Review of ‘City Kitty and Country Mouse’ by Alyssa Linn Palmer
This was a cute lesbian feel-good romance book. After one of the best Valentine’s Days I’ve ever had, I was in the mood to read something sweet and romantic. I must admit I had some mixed feelings about this. It wasn’t really looking like the story I was hoping for, but as the book went on I definitely started to enjoy it more.
I’m not one for always reading book blurbs. One of the reasons I picked this out was for the author. While I have one of her books in my library, I haven’t read it yet so I wanted to try Palmer’s writing. I also figured from the cute title that this would be an ‘opposites-attract‘ story. What I didn’t realize, and I should have from looking at the cover, was that this really was a foodie romance. While I do cook some or at least attempt to, I have trouble with foodie romances. All the talk about the different types of food, usually so detailed, will put me to sleep. Luckily while this was mostly farm to table, it was Chinese-Western fusion so it was nice to hear about foods I don’t have much access to in my little state. While I could tell my eyes were tempted to glaze over a few times, I got more interested in the food and the pop-up restaurant as the book went on.
When it came to the romance I thought it was slightly above average. I felt like the characters had decent chemistry and I liked them as a potential couple. However, the characters got together way too fast for my tastes. Let’s just say it was definitely a surprise to read about. Unless your character is a player or someone who prefers sex over relationships, I rather see the main characters build a connection and then have the sex scenes used to further that connection. The sex scenes themselves were pretty good. They were steamy and enjoyable but they just started off too fast for the type of romance this book was about.
When I say a feel-good romance, that also includes this book having very little angst. I can be quite picky about angst. Normally I want either none or a ton, but here the angst was little and I didn’t think it was enough. There is only one real angsty moment but the characters see each other after only a few pages. It felt forced and then it fizzled so I was wondering. Why bother? And because this was a slower-paced book with lots of food details, some fun drama and angsty moments could have kept my attention a little better.
What helped me through the book besides being interested in the restaurant itself was some of the secondary characters. Lucy’s mother, her farm business partner, plus Kitty’s paralegal, really helped the story. These three women were very fleshed out for secondary characters. They stole their scenes and I enjoyed the friends and family dynamics with them. Although, I do have to mention a missed opportunity with Kitty’s parents who had a small secondary role. Kitty was so concerned about her parents, made them into such a big deal, but I think that was a missed opportunity for some drama. However, the rest of the secondary characters were well done.
As you can see I had some issues with this book but overall none of my issues are that huge. It was a much slower paced book than I normally prefer but there was something about the characters that just kept me reading. I’m much more of a character-driven reader than a plotter so I think that’s why I can still give this a 3.50 rating. I would recommend this to people looking for a cute foodie romance that is low on angst. This book had a similar feel to Aurora Rey’s ‘Recipe for Love’. They are different stories, of course, but they have a similar vibe so chances are if you liked Rey’s book, you will enjoy this one too. 3.50 Stars.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
