Review: Refreshing *some spoilers*
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 21, 2012
Reasons I shouldn't have liked this book:1. It's a contemporary romance and I normally read paranormal romance or science fiction. I like my fiction spiced up with a little something extra and out of the norm.  Not Lifetime family dramas.2. The heroine had body image issues.  And I've come across too many books where reading about the heroine's issues just becomes draining or much eye rolling ensues.3. A child is one of the major secondary characters.  I read romance to read about relationships between adults, sans "cutesy" children who I feel should be seen and not heard.4. The hero had a temper. *big eyeroll*  I am way past over jerk heroes.  Not even a little bit attractive and I usually find myself still hating them at the end of the book.5. There was a misunderstanding that kept the hero and heroine apart for a time.  This plot device is like beating a dead horse.Reasons why I loved this book anyway:1. I needed a change of pace from my normal reading habits (a book where every other character wasn't some dark creature of the night) and the premise of this book sounded really intriguing (am I the only one who thought of Chef Ramsey?).2. Though she had her food issues, the author presented the heroine in such a way that her issues didn't detract from her character.  And I never saw her as weak-willed, amazingly enough (which would have been so easy to have happen).  And once you learned more about where her food issues came from, it gave a nice, realistic insight into her character and background.3. The kid in the story actually made it better for me.  I never thought I would say that.  The best I normally hope for (if I dare read a book featuring a child) is that the child is not too obnoxious and appears very little.  But with Tad, I found him realistically age appropriate and really very adorable.  I appreciated how the heroine put her foot down (in a non-irritating manner) and made sure that Tad (who she raised from birth) was taken care of.  And I really loved seeing the hero embrace his son, learn to relate to him and care for him.4.  The hero did have a temper and even blew up at the heroine and his son, but never at any point did I start to wonder why the heroine put up with him or wish that she would find someone better (which is my usual reaction).  I can only attribute this again to the author's skill in presenting a flawed character.  I think the biggest issue is that: when he lashed out it was bad, but I could still empathize with what pushed him over the edge.  Rather than feeling like he was lashing out due to an underlying nature of being a raging jerk.Also, there was one scene of the hero letting his temper loose on some kitchen staff, who had made a disparaging remark about the heroine's weight, which was great to read.  I loved how he immediately came to her defense (though she wasn't even around to hear the remark) and made his low opinion on the men clear and vocal.5. The misunderstanding was tied in with the same issue that caused the hero to lash out.  And though the pair did have a time where they weren't together (not even physically in the same place), I appreciated how that too was handled.  The heroine was mature enough to know that the hero's anger toward her when he lashed out probably wasn't really about her.  But still she didn't spend the time apart pinning hopelessly for him or otherwise losing all self-respect (though she didn't pretend she didn't want him either).  She took the time to improve herself and was even open to dating other men (and not out of some misguided, transparent revenge motive to make the hero jealous).  She was willing to truly move on and I cannot express how refreshing her response was.But even better, when they came back together, they were able to be honest about their feelings for one another (rather than keep up some false "I hate you" front for weeks or months - just to drag the story out, before giving in).  And there was a great scene where the hero is confronted with a man the heroine is about to go out on a date with.  Won't say too much about it, but it was one of my favorite scenes (definitely to be re-read).Other small things that made me love this book:I loved the role food played in the story.  The hero is a chef and I found it hilarious and realistic how the first morning with his son, he fixes him a ridiculously fancy breakfast, which as a four year old, he instantly rejected.  So the hero had to get off his culinary high horse and fixed his son's favorite breakfast of toast and eggs.  But as their relationship grew, and his son trusted him more, he had the little boy eating shark and trying escargot.I also loved how the issue of the heroine being a binge eater and the hero being a chef played out (which also evolved as the level of trust between them increased).  Great scenes.  I really want to spoil them and tell you all about them (truly), b/c I loved them so much. But I also loved discovering them on my own, so I'll give others that same pleasure.  But I will say that they run the gamut from hilarious, to touching, to very hot.Well, this review is much longer than I planned originally, but there really was a lot that I loved about this book.  And I could definitely want to go back through and bookmark my favorite scenes for a re-read.  Which for me is strong praise, since once I'm done with a book I typically never go back to it (too many new books to explore in my opinion).I'm very interested in checking out more from this author.