Title: The Secret Ingredient
Author: Kilby Blades
Series: Hot in the Kitchen #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Food
Pace: Slow
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2019

The Secret Ingredient wasn’t necessarily my favourite every contemporary romance, but it was very cute and enjoyable. Plus, I tend to really enjoy any kind of novel that combines romance with food. There’s just something about the food focus whilst people fall in love that tends to really draw me in. Maybe because the description of the different meals being cooked never fails to make me stop and imagine just what I want to eat. Then there’s the whole romance factor and the falling in love over the food.

In the case of The Secret Ingredient, the food that Max and Cella fall in love over is Italian. I love that this book is driven primarily by their teaming up to write an Italian cookbook together, and in doing so highlight Max’s passion to be a chef. Plus, there’s his aunts restaurant to rejuvenate and just a whole lot of good hearted, small town joy. I also love that Max is actually more than happy to take a step back and play second fiddle to Cella’s career and drive. No couple can be filled with two people’s ambitions, but they can have ambitions which dovetail nicely together. Which is exactly what Max realises as he works alongside Cella.

I loved all of the cast of this small town and how supportive they are of one another. The fact that they refuse to let a celebrity be preyed upon, and constantly support each other is admirable. As is Max’s drive to financially support the town, even when that means he can rarely be in the place he loves so much. The love and support was one of the things that I loved the most about this story. Along with the quaint seaside setting which bought to mind eating pasta on the beachfront as the waves crash against the shore.

The epilogue of this story kind of made me want to cry. I loved the whole story, but at the end, thinking of family and the moment when I discovered I was pregnant with my second child… the nostalgia made me tear up. I loved the vision of a father and his daughter in the kitchen together, and it honestly made all of my emotions come right to the surface. What a beautiful way to end a romance.

<- More Kilby Blades

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Image source: Goodreads