November '09 BotM: Can't Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards

[Kathleen]

Please post comments and discussion here for the November '09 Book of the Month:

Can't Stand The Heat(Recipe for Love, Book 1)by Louisa Edwards

[Kathleen]

Original and interesting launch to a new series. Miranda Wake is the vitriolic reviewer for the Manhattan restaurant scene for Delicieux magazine. Adam Temple is the hot shot young chef for Market, the latest trendy restaurant to launch emphasizing fresh and locally grown ingredients. In a disastrous first meeting, Adam challenges Miranda to work one day in the kitchen of his restaurant side by side with his crew, after that she can rip his "cooking to shreds" if that's what she wants. One day is turned into a month by his backer and former girlfriend, Eleanor Bonning, and Claire Durand, Miranda's editor at Delicieux.

Miranda, who was orphaned and left to raise her younger brother, Jess, when barely out of her teens, has a lot of emotional baggage to overcome. Initially, she is portrayed unsympathetically, but is redeemed by the end of the book. Interesting subplot with Miranda's younger brother, Jess Wake, and Adam's sous chef, Frankie. Miranda has no idea that her brother is gay. She blames Frankie for preying on her brother's innocence, but by the end of the book has accepted her brother and has come to see Frankie as a positive influence in Jess' life.

Overall, I am giving this book four stars. Louisa Edwards is a talented writer whose first book shows promise. She has a deft hand at creating believable, complex characters, and compelling plots and subplots that weave together into a delectable entree.

[Gina]

I agree completely, Kathleen! I quite enjoyed the characters, main and secondary. I can almost say I enjoyed Jess and Frankie more than I did Miranda and Adam. I thought the portrayal of Jess and Frankie quite honest and refreshing. It is so rare to see an author write in characters like that, that you get a true sense of who they are, and are in no way ashamed of it.

Adam, I absolutely adored. His determination, not only in making his restaurant a success but to show Miranda the realities of what it's truly like behind those swinging doors, was like a bright light that shined off the pages brightly. So enthusiastic, I could feel it.

And Miranda... Even though Miranda had to grow up in a hurry when their parents died to take care of her little brother, her own determination made her unique; to become a successful writer, to see her brother through college, to fix whatever needed fixing whether it was or wasn't her fault. From one life-altering event to another, to watch her overcome the obstacle of her own refusal to understand her brother's choices for his own life, to understand that Jess was no longer a child who needed nurturing, but a sister who could love him no matter who or what he was, was heartwarming. To see everything fall apart, and to suffer personal humiliation to fix her wrongs... incredible.

In all, the story was terrific from beginning to end, even with being held up by a gun-wielding ex-employee, a brother who comes out with the truth right after being in a fight, going up against his sister who accused a friend/boyfriend of playing against his young emotions, and just when she realizes the truth behind the lies, the book she filled with lies is released online for all to see. It was incredible the obstacles, and watching everyone overcome them. Terrific! And added to it all, recipes in the back of the book that go with the recipes mentioned throughout the story! Yum!

And my mistake was reading the excerpt for On The Steamy Side, which is Book #2 and won't be out until March 1st. Ugh! I hate that I'm going to have to wait 2 months!!! ;)

[Kathleen]

Gina, I completely agree with you about Jess and Frankie and Miranda's relationship with Jess. It some ways those were the most interesting parts of the novel. That is the reason I went with four rather than five stars. If Louisa Edwards can create the same compelling story with her main plot as well as with her subplot, you are looking at one of the next major romance writers. Time will be the judge. I am also forward to On The Steamy Side.