Review: Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly

Yes, Chef
by Grace Reilly

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
A tempting new romance from USA Today bestselling author Grace Reilly, in which a down-on-his-luck chef and a determined social media maven strike a reluctant deal to bring a beloved restaurant back to life.

If you can’t take the heat…get out of the kitchen.

After a public meltdown in the dining room of one of Manhattan’s most elite restaurants, Chef Jack Hartman is back in his South Florida hometown. Angry, grieving, and saddled with the unwanted storefront his late mentor left him, his life is spinning out of control. And that’s before Poppy Winfield—the bubbly, infuriating daughter of his former boss—shows up at his dock.

Poppy needs to escape. From her family, her ex-boyfriend, and her reputation as someone who has never taken anything seriously. But more than that, she wants to prove herself—and she has just the plan to do it. Unfortunately, that plan involves Jack Hartman, the most arrogant, intimidating man she’s ever had the pleasure of throwing a shrimp at.

Poppy proposes a deal: they work together to open a revamped version of his mentor’s restaurant. Jack will handle the menu, and she’ll use her social media influence to sell the hell out of its grand opening. If she and Jack can make it a success, it’ll be a ticket for them both to return to New York.

Jack is intrigued, but only on his terms: If Poppy’s going to do this, she must learn the ropes of the business. From him.

As sparks fly both in and out of the kitchen, Poppy and Jack are left wondering, could they be a perfect pairing? Or is this whole experiment a recipe for disaster?

Yes, Chef is a delicious contemporary romance featuring:
– A grumpy chef and a sunshine-y influencer
– Enemies to reluctant business partners to lovers
– Forced proximity in the kitchen (and on a houseboat)
– Found family, including one adopted cat
– Summer in a small town
– ADHD representation

My Review

I received a free copy from the publisher through Edelweiss and voluntarily reviewed it.

Yes, Chef caught my eye when I saw it on Edelweiss. I love books that have a strong food theme and this one sounded like a book I would enjoy. And while Yes, Chef definitely hit all those foodie romance points for me, it was even better than I had expected. Yes, Chef features two neurodivergent main characters, which I hadn’t expected, but I really liked how this was handled.

Yes, Chef follows characters Jack and Poppy. Both have reasons they want to prove themselves and get back to New York, so they end up running a restaurant Jack has inherited in Florida together. Jack is the chef and Poppy does front of the house and the social media marketing. I wasn’t quite sure if this book was going to work for me at first with the whole set-up and it being so obvious this restaurant was the main goal not their ticket back to New York as they both thought.

I didn’t really like their dynamic at first. I thought they could be quite rude and not very understanding at first and there was a lot of arguing and banter, but slowly they got to know each other better and I liked their dynamic a lot more as they grow closer and start to work together. I liked how Jack teaches Poppy how to cook. And once they find out they’re both ADHD’ers I felt like they became a lot more understanding of eahc other. I thought the neurodivergent representation was handled well, although I would’ve loved to see a bit more of it, especially later in the book. The food aspect was done really well too and I liked reading about all the food they make and eat.

Another thing I really liked about their romance is that they have conflict early on in the book already. There isn’t just one big conflict at the end, although that is there as well and I could see that one coming from the start, but there are smaller conflict moments throughout. I liked seeing how they resolved the conflict and moved past it as so often in romance books you don’t really see that. These two could be such a mess at times and it just felt real how they stumbled through life and dealt with things. I really liked these two together and especially the food and restaurant scenes were great. Things turn steamy as well and there are quite a few steamy scenes.

I did struggle sometimes as the romance could feel kinda trope-y at points. And then at other points they felt so real and relatable. These characters both have some things they struggle with and I liked seeing them deal with it. Poppy never felt seen in her family and feels like she isn’t as good as her older sister. While Jack never had a family as he grew up in foster care and ran away from the only family he had. Although I did feel that the ending resolved some of those bigger issues a bit too easily and I would’ve liked to see a bit more of Jack dealing with his trauma earlier on and Poppy talking with her family so it didn’t feel as sudden.

There are some great side characters as well. I liked seeing Kiara and Chester their romance develop on the sidelines. I liked Jack’s relationship with Kiara and they really feel like siblings and I liked seeing them reconnect. I also liked the other characters like Owen and Hazel they invite to help with the restaurant, although those get a bit less page time. And then there are Poppy’s family who also play a role in this book and I liked how the complicated relationship Poppy has with them gets handled.

To summarize: I had a great time reading this book. I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to like their dynamic at first as they can be kinda rude to each other, but that quickly transformed as they start to work together and understand each other more. I really liked the food focus and theme and reading about all the food they make and try. I also appreciated the neurodivergent representation as both characters have ADHD, this was handled well and I would’ve liked a few more scenes that focus on it especially toward the end. I liked Jack and Poppy together and seeing them get to know each other. I liked how there are some smaller conflicts they deal with along the way and seeing them talk things through and resolve it, but I wasn’t a big fan of the big conflict at the end and it felt resolved a bit too suddenly and easily. All in all I had a great time with this neurodivergent foodie romance book.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.