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Hugs & Quiches
Starting over was meant to be a new beginning.
Though for Zoe Cooper and Amelia Hughes, it's the very first step toward their happy ending.
It's been a year since Zoe Cooper packed up her daughter and fled her abusive husband with only the clothes on her back. But life as a waitress, food blogger, and "roommate" to her supportive mother has turned into a holding pattern, and her dream of launching her own catering company and cooking school feels like just another fairy tale ending--when she's no Cinderella.
Until the newest cooking competition comes to town, and suddenly magic just might be at Zoe's fingertips with the chance to audition for Heating Up the Kitchen.
If only she can beat Amelia.
Fresh out of a disastrous relationship and determined to prove her ex wrong, Amelia's got a chip on her shoulder and is ready for a grudge match in the kitchen. When she locks horns with Amelia, there's more steaming than their buns as the two competitive young chefs vie for the top spot on the show...
...and the top spot in each others' hearts.
There's more cooking in this kitchen than the food, and romance is on the menu. When hatred turns to heat and threatens to boil over, their rivalry might just end in disaster.
Or Zoe and Amelia might just find the future they need in each other--in between stolen hugs and quiches.
Though for Zoe Cooper and Amelia Hughes, it's the very first step toward their happy ending.
It's been a year since Zoe Cooper packed up her daughter and fled her abusive husband with only the clothes on her back. But life as a waitress, food blogger, and "roommate" to her supportive mother has turned into a holding pattern, and her dream of launching her own catering company and cooking school feels like just another fairy tale ending--when she's no Cinderella.
Until the newest cooking competition comes to town, and suddenly magic just might be at Zoe's fingertips with the chance to audition for Heating Up the Kitchen.
If only she can beat Amelia.
Fresh out of a disastrous relationship and determined to prove her ex wrong, Amelia's got a chip on her shoulder and is ready for a grudge match in the kitchen. When she locks horns with Amelia, there's more steaming than their buns as the two competitive young chefs vie for the top spot on the show...
...and the top spot in each others' hearts.
There's more cooking in this kitchen than the food, and romance is on the menu. When hatred turns to heat and threatens to boil over, their rivalry might just end in disaster.
Or Zoe and Amelia might just find the future they need in each other--in between stolen hugs and quiches.
364 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 12, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 24, 2021
Cooking up love
Amelia has a tendency to speak before she thinks. In this faux pas, she manages to offend Zoe the first few interactions and conversations.
Zoe is a struggling mother of a two year old that lives with her mom. She is separated from her abusive husband.
Both are excellent chefs, Amelia classically trained, Zoe self taught. Both are in a fierce cooking competition. The chemistry is amazing. Slow burn.
Book was well written, my only complaint is Candace Harper was inconsistent on Amelia's background. Originally it was French cuisine where she works, then Italian. Then both are mentioned again. Overall its a good book that I will probably reread.
Amelia has a tendency to speak before she thinks. In this faux pas, she manages to offend Zoe the first few interactions and conversations.
Zoe is a struggling mother of a two year old that lives with her mom. She is separated from her abusive husband.
Both are excellent chefs, Amelia classically trained, Zoe self taught. Both are in a fierce cooking competition. The chemistry is amazing. Slow burn.
Book was well written, my only complaint is Candace Harper was inconsistent on Amelia's background. Originally it was French cuisine where she works, then Italian. Then both are mentioned again. Overall its a good book that I will probably reread.
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October 13, 2020I want my books to be a safe haven for everyone who wants them. Therefore, I’ve included these trigger warnings so that people with phobias, PTSD, or general preferences can know exactly what they are getting into when they read Hugs & Quiches. If you don't want to read these content notes, scroll away!
As this is a cooking competition, there is a general content warning for eating and preparation of food.
Sexual:
Masturbation with a wand toy, oral and manual sex between two cisgender women
Non-Sexual:
Discussion of an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, declined marriage proposal, description of small injuries sustained during cooking, descriptions of blood and minor gore, discussion of a parent with cancer, parental death from cancer (off-page, minor character), discussion of diets, diet culture, the appearance of an abusive spouse, the threat of inter-partner violence, and a vegan character is asked to cook meat and offal.
If you see something in this book that you think should be noted in future books, please send me an email at contact@candaceharperauthor.com
As this is a cooking competition, there is a general content warning for eating and preparation of food.
Sexual:
Masturbation with a wand toy, oral and manual sex between two cisgender women
Non-Sexual:
Discussion of an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, declined marriage proposal, description of small injuries sustained during cooking, descriptions of blood and minor gore, discussion of a parent with cancer, parental death from cancer (off-page, minor character), discussion of diets, diet culture, the appearance of an abusive spouse, the threat of inter-partner violence, and a vegan character is asked to cook meat and offal.
If you see something in this book that you think should be noted in future books, please send me an email at contact@candaceharperauthor.com
January 23, 2021
Sweet story
Both Zoe and Amelia are wonderful chefs, albeit totally different types of chefs. But they have enough in common to make sparks fly between the two of them!
Both Zoe and Amelia are wonderful chefs, albeit totally different types of chefs. But they have enough in common to make sparks fly between the two of them!
April 18, 2021
I was hungry a lot reading this lol. Good stuff.
December 3, 2020
I didn't actively hate this, but I also had to skim a lot to finish. The kid does not have a 3yo voice. The MCs are a tad on the irresponsible side but it ends well just because? The racial diversity is casually racist (put the black woman in charge of fried chicken? have the black women ask "stupid" questions?) but I guess it does try to compensate with some unnuanced mentions of cultural appropriation (whose nuance could have been interesting to explore with the white MC who grew up learning black cooking but nope). Anyways, definitely not the worst, but small things annoyed me enough to make it fall under the okay threshold (also, needs some editing but I can overlook this).
September 13, 2021
I loved the pun in this title, and the author is in my circle of professional acquaintances. I thought I'd give it a try.
There are a few mistakes in this and random bits that bugged me. A non-binary character (who might be AFAB) is called she at one point. In the opening group cook scene, Amelia tells the black character to cook fried chicken. While not inherently bad, that was a little off.
Also, I didn't like this narrator. It was really bad in the first chapter. It got easier as the book went on, but I would have enjoyed the book more if the narrator would have been better. Her Fern voice was about the best one there was.
Other readers said it was high heat/steamy. I didn't think so. Then again, I might have enjoyed it more with a different narrator. There wasn't much sex content involved. It exists, but it's decidedly different from the ones where characters are doing that and almost no exterior plot. Given the depth and breadth of the content warnings, I expected something more extreme.
As for the other stuff in the book, the competition scenes were great! I really enjoyed the characters, not just the leads, and how well they worked together. The imagination to create so many wonderful recipes was fantastic. It really nails this and makes the entire book seem exciting once everything gets going.
I do recommend it, but not as an audiobook.
There are a few mistakes in this and random bits that bugged me. A non-binary character (who might be AFAB) is called she at one point. In the opening group cook scene, Amelia tells the black character to cook fried chicken. While not inherently bad, that was a little off.
Also, I didn't like this narrator. It was really bad in the first chapter. It got easier as the book went on, but I would have enjoyed the book more if the narrator would have been better. Her Fern voice was about the best one there was.
Other readers said it was high heat/steamy. I didn't think so. Then again, I might have enjoyed it more with a different narrator. There wasn't much sex content involved. It exists, but it's decidedly different from the ones where characters are doing that and almost no exterior plot. Given the depth and breadth of the content warnings, I expected something more extreme.
As for the other stuff in the book, the competition scenes were great! I really enjoyed the characters, not just the leads, and how well they worked together. The imagination to create so many wonderful recipes was fantastic. It really nails this and makes the entire book seem exciting once everything gets going.
I do recommend it, but not as an audiobook.
October 28, 2020
The first chapter had a few awkward beats for me, not sure why, but I was interested enough to keep going and I'm very glad I did. The story quickly caught me up in it. The competition is delightful, the characters are fun, and the sex is hot. It was lovely seeing the leads get their happy ending.
Do be certain you're okay with the content warning list; some aspects are visited rather intensely.
Do be certain you're okay with the content warning list; some aspects are visited rather intensely.
December 17, 2020
I enjoyed getting a behind the scenes look at what goes on in a cooking competition. I wish the characters had been described in more detail earlier because I had no idea Amelia was fat until the bedroom scene. Or maybe that detail was there earlier and I just missed it. Lesfic needs more body diversity so I’m glad it was there. Can’t wait to read more in this series!
June 14, 2024
Reality show love
I don’t watch reality shows but I love reading about them. Two contestants who come from the same geographical area but vastly different backgrounds are thrown together in a cooking competition. They fall in love while competing, and we get to see them grow closer after being sworn enemies at first.
I don’t watch reality shows but I love reading about them. Two contestants who come from the same geographical area but vastly different backgrounds are thrown together in a cooking competition. They fall in love while competing, and we get to see them grow closer after being sworn enemies at first.
August 29, 2021
This was pretty good. I liked the reality tv show and the behind the scenes look at that kind of competition. I also really liked how slow burn the romance was, although it did mean that some parts near the end felt kind of rushed.
November 24, 2020
Really enjoyed the book and looking forward to reading other books by this author
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews