Taste the love

Wives Karelia and Fay Stetz-Waters (who previously collaborated on Second Night Stand) underwhelm in this busy contemporary. Six years after graduation, culinary school rivals Kia and Sullivan are thrust back into each other's lives at a neighborhood association meeting. Sullivan now runs a highbrow restaurant on her family's land in a communal green space called the Bois. Meanwhile, foodie influencer Kia is looking to settle down after years traveling with her food truck. Her plan is to buy the Bois and create a food truck pod where trucks can set up for longer periods of time. Sullivan wants to stop her and has the right to buy the land as a legacy owner, but can't come up with the money. Meanwhile, the attention Kia has brought to her project attracts fast food giant Mega Eats, who are happy to outbid her. To stop them from taking over the Bois, Kia and Sullivan hatch a scheme to get married so that Kia can use Sullivan's legacy status to buy the land. The authors put a lot of legwork into setting up this marriage of convenience plot, and all the legal drama distracts from the romance itself, leaving the emotions somewhat underdeveloped. Readers will be frustrated. (July)

Two former culinary rivals enter into a marriage of convenience to save a communal green space in Portland, Oregon, from the clutches of a fast-food corporation. Six years ago, Kia Jackson beat out her culinary-school rival Alice Sullivan for the Prix du Patrimoine Culinaire award, given to the student with the highest rank in the class. But that evening, they set aside their differences and ended their rivalry with a kiss, knowing that their competition through four years of schooling made them better chefs. Sullivan now runs a restaurant in her neighborhood of Oakwood Heights and Kia has become a food truck influencer, winning several honors around the country. When a green space, known as the Bois, goes up for sale in Oakwood Heights, both women have their own ideas of how to use it. Sullivan wants to protect the space, a promise she made to her late grandfather. Kia wants to turn it into a hub for food trucks and community gatherings. As a legacy landowner in the community--her great-great-grandfather signed the original neighborhood charter--Sullivan gets first dibs on the space, but she doesn't have the money to buy it, though the neighborhood association is giving her plenty of time to prepare for the sale. Aside from Kia, a fast-food chain called Mega Eats wants to buy the land for its next location. To add salt to Sullivan's wound, Mega Eats only knew about the sale through Kia's social media posts. Since Mega Eats is the worst-case scenario, Kia proposes marriage. Since she has the money to buy the land and Sullivan gets priority in the sale, together they'll be able to secure the Bois. The legal aspects of marriage and land sales bog down a stale romance that emphasizes a rivalry that feels barely there. When it comes to tension and momentum, this foodie romance barely reaches a simmer. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.