Taste the Heat Review

Title: Taste the Heat (A Love and Games novel)

Author: Rachel Harris

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Goodreads Summary:

              When chef Colby Robicheaux returned home to New Orleans to save her family restaurant, the last person she expected to reconnect with was her brother’s best friend and her childhood crush. As tempting as a sugar-coated beignet, Jason is one dish she doesn’t want to taste. Colby is counting down the days till she can leave the place where her distrust of love and commitment originated and go back to Vegas. 

            Fire captain Jason Landry isn’t looking for love, either. He knows he should focus on finding the perfect mother for his daughter, but when he first sees Colby, all grown up and gorgeous, he can’t help but be drawn to her. And when she suggests a no-strings-attached fling, Jason doesn’t want to say no. 

           As their relationship grows more intense, Colby finds that Jason isn’t as easy to leave behind as she thought. Could turning up the heat on something real be worth the possibility of getting burned?

Gabrielle's 4.5 Star Review:  (Has a few spoilery type things)

          Colby Robicheaux "ran" away from her family after she graduated high school. I put it in quotes because she doesn't actually go missing. She just goes to college in New York then decides to move to Vegas and open a restaurant. She rarely ever went home or called her family but that wasn't fair to her mother and siblings when she was angry with her father, the man everyone loved in her small hometown right outside of New Orleans.

              She comes back because her family's restaurant needed help. After their father died (he was the head chef), most of their kitchen staff up and quit. So, she moved back home for the summer to help out her brother who now owns and runs it. (Can I take a moment to say SWOON over her brother ;) ) Her first day back, she has to judge a competition. Who is in it? Jason Landry, the boy who starred in all her fantasies as a kid. Well, now as a man, she starts to fantasize again BUT he returns her attraction.

             Enter Emma. She is Jason's adorable daughter who instantly looks up to Colby because she wants to become a chef, too. At first, Colby thinks Jason is married and she starts to freak out until Emma mentions her mother died a few years back. Still - Colby is freaked to the max about dating a man who has a daughter when she never envisioned herself being a mother or a "motherly role" type person.

             But the three of them become an inseparable threesome and they start to form a family again. But Colby can't commit to anything... Not when she has trust issues... And Jason is too afraid to put his heart on the line again when it was already shattered once.

             I want to start out by saying this is the first ADULT book I read from Rachel Harris. On the first page I was a bit wary but once I fully understood where Colby was and what she was doing, I was totally in. ESPECIALLY when Jason is thrown into the mix. I was slightly confused as to why the so blatantly flirted out in public in front of hundreds of people. But their chemistry was instant and combustible. I was rooting for them before THEY even realized how much they belonged together.

            Jason, not only was he physically sexy BUT he was a wonderful single father, which made him EVEN sexier. He tried helping Emma through all the things a mother would, like getting her first period and trying to find the right pads/tampons. LOVED that scene.

            Colby was adorably cute. One of my favorite parts is: Colby, apparently realizing how her words sounded, or maybe just seeing the pained look on his face, widened her eyes. "I mean, not in a bad way." The soft pink of her cheeks turned a bright crimson. "N-not to say that being on top of you would be bad, either. Because it wouldn't. I'm sure it would be fine. More than fine." I couldn't help but fall for this cute couple. Jason, with his smoldering eyes and Colby with her stuttering nervousness made quite the couple.

            Both of them had to conquer their own personal battles before they could truly be together and when they were almost there... Colby thought Jason cheated and she leaves. Then tragidy struck and kicked Colby's butt into gear. Sometimes I just wished I could reach through the book and strangle the two of them. But they made their way to each other. They found the love and support in each other that neither thought they would find. And omg, the ending of the book was absolutely perfect. I cried lots of happy tears.

           I can't wait for the next two books. I ordered them yesterday so now I just have to wait! Eeeep! Good job, Rachel Harris!