleasures. It felt like the romance was the main focus. Although, the romance between Beck and Skye was not bad. They had chemistry. Hot Under Pressure does heat up in the kitchen and you better watch out of someone will get burned!
May 12, 2012
Should you ever put love on the back burner?
The competition may be about who is the greatest chef, but with Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell it is also about healing deep wounds. Beck and Skye seemed to throw their love away but neither of them really ever walked away. Both of them have been running from childhood trauma and past imperfections but always believed they were at their best when they were together. It has been ten rocky years of building a life while living apart. All it takes is one kiss proves time is on their side not fighting against them.
While the cooking competition gets intense the attraction Beck and Skye have for each is showing it never went away. With each signature dish they prepare, they show off more of the hidden secrets inside that no one should see. Life is far from perfect and these two show how those imperfections can be whipped into one flawless soufflé.
Louisa Edwards knows how to combine the perfect ingredients to make the relationship sizzle, and the story hot. Even the secondary characters are lighting up the night, good work indeed.
The competition may be about who is the greatest chef, but with Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell it is also about healing deep wounds. Beck and Skye seemed to throw their love away but neither of them really ever walked away. Both of them have been running from childhood trauma and past imperfections but always believed they were at their best when they were together. It has been ten rocky years of building a life while living apart. All it takes is one kiss proves time is on their side not fighting against them.
While the cooking competition gets intense the attraction Beck and Skye have for each is showing it never went away. With each signature dish they prepare, they show off more of the hidden secrets inside that no one should see. Life is far from perfect and these two show how those imperfections can be whipped into one flawless soufflé.
Louisa Edwards knows how to combine the perfect ingredients to make the relationship sizzle, and the story hot. Even the secondary characters are lighting up the night, good work indeed.
March 29, 2013
Another romance from Louisa Edwards in which wayward and flawed chefs fight for their signature dishes and love. Skye and Henry are married, but it has been ten years since they have been together. While they have buried their feelings in work, they still have feelings (if only lust) for each other. Now in an head-to-head chef's competition with each other, can they overcome their issues and still find happiness while keeping the heat on and the dishes tasty? Loved that Edwards shared the recipe of grilled pb&j--a recipe that my daughter-in-law introduced to me several years ago.
Want to read
April 6, 2012Gosh.. I am such a harlot. The first thing I looked at (I ignored the synopsis) was his ass. His in-your-face tush. Guys usually don't have an ass, I haven't decided what I like most yet.. lol one sans or.. with. Either way, they're a magnet to the eye.. such a salivating hussy *sigh* :( *snickers*
March 24, 2013
Mi favorito de los 3 libros C:
Beck me ganó <3 totalmente lindo
Me mató la parte en que cuentan su historia a través de 5 tiempos en comida
Beck me ganó <3 totalmente lindo
Me mató la parte en que cuentan su historia a través de 5 tiempos en comida
April 20, 2012
I'm still mad that the most interesting couple in this series didn't get their own book.
February 28, 2018
Dibaca & selesai 26 feb 2018
Henry beck & skye dipertemukan kembali 10 tahun kemudian dalam kontes memasak.
Mereka pasangan suami istri, menikah muda & memutuskan utk berpisah namun belum cerai 10 thn mereka ketemu lagi. Masing" menyimpan luka dan mereka di kontes masak sebagai saingan, beck membuat taruhan sekaligus akan mengabulkan keinginan skye utk berpisah setidaknya ada 1 syarat jika tim beck menang. Ia akan bercinta dengan skye utk terakhir kalinya.
Sebenarnya menang atau kalah beck akan mengabulkannya tp jika tim beck menang dia meminta hadiah "itu".
Meski bersaing & mengira cinta mereka telah padam tp mereka ternyata salah. Masih ada percikan cinta diantara mereka walau 10 thn berlalu dan cinta mereka dimulai kembali di arena dapur.
-----
Ceritanya bagus banget
kesalahpahaman & masing" merasa terzolimi
Alasan mereka pisah adalah ketika skye hamil , keguguran ia mejalaninya sendiri & beck pergi utk bekerja di angkatan laut.
Mereka pikir pas ketemu lagi udah ga saling cinta & ketika gairah mereka kembali nyala mereka sadar kalau hubungan mereka blm benar" berakhir, mereka kembali ingat saat" bahagia dulu.
