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Desserted
Drew Montgomery is a trust-fund baby who decides to launch a food magazine in the age of online publications. Hank is a gifted chef who now rules San Francisco›s cooking scene, but who struggles with a serious additional problem. The suspicious death of Hank’s father demands that these two rivals look beyond their mutual antipathy. A story of fathers and sons, this book is part romance, part mystery, and a paean to foodies everywhere.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 20, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 18, 2019
Somewhere between 3 and 3.5. I can't really decide.
This author has talent. Their usage of language and character building is testament to that.
However, they need a proofreader. I lost track of how many sentences I had to reread to try to figure out WTH they were trying to say through all the extra and/or missing words. That's annoying and makes me fussy.
I'm already fussy most of the time so the objective is not to make me fussier. Nothing good can come of that.
I soldiered on cuz I'm a trooper like that and I wanted to get to the alleged "romance" in this "m/m romance".
The mystery is a giveaway and it's mostly finding the evidence and trying to compel an admission of guilt rather than being a creature of the whodunit variety. Something I found slightly disappointing but I liked all the background info so that mitigated the disappointment.
The romance is classic enemies to lovers trope which is a fave of mine and was handled pretty well. Drew and Hank have water under the bridge and a couple of fights even, are polar opposites in all ways and now find themselves up for the same award. They transitioned to lovers quicker than I would've liked but the circumstances dictated that they work together and in so doing they recognized their deep-seated feels.
Parts of the romance I liked but the whole book felt imbalanced and more like a character study of Drew and Hank rather than a romance and it's called Desserted: A m/m romance! The romance doesn't even show signs of life until around the 70% mark. They're not in the same room for most of the novel and once they are there wasn't enough time for development of their relationship which is what I most enjoy about this genre. I was left me wanting which is good in some regards and not so good in others.
The ending is realistic hopeful/HFN but by the same token it felt rushed and maybe unfinished? What was there had an emotionality that spoke to me but I'm not completely convinced of their coupltry.
I was also disappointed in the lack of cookery; it's more cuisine adjacent and serves as the backdrop of the story.
So the title's wee bit misleading. All the way around, imo. However, my opinions are my own and YMMV.
This author has talent. Their usage of language and character building is testament to that.
However, they need a proofreader. I lost track of how many sentences I had to reread to try to figure out WTH they were trying to say through all the extra and/or missing words. That's annoying and makes me fussy.
I'm already fussy most of the time so the objective is not to make me fussier. Nothing good can come of that.
I soldiered on cuz I'm a trooper like that and I wanted to get to the alleged "romance" in this "m/m romance".
The mystery is a giveaway and it's mostly finding the evidence and trying to compel an admission of guilt rather than being a creature of the whodunit variety. Something I found slightly disappointing but I liked all the background info so that mitigated the disappointment.
The romance is classic enemies to lovers trope which is a fave of mine and was handled pretty well. Drew and Hank have water under the bridge and a couple of fights even, are polar opposites in all ways and now find themselves up for the same award. They transitioned to lovers quicker than I would've liked but the circumstances dictated that they work together and in so doing they recognized their deep-seated feels.
Parts of the romance I liked but the whole book felt imbalanced and more like a character study of Drew and Hank rather than a romance and it's called Desserted: A m/m romance! The romance doesn't even show signs of life until around the 70% mark. They're not in the same room for most of the novel and once they are there wasn't enough time for development of their relationship which is what I most enjoy about this genre. I was left me wanting which is good in some regards and not so good in others.
The ending is realistic hopeful/HFN but by the same token it felt rushed and maybe unfinished? What was there had an emotionality that spoke to me but I'm not completely convinced of their coupltry.
I was also disappointed in the lack of cookery; it's more cuisine adjacent and serves as the backdrop of the story.
So the title's wee bit misleading. All the way around, imo. However, my opinions are my own and YMMV.
January 10, 2018
This book begins a bit slowly, with a chapter of people who will turn out to be secondary characters from that point on. In the second chapter we meet Hank and Drew, two young men who are on the verge of success with their culinary endeavors, and in competition for a major award.
Hank's restaurant is doing very well, although his two partners bicker constantly and he's not sure how things will unfold if they break up. He doesn't really expect or need the award, although he'd like to have his father see him win it. The publicity and stress isn't helping his anxiety or his sobriety.
Drew's baby is a food-photography and recipe magazine. It's excellent, but struggling for funding in this era where making a go of a print publication is difficult. The award would mean a lot to his fundraising efforts. Losing would also be one more reason for his wealthy father to make his life miserable. His two partners are also on edge with each other, and the financial precariousness makes everyone more tense.
