This worked for me, so when it comes out next Tuesday please go get a copy from your library or bookstore of choice.

It was really refreshing to see people who aren't twentysomethings finding love. With Farzan in particular it was nice to see a main character who didn't have everything together, in some ways was just trying to get through life, but wasn't saddled with a collection of traits built to appeal to the quirky people among us. He wasn't a cartoonish stereotype of a person, he was just a person. David, had his shit together in a way that is maybe more typical of these kinds of romances, but it wasn't a flaw of his that he had to overcome in order to be happy?

After getting stood up Farzan decides to go out, a case of mistaken identity leads to him getting better service than he might've otherwise, which leads to a one night stand. There are a couple of plot contrivances to get these two back in the same room, but the fun kind you want to read about in a romance.

Some readers have commented on the amount of time these two bang it out... but honestly that worked for me. It worked for the plot for me. It built character and their particular dynamic in a way I think that sex scenes can.

Can I also say how refreshing it was to see characters having dynamic lives outside of their love interests again? Knowing that Farzan had friendships that he cared about, and a kickball team he was part of. Even the couple of scenes he got to have one on with with his siblings. David and Farzan's families also played a decent role in the way their lives and how they made certain decisions. David reconnected with old friends and had interesting relationships with his coworkers. These were fully realized people and that has been missing from the romances I have been picking up where characters seem to simply exist in a void.

And it was set in Kansas City, bonus points for that alone.

So Khorram was back knocking it out of the park as far as I'm concerned and I hope they continue to pump out romances on this level.

4.5 rounded up! I'm very finnicky when it comes to third act break ups but either which way I understood why it had to happen for this specific story! And if I may, I am simply obsessed with my cinnamon roll Farzan and my golden retriever David. After another failed date, Farzan wants to drown his heartache with wine and a damn good plate of fries. Having been mistaken for 'Frank Allen' a food critic and a name Farzan uses in order to place himself on the waitlist, the rest turns into a night of passion, misunderstandings, friends with benefits, plenty of Persian food and a selection of wines that sound absolutely divine. There are so many things that I loved about this story and what Khorram can do in terms of making a heartfelt and queer story is truly something I will look forward to for any future releases!

I’m glad the term tonic masculinity has been making the rounds, because this feels like tonic masculinity of the highest order. David Curtis, sommelier, mistakes Farzan Alavi for a food critic, and what blooms in the wake of this mixup is a tender, sexy, heartfelt romance between two grown adults who have to deal with the obstacles that a grown-ass relationship entails. Highlights include both of their wonderful friend groups, and coworkers, and families, jokes and mishaps during sex (!), the love letter to Kansas City (flaws included), and the rich Iranian culture, community, and cuisine of the Alavi family restaurant (my stomach growls).

Beautifully done, every bit of it—especially the miscommunication, which is the opposite of contrived and sparks growth and better communication. Favorite romance I’ve read this month, and on track to be one of my best-of for the year.

This is a beautiful queer romance that follows Farzan and David as the sparks ignite and their meet cute of mistake identity turns into a working relationships. . . Or tried too. Adib Khorram does an amazing job making David and Farzan feel so relatable and real in this novel that you can't help fall in love with them, their career paths and their romance.

What an absolute joy to read! There's no other way to describe it.

Each character felt incredibly real, grounded, and relatable; the story was equal parts serious, cute, steamy, and smile inducing; nothing felt incredibly far fetched or excessively eye roll worthy. I picked up this eARC after finishing Casey McQuiston's The Pairing and it actually was a great pairing! Both books rely heavily on food and wine talk from our main characters, but where McQuiston's really didn't serve a greater purpose other than showing how well they describe food, Khorram uses each character's relationship to food/wine for plot purposes. Where The Pairing failed, this book succeeded.

The one fault I found with the book was in some of the side/B-plot characters being totally dropped & forgettable when not on the page. Without spoiling, one was meant to highlight how a character was also forgetting about them (at least I think this was the reason), but it still isn't good when I, as the reader, actually pause in reading to wonder who someone was and if I've even read their name before. The eARC also had several typos, misspellings, and tense inaccuracies that I assume will be corrected in the final version of the novel.

Overall this was a great read that I could definitely see myself buying a copy of to have on my shelf as a winter/cold season comfort read.

My thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There were so many things I adored about this book. Although I don’t usually care for long descriptions of food or wine, I felt that this was done in a way that showed incredibly well the passion that Farzan and David have for it. They were endearing and relatable, I loved that they were older characters than what we’re used to in romances, that they weren’t physically perfect, that they were a bit damaged without having some tragic back stories. And most of all, I loved how the sex scenes were hot but oh-so-relatable and realistic; this was so refreshing to read.
I flew through the book, alternating between the digital version and the audiobook as I prefer to do. I could not help but root for these two, but also fall in love with the entire cast of secondary characters, from the friends to the siblings and of course the parents. I can’t tell you how hard I laughed at the “meeting the parents” scenes.
I would probably not count this book among my favorites of all time, but if you’re looking for a sweet and refreshing romance with amazing representation, this is it.

I have been a huge fan of adib for years and was so excited to hear that he was doing an adult book. We get a mix of mistaken identity and romance with food and wine. Reading this will make you both hunger and swoon. I absolutely love Adib’s writing and am always impressed with everything he comes up with. I can’t wait for more YA and adult projects to come up!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

I adore Adib Khorram's YA books and was delighted to read his adult debut. And even better, both of his main characters are approaching 40 and well into adulthood. Farzan is considering how to help his parents with their Persian restaurant, and David is studying for his Master Sommelier test.

Farzan and David are both thinking about their long term goals and figuring out what the next phase of their life will be. After a great fun meet cute, they struggle with whether their lives are going enough in the same direction to try a relationship.

They had a great deal of chemistry, and I was impressed with the consent and care shown in the steamy scenes. There were a few quite funny moments, but mostly the book felt quite serious. The story was a bit slow paced at parts, but in a way that felt real to their struggles and place in life. And I especially appreciated that the story highlighted the importance of friendships and not just romance.

I absolutely love Persian food, and my mouth was watering reading the descriptions. I wish I cooked it better or lived nearer to my favorite places for Persian food. And the wine pairings sounded amazing.

Thank you Netgalley, forever publishing and hachette audio for the free ALC and ebook. My opinions are being left voluntarily. This is a phenomenal mm later in life romance. Loving all the sommelier romance books this year. This was spicy and it kept spicing. Love how tender it was with the side story's and hot they pushed to give their love a go.

4.5/5☆

Thanks so much to Forever and net-galley for an E-arc of this book!

This was such a great, easy romance read with characters that felt so grounded and real! I read it in two days, and it only took that time because work made me pause!

Farzan and David were super compelling MCs whose romance was delightful. Especially during the sex scenes, they were generally good communicators, excluding the third-act breakup, although David was trying.

This is the third queer book I've read in recent months where one is becoming a master sommelier, and I don't know what that means for the community right now, but I'm obsessed...

I really enjoyed the restaurant focus of this book and how community-focused our two main restaurant settings were. The Iranian community is incredibly underrepresented in contemporary literature, especially romance, so it was great to see it spotlighted here!

Finally, extra points for the SHEER amount of Muppets references in this book... I love the muppets, and so it made me love the characters even more.

I was so excited for this release, but I hate to say that this was a massive dissapointement to me. I just really didn't like it. To be fair I also don't hate it. In fact I actually quite liked the personal storylines of our two main characters. Especially Farzan's storyline. The way he finds his passion by just not wanting his family legacy to die. Add to that the fact that he sees himself as a massive failure. I thought it was quite interesting, and very well done. I do have to say that his "woe is me" type inner monologue did get exhausting at some point, but that's more so because it was extremely repetetive.
I also quite like David's personal storyline. It's just that the whole career vs personal life kind of storyline has been done time and time again, and I don't think this book does anything new with it. I also think his turn around happened a little bit abruptly, and I would have preffered it if before that we saw him go back and forth on that decision a bit more. But hey, that's just personal prefference.
The romance is just really where this book lost me. I thought there was absolutely 0 chemistry between our two leads, and I did NOT understand why we are supposed to be rooting for them. Especially because their whole relationship is just sex. If they aren't fucking, they are talking about fucking, dick, and how much they love the two topics mentioned before. It got really exhausting. Because there wasn't much more to the relationship, those moments that are supposed to be big emotional moments within their relationship just don't hit the way they are supposed to.
Overall, I just thought this book was one big bore. Like mentioned before there was no relationship to get invested in. On top of that I also thought this book got really repetetive, and overall it was just really dragged out. We got like a whole paragraph of things that did not matter, or could have been said in a sentence or two as well. It was a bit of a snoozefest to get through this one.

MM
Diverse characters
Food and wine
Mature characters
Dual POV

Rating: 3/5 - I enjoyed this book but it isn't one that I will reread
🌶️: 3/5 - there were a handful of explicit intimate scenes

TLDR: Solid adult romance with realistic relationship depiction but a silly third act break up

I love a story with established adult characters. Reading about people outside of their 20s speaks to me. I also really enjoy books with lots of wine and food. So this book immediately started out with two big wins for me. This book also has supportive friends and family and lots of diversity. The beginning of the relationship was a lot of fun and made me smile. I loved all the realistic aspects that you don't usually see in romance novels. The third act break up did feel very silly to me which made me lose steam on a book that had started out really strong. Ultimately, I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to anyone who really loves a book that heavily features wine and food.