Konflik:
1. Kesalahpahaman 10thn lalu.
Mereka menikah muda, tdk memiliki uang cukup & tidak memiliki asuransi kesehatan. Oleh sebab itu ia kerja menacari uang tambahan.
Skye tdk mau beck pergi tp beck ttp pergi hingga skye hamil dia menjalaninya sendirian, dan keguguran di usia kandungan 5 bulan. 3bulan saat dia mohon buat beck ga pergi.
Si beck yang pengecut memilih langsung mengiyakan permitaan skye yng memintanya utk pergi dr pada memperjuangkan hubungan mereka, dan dia pergi krn merasa bersalah banget (harusnya aku ga pergi waktu skye blg jangan) 😊. Sebenernya sempat telp gitu tp dia kerja di kelautan susah sinyal gitu & dia di kapal selam & di dalam laut booo berbulan" 😂 bikin skye salah paham juga (si beck ga peduli ga nelp ga pulang).
Sedangkan skye yg mengusir beck krn dia berduka, dia sedih kehilangan bayinya.
Sebenernya walau beck ga pergi mereka ttp kehilangan bayi *ceritanya bayi dia punya abnormalitas kromosom.
Tp setidaknya mereka akan ttp bersama & skye ga akan menghadapi itu semua sendirian.
2. Mereka bicara serius utk pertama kalinya setelah lama pisah & skye bilang kalau dia sama sekali tidak pernah menyalahkan beck dan beck tau 1 fakta bahwa dia akhirnya tau bahwa bayi yang tdk sempat lahir adalah bayi perempuan.
Saat bersama, saling mencurahkan & telanjang di ranjang setelah *u know 😂tepat ketika beck mau memohon utk diberi 1 kesempatan lagi memperbaiki semuanya. seorang masuk ke rumah skye ternyata pria itu jeremiah kekasih skye yang tidak sempat ia beritahukan ke beck.
Walau jeremiah tidak keberatan ketika menemukan mereka ber2 telanjang krn sedari awal hubungan mereka bersifat terbuka.
3. Pertandingan terkahir dia udah hopeless udah berpikir "kayaknya si syke milih jeremiah" tp pas skye manggil "henry" nama yang cm skye doang boleh panggil dia antara seneng & kaget apalagi pas jeremiah blg mereka sudah putus dia tambah kaget. 😆
Sebelum konflik point 3 beck awalnya mau nyerah aja krn jeremiah gambaran laki" heroik & perfect. Pria yang menurut dia cocok disamping skye.
Jeremiah tampan, dia seorang corps, dia tdk mudah emosi, tidak menonjok, tidak berteriak & merentangkan kedua tangannya menerima Skye ke dalam pelukannya.
Cm kata hatinya berkata lain, dia mau memperjuangkan skye kembali & melalui kontes terkahir dr taruhan mereka. Ia mau memenangi kontesnya & bercerita mengenai tiap masakan yg dia buat.
Cerita dr orang tuanya & cerita ttg istrinya skye yg membuat skye menangis.
Ini cerita bener" real life banget
Konfliknya ga muluk", ga jelimet & sering terjadi di kehidupan pernikahan + pengemasannya bagus.
sedehana sebenarnya awalnya dari masalah yang belum selesai & jd ceritanya ini.
Romantismenya? Pas & kelihatan seperti di real life, ga lebay, ada scene yg agak bikin baper dikit sih.
Di cerita ini ga ada gengsi"an mereka cm salahpaham kecil yg dididamin malah jadi besar. Ga ada orang ke 3. Jeremiah? Dia hanya taburan seledri doang. Istilahnya pemanis aja porsinya juga cuma seuprit.
Beck menang di kompetisi rising star chef dan ending (penutup cerita) itu ceritanya 1thn kemudian & mereka punya baby laki" namanya Hank😍
Beck yg awalnya takut gendong anaknya di dipaksa skye buat gendong , pad dia gendong dia blg ke hank "aku menyayangimu" sambil netesin air mata haru trus blg ke skye "aku suka mengendongnya" calon bapak sayang anak.
Untung mereka belum cerai & ga jadi cerai jd mereka bs 1x lagi merasakan kebahagia keluarga 😆
Rating: 4 ❤❤❤❤
Pokoknya apik lah
SELERA
Sebelum cerita ini ini ada 2 cerita lain :
1. Juliet (jules) & max
2. Danny & eva
Max & danny kakak adik
Mereka cowo yg bodynya hot & sama" jago masak 😍😍
Oya Ini buku seri tiap akhir selalu ada resep masak yang endes & bawaannya lgsg pingin praktekin
Henry beck & skye dipertemukan kembali 10 tahun kemudian dalam kontes memasak.
