Rating: 4 stars out of 5:
Emmett Gant was planning to tell his father something really important one Sunday morning—but his father passed away first. Now, nearly three years later, Emmett can’t seem to clear up who he should be with—the girl with the apple cheeks and the awesome family, or his snarky neighbor, Keegan, who never sees his family but who makes Emmett really happy just by coming over to chat.
Emmett needs clarity.
Fortunately for Emmett, his best friend’s mom has a cookbook that promises to give Emmett insight and good food, and Emmett is intrigued. After the cookbook follows him home, Emmett and Keegan decide to make the recipe “For Clarity,” and what ensues is both very clear—and a little surprising, especially to Emmett’s girlfriend. Emmett is going to have to think hard about his past and the really important thing he forgot to tell his father if he wants to get the recipe for love just right.
The second story in the new series, Tales of the Curious Cookbook, features tall, socially awkward, shy Emmett Gant who has not been able to act on his desire for another man since he broke up with Jordyn, his college roommate and first love, three years ago. On the day he had been planning to come out to his father, he discovered his dad had passed away alone at his home. Devastated, and unable to vocalize the fact that he is gay to anyone else because, after all, he tried to tell his father but he died first so now he can’t tell anyone, and he turns to the solution of dating a woman.
He’s a pretty emotionally damaged young man in want, in need, of a big family of his own. When he was a kid he was “adopted” by his best friend Vinnie’s large and boisterous family and that’s what he wants for his life now. Thinking that being married to a female is the key to that happiness, he’s been dating Christine, but he’s been unable to go further than to kiss her. Even his new best friend, Keegan, the cute guy who befriended him when he bought his home in a neighborhood not far from his workplace, discourages him from pursuing Christine.
Emmett needs to have clarity, to be able to see the truth about himself as others see him and Flora, Vinne’s mom, has just the solution. She presents him with a copy of an old handwritten cookbook, Recipes for the Heart: Mystical Meals and Dangerous Desserts, by Granny B. He can’t believe she’d entrust him with something that should be a family heirloom and tries to leave it behind, but he finds it in his car when he gets back home.
The key to Emmett’s issues is found in that cookbook with a recipe for beet porridge—the recipe for clarity. He and Keegan decide to make that recipe, and though the recipe itself is a disaster, the outcome is not. Both men find the truth and each other <spoiler> and unfortunately, Christine finds both of them in bed!</spoiler> But clarity indeed does ensue because Emmett pulls up his big boy panties and sets out to make things right—first with Christine, and then with his dad, and finally with Keegan.
This was a short, but very sweet and emotionally charged story. Hey, it’s Amy Lane—of course, there’s emotion! It amazes me that she can wrap characters around my heart as quickly as she does, and she fills in family relationships with a few quick strokes of her keyboard, yet they are rich in detail and serve as a strong support for the MCs.
I recommend this story to all lovers of M/M romance, but especially to those who love an emotionally damaged hero who finds the strength to accept love and move forward toward his HEA.
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Cover Art by Reese Dante depicts a cat in front of an open cookbook. Emmett’s cat, George, is featured prominently in this cookbook story, making the cover perfect for this book.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press All Romance (ARe) Amazon 
Book Details:
ebook, 92 pages
Published April 8th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press LLC
original title Food for Thought
ISBN13 9781632168597
edition language English
series Tales of the Curious Cookbook
Tales of the Curious Cookbook series:
6 works, 5 primary works.
Five fun and fanciful stories about a rather curious cookbook!
Authors and Their Stories:
RJ Scott – For a Rainy Afternoon (Tales of the Curious Cookbook) by R.J. Scott
Amy Lane – Food for Thought (Tales of the Curious Cookbook) by Amy Lane
Marie Sexton – Lost Along the Way (Tales of the Curious Cookbook) by Marie Sexton
Amber Kell – Cookies for Courting (Tales of the Curious Cookbook) by Amber Kell
Mary Calmes – Just Desserts (Tales of the Curious Cookbook) by Mary Calmes
RJ Scott – Tales of the Curious Cookbook by R.J. Scott
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 
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