A Taste of Sage
by Yaffa S Santos
4 stars
I am a sucker for magical realism…and for books about cooking, so this was perfect for me! Lumi is a chef who loves to cook the Dominican style food that she grew up with. She can also read people’s emotions when she eats their cooking. When her own restaurant goes under, she gets a job as a sous chef in a stuffy traditional French restaurant. (Of course the head chef is a dreamy redhead, even if he comes off as a jerk) Lumi and Head Chef Julien butt heads immediately and Lumi vows to never eat anything he cooks. But this is a romance, so I’m pretty sure you can see where the story is heading.
I admit that I am not familiar with Dominican food specifically, but all of the food described in the book sounds fantastic! And I always love books that come with recipes in them! Especially ones that include instructions like ‘Best served without bad juju.’ At one point in the book she adds apples to a traditional ratatouille recipe, which sounded intriguing. Later there is a recipe for an all apple ratatouille that I am definitely going to have to try.
Read alikes:
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
