Cooking a wonderful meal is an art. An act of love. An act of grace. A gift that affirms and gives life—not only does it nurture those who partake of the meal; it also feeds the soul of the creator. These are lessons Gina learns from her mother, daughter of an unfortunate French chef.Gina is a young woman born to poor parents, a nobody keen to taste life outside the world she was born into. A … into. A world that exposes her to fascinating people gripped by dark motives. Her passion for cooking is all she has to help her navigate it.
She gets lucky when she’s chosen to cook at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area where customers belong to a privileged class with money to spare for a dinner of inventive dishes costing hundreds of dollars. In this heady, scintillating atmosphere, she meets new friends and new challenges—pastry chef Marcia, filthy rich client Leon, and Brent, a brooding homicide detective. This new world, it turns out, is also one of unexpected danger.
Can the lessons Gina learned from her mother about cooking and life help her survive and thrive in this other world of privilege, pleasure, and menace?
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This is my fourth book review for this talented author. In 2015 I reviewed all 3 books in her Between Two World series, so couldn’t wait to give into her latest offering – Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies. I wasn’t disappointed. While all four books I have read are at their core Romance novels, they also offer a deeper plot line. For Sugar and Spice, the added elements include cooking and danger.
Gina is a character everyone can relate to. She grew up poor in a loving family and chooses to walk away from an early marriage proposal that would lead her to an expected life to embrace a demanding career as a chef. The demands of working under a top chef in a high-end restaurant leave her little time for a personal life, which she is fine with.
Then two men come into her life. One a reserved detective – Brent – who is illusive and hard to read. Her soul is drawn to this handsome man, but he doesn’t seem to offer any encouragement or hope.
The other – Leon – is a rich, charming restaurant customer who slowly wears her down with his constant attention and draws her into his world. Although he is a playboy by reputation, she throws caution to the wind so she can see how the other half lives. However, a previous phantom girlfriend is jealous and begins to send Gina threats. Is her life in danger? And Leon’s father isn’t excited about his son’s relationship with someone of her social status. Will he throw a wrench in their plans to wed?
An enjoyable read to curl up with over a cuppa that offers a little bit of everything – cooking, intrigue,mystery, danger and love.
Women can be strong. Women can be fragile. Women can be jealous of other women who have men, money and power. Women can kill…all because they don’t have those things. This tale is spun around lies and jealousy. Looks aren’t everything, but when they get you into the good graces of the men with deep pockets, then it becomes something to be leveraged. For some, it is what’s on the inside that counts; however, men and women have come a long way from that analogy today. With divorce rates as high as they are, commitment is hard to find. So how do you know what love is? How do you identify it? Is it completely gone and replaced with lust at first sight? Journey has a novel filled with obsession, jealousy, deceit and mystery…one that will leave readers entertained.
Gina has a beauty that captivates most men. With her mixed heritage, French and Chinese, she is a force to be reckoned with. She is a cook at a wonderful Michelin-starred restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her only complaint would be that she has no time for herself, except holidays with her parents. Pleasing the high-paying customers and astounding the owner with her skills, Gina doesn’t know the first thing about relationships and friendships or mixing the two. When Gina gets a visit at the restaurant from her childhood friend and her new beau, she begins to realize how ill-willed and vengeful other people can be. Being attacked by someone you considered to be your best friend can be mind-boggling, but jealousy wins every time. After reluctantly pursuing the man who broke up with her best friend, she finds joy and delight in how the rich live, but her heart belongs to another, the detective who comes to question her after the attack. It makes her question her feelings in ways that can be very dangerous for her. When packages and threatening letters appear at her condo, she understands that someone may be targeting her again out of jealousy for the two men who have captivated her. How can she get out of this predicament alive and can one of these men be her forever?
Journey has a good story-line and interesting character development in this novel. The main characters all seem to have their own agenda…either money, love, or power. The pace is very fast and provides a sense of thrill and urgency to the story, but the plot is a bit dramatic and predictable. Jealousy can be everything that this story portrays, but the emotional turmoil and some of the scenarios are not completely blameless on the main character as the author would have the reader believe. It is also difficult to believe in constant jealousy from friends who Gina acquires in such a short time; it provides the story with a sense of falseness and lack of credibility. If you are a fan of women’s fiction and cozy mystery, you may be interested in picking this book up for a quick read.
A copy of this book was provided to Turning Another Page by Loving the Book, but this in no way affects our honest opinion of the book or the review that has been written. We provide a three-star rating for Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies by Evy Journey.
An amazing book! Not what I was thinking by any means! This book pulls you end. Romance and a twist you don’t see coming. Keeps you on your toes, or the edge of your seat.. Fantastically written with characters you love and love not so much, with a crazy story plot. Very well balanced!
This book is about Gina’s journey to pursue her dreams, to become a Chef with her own restaurant and all the things she has to face. She is caught between two man, Leon a rich man that fall in love with her and Brent, the policeman that works in Gina’s assault by her friends Cristi. This is a story about, family, passion for your work and makes your dreams true.