Thank you to Melanie Harlow and her team for the advance reader copy of Taste, the seventh book in the Cloverleigh Farms series.
This is one of my most anticipated reads for the first chunk of the year! Anyone who reads this blog will know firstly I love Cloverleigh Farms and secondly I am just a huge fan of all of Mel’s work. So now Mel is bringing together so many threads and characters from some of her best series.
I am a member of Melanie Harlow’s review team, but I stand by my reviews remaining honest and true.
The last person on earth I want to be stranded with is Gianni Lupo.
But thanks to the blizzard of the century, I’m trapped in a roadside motel room with that cocky bastard for two straight days.
With one small bed.
Some women might thank Mother Nature for delivering a polar vortex that maroons them with six feet of solid muscle, those deep blue eyes, that sexy grin–but not me. I’ve known Gianni Lupo all my life, and he’s never brought me anything but bad luck and trouble.
So when the tension between us explodes with enough fiery heat to melt my icy defenses, I should have known what the disastrous end result would be–
A big fat plus sign.
After the snow melts, I’m left with more than just memories of the night we spent keeping each other warm. And he might be a rising star on the culinary scene, but he’s got no idea how to handle this bun in the oven.
He says he wants to do the right thing, but I’m not about to spend the rest of my life feeling like someone settled for me.
But just when I think I’ve got Gianni Lupo all figured out, he gives me a taste of the man he could be, of the family we could become, of the way he could love me if I let him.
I’m terrified of falling for him.
But one taste might be all it takes.
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Our heroine is Ellie Fournier, you should remember her from the previous instalment, Ignite as she was Winnie’s bestie. She is the daughter of Mia and Lucas from Frenched, a Melanie Harlow classic. Ellie works at Abelard Vineyard, which her parents own. Ellie is a sommelier, hosting the wine tastings at the vineyard. Our hero is Gianni Lupo, who was also introduced in the last book as the frienemy of Ellie. His parents are Coco and Nick from Forked, the second book in the Frenched series. He is the chef at Abelard’s restaurant, Etoile. Gianni is semi-famous, as he was on a cooking reality show and he is supposed to be hosting another one. Ellie and Gianni have known each other forever as their moms are best friends.
- Setting: Abelard is located in Michigan. The real scene-stealer is not the setting, it is the climate. The premise of the story features our hero and heroine stuck for a night, snowed in. And of course, the hotel room only has one bed!
- Pacing: This book flew by. I was hooked very early on and could not put it down. I read through the blizzard section incredibly fast, I was sad how fast it was over. It felt like I was still in the beginning when I looked down and suddenly I had 15% left in the story.
- Romance: These frenemies are incredibly attracted to each other and sure have some very complicated feelings. Gianni gets distracted by Ellie’s beauty, while Ellie daydreams about hooking up with him. They are incredibly passionate and so they butt heads easily. They know each other better than anyone else, so they know how to push each other’s buttons. But they also know how to satisfy each other’s needs in bed. There is so much good hot angry sex. This was a great story, and of course, it was because every Cloverleigh Story is freaking phenomenal.
Taste receives five out of five stars.
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Thank you again to Melanie and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
