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Sherry Thomas

Delicious by Sherry Thomas

By Barb Drozdowich

ISBN: 978-0-440-24432-5

Publisher: Bantam Books

Release:

Source: I bought this book

Famous in Paris, infamous in London, Verity Durant is as well-known for her mouthwatering cuisine as for her scandalous love life. But that’s the least of the surprises awaiting her new employer when he arrives at the estate of Fairleigh Park following the unexpected death of his brother.

Lawyer Stuart Somerset worked himself up from the slums of Manchester to become one of the rising political stars of England’s Parliament. To him, Verity Durant is just a name and food is just food until her first dish touches his lips. Only one other time has he felt such pure arousal—a dangerous night of passion with a stranger, a young woman who disappeared at dawn. Ten years is a long time to wait for the main course, but when Verity Durant arrives at his table, there’s only one thing that will satisfy Stuart’s appetite for more. But is his hunger for lust, revenge—or that rarest of delicacies, love? For Verity’s past has a secret that could devour them both even as they reach for the most delicious fruit of all…

Delicious is a book that I picked up because I was curious. I read Private Arrangements some time ago and found the switching back and forth from present to past frustrating and at times confusing. The reviews that I came across were so positive, I thought I’d give this author another try.

Verity Durant is a well-known cook, famous for creating mouth-watering meals for Bertie Somerset. In the first chapter of the book, Bertie drops dead in the middle of dinner and his estranged brother, rising political star, Stuart Somerset inherits the estate as well as the cook. This book, like Private Arrangements, hops back and forth in time. One must be on the ball to read this book and keep track of the story. Verity actually met Stuart 10 years prior and shared one night of passion. She has been following his life and now Fate has brought them back together. Stuart proves to be more intuitive than Verity is comfortable with and she always seems to be on the edge of leaving.

This book has positive aspects as well as negative aspects. On the positive side, the descriptions of food are positively orgasmic! As one reviewer commented, “this book would have been better suited to someone who is way more into food than I am.” I have to say that I agree. I can certainly appreciate wonderful descriptive writing but a good portion of this book is spent describing the preparation of food, the look of food or someone commenting about the taste of the food. I guess I’m just not that taken with food!

On the negative side, there are several situations that one must suspend all sense of reality. At one point in the story, Verity decides to have a bath in the master’s bathroom. The scene is quite involved and of course the master comes home and discovers her. Makes for some really steamy descriptions, but really, would that really have happened? Also, if Verity is so well known a cook, why is she working in a common household – why hasn’t she been snatched up by a duke?

This is now the second book I have read by Sherry Thomas and while I admire her writing ability, the jumping of time frames I continue to find frustrating and I simply didn’t like the characters very much again. I find that I need to either like characters or find some redeeming qualities to them in order to like the book overall. I may try another book by Sherry Thomas, but I’m not sure. I certainly understand why the reviews are all over the map, she obviously appeal to certain people, and frustrates others!

RT Reviews obviously disagrees with me as they give this book 4.5 stars and say the following about Ms. Thomas: “She dazzles with her intelligent, compelling story and memorable characters. This well-crafted romance places her among the very finest of the next generation of authors.”

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Private Arrangement by Sherry Thomas

By Barb Drozdowich

ISBN: 0440244315

Publisher: Bantam Books

Private Arrangements is the debut novel for Sherry Thomas. This book is about the relationship between Gigi, Lady Tremaine and Camden, Lord Tremaine. Yes, they are married at the outset of this book! Ten years before this book starts, Gigi and Camden are married after a short courtship. Gigi is supposed to marry Camden’s cousin, but after he dies in a drunken fall, she is left single. She meets Camden, and decides that although she knows that her friend is in love with him, she wants him. Gigi manipulates matters to make Camden think that his love has married another, and he turns his attention to Gigi. Camden was likable during the courtship and Gigi fell in love with him. She was anticipating beginning their life together, but unaware that Camden found out about the lie just hours before the wedding. He goes ahead with the wedding and wedding night and then the next morning announces that he is leaving her and why.

Ten years later, Gigi has decided to petition Camden for divorce as she has found a potential husband in the gentle soul of the absentminded Freddie, a painter. Camden shows up unannounced with his own agenda. He announces that he will grant the divorce if Gigi produces an heir in the next year, but in reality he intends to win his wife back.

Although I appreciated the book in a general fashion, there is too much about the book that I didn’t like. First of all, the book switches back and forth 10 years as the story is played out in the past and in the present. Although the dates are clearly marked, I found myself constantly confused by the story line as I felt I needed to flip back some pages to figure out where the story was left off. I found Gigi to be immature, greedy and manipulative and Camden to be petulant and cruel. His idea of going ahead with the wedding only to desert Gigi the morning after is childish. Although Gigi instigated this situation to a certain extent, she did try repeatedly to apologize for her selfishness. To add insult to injury, he is critical of her behavior after being abandoned. Does she not have the right to have a relationship at some point?

The deceitful relationship between Gigi’s mother and the duke was just as deceitful as the main story line. Not to mention Gigi’s mother’s continual interference and manipulation for her own self interests.

I may be critical about my dislike for the characters, but aside for the switching back and forth in time, I found Sherry Thomas to be a skillful reader.  She brought these nasty characters alive for me!  She made me cheer for some and boo for others.  In the big picture, it is somewhat irrelevant if I liked the characters.  Isn’t the job of a good author to bring out emotions in the reader?

I’ve included some of the industry’s reviews for your reading.

“To those romance readers who have strayed I have a message: I have the book for you. Private Arrangements may be the best historical romance you’ll read in a very long time, certainly the best I’ve read in years. And the historical romance genre is definitely not dead. “ The Romance Reader

“This is such an impressive, original and well written romance that I read it in just a few hours. I went back and forth from loving and hating both of these characters as their heartache became my own. That’s quite an accomplishment, that depth and range of emotion, for any writer, seasoned or not to convey. Wrench me, anguish me, but most important, as a reader make me care and become one with the characters and their story. You did that, Ms. Thomas. You did.“ Romance Reader at Heart.  Cindy Reads Romance‘s comments probably better fit with my thoughts on this books: “I was a bit disappointed with this book. This book had some great reviews, but fell a bit flat for me. I think it may have been that for a majority of the book, it went back an forth between the decades. There was a secondary romance, that was okay, and the reconcilliation at the end didn’t have the impact I hoped for.“

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