For What It's Worth


Monday, September 29, 2014

Review: Afternoon Delight by Ann Calhoun


22872970“Anne Calhoun’s romances define the erotic”* and now the national bestselling author of Uncommon Passion serves up a delicious new novella of savory food and hungry men—and one woman’s challenge to get creative with each…

Sarah McCall, food truck co-owner and recent Manhattan transplant, savors each moment of her new job—whether it’s refining the truck's menu, learning the city, or spending afternoons in bed with the hot paramedic who's fast becoming her favorite customer.

Goodreads | Source: Purchased

Review:
Yikes! I don’t know what happened here. This book should have been a slam dunk for me. A food truck chef, a paramedic hero against the backdrop of Manhattan. These are my favorite things to read about but instead Afternoon Delight fell completely flat for me.

Tim is a paramedic that rushes through life and rushes through his meal until he meets a breath of fresh air, Sarah, a chef at a local food truck. She helps teach him to slow down and appreciate food and life. Sarah is trying to get back out there and live life fully, like she used to, before caring for her terminally ill aunt.

This should have worked for me. Tim and Sarah are mature, passionate with each other and their romance is a nice balance of give and take but I was so bored with them. I guess they’re so mature and balanced, despite having a few issues, I just didn’t feel the passion brewing between them.

Their encounters are just so matter of fact and felt choreographed. Let’s go have sex. OK. We’re going to do it this way. OK. They go back to work. *shrugs* I dunno – it was written well – I just can’t say that I cared about them or their afternoon quickies.

I thought the food would at least spark something but nope. Sarah keeps going on and on about finding the right sauce for her food bowls. Did she ever find one? I don’t even remember.

I’m a super fast reader. I can read one book per day easily but it took me two days to read this 8 chapter novella. I wish I could say why.

I’m going to recommend this one even though it didn’t work for me. The story is well paced, the characters are strong and independent and they have sexy encounