Delightful and Delicious!
Turning Up the Heat
Contemporary Romance
Recurve Press, LLC
May 14, 2024
Ebook, Paperback
376
If you can’t take the heat, get out of his kitchen.
Kelsey Rankin has worked for years to earn her reputation as one of the best writers at California’s top food-and-wine journal. She’s left her rural roots in wine country and moved to the city to pursue her dreams. Then a work trip back home to cover the wine harvest puts her right in the path of Chef Oskar Olson, an internationally recognized chef and the newest resident of her hometown.
Oskar knew he wanted a break from big-city life when he moved to a small town. He wants to make his restaurant one that people talk about, and a review from Kelsey’s magazine might push his restaurant into the spotlight.
One explosive night could change everything for these two culinary hotshots and make them question everything they think they want.
Turning Up the Heat is a steamy, stand-alone romance for lovers of sizzling chemistry, mouthwatering food, and sweet happily-ever-afters.
A Central California Foodie Love Story
I have not enjoyed a contemporary romance quite like Lizzy Hunter’s (aka Elizabeth Hunter) Turning Up the Heat in a long time. The word that comes immediately to mind when writing about this book is this: satisfying. Oh, so satisfying! Hunter’s story of a food writer and a chef in Central California who fall head-over-heels for each other filled me up in so many ways. I loved the relationship. I loved the spice. I loved the food and the local recipes. I loved the sense of home and belonging.
Hunter writes a character-driven romance. I would go so far to say that nothing extraordinary happens to the main characters, Kelsey and Oskar. Except for falling in love — and Hunter’s story reminded me how falling in love is anything but ordinary. A lot of work and creativity goes into loving someone else, much like cooking. One could say that to be a good cook you have to “taste as you go”: adjusting the ingredients, time, or methods along the way. That’s exactly what Kelsey and Oskar do throughout their growing romance. Hunter crafts a relationship between these two main characters that is so genuine. From the beginning, they are wild about one another. Yet they are also willing to try out a new recipe for love. They apologize when they’ve wronged each other. They listen to each other’s concerns and dreams. They make time for one another. They grow together.
Hunter’s prose keeps the reader filled with each turn of the page. The story is funny and warm and honest. Plus, it has PLENTY of spice. Turning up the heat, indeed! When Oskar whispers his affections for Kelsey in Danish (a language she doesn’t speak) during one of their steamier sessions, I am quite certain I started fanning my face to avoid the full-on swoon.
Speaking of excellent writing, here is a selection of some of my favorite one-liners from Kelsey:
“He was an unexpected wrinkle in the tapestry of my hometown, and I was curious.”
“Holy Danish sex gods, Batman. The chef was eye candy.”
“This level of hotness could not go unanswered.”
“I loved him, and it hurt a little bit.”
This book is as much about finding home as it is about the romance. Hunter opens and closes the book with this sentiment:
There’s a feeling you get when you reach home.
There’s a shift in your chest, a piece that slides into place when you arrive at the place that formed you. The memories might be good or bad. The lenses you see through might be rose-colored or grey.
But there’s a distinct feeling when you reach home.
Hunter writes the type of love story that happens when two people have others invested in their happiness. Kelsey and Oskar’s story weaves together with their friends and family. Hunter’s characters really show how we put down roots when we truly love another person and place.
I absolutely would recommend Lizzy Hunter’s Turning Up the Heat to any contemporary romance fan. A five-star review without a doubt!
Celeste is a woman who is unwavering about certain things in life; three of those being books, cats, and cold brew coffee. If she can enjoy all three at the same time, it’s going to be a good day. Her favorite genres are fantasy or sci-fi romance, historical romance, and historical fiction but every few books she likes to mix it up with contemporary fiction, a good psychological thriller, or an inspiring memoir. She has a busy schedule working full-time for an online university but she makes sure to unwind each day with stories, either by reading to her elementary school-aged daughter or tucking herself in bed with her Kindle or the latest book she picked up at a local book store.