This book is absolutely standard m/m contemporary romance, except the BIPOC main characters.

So many gay romance novels featured white, cis men. This book is about the romance between Farzan Alavi, an Iranian American, and David Curtis who is Black. (There is even a supporting character who is trans!)

Farzan takes over his parents' Iranian restaurant. And David is an aspiring sommelier who works at a local wine bar. They meet when Farzan visits David's restaurant.

Other than the representation you don't always see in a gay romance, nothing really stands out about this book. The plot is entirely predictable. (David wants to move away from Kansas City to somewhere his career can take off, but Farzan can't move. What now?!)

I don't find predictable plots to be a problem with romance. In fact, they are comforting and cozy and a big part of why I read them. But this book really had nothing else going on. The characters even break up and get back together right on schedule.

There is a lot of sex in this book, which I think was well done in that it was very specific and realistic. There is after sex mess. There are awkward moments. There are vibrators and lube. There is "tidying up" in the bathroom before anal sex. Just normal people having bodies stuff you don't always see in romance.

I will also say that the author didn't make his main characters Iranian and Black and then do nothing with that. It actually matters. For example, you can see Farzan blush but not David's because of their different skin tones. And David has a moment with his hair not being done. And all Farzan's friends are his parents' friends' children. It's very specific and well done.

If you like m/m romance this is a perfectly nice book to spend some time with, but isn't super memorable.

i'll have what he's having follows farzan and david. farzan isn't sure what he's going to do with his life. after numerous professions and even more boyfriends, he's constantly feeling like the fuck-up of the family. david is fully consumed by work and his future. when he's not working, he's studying to become a master sommelier so that he's able to leave kansas city behind and provide for himself and his parents.

after getting dumped before things can even become official, farzan desperately needs two things: wine and fries -- so he heads to the new wine bar aspire, where david is the wine director. their paths cross when david mistakes farzan for an esteemed food critic and their chemistry is immediate and undeniable. this mistaken identity leads to a one night stand --> friends with benefits --> lovers

read this if you love:
-my big fat greek wedding
-foodie talk, and descriptions that will make you hungry
-wine and all of its intricacies (or if you want to pretend you understand them -- like me)
-queer community and friendships
-video game soundtracks
-adult intramural leagues

overall this was a cute middle-of-the-road romance story. i loved the food descriptions and all of the wine talk, even though i know nothing about wine. i loved david and farzan's separate communities they had! even when david felt like he had no one there was always someone looking out for him. there was some cheesy dialogue that wasn't my favorite, but i loved how david and farzan could be silly and goofy with each other from the very beginning. i was definitely rooting for them as a couple and as individuals, and i was excited to see how everything played out.

this is my first book from adib khorram, and i'm definitely interested in checking out his YA novels!

thank you netgalley and forever for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a previous resident of Kansas City, this made me miss it so much! Also, I’m gonna need the author to share where exactly the best fries in KC are.

The author did such a great job bringing KC to life in this book. It really did feel like coming home.

Farzan and David have a very unusual meet cute, but their chemistry just jumps off the page, right from the start. I really enjoyed their friends with benefits turn real feelings story. This book is also really touches on community and family. Overall this was a really enjoyable read.

A case of mistaken identity that turns into a one night stand, that leads to a friends with benefits situation?! Yes, I’m into it. And then we find out they’re in their late 30’s? Yup, give it to me.

Farzan finds himself “falling behind”. He is surrounded by people who are established and happy in their professions, and taking the next steps in their relationships. But when his parents suddenly declare that they will be closing the family restaurant, he takes up the challenge and asks that they turn it over to him instead. After all, he is never happier than when he’s in the kitchen cooking.

David has been working on passing the Master Sommelier exam, and getting out of Kansas City. That’s been David’s singular goal, until Farzan walks into the restaurant he works at.

Sparks, a strong tug pulling these two together, an undeniable connection. A hot one night stand. With David leaving in a few months, they both know More is not possible. They agree to be friends. With benefits, since they can’t help themselves. 🤭

And there begins the hot and steamy, but also heartwarming journey to More.

Okay I really enjoyed this book! I love characters in their late 30’s because they just hit different. These two are very relatable. And funny. And horny?! Lol! Farzan and David were very cute together, and I was rooting for them the whole way.

What I loved the most, though, was the message that it’s never too late to find your passion or chase your dreams. And in the same vein, it’s also never too late to realize dreams might change, and it’s totally okay to chase those too.

