This had almost everything I wanted in a BL novel. I would have given it five stars, but I am trying to limit the five star rating only for the ones I loved so much I almost couldn't take it, so four stars it is.
Hori Atsushi runs a small deli, in which he also gives cooking classes. He's been given the café from his aunt - after his mother found out he was gay in middle school, the relationship with his family has been strained, to say the least. Atsushi has sworn to himself to never fall in love with anyone, and has lived most of the 32 feeling guilty for causing his family trouble because he's gay (however, he never seems to have thought to pretend otherwise). Now, those kinds of resolutions hardly ever turn out well, and in this case the reason Atsushi can't keep it is one of his regular customers, Miyamura Shuuhei. Miyamura's an successful salary man but has only recently started living on his own, and ends up taking cooking lessons from Atsushi. The more time Atsushi spends with Miyamura, the more he falls for him - but even when he realizes Miyamura is in love with him as well, he is afraid that Miyamura is going to get hurt because of him, and he doesn't want that.
I *love* stories that involve cooking, and I love stories with salary men, so that combination already made my heart beat faster. Miyamura is a really lovely person, but not too perfect - just the kind of person who grew up in a really loving family, and that was captured really well. Most of the angst stems from Atsushi's experiences in the past, which were unpleasant but sadly not unrealistic. The relationship between Atsushi and Miyamura develops in a pace that feels genuine, and I loved that Miyamura really does give Atsushi the time he needs.
I only have minor complaints, really - while there was angst, and while there was a hurdle to overcome, there never was enough tension for me to suffer properly (I know that sounds weird, but there you go). Of course, I don't know whether part of that feeling was because I'm reading faster - I finished this one in a day, and usually it'd take me at least two days - or because it was too short. It didn't really feel too short though.
The other - again, really minor - complaint is that the sex wasn't ~that~ well written. It wasn't badly written, either - and actually there was a great moment where Miyamura says something really random and that's the kind of thing that often happens in reality but rarely in fiction, so that actually made the scene better.
So yes, it wasn't the perfect BL novel, but it was very, very good. I bought it because the manga that's connected to it - which I'm going to read next - kept getting recommended to me by both the online stores I'm using, and I really loved the cover. It's really beautiful.