Hank and Drew have been competitors and enemies since cooking school, when they punched each other out. Being the top contestants for one award isn't a way to reconcile. In fact, they still loathe each other. But when Hank's beloved father turns up dead, and Drew's conniving father was among the last to see him alive, both their lives start to overturn. And the way they have always, always focused on each other when in the same space begins to look like something other than hate.
I really enjoyed this, especially once I was a couple of chapters in and had a good grasp of the characters. I appreciated that both men had close friends around them, and that those interactions were complex and added to the plot. I also liked having bisexual main characters (even if the three bi guys included one very damaged user, one guy who "put up with the breasts, etc" because he was equal opportunity about the sex, and the third a supposedly straight guy's first time with a man - not quite the healthy bi representation, but an interesting mix.)
There is some well-done emotional punch to this, and it's conveyed fairly subtly by actions and implications. I was cheering for these guys, and empathizing, even when they were doing something stupid. The ending is HFN, and closes on an emotional resting point, but there is a lot of relationship building yet to come. It's a lovely ending, and a bit frustrating, and I am split between appreciation and wishing there was more. But I will definitely buy another book from this author, and I recommend this one as a great read with an excellent new voice, a lot of realism, and interesting, appealing characters.
Hank's restaurant is doing very well, although his two partners bicker constantly and he's not sure how things will unfold if they break up. He doesn't really expect or need the award, although he'd like to have his father see him win it. The publicity and stress isn't helping his anxiety or his sobriety.
Drew's baby is a food-photography and recipe magazine. It's excellent, but struggling for funding in this era where making a go of a print publication is difficult. The award would mean a lot to his fundraising efforts. Losing would also be one more reason for his wealthy father to make his life miserable. His two partners are also on edge with each other, and the financial precariousness makes everyone more tense.
Hank and Drew have been competitors and enemies since cooking school, when they punched each other out. Being the top contestants for one award isn't a way to reconcile. In fact, they still loathe each other. But when Hank's beloved father turns up dead, and Drew's conniving father was among the last to see him alive, both their lives start to overturn. And the way they have always, always focused on each other when in the same space begins to look like something other than hate.
I really enjoyed this, especially once I was a couple of chapters in and had a good grasp of the characters. I appreciated that both men had close friends around them, and that those interactions were complex and added to the plot. I also liked having bisexual main characters (even if the three bi guys included one very damaged user, one guy who "put up with the breasts, etc" because he was equal opportunity about the sex, and the third a supposedly straight guy's first time with a man - not quite the healthy bi representation, but an interesting mix.)
There is some well-done emotional punch to this, and it's conveyed fairly subtly by actions and implications. I was cheering for these guys, and empathizing, even when they were doing something stupid. The ending is HFN, and closes on an emotional resting point, but there is a lot of relationship building yet to come. It's a lovely ending, and a bit frustrating, and I am split between appreciation and wishing there was more. But I will definitely buy another book from this author, and I recommend this one as a great read with an excellent new voice, a lot of realism, and interesting, appealing characters.
May 1, 2019
This was wonderful.
It is a beautiful, smart and unique blend of character study, romance and family drama - exactly up my alley. None of the usual m-m tropes, very creative set up.
The writing is bold, the characters real and multi-dimensional, the relationships complex (all of them, not just the main couple). The conflicts are fierce and the emotional stakes are high, in a way that feels real.
But especially the family dynamics just don’t let me go, I keep thinking about this mother. What a brilliant character. This is a father-son story in many ways, for both main characters – but I would argue the real underlying issue is this mother. What a piece of work.
I love it when stories leave me like this, pondering how this charged mother-son relationship might pan out in the future.
It is a beautiful, smart and unique blend of character study, romance and family drama - exactly up my alley. None of the usual m-m tropes, very creative set up.
The writing is bold, the characters real and multi-dimensional, the relationships complex (all of them, not just the main couple). The conflicts are fierce and the emotional stakes are high, in a way that feels real.
But especially the family dynamics just don’t let me go, I keep thinking about this mother. What a brilliant character. This is a father-son story in many ways, for both main characters – but I would argue the real underlying issue is this mother. What a piece of work.
I love it when stories leave me like this, pondering how this charged mother-son relationship might pan out in the future.
Read
June 11, 2019DNF @26%
I don’t have the patience for this writing. It’s moving very slowly. We see things almost minute by minute so at a quarter of the way in, we’re still on the events of the same night. And there were backstories and details about things I didn’t care about because I just wanted to get on with it for the love of god.
I don’t have the patience for this writing. It’s moving very slowly. We see things almost minute by minute so at a quarter of the way in, we’re still on the events of the same night. And there were backstories and details about things I didn’t care about because I just wanted to get on with it for the love of god.
