On the Steamy Side
Grade : B-

On the positive side, this one features a chef hero and a restaurant setting. (I’m big on both.) On the less than positive side, however, it’s also yet another in that perennial stream of “contemporary” romances featuring small-town, plucky 1950s-style heroines who take on the big city in their adorably spunky way and win. (I hate spunk.)

On the other hand, the book starts with what the heroine believes to be a one-night stand. (I don’t think that happened a lot in the 1950s. Okay, strike that. I’m sure it happened, just not often in respectable, nice girl fiction.) Lilah Jane Tunkle, fresh from a small town in Virginia, meets mega-celebrity chef Devon Sparks at a Lower East Side bar frequented by kitchen staff decompressing after a long shift. Sooner than you can say jack rabbit, she goes home with Devon and the two have hot sex. Make that really hot sex. Lilah high tails it out of there in the morning and takes her Walk of Shame before Devon even wakes up.

The two meet again that day at the restaurant that Devon has agreed to run as Executive Chef for a few weeks while his friend (and the hero of the author’s previous book) is out of town with his new love. Lilah has just gotten a job bussing tables through a friend who also seems to have appeared in the previous book. Mutual shock at seeing each other again soon gives way to mutual antipathy and many (many!) scenes follow in which Lilah and Devon clash.

But soon a new character enters the picture: Devon’s son from a previous relationship. The child is dumped on the reluctant dad while mom goes to rehab and Little Miss Perfect (that would be our plucky heroine) becomes his caretaker, thereby conveniently giving her close proximity to Devon – and his bed.

Which brings me to something I really liked about the book: Devon is a prick. The author offers plenty of reasons why he turned into who he is, but she makes no bones about the fact that her hero lives a selfish, thoroughly self-indulgent life. And he fights against changing. He really does.

Which brings me to what I liked about Lilah. She knows Devon is a prick, but she jumps in feet first anyway. Not the safest decision in the world, but, gee, sometimes people make stupid decisions when the call of the wild is a-callin'.

Which brings me back to what I really didn’t like about Lilah. Despite her willingness to foolishly get involved with a modern day rake, Lilah embodies every stereotype of the plucky young girl from the farm in the big city. (And, if I ever used the word “trope” – which I don’t – I’d use it here.) In this case, it is taken to extreme levels. Lilah comes from a small town that might as well be a mythical land out of time. For example, when she discovers that Devon has a personal driver, she wonders if that’s common in New York. And, hello, she was raised on a Virginia farm near a town so small that it didn’t even have a supermarket. Now, I’m from a small Virginia town myself, but we had two supermarkets, cable television, movies, and at least a nodding acquaintance with the outside world.

I could go on, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that Lilah is a cartoon creation – a fate that Devon completely escapes. As for that town she was raised in, Pleasantville doesn’t exist. And it hasn't for a very long time.

Still, despite the number of turned down pages marking passages I wanted to remember when writing this review, I enjoyed the book – especially Devon. I also enjoyed smug Lilah getting a bit of a comeuppance in the book’s final pages. Small town busybodies don’t always know best and I was glad to see the author give a nod in that direction.

Bottom line? I enjoyed the author’s voice, her hero, and the lively restaurant setting in which much of the book takes place. And, it also has to be mentioned, the author does a terrific job of making the child seem real and Devon still sympathetic – despite the fact that he’s an undeniable prick whose behavior has had serious consequences for his son. All that is good and definitely lands the book in B territory. Still, Lilah annoyed me so freakin' much so freakin' many times, that I’ve got to tack a minus in there. It’s a shame, but I just can't get around the fact that there’s not much that could be called “contemporary” about the heroine in this contemporary romance. Despite the one night stand.

Reviewed by Sandy Coleman
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : February 15, 2010

Publication Date: 2010/03

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