I wish I could give a better review but I DNF'd this novel about a third of the way into it. The premise is right up my alley but the love interest was not someone I could deal with. He comes of as the biggest asshole that is secretly a nice guy but that didn't work for me at all. Maybe he turns it around and I would think differently if I read the entire book but I really don't want to.

A Taste of Sage, by Yaffa S. Santos, was a food-inspired romance that I enjoyed reading, although I wasn’t overwhelmed by the story. The story follows chefs Lumi Santana, who can feel the emotions of a chef through eating their food, and Julien Dax, who is successful but much disliked. After her own restaurant fails, Lumi begins working with Julien. In spite of her own reluctance, she slowly begins to fall for him in this enemies to lovers romance.

Santos’ writing was fun and smart, but I didn’t connect with either of the characters and it was hard to root for them to succeed. Their romance felt forced and when they started to share their feelings, it seemed to come out of nowhere. There was not a slow build to the romance and seemed awkward and stunted as they tried to navigate it. There was also a magical realism element, advertised as synesthesia in the book’s description, but in which the main character experienced the emotion of a chef who cooked food - if the chef was sad when they baked cookies, then Lumi would taste that sadness when she ate them, and so on. This made-up version of synesthesia was interesting, but led to some odd, and unrealistic, turns in the book that ultimately did not work for me as a reader.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If you love food writing and romances and wish there were more books that combined the two, this is the book for you! Very cute.

Its sweet, witty, entertaining and promising start made me think “Yes! I found another feel-good rom-com will warm my heart and help me to forget my shitty and stressful day”! I felt like some four or five starred review was already coming up. So I poured more wine to my glass, extended my legs and started reading.

I was so happy to be introduced to Lumi Santana, Dominican chef, lovely, relatable heroine loses her dream restaurant and trying to find a solution to make her ends meet, holding her head above the water and she finally gets a job at French restaurant owned by Julien Dax.

Yes, this is the moment we are introduced to our hero and wait for the couple’s sparkling, sizzling, growing chemistry. But guess what? It perfectly blows on your face and the only reason you cannot find the sparkle and hot chemistry, losing your interest and entire excitement is THAT PRETENTIOUS, MEAN, ARROGANT, A…HOLE HERO!

Can a hero with worst traits sabotage the entire foundation of the book? Yes he can. Yes he will, he already did that.

When I read a romance: I don’t care about clichés or same elements starting with enemies to friends and friends to lovers relationship dynamics. And of course something big happens to force the lovers break up. They suffer and some groveling later, one of them (mostly hero) makes a remarkable jest and takes his girl back, riding his horse into the sunset for their HEA!

But this formula never works if one of the characters needs to be punched several times and there is no chemistry or reliable romantic elements. This book has dislikeable anti-hero killed not so reliable romance and forced chemistry.

Overall: Writing of the book was not so bad but romance parts and character building failed me. I only gave 2.5 stars and rounded them up to 3 for the sake of the heroine and representation of Dominic culture and diversity elements. I still wish to read more books of the author but next time I’m begging her to create more likeable heroes!

Special thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for sharing this romantic ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

A Taste of Sage was a sweet book about a Dominican fusion chef, Lumi, and her journey to finding herself as a woman in a meaningful relationship and as a restaurant owner. She meets Julien, the owner of a reputable French restaurant, and ends up working as his sous chef, taking liberties with the traditional recipes here and there. Julien’s normally strict personality tends to bend whenever Lumi is around as he falls in love with her.

I found this book to be a cute story, especially if you enjoy novels that center around cooking. I am rating this book 4 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I struggled to finish this book, although it improved somewhat towards the end. It's advertised as a rom-com but it fell flat for me. The characters were shallow and the writing just OK.

Thanks to Harper Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't a book for me. I didn't find Lumi and Julian compatible. Yes, they're attracted to one another but they don't seem to have much else in common other than the fact that they work together and have a mutual crush on one another.

Julian Dax is a rude, stubborn chef who punches food critics in the face and doesn't serve ketchup at his restaurant. Everybody seems to want to be Julian Dax or be his girlfriend but should people really be idolizing a guy like him in this story? That answer is no.

Lumi is a down-on-her-luck chef who starts a new job at Dax's restaurant. I liked her creative flair and passion for food but when she added apple slices to a ratatouille at Dax's restaurant nobody ate it and people complained. I just couldn't handle the stuck-up food world portrayed in this novel. Good, creative food is supposed to be comforting, not stressful, I wanted a comforting romance about food and I didn't get that here.

Overall, this book wasn't what I craved; I found one of the characters just too unlikeable, the writing a bit strained and unpolished at times.

This book kept me reading. The characters Lumi and Julien just draws you in. I was suprised hoe much I kept getting drawn in. This book will have you rooting for Lumi as well as laughing at the lobster scene! Lumi shows you how to survive the painful and how to grow. Julien’s character matures and surprises you.
I highly recommend this book.


*****Netgallery provided me an ARC for my honest opinion. **********

This book was one that took me some time to fully dive in to. Trying to get a sense of the characters was a process for me. But at one point, the book started to take turns and I couldn't put it down. There were moments I assumed I knew what would come next, but the author kept me guessing. It is a unique love story, and the way their hearts come together is one that grows on you with each passing page. The book has two very different characters coming together, Lumi and Julian. At first, they seem like complete opposites. As the reader I wasn't sure I could see their personalities meshing, but the more insight the author gave into Julian's personality, the more you started to pull for him. His honesty for his feelings was refreshing, especially coming from a male character. He said what he thought, without hesitation, and I started to fall in love with his personality on each page. At the end you are rooting for Lumi and Julian, with a smile as you finish the last page of this sweet romance.