A really cute book, but don’t read it if you're hungry! 😂

Thank you so much for the ARC, Forever!

ARC Review: I'll Have What He's Having by Adib Khorram
Pub Date: August 27th

After a mistaken identity leads to a one night stand, Farzan and David can't seem to keep away from each other. David is studying for his master sommelier and plans to leave Kansas City for good whereas Farzan has recently decided to take over his parents' restaurant. Though they know their relationship can't be long term, they agree to a "friends with benefits" type situation - David will help Farzan with the business side of the restaurant and Farzan will help David study. And if other "activities" take place....well, that happens. They still know that their relationship has an end date.

I loved this book! I thought the relationship between Farzan and David was really sweet and spicy. I love the premise of a one night stand turned into more so this whole book just really worked for me. Both characters had things to work through - Farzan in particular - and it was so lovely to see them both come into their own and recognize what they want in life.

I was so glad that the mistaken identity piece was cleared up right away - as their relationship progresses, neither character is sure how to communicate that they want more than just a friends with benefits relationship. Just when I was about to yell at the characters to just tell each other how they feel, they did! The timing of that was perfect for me - a good amount of tension built and then finally the characters are open and honest with each other.

Read this for:
- So many descriptions of food!
- Diverse characters
- Characters in their upper 30s
- Wonderful side characters
- Spice!
- Friends with Benefits

Thank you to Forever for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved reading a romcom set in Kansas City! It was super fun to recognize place names and to also add restaurants to my “have to go to” list! This book was written with such care and love.

Likes:
-The main characters (queer rep <3)
-Their backstories were well flushed out
-The side characters
-The plot of a restaurant owner and a sommelier falling in love
-The mistaken identity piece was sooo funny

Dislikes:
-The progression of their relationship didn’t totally gel for me
-Oftentimes the descriptions were over the top (for example, at one point the dust from tissues was described in one of the mc’s noses… why??)

I’m so glad this author is making his romance debut and I’m excited for more!

I am a huge Adib Khorram fan and a huge Darius fan. I am betting that many fellow booksellers will come to this book because they are both also huge Adib and Darius fans.

That assumption stated: this is not a Darius book. It is also neither a Cat Stephens slow-burn M/M romance NOR a "not YA but could be YA" crossover. It's a spicy, heavier-on-the-sex-than-the-romance book. It wasn't my personal cup of tea, but fills an important hole in the market. Unique characteristics that I would use to handsell include the thoughtful and absorbing world of the Iranian heritage and restaurant of one of the MMCs , and the refreshing use of "older" main characters (a ripe 37!). I loved both of those qualities, along with the depictions of family, of challenges of finding love when you're also figuring out your career, and the brief glances into adult friendships. However, it would have been well served by some of the classic (YA) Adib qualities, including the buildup of relationships, depth of feelings, and palpable emotional connection.

That said, I'll be purchasing it for the store and recommending it to readers looking for spicy, thoughtful MM explorations of finding a person to call your own even as you navigate life, career, and family.

Farzan is out for post breakup pity wine and french fries at a hot new wine bar when he ends up giving his more easily understood ‘default white person name’ at the loud entry, unknowing it’s also the name of a critic they’d been trying to woo in. 
David, helping a friend get the place established before taking the master somm exam and moving on to bigger things, gives Farzan the tastings and meal of a lifetime. 
Heavy duty flirting leads to a night together before they realize the mistaken identity - At least they can both laugh about it after!

Farzan’s parents later announce they’re closing their own family restaurant, but he pushes to take it over instead in order to save a place that’s been vital to their Iranian community. His food skills are solid, but the business side of running a restaurant is another story.

Asking David for the help, the two agree Farzan will help him study his wines, while David fills in his business knowledge gaps. They also become friends, and when the chemistry builds again add some ‘benefits’ - knowing the arrangement has an expiration date should keep them from getting too attached, right? …right?!
Spoiler alert - it does not. And with that end date looming…

I appreciated that the misunderstanding about name was cleared up quickly enough that it was an amusing story, not a looming Big Stressful Secret.
There was enough tension with Farzan tying himself even more to Kansas City while David planned for a future in Los Angeles. And with David finally finding a love and community, right before his deadline? Oof

If you’re a romance reader looking to diversify your reading. I can’t recommend this enough. It’s sweet, spicy, there’s humor and some angst (still with a HEA!) All the romcom expectations and then more - I learned things I didn’t even know I didn’t know, and it was interesting and awesome. I loved it! 
It also made me really hungry for food I have no idea how to make, so I guess I need to go look up some recipes now (or, let’s be real, probably check out some restaurants first)

Thanks to Forever for the ARC!