ARC Review: Savor You by Kristen Proby

Series:	Fusion #5
Pub. Date:	Apr. 24, 2018
Publisher:	William Morrow
Length:	288 pgs
Source:	Edelweiss

This is my first read by Kristen Proby, and I'm sure I will be reading more of her in the future. I delved into the Fusion series with Savor You, which is the fifth installment. I haven't read the earlier books and, while there is some character crossover, I didn't feel too horribly lost or overly curious about the other couples and characters. 

Mia Palazzo is an accomplished chef who has opened a restaurant, Seduction, with her best friends. She is passionate about her profession and Seduction, which sometimes comes across as her being a tyrant in the kitchen. Her Gordon Ramsay tendencies aside, Mia has a soft center and the criticism gets to her more than people know. She also did something incredibly stupid when she was 20 years old, which saw her married to her roommate and running out on him a few days after the wedding. Now he is coming back into her life and kitchen in a way that she will be forced to deal with both her future and the past as they learn to work together again.

Camden Sawyer is a celebrity chef moving to Portland to for a cooking competition show starring himself and his ex, the girl that got away. I was impressed that Camden didn't seem to be holding a grudge against Mia. In fact, he was extremely complimentary and supportive of her. He was more on the beta male side, and had that nice guy feel. I tend to like my heroes to be a little more alpha, but I wouldn't throw Camden outta bed for eating crackers. 

This second chance romance was somewhere between instalove and slow burn. Our couple had history so they had some issues to work through, but the feelings were already there and gave them something to build on. Things also got pretty steamy, and they had lots of fun. 

I loved the relationship between Mia and her friends. Their girl outings really made me miss girl talk! They were all very communicative and supportive of each other. I believe the girl crew are heroines in the other books of the series.

This story did have a hard time keeping my attention at times. There was nothing wrong with the writing or plot development... I think it was just the subject matter. I am not really a foodie, though this story did make me hungry! Nor am I particularly interested in chef romances or beta males... so the story was just missing that edge that I usually go for. Otherwise, the writing was good.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, William Morrow Books.

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