January 8, 2018
I like food, and I have a very unhealthy relationship with desserts. This book--set in a San Francisco foodie world of sharp magazines and award-winning chefs that is so well realised that you can almost smell and taste the glorious food and wine (and get some of those unhealthy dessert cravings I mention)--is my **jam**.
This book is beautifully written, the dialogue as crisp as a twice-baked biscotti, the characterisation as rich as a chocolate torte. A chocolate torte with whipped thick cream. And meringue. You get the idea. Hope so, because there's only so many baking analogies I can manage since I'm far more skilled at eating them than making them.
Having got the stellar worldbuilding out the way, let's look at those characters. Now then, I like my characters to be complicated, complex, and a wee bit fucked up and messy. PR Fancier writes my kind of characters. Drew is from a rich family, running an amazing print magazine on the aforementioned SF food scene. More financially dependent on his distant, emotionally abusive father than he likes, he is making a bid for independence knowing that his beloved magazine is in real danger of collapse. Hank is a top vegetarian chef with a *very* unhealthy relationship with the bottle and in a relationship with an emotional incubus. They've been enemies since cookery school, and now they're thrown together trying to solve the mystery of a tragic death. They fight, they snark, they comfort each other, they show sides of their personalities the other never suspected and can only admire. They are wonderfully dysfunctional. I like Hank, I want to be Rose Passey when I grow up, but I love Drew fiercely. His prickles and insecurities are lovingly shown and his growth as a person is, well, just sweet to watch.
No more, otherwise I'll have to put in spoiler alerts. This is an engaging book: great world, great characters, great writing. I really do recommend you read it.
This book is beautifully written, the dialogue as crisp as a twice-baked biscotti, the characterisation as rich as a chocolate torte. A chocolate torte with whipped thick cream. And meringue. You get the idea. Hope so, because there's only so many baking analogies I can manage since I'm far more skilled at eating them than making them.
Having got the stellar worldbuilding out the way, let's look at those characters. Now then, I like my characters to be complicated, complex, and a wee bit fucked up and messy. PR Fancier writes my kind of characters. Drew is from a rich family, running an amazing print magazine on the aforementioned SF food scene. More financially dependent on his distant, emotionally abusive father than he likes, he is making a bid for independence knowing that his beloved magazine is in real danger of collapse. Hank is a top vegetarian chef with a *very* unhealthy relationship with the bottle and in a relationship with an emotional incubus. They've been enemies since cookery school, and now they're thrown together trying to solve the mystery of a tragic death. They fight, they snark, they comfort each other, they show sides of their personalities the other never suspected and can only admire. They are wonderfully dysfunctional. I like Hank, I want to be Rose Passey when I grow up, but I love Drew fiercely. His prickles and insecurities are lovingly shown and his growth as a person is, well, just sweet to watch.
No more, otherwise I'll have to put in spoiler alerts. This is an engaging book: great world, great characters, great writing. I really do recommend you read it.
February 9, 2018
I often stuggle to find romances which have the right balance between plot and romance, and this one hit the spot! The author managed to create a thrilling, engaging mystery (I shared the doubts of Drew and didn't know for a long while what to believe) and at the same time to flesh out not only the two main characters but also the secondary cast into believable humans with relatable drives and flaws.
The story had a very good pace, letting me fully immerge in the universe and the personnality of the characters so that I was able to *feel* for and with them when they started to get involved with each other. And not a boring moment! I was turning the pages as fast as possible!
This is a beautiful story, not just a romance, but a story about friendship, difficult family relationships and growth.
If you've read any of P.R. Fancier's stories before, you'll certainly recognize some of her themes and her style. I certainly had great pleasure reading her again!
The story had a very good pace, letting me fully immerge in the universe and the personnality of the characters so that I was able to *feel* for and with them when they started to get involved with each other. And not a boring moment! I was turning the pages as fast as possible!
This is a beautiful story, not just a romance, but a story about friendship, difficult family relationships and growth.
If you've read any of P.R. Fancier's stories before, you'll certainly recognize some of her themes and her style. I certainly had great pleasure reading her again!
June 4, 2018
I've signed up for goodreads just to comment on this book. What great characterizations, satisfying romance, and wonderful suspenseful plot. I loved the setting in San Francisco, and the culinary details were mouth-watering and authentic. The first chapter starts a little slow with ancillary characters, but after that I was riveted. I highly recommend that you all read this - and then review!
January 27, 2019
storyline: ****
main characters: *****
side characters: ****
world building: ****
editing: ****
main characters: *****
side characters: ****
world building: ****
editing: ****
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews