I had the most fun I’ve had in a while reading with this book. This story is so funny and is a comedy of errors from the very beginning. The pair meet because Farzan uses his “default white person name” of Frank Allen at the wine bar David is currently the sommelier at. Only David believes that he’s Frank Allen, the top Kansas City food critic. After their initial hook-up, they have multiple hook-ups that get thwarted by interrupting friends and awkward run-ins with another’s parents. David and Farzan have amazing chemistry together, which feeds into the multiple (wasn’t actually counting but I would guess 5-10) hot scenes they share. With every sexual encounter you can just see the lightness and joy they bring one another and it made me so happy and giddy to read.

They are such a well matched pair as they are currently embarking on the same path of navigating career changes and family in their late 30’s, but have different back roads on it. David left a successful and lucrative job in investment banking to pursue his newly discovered passion of wine. But he still has the drive to be at the top of that field and obtain the pinnacle of success of becoming a master sommelier, because of that he’s sworn off wanting anything serious with a partner. But from the beginning you can see how he longs to share that success with someone. Farzan refers to himself as the family eff-up and blames all his career and relationship problems on him just not being good enough. He's such a sweetheart and has so much love for his family. It was sad to see the moments where he was put down by them for not being “successful” as defined by the standards of his first generation Iranian family. It’s clear how much he wants to be a good son and brother, and it hurts to see how down on himself he is at times. But when together, they are able to draw out the strengths and weaknesses in one another: Farzan making David realize he doesn't want to be at the top level if he’s there alone, and David showing Farzan that his love for his family and community is just as worthwhile as any high ranking career.

I absolutely loved this story and thought that as his first adult romance, Khorram knocked this out of the park. Thank you NetGalley and Forever for an arc of I’ll Have What He’s Having. I will definitely be enjoying this with some wine and french fries when it releases August 27th.

I picked this book because I’ve read a couple of his others books that I’ve enjoyed. This was a bit different since it’s an adult romance rather than his previous YA books. He did an amazing job! The premise was a mistaken identity that lend to two lonely guys a chance of a beautiful love story. My first thought was oh no when David thought Farzan was a food critic Frank Allen.  I was impressed how quickly that was resolved within the story. David was studying for his master sommelier and believed he couldn't be in a relationship. Farzan wanted love. They promised to keep things casual between them. There were small bumps along the way. There were also many humorous moments sprinkled throughout the story that was hilarious. I was impressed by the flow of the story. I thought highly of the characters and cheered for them to embrace love. They seemed genuine and lovely. I also liked Farzan’s best friends. They wholeheartedly supported him which was nice to read. The delicious food and wine were a wonderful bonus. Which also made me hungry for the food that was described. The sexy scenes were very spicy. Which was hot! The epilogue was chefs kiss perfect. Overall, this was an amazing, sweet, and spicy love story. I absolutely loved it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my review!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 - I would highly recommend I'll Have What He's Having to romance readers who like real-world issues interwoven into an open door romance story. I loved the protagonists and their respective journeys, but I felt like both the romance and central conflict needed more development.

What Worked for Me
Representation in the book was done so authentically! A lot of care was put into building both David and Farzan's identities, and I learned a bit about Iranian culture. Khorram did a good job highlighting Kansas City's strengths, which is not a location I'm familiar with. I enjoyed the comedic moments in the story, starting with the meet cute! I found myself laughing out loud at many points, especially the flirty banter between David and Farzan. Overall, I'll Have What He's Having was realistic, and I would not want the main storyline to change at all.

What Didn't Work for Me (spoilers ahead)
<spoiler>Romance: While there were some scenes between David and Farzan that showed a relationship deeper than FWBs, I felt like dialogue surrounding passion, connection, and love centered almost exclusively around the sex scenes. I would have liked to see more of a balance, especially after they became official. Some of the issues discussed in the end should have been discussed earlier in the relationship, especially to really love someone. I felt like I was told multiple times about how much David and Farzan loved each other, but I prefer to see it to believe it.

Conflict Resolution/Ending: Regarding the conflict itself, this connects back to my previous point. If you're picking up the love of your life from the airport and you both have major life updates, why would you sit in the car in silence?! That aside, I liked the message of Farzan leaning on his friends for support and David realizing that his dream was to be with the person he loved. What I needed was more development of how we got from Point A to Point B. David only really needed a few more pages. I would have liked to see him give LA an honest try but come up feeling empty (and I would need to be more convinced that Farzan was the one). However, when Farzan broke down and started discussing how much of a failure he was, I felt like that needed MUCH more work than the friend intervention. I would prefer 1-2 sex scenes cut in exchange for more material on growth and development to give the storyline the depth it deserves.</spoiler>

Adib Khorram is a master. This is his first foray into an adult romance, but I had absolutely no worries how the transition would be, and I was joyously proved right. I'll Have What He's Having was so real and delightful. The seamless mistaken identity plot was short and sweet, and was resolved in a very understandable way. It didn't seem too unrealistic, and felt like a meet sexy that could've very well happened in real life. I appreciated just how authentic things were. The sex scenes weren't played up to be extremely sexy, but he didn't use verbiage that was clunky or cringey when it came to said sex scenes. It just felt like a very nicely tied together book, especially for a first adult romance. Don't get me wrong, his YA romances are amazing too, but this was beautiful.

This was a fun adult debut by Adib Khorram. I’ve read all of his YA and was excited to lean into his latest work!

This book is about Farzan and David, two 37 year old men who are single. Farzan has just been dumped and David is busy studying for a sommelier test. Farzan goes to the restaurant David works at and is mistaken for a critic. They hit it off and have a one-night stand… that turns into more.

*spoilers*

There was a lot I really enjoyed about the book but one of the best parts was that it was genuinely funny. I laughed out loud a lot. The f*cking Brandon recurring joke cracked me up every time. I loved how awkward some of their steamy time was. The stuff that happens is NORMAL and it just was great they could laugh about it. I thought they were fun together, and they really were hot for each other.

I really liked Farzan’s growth. As someone who has a lot of friends and family who are married, settled down, and far in their careers, I often feel like he does. Like I’ve messed up. Like I’m not good enough. Like the universe is against me. I thought he was very relatable. I also loved though that Farzan had a life. He had social activities that got him out of the house. Two best friends who were ride or die.

David’s journey to figuring out his dream and home was beautiful to see. When he realizes that Farzan is his dream!? Goodbye.

The muppet references were great too, haha.

I’ll read whatever Adib puts out into the world and I hope he continues in the adult romance genre!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.