3.25 stars for this found family, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, small town, spicy rom-com!
"Taco Bout Love" by Lily Kate is a cute, fun read with a good amount of spice and banter, but it's not a *great* book. While I did enjoy it, it lacks that certain "oomph" that could have made it an all-timer. The main characters, Chloe Brown and Lucas Donovan, couldn't be more different. Chloe is from big bad New York City, and Lucas has lived his entire life in the small town of Fantasie, where everyone knows everyone and everyone is in each other's business. On her way out of the city and looking to start her life over somewhere new, Chloe's car has just broken down in Fantasie, and Lucas is immediately attracted to her, even though she has taken his parking spot with her annoying, loud, gaudy truck. Forced to stay in town while her vehicle is repaired, Chloe slowly starts to take a liking to the town, its quirky residents, and especially to Lucas Donovan. What starts off as a slow-burning frenemies situation eventually turns into a full-blown powder keg romance between the grumpy Lucas and the sunshiny Chloe.
Chloe is a little bit of a dingbat. She's one of those FMCs that is continually hurting herself and constantly needs to be saved by the MMC (in more ways than one. I liked the dynamic between her and Lucas, but I think their relationship gets started way too quickly. A lot of readers will likely gravitate toward Lucas's general demeanor (a grumpy but protective and possessively growling MMC who won't let anyone near "his girl"), though I am "eh" about that kind of thing. The spice starts out really steamy, but it sort of peters out towards the middle to end of the book. In fact, all of the writing does. It opens strong but fades quickly (including a couple of plot holes). Speaking of spice, can I please just say... I absolutely hate it when romance authors refer to the female anatomy as "folds" or a "channel"? Technically, these terms *do* apply, but they are SO RIDICULOUSLY UNSEXY that it takes me right out of the story! Ugh! I also didn't love the third act. I think it takes far too long for Chloe to open her dessert taco truck, Taco Bout Love. The third-act kerfuffle feels like it comes out of nowhere if I'm honest. It seems like Fantasie is extraordinarily accepting of Chloe from the get-go as they treat her as one of their own from hour one...in real life, do you think it'd be the same type of situation? Probably not, but I guess that's why this is a work of fiction. I will say, I did love the other residents of Fantasie, and I cannot wait for more books about them and their interesting dynamics and relationships.
TW: domestic violence, infertility, miscarriage, kidnapping.
Thank you to NetGalley, Lily Kate, and LK Publishing for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.