Mereka pasangan suami istri, menikah muda & memutuskan utk berpisah namun belum cerai 10 thn mereka ketemu lagi. Masing" menyimpan luka dan mereka di kontes masak sebagai saingan, beck membuat taruhan sekaligus akan mengabulkan keinginan skye utk berpisah setidaknya ada 1 syarat jika tim beck menang. Ia akan bercinta dengan skye utk terakhir kalinya.
Sebenarnya menang atau kalah beck akan mengabulkannya tp jika tim beck menang dia meminta hadiah "itu".
Meski bersaing & mengira cinta mereka telah padam tp mereka ternyata salah. Masih ada percikan cinta diantara mereka walau 10 thn berlalu dan cinta mereka dimulai kembali di arena dapur.
-----
Ceritanya bagus banget
kesalahpahaman & masing" merasa terzolimi
Alasan mereka pisah adalah ketika skye hamil , keguguran ia mejalaninya sendiri & beck pergi utk bekerja di angkatan laut.
Mereka pikir pas ketemu lagi udah ga saling cinta & ketika gairah mereka kembali nyala mereka sadar kalau hubungan mereka blm benar" berakhir, mereka kembali ingat saat" bahagia dulu.
Konflik:
1. Kesalahpahaman 10thn lalu.
Mereka menikah muda, tdk memiliki uang cukup & tidak memiliki asuransi kesehatan. Oleh sebab itu ia kerja menacari uang tambahan.
Skye tdk mau beck pergi tp beck ttp pergi hingga skye hamil dia menjalaninya sendirian, dan keguguran di usia kandungan 5 bulan. 3bulan saat dia mohon buat beck ga pergi.
Si beck yang pengecut memilih langsung mengiyakan permitaan skye yng memintanya utk pergi dr pada memperjuangkan hubungan mereka, dan dia pergi krn merasa bersalah banget (harusnya aku ga pergi waktu skye blg jangan) 😊. Sebenernya sempat telp gitu tp dia kerja di kelautan susah sinyal gitu & dia di kapal selam & di dalam laut booo berbulan" 😂 bikin skye salah paham juga (si beck ga peduli ga nelp ga pulang).
Sedangkan skye yg mengusir beck krn dia berduka, dia sedih kehilangan bayinya.
Sebenernya walau beck ga pergi mereka ttp kehilangan bayi *ceritanya bayi dia punya abnormalitas kromosom.
Tp setidaknya mereka akan ttp bersama & skye ga akan menghadapi itu semua sendirian.
2. Mereka bicara serius utk pertama kalinya setelah lama pisah & skye bilang kalau dia sama sekali tidak pernah menyalahkan beck dan beck tau 1 fakta bahwa dia akhirnya tau bahwa bayi yang tdk sempat lahir adalah bayi perempuan.
Saat bersama, saling mencurahkan & telanjang di ranjang setelah *u know 😂tepat ketika beck mau memohon utk diberi 1 kesempatan lagi memperbaiki semuanya. seorang masuk ke rumah skye ternyata pria itu jeremiah kekasih skye yang tidak sempat ia beritahukan ke beck.
Walau jeremiah tidak keberatan ketika menemukan mereka ber2 telanjang krn sedari awal hubungan mereka bersifat terbuka.
3. Pertandingan terkahir dia udah hopeless udah berpikir "kayaknya si syke milih jeremiah" tp pas skye manggil "henry" nama yang cm skye doang boleh panggil dia antara seneng & kaget apalagi pas jeremiah blg mereka sudah putus dia tambah kaget. 😆
Sebelum konflik point 3 beck awalnya mau nyerah aja krn jeremiah gambaran laki" heroik & perfect. Pria yang menurut dia cocok disamping skye.
Jeremiah tampan, dia seorang corps, dia tdk mudah emosi, tidak menonjok, tidak berteriak & merentangkan kedua tangannya menerima Skye ke dalam pelukannya.
Cm kata hatinya berkata lain, dia mau memperjuangkan skye kembali & melalui kontes terkahir dr taruhan mereka. Ia mau memenangi kontesnya & bercerita mengenai tiap masakan yg dia buat.
