Workout Wednesday: A Taste Sensation to Tantalize Your Tastbuds

Yes I am grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat cuz I squeaked in my book just under the wire again this week!

The results are in:
Pages read 309
Riding Time 3hours 35minutes
Calories Burned 1620
Distance Peddled 76.86 miles

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Recipe of Love series Book 2

Who picks a book chock full of scrumptious, mouth-watering descriptions and recipes about food while trying to burn a few calories at the gym? This was my reading challenge this week as visions of food danced around in my head as I put the peddle to the metal. Well at least if I got the urge to eat while reading On the Steamy Side , I was a captive audience and couldn't just get up and go to the fridge for a snack no matter how tempted I was. So maybe it wasn't such a bad choice after all?


For My Thoughts

Country bumpkin and one time High School drama teacher Lilah Jane (Lolly for short and yes I kept thinking of a lollipop every time someone called her that) leaves the comfort of her small town life in rural Virginia and heads to the Big Apple looking to shake up her safe, staid, boring life and do the opposite of everything her Aunt Bertie has always taught her to do.

Devon Sparks is a world renowned celebrity chef, star of his own successful TV show, egomaniac, narcissist and all around bad boy. He is so far out of Lolly's league they may as well have been from different planets.

This book started out with a banging...I mean a bang...ok, no I really mean a banging. Devon and Lilah Jane cross paths one night in a dive bar and before you say "fry me up some catfish" they are headed off to his penthouse for a hot, sweaty bout of anonymous sex. The "sparks" were literally flying off the pages during a very steamy, very hot shower scene *fans self*.

Fast forward to the next morning and we return to the familiar stomping grounds of "Market" and all the familiar faces (Frankie, Jess, Adam) we met in Edwards first book Can't Stand the Heat. Lilah has just landed a job there bussing tables thanks to her good childhood friend Grant and guess who's going to be the guest Chef at Market for the next 2 weeks - yes you guessed it...Devon Sparks! So much for one night of anonymous sex. Things are really going to start cookin' in the kitchen at Market now that Devon and Lilah are going to be working together..or maybe not.

Let me just say at this point I really did not like Devon - he may have looked like Curtis Stone (but with sable hair and without the accent, but hey that's who I envisioned while reading), but his attitude reminded me that obnoxious Gordon Ramsey from Kitchen Nightmares. Devon acted like a spoiled brat Prima Dona, yelling, swearing and screaming like a trucker and treating all the employees at Market like second class citizens including Lilah Jane.

When Devon is unexpectedly thrust into the parent role (yes he's been an absentee father), one he's so ill-prepared to handle when his nine year old son Tucker is suddenly without a mom (she's headed off to drug rehab), we get some insight into Devon's insecurities. Boy has some major daddy issues and to this day has a tempestuous relationship with his father. Like father, like son...1st class A-hole. Watching Devon discover the joys of fatherhood and embrace his relationship with his own son I started to like him more. He was still a tool, but at least he was trying.

Since Devon has no idea what to do with Tucker, he fires Lilah Jane from her job at the restaurant on the spot, only to rehire her as a nanny, but she's no Mary Poppins. And she's also not interested in being Devon's playmate at least not at first -but her resolve didn't last long and really who can blame her because really... he made her girl parts tingle.

On the Steamy Side is about relationships, new ones, old messed up ones, disappointing family ones, but most importantly that the best relationships are attainable if you're just brave enough to reach out and hold on for dear life before it's too late.

If you are in the "Market" for a good "foodie" book with memorable characters who will tug at your heartstrings, then On the Steamy Side should be on your TBR pile.

Back Blub:

When Lilah Jane Tunkle fled her dull life in Virginia for the bright lights of New York City, she didn’t expect to wind up a nanny to a gorgeous celebrity chef’s ten-year-old son. Working for the delectable Devon Sparks is a sure-fire recipe for disaster, especially after Lilah gets a tantalizing taste of his perfectly seasoned kisses …

AND HE CAN’T RESIST HER DOWN-HOME SPICE

Devon’s not sure he can handle one more surprise ingredient in his life—he quit his popular TV show, his culinary reputation is on the line, and now the son he barely knows is back for seconds. Lilah’s Southern sass is supposed to keep the boy in line, but soon enough she’s teaching Devon a thing or two about homespun food…and turning up the heat.