I always enjoy books that have "flavor" and this one had it's fair share. Lumi is a likable character and I felt myself rooting for her.

I heard about this book on a podcast the other day and immediately wrote it on my TBR. I was so happy to receive this book and it didn't disappoint! I love the story and it just keeps you wanting more!

“A Taste of Sage” was uneventful, dull, and lacked appealed. The relationship between Lumi and Julien was just about non existent and there was no real connection at all between them beside a physical attraction. It had potential but the author failed to meet them which is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to a culinary romance.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was disappointed in this modern romance novel. While I enjoyed Lumis spirited personality and enjoyed the cuisine recipes I felt the romance took a back seat to all of the food references. The dialogue between seemed abrupt and awkward. Things moved too slow in the beginning and then was like a runaway train towards the end. It did not move me unfortunately

I'm loving all of the foodie romances coming out lately! And the enemies-to-lovers romance going on here gave it an extra spice (pun intended). Also thought that the recipes were a nice touch. My one criticism is that the plot felt a little rushed but, on the other hand, quick pacing is probably better than pacing that's too slow.

I loved the premise of this novel and really enjoyed the recipes. However, ultimately I did not finish it due to feeling like the writing was somewhat unfinished. I really look forward to hearing how other people enjoyed this and maybe giving it another try.

I enjoyed this story at the highest level, but I really would have prepared a more cohesive description of the characters and how they came together. Time was so fluid that it felt rushed yet I couldn’t really tell the timeline. Lumi and Julien didn’t really seem to mesh to me until the author decided that they did. Also, this is a nit-picky detail, but the author had a massively repetitive habit of making sure every description called out some sort of color. I spent the entire novel thinking Julien had crimson (like blood) colored hair until later she called his eyelashes or chest hair red and it totally screwed up my mental image. Then she stopped coloring everything halfway through. It was odd.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read half this book and chose not to finish. In the first half of the book there is little character development of the male main character and little to no quality interaction between the two main characters. The female main character is developed as far as her cooking and kitchen skills but I don’t know her well enough to know if jumping into sexy after spending a couple of hours with a person is in character or not. I like a lot of character development and at least a natural progression of events, but I did not find either in this book. I probably could have finished it, but saw nothing to indicate I was going to like it anymore and in fact saw a spoiler that hinted I was going to like it a lot less.

3.5/5.

A charming debut strengthened by the vivid prose about the scenery and the food, (Thank you for the brilliant idea of including the recipes in each chapter!). While the romantic arc could have been stronger by having more scenes of Lumi and Julien bonding in their mutual pining of each other - the part with the escape lobster is easily the best - their attraction to each other is undeniable.

An ARC has been provided by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

2.5
I wanted to love this....and I did for the first 40%. A lot of good food descriptions, fun setting, strong MC (Lumi),.....and even though Julien was an a-hole, there was promise for his character development. A lot of hate-to-loves kind typical portray one of the MCs as arrogant anyway. I thought the romance part was building at a nice pace.
However, after around the 40% mark, it felt like I was reading a completely different story. Not only did the story seem to change, the characters did? I don't have an issue with instalove but it was not executed in a way that was believable. Not to mention their personalities did a total 180 overnight. Their relationship seemed so forced..their chemistry in the beginning was great then it just started seeming shallow.
From the synopsis, you gather Lumi has a"gift" ...this doesn't even really come up until 70% of the way in? I feel like that whole aspect of the story could've been omitted and the focus should've just been consistent with the beginning.
Also, we are introduced to several supporting characters...but we hardly saw them in the end! Kitchen staff, Lumi's family/friend, Julien's dad/friend, the secretary....basically in there for 5% of the story...I didn't think there was a chance to really get to know any of them.

Anyway, the beginning would've been a 5 star for me, but the way it came together didn't do it for me.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

I’ve just hit a bad run, guys. I can’t seem to pick the right galleys lately. A Taste of Sage was truly disappointing with very few redeeming qualities.

Chef Lumi’s restaurant Caraluna goes under and she is forced to take a job with chef Julien Dax at his French-style restaurant. She dislikes Julien, for his harsh words and for running a tight ship. And because of this, she refuses to taste his food: Lumi has a special gift making her capable of knowing someone’s feelings when they cooked the food she eats. Resentment and tiredness can ruin a dish, just as happiness and love can improve one. Unable to resist, she tries one of Dax’s meals once…and it’s a taste she just can’t get out of her mouth.

I can’t emphasize enough that this whimsical twist was the only redeeming part of this story. I got absolutely lost in Santos’ writing style: her description of food, of cooking is absolutely beautiful and incredibly fun to read. I think there’s a lot of potential to create something great from that talent alone.

HOWEVER, everything else was just bad. The romance? Unbelievable. The characters? Flat. The story line? Rushed and hard to follow. I felt like I was sprinting through this book just by reading it at a normal pace. I couldn’t keep up with unbelievable turns in their “relationship”. And truly, Julien and Lumi’s romance felt like an afterthought compared to the food. Honestly, I’m also just here for the food at this point.

Character development was seriously lacking. I could feel what Santos’ intended for the characters, and I truly did want to like them, but their lack of well-rounded-ness absolutely ruined this book. Trashed it. It wasn’t heartfelt or anything I felt myself consumed by. I didn’t even know these people, you know? You can’t just give a character like two quirks and call it character development. Just no.

Pass on this one, friends. No need to bother. Hopefully the remaining stack of galleys I’ve got left turns out a bit better!