Cerita dr orang tuanya & cerita ttg istrinya skye yg membuat skye menangis.
Ini cerita bener" real life banget
Konfliknya ga muluk", ga jelimet & sering terjadi di kehidupan pernikahan + pengemasannya bagus.
sedehana sebenarnya awalnya dari masalah yang belum selesai & jd ceritanya ini.
Romantismenya? Pas & kelihatan seperti di real life, ga lebay, ada scene yg agak bikin baper dikit sih.
Di cerita ini ga ada gengsi"an mereka cm salahpaham kecil yg dididamin malah jadi besar. Ga ada orang ke 3. Jeremiah? Dia hanya taburan seledri doang. Istilahnya pemanis aja porsinya juga cuma seuprit.
Beck menang di kompetisi rising star chef dan ending (penutup cerita) itu ceritanya 1thn kemudian & mereka punya baby laki" namanya Hank😍
Beck yg awalnya takut gendong anaknya di dipaksa skye buat gendong , pad dia gendong dia blg ke hank "aku menyayangimu" sambil netesin air mata haru trus blg ke skye "aku suka mengendongnya" calon bapak sayang anak.
Untung mereka belum cerai & ga jadi cerai jd mereka bs 1x lagi merasakan kebahagia keluarga 😆
Rating: 4 ❤❤❤❤
Pokoknya apik lah
SELERA
Sebelum cerita ini ini ada 2 cerita lain :
1. Juliet (jules) & max
2. Danny & eva
Max & danny kakak adik
Mereka cowo yg bodynya hot & sama" jago masak 😍😍
Oya Ini buku seri tiap akhir selalu ada resep masak yang endes & bawaannya lgsg pingin praktekin
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2012
Whew. I didn't realize when I started it that this title was the culmination (I think) of a trilogy (which itself is the continuation of a previous trilogy-- and it looks like there's a related ebook trilogy, too). Still, it worked incredibly well as a stand-alone, which surprised me for a final title-- there were story threads and characters in there that were obviously carry-throughs from the other books, but there was enough background given, and focus on the main characters of THIS book, that I didn't feel like I had to go back and read the whole series to get what was going on (which doesn't stop me from *wanting* to, now). There is a LOT of supporting cast here-- I had to flip back a couple of times to remind myself who was who, which I might not have needed had I read the series from the beginning. The whole series is set against the backdrop of a nationwide restaurant cook-off, the Rising Star Chef competition. (The title is a real thing, according to Google, tho' it's not selected in the way the book describes.) Oh, and don't worry about all the mouth-watering food descriptions-- there are recipes in the back of the book. (As far as the mouth-watering guy descriptions, you're on your own.)
This title was... wow. Quite the emotional roller-coaster. Have a box of tissues handy towards the end-- you're going to need them in spades.
The Rising Star Chef competition is down to the wire, now, with just three teams remaining. Ex-Navy cook Henry Beck and his fellow chefs from Lunden's Tavern in Greenwich Village (his family of choice, really) make up the East Coast team, led by chef Jules Cavanaugh. The Midwest Team is led by cutthroat competitor Ryan Larousse, who has demonstrated he'll do anything to win (including using underhanded tactics against his competitors). The West Coast Team from the Queenie Pie Cafe in SF makes up the third team of the semifinals, led by hippie Skye Gladwell... the wife Beck left ten years ago. The wife who was forced to weather a deep tragedy without him. The wife who's rebuilt her life, and made a go of what she truly wants to do... without him. The wife who finally wants to make their long estrangement official with a divorce, before the new boyfriend she's finally found returns from abroad to propose to her. (Okay, she might have skipped telling Beck about that last part....)
I loved how the author wove together the two primary story lines-- the cooking competition, which was tense enough, and the romantic entanglements between our hero and heroine. The two plot lines feed into one another not only because of the bet Beck makes with Skye, but because of the very nature of the cooking challenges. (The bet, which Beck proposes when Sky asks for a divorce: her team wins, she gets her divorce; his team wins, she gets your divorce, but only after he gets to sleep with her one last time.) Because the competition wants to draw out "who they are" as chefs and have them bring a personal element to their dishes, Beck and Skye's problems are brought right to the plate, so to speak. (I admit to being a little confused about the format of the competition-- all the soul-baring drama seemed a little much after they'd decided the contest wouldn't be televised.)
I also like how the author goes back and forth between his and her viewpoint; I found myself relating to Beck even more than to Skye, which is a little unusual in a romance. (It helped that Beck had Winslow as his Mercutio-- Winslow was AWESOME. The scene in the Grape Ape was classic.) Taciturn, emotionally controlled Beck, in particular, has difficulty dishing himself up like that-- which has been part of the problem in their relationship all along, and one of the reasons Skye wants to be done with him. Orphaned when he was 8, in foster care until he was 18, Beck had a *lot* of experience in hiding his emotions, and not a lot of experience in trusting people to accept him as-is. He's been a fighter most of his life, always feeling he had something to prove, and he's an odd match for peace-loving flower child Skye.
Skye is much more emotionally open than Beck, but she's also far more conflicted when we meet her. She's been hurt a LOT by this guy and she really, really wants to hate him, but it's also hard for her to disengage from the first person to see her as something more than an extension of her famous hippie parents (who never approved of her teenaged wedding to Beck, or her career as a chef-- how horribly Establishment of her!). She wants to be recognized for her own talents, but she also wants a secure and sharing relationship, and it's taken her a long time to come to grips with the idea that she'll never have the second half of that with the inscrutable Beck. Jeremiah, the Peace Corps hero who's got a "very important" question to ask her when he comes home for the finals, could offer her the best of both worlds. I did feel that Skye and her quirky-granola staff were a little stereotyped, but towards the end she started to reveal a lot more layers. (Fiona, her sous-chef, stayed kinda cardboardy, though, which was a shame given Win's larger-than-life character.)
It's incredibly hard to know who to root for in the competition, and even harder to watch the characters wrestle with the weight of their own emotional armor. (Beck and Skye aren't the only struggling couple in this book-- judges Claire Durand and Kane Slater are also sort of warily circling one another after some fraught encounters of their own, and I wished that that plot thread had been given a little bit more weight, too, rather than a squeezed-in nod at the ending.) There IS an emotionally satisfying HEA (I'm reassuring you that there is one, because I had my doubts about halfway through), but there are more than a few rocky surprises and revelations and tears (HELL yes, tears) before everyone gets there.
This was a fantastic read about the pains and rewards of being open to love, and about the family you choose (and which chooses you), rather than the family you're born with. Read it over a home-cooked meal; it WILL make you hungry, and if you choose fast food, the dish descriptions will make you sob enviously into your french fries.
This title was... wow. Quite the emotional roller-coaster. Have a box of tissues handy towards the end-- you're going to need them in spades.
The Rising Star Chef competition is down to the wire, now, with just three teams remaining. Ex-Navy cook Henry Beck and his fellow chefs from Lunden's Tavern in Greenwich Village (his family of choice, really) make up the East Coast team, led by chef Jules Cavanaugh. The Midwest Team is led by cutthroat competitor Ryan Larousse, who has demonstrated he'll do anything to win (including using underhanded tactics against his competitors). The West Coast Team from the Queenie Pie Cafe in SF makes up the third team of the semifinals, led by hippie Skye Gladwell... the wife Beck left ten years ago. The wife who was forced to weather a deep tragedy without him. The wife who's rebuilt her life, and made a go of what she truly wants to do... without him. The wife who finally wants to make their long estrangement official with a divorce, before the new boyfriend she's finally found returns from abroad to propose to her. (Okay, she might have skipped telling Beck about that last part....)
I loved how the author wove together the two primary story lines-- the cooking competition, which was tense enough, and the romantic entanglements between our hero and heroine. The two plot lines feed into one another not only because of the bet Beck makes with Skye, but because of the very nature of the cooking challenges. (The bet, which Beck proposes when Sky asks for a divorce: her team wins, she gets her divorce; his team wins, she gets your divorce, but only after he gets to sleep with her one last time.) Because the competition wants to draw out "who they are" as chefs and have them bring a personal element to their dishes, Beck and Skye's problems are brought right to the plate, so to speak. (I admit to being a little confused about the format of the competition-- all the soul-baring drama seemed a little much after they'd decided the contest wouldn't be televised.)
I also like how the author goes back and forth between his and her viewpoint; I found myself relating to Beck even more than to Skye, which is a little unusual in a romance. (It helped that Beck had Winslow as his Mercutio-- Winslow was AWESOME. The scene in the Grape Ape was classic.) Taciturn, emotionally controlled Beck, in particular, has difficulty dishing himself up like that-- which has been part of the problem in their relationship all along, and one of the reasons Skye wants to be done with him. Orphaned when he was 8, in foster care until he was 18, Beck had a *lot* of experience in hiding his emotions, and not a lot of experience in trusting people to accept him as-is. He's been a fighter most of his life, always feeling he had something to prove, and he's an odd match for peace-loving flower child Skye.
Skye is much more emotionally open than Beck, but she's also far more conflicted when we meet her. She's been hurt a LOT by this guy and she really, really wants to hate him, but it's also hard for her to disengage from the first person to see her as something more than an extension of her famous hippie parents (who never approved of her teenaged wedding to Beck, or her career as a chef-- how horribly Establishment of her!). She wants to be recognized for her own talents, but she also wants a secure and sharing relationship, and it's taken her a long time to come to grips with the idea that she'll never have the second half of that with the inscrutable Beck. Jeremiah, the Peace Corps hero who's got a "very important" question to ask her when he comes home for the finals, could offer her the best of both worlds. I did feel that Skye and her quirky-granola staff were a little stereotyped, but towards the end she started to reveal a lot more layers. (Fiona, her sous-chef, stayed kinda cardboardy, though, which was a shame given Win's larger-than-life character.)
It's incredibly hard to know who to root for in the competition, and even harder to watch the characters wrestle with the weight of their own emotional armor. (Beck and Skye aren't the only struggling couple in this book-- judges Claire Durand and Kane Slater are also sort of warily circling one another after some fraught encounters of their own, and I wished that that plot thread had been given a little bit more weight, too, rather than a squeezed-in nod at the ending.) There IS an emotionally satisfying HEA (I'm reassuring you that there is one, because I had my doubts about halfway through), but there are more than a few rocky surprises and revelations and tears (HELL yes, tears) before everyone gets there.
This was a fantastic read about the pains and rewards of being open to love, and about the family you choose (and which chooses you), rather than the family you're born with. Read it over a home-cooked meal; it WILL make you hungry, and if you choose fast food, the dish descriptions will make you sob enviously into your french fries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2021
Este es el peor libro de la saga. Para mí. Siento que la historia de Beck y Skye estaba demás, no me gustó. Sus interacciones eran torpes y nada románticas, siento que fue algo forzado, no como los otros dos libros anteriores donde las parejas se formaron de forma natural. Tampoco me gustó que al final Skye haya dejado de lado todo y no haya completado su desafío al no hacer su quinto plato. Me pareció patético. Es decir, Skye, en está competencia no sólo estás tú, está todo un equipo, así que lo que hiciste fue egoísta, eso de "yo no quería ganar de todas formas", fue ridículo. Y los demás qué? Tampoco querían ganar? En otras palabras Beck ganó sólo por que el otro equipo, osea Skye, se rindió. Lo cual fue algo frustrante porque la competencia era algo que le añadía muchísimo a la historia. Tampoco fui fan de la declaración de amor de Beck en medio de la competencia final, incluso sus platos me parecieron malos. Me decepcionó. Ojalá hubiera sido diferente.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2021
As a finale, this one come unsatisfyingly. Instead of being the best of the series, I found it the worst.
The main characters from the prequels vanished, Claire and Kane got their happy ending but their story was ended at the beginning of this story. I didn't know what caused Claire's change of heart towards Kane. It was such a disappointment. Eva was there, as the host of Rising Star Chef, she must be there, but she was there as a shell, without a soul
Let's move to the main characters, Beck and Skye. I saw no chemistry between them and their love story was not as exciting as it should be, as I usually like estranged couple theme
What saved this book, imho, was the cooking competition, especially the final. I absolutely love it
The main characters from the prequels vanished, Claire and Kane got their happy ending but their story was ended at the beginning of this story. I didn't know what caused Claire's change of heart towards Kane. It was such a disappointment. Eva was there, as the host of Rising Star Chef, she must be there, but she was there as a shell, without a soul
Let's move to the main characters, Beck and Skye. I saw no chemistry between them and their love story was not as exciting as it should be, as I usually like estranged couple theme
What saved this book, imho, was the cooking competition, especially the final. I absolutely love it
April 17, 2019
Skye Gladwell and Henry Beck are opposing competitors in a cooking competition. Oh, and, although they haven't seen each other for years, they are still married! It turns out they both still have feelings for each other, but they have things to work through from their past before they can find a future together. This is the first book in this series I read, and I was somewhat lost, so I recommend starting from the beginning.
February 8, 2020
This is really the hero’s book. The book starts in his POV, and his voice is the strongest in the book. That’s why I liked it. I’ll look for more books by this author - I just wish they weren’t so expensive. The kindle versions are nearly twice the price of the books I usually buy, so I’m going to see if I can get them cheaper elsewhere. Maybe the library 🤔
November 13, 2012
Dear Ms. Edwards,
I’ve read all three books in your Rising Star Chef series and, of all of the couples in the series, my favorite hands down is Claire Durand and Kane Slater. This, really, is a bummer because, in all three books, they are secondary characters though their love story, finally resolved in this book, Hot Under Pressure, is a fabulous one. For me, the romance between chefs Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell, the main protagonists in Hot Under Pressure, is less compelling. The two are each interesting individuals but, as a couple, they lacked consistent, transfixing chemistry.
I guess one could read this novel without reading the two that precede it but I don’t recommend it. One of the best things about the series is its host of characters. The couples from the first two books have roles here as do the cooking crews from Beck’s and Skye’s restaurants. All these chefs are competing in the Rising Star Chef contest—a culinary tournament designed to determine the best cooking team in the country. Three teams have made it to the finals, held in San Francisco: the East Coast team, Beck and the gang from the Manhattan’s steak house Lunden’s Tavern; the West Coast team, Skye and her crew from Queenie Pie Cafe, a homey hipster place in Berkeley; and the Midwest team whose lead chef is such a jerk he and his team are ousted a third of the way through the book. The contest has three judges as well, two of whom, forty-two year old Frenchwoman Claire Duran, editor of the world’s most prestigious cooking magazine, and twenty-something Kane Slater, “smoking hot foodie rock star,” have a complicated romantic relationship they began in the first bookin the series, Too Hot to Touch. There are all kinds of relational and culinary dynamics at play in this book that won’t make much sense to one unfamiliar with the series.
I liked this book despite not being wild about the preeminent relationship. For starters, I liked Beck and Skye. Beck has been the mystery man in the Lunden’s crew from day one. He’s a huge guy, taciturn, great with food, remote from people. In Hot Under Pressure, we learn Beck’s back-story and it’s pretty damn sad. He landed in the foster care system at age eight, bounced from house to house and, by eighteen, was utterly on his own. He met and married Skye, and then, due to a heartbreaking situation—to share it would be a spoiler of the highest order--, left her and joined the Navy. While in the Navy, he learned he loved to cook, and when he got out, he ended up at Lunden’s where, much to his astonishment, he found something very much like a family. The owners of Lunden’s, Gus and Nina Lunden, their sons, Danny and Max, Max’s girlfriend Julie (Lunden’s head chef) , and, my personal favorite, Winslow Jones, prep chef and uber-witty “Wise, Learned Sage,” have all tried to make Beck feel as though he belongs. Even after a year in their company, Beck still struggles to accept the care they constantly send his way.
Unlike so many heroes in romance, Beck’s a working class guy with pretty low expectations for life. He wants to win the Rising Star Chef Competition because the resulting fame will help keep Lunden’s Tavern in business not because he wants fame or fortune for himself. Until he shows up on the first day of the competition finals and encounters, for the first time in ten years, Skye Gladwell, Beck hasn’t let himself dream about much of anything other than getting by. But when he sees Skye, and begins to remember how happy he was in the few years they had together, he starts to open himself up to life’s emotional possibilities.
Skye, unlike Beck, has grown up with a family, but her parents, Marin County radical bohemian artists, have never approved of Skye’s choices. They were horrified when she got married—so bourgeoisie--, think her cooking is little more than “puttering around a kitchen like some fifties housefrau,” and, in general, have “kept their daughter gently but firmly ground under their vegan shoes.” When Skye ran off with Beck, at age eighteen, her parents disowned her and, after Beck left her, she slowly rebuilt her life and found joy in cooking and, ultimately, in owning her own funky café. Skye is close to her best friend Fiona, the café’s pastry chef, and she has an itinerant boyfriend, Jeremiah, who travels the world for the Peace Corps and doesn’t believe in fidelity. Skye is successful—she owns a business she loves—but still feels she’s a constant disappointment to her parents and, though she cares for Jeremiah, she’s kept her own heart locked away since she and Beck horribly parted years ago.
This is a partial review. To read the rest, please go to DearAuthor.com: http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/ov...
I’ve read all three books in your Rising Star Chef series and, of all of the couples in the series, my favorite hands down is Claire Durand and Kane Slater. This, really, is a bummer because, in all three books, they are secondary characters though their love story, finally resolved in this book, Hot Under Pressure, is a fabulous one. For me, the romance between chefs Henry Beck and Skye Gladwell, the main protagonists in Hot Under Pressure, is less compelling. The two are each interesting individuals but, as a couple, they lacked consistent, transfixing chemistry.
I guess one could read this novel without reading the two that precede it but I don’t recommend it. One of the best things about the series is its host of characters. The couples from the first two books have roles here as do the cooking crews from Beck’s and Skye’s restaurants. All these chefs are competing in the Rising Star Chef contest—a culinary tournament designed to determine the best cooking team in the country. Three teams have made it to the finals, held in San Francisco: the East Coast team, Beck and the gang from the Manhattan’s steak house Lunden’s Tavern; the West Coast team, Skye and her crew from Queenie Pie Cafe, a homey hipster place in Berkeley; and the Midwest team whose lead chef is such a jerk he and his team are ousted a third of the way through the book. The contest has three judges as well, two of whom, forty-two year old Frenchwoman Claire Duran, editor of the world’s most prestigious cooking magazine, and twenty-something Kane Slater, “smoking hot foodie rock star,” have a complicated romantic relationship they began in the first bookin the series, Too Hot to Touch. There are all kinds of relational and culinary dynamics at play in this book that won’t make much sense to one unfamiliar with the series.
I liked this book despite not being wild about the preeminent relationship. For starters, I liked Beck and Skye. Beck has been the mystery man in the Lunden’s crew from day one. He’s a huge guy, taciturn, great with food, remote from people. In Hot Under Pressure, we learn Beck’s back-story and it’s pretty damn sad. He landed in the foster care system at age eight, bounced from house to house and, by eighteen, was utterly on his own. He met and married Skye, and then, due to a heartbreaking situation—to share it would be a spoiler of the highest order--, left her and joined the Navy. While in the Navy, he learned he loved to cook, and when he got out, he ended up at Lunden’s where, much to his astonishment, he found something very much like a family. The owners of Lunden’s, Gus and Nina Lunden, their sons, Danny and Max, Max’s girlfriend Julie (Lunden’s head chef) , and, my personal favorite, Winslow Jones, prep chef and uber-witty “Wise, Learned Sage,” have all tried to make Beck feel as though he belongs. Even after a year in their company, Beck still struggles to accept the care they constantly send his way.
Coming up through the foster care system, Beck had seen a lot of families interact with kids who didn’t truly belong to them, and until he’d met Jules and the Lunden clan, he would’ve sworn that kind of unconditional acceptance wasn’t possible. It definitely hadn’t been for him.
Unlike so many heroes in romance, Beck’s a working class guy with pretty low expectations for life. He wants to win the Rising Star Chef Competition because the resulting fame will help keep Lunden’s Tavern in business not because he wants fame or fortune for himself. Until he shows up on the first day of the competition finals and encounters, for the first time in ten years, Skye Gladwell, Beck hasn’t let himself dream about much of anything other than getting by. But when he sees Skye, and begins to remember how happy he was in the few years they had together, he starts to open himself up to life’s emotional possibilities.
Skye, unlike Beck, has grown up with a family, but her parents, Marin County radical bohemian artists, have never approved of Skye’s choices. They were horrified when she got married—so bourgeoisie--, think her cooking is little more than “puttering around a kitchen like some fifties housefrau,” and, in general, have “kept their daughter gently but firmly ground under their vegan shoes.” When Skye ran off with Beck, at age eighteen, her parents disowned her and, after Beck left her, she slowly rebuilt her life and found joy in cooking and, ultimately, in owning her own funky café. Skye is close to her best friend Fiona, the café’s pastry chef, and she has an itinerant boyfriend, Jeremiah, who travels the world for the Peace Corps and doesn’t believe in fidelity. Skye is successful—she owns a business she loves—but still feels she’s a constant disappointment to her parents and, though she cares for Jeremiah, she’s kept her own heart locked away since she and Beck horribly parted years ago.
This is a partial review. To read the rest, please go to DearAuthor.com: http://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/ov...
August 9, 2017
I love Louisa Edwards. I have now read all of her recipe for love books and would recommend them to anyone who asks.
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