Rating: 3.25🌈
With Chef Under Cover, I’ve returned to Montpelier, Vermont, home of the Hearth & Oak restaurant, Chefs Baldwin Powell and company, and easy contemporary romances. M.J. O’Shea’s Sizzle in the Kitchen series now total five books with a finale story to come.
It’s been a while since I’ve read this series, my favorite one still stands as the first one of the series, Chef in the Wild. For me, the stories that followed undermined the strengths of that original story and couple. So I never really quite reconnected again as I once had.
Chef Under Cover is much like reading a standalone novel in a series that’s more now about a location, the Hearth & Oak and a passion for food. And that’s fine.
This is a sweet story about a young man who knows he’s heading in the wrong direction career wise because of a physical talent and the support he finds to make the changes to be happy. And he comes out.
There’s a slight age gap , an implied parental homophobia, and a small amount of drama for the romance between the college football star/would be pastry chef and the physical therapist who’s treating him for shoulder pain.
Except for a rough patch in the beginning when Will and Sean meet, and assumptions ran up against sparks, this is a sweet, somewhat low angst romance. Any issues that Will is having with his parents, primarily his mother (it’s implied she’s homophobic), it occurs off page.
That’s probably my least favorite element here. Any issues, any real problems, and consequently, any resolutions (all of which have had real impact on Will, his college life and career choices) are “handled” off page. The reader is told Will had discussions with his parents, coach whoever. That includes coming out to them. A huge moment in someone’s life.
All those scenes are “as told to” in small succinct sentences. It’s emotionally unsatisfying to read if you’re trying to connect to the characters. And writing like this, choices about the narrative and characters make it harder for the reader to invest in their story. Keeping it superficial and sweet means the reader’s emotions stay on that level too.
As mine was. Sweet story. Cute couple .
If you want a sweet contemporary romance with low-ish angst, a quick low demand read, Chef Under Cover (Sizzle in the Kitchen Book 5) by M.J. O’Shea is a story for you. It’s not necessary to read any of the other books in the series to understand this one. It works as a standalone.
Sizzle in the Kitchen Book:
✓ Chef in the Wild #1
✓ Chef vs Chef #2
✓ Chef on Top #3
◦ Chef in Love #4
✓ Chef Under Cover #5
◦ Chef On Fire #6 – tbd
Buy Link:
Chef Under Cover (Sizzle in the Kitchen Book 5)
Blurb:
He played like a champion but dreamed of the sweet life…
Sean had never treated a famous person before. Not until the golden boy Will Harrington, star college quarterback and soon to be NFL legend, came in with an injured shoulder and hundreds of people’s hopes and dreams on his back.
Will never wanted to be a star quarterback. As unlikely as it sounds, it just kind of… happened. Now he’s stuck in the middle of a whole world he doesn’t fit into, surrounded by people who don’t actually know him.
Will would have never guessed that meeting one gorgeous physical therapist with a sarcastic mouth and a quirky group of small-town friends would help him become who he’s always wanted to be…a chef.
• Publication date: January 30, 2024
• Print length: 161 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 