Review of ‘The Secret Ingredient’ by K.D. Fisher
This was a sweet lesbian foodie romance. I don’t know what it is about books that star chefs or bakers but it is so easy to enjoy a good foodie romance. You could also put the enemies to lovers tag on this. Actually, I think annoyance to lovers might be the better tag for this if I want to get technical. This is my first time ever reading a Fisher book and I would read another.
I really loved the setting of coastal Maine. While I’m only a few hours from Maine myself, where I live is all landlocked and heavily wooded, so there is no ocean around. The smell of the sea and more lobsters than you can eat, Maine is a great state. I also liked the overall premise of two head chefs that have an attraction but also a competitive tension too.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Fisher’s writing style. I think Fisher writes well with a lot of nice descriptions. She is not overly descriptive but just enough which I think was needed for a foodie romance. She also decided to write this book in a way that we don’t see too often. She wrote it in first person, but it was alternating POV. A chapter would be in the head of the main character Beth and then the next chapter would be in the head of Adah. Each chapter is clearly marked so there is no confusion. While I love first person, third is normally the better choice for a romance (unless you want to hide the thoughts of one character). But because this was alternating first, you got to understand both character’s feelings which was especially important when it came to the character of Adah.
When it came to how much I liked and connected with the characters, I was a tad bit up and down. Adah is hard to like at times. Sometimes she was great other times she was frustrating. The past she had was difficult which makes it so certain things trigger her easily and she shuts down. I totally understood all that and why her character wasn’t always so likable. The problem was I wanted a bit more about her past. It was briefly talked about a few times, and again I get it, I just felt like it needed to be more developed so that I sympathized and connected with her more. Coming from a controlling religious family that would not accept you, yeah super tough, but I wanted more of the “why” and “how” not just the “what” that affected her if that hopefully makes sense.
On a positive Adah note, I really liked that she was a single mother. I can honestly count on one hand the number of books where the single mom is a butch woman. It just doesn’t happen and I can actually remember the last book I read that had a butch single mom in it which was exactly two years ago. I find that super weird to be so uncommon. Anyway, I also liked the sexual diversity in this book with lesbian, bisexual, and genderqueer characters.
If you are looking for a sweet romance with a little angst, set in a great setting with lots of good food, this book is for you. While I was not blown away, I thought this was a solid first book for me by Fisher. I thought she wrote well and if she writes more wlw fiction I would read her again. 3.50 Stars.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
A sweet lesbian foodie romance
This was a sweet lesbian foodie romance. I don’t know what it is about books that star chefs or bakers but it is so easy to enjoy a good foodie romance. You could also put the enemies to lovers tag on this. Actually, I think annoyance to lovers might be the better tag for this if I want to get technical. This is my first time ever reading a Fisher book and I would read another.
Author: 3.5 stars, Butch / Femme, Culinary, Enemies to lovers
Name: The Secret Ingredient
Author: KD Fisher
Date Published: 2020-10-27
Format: https://schema.org/EBook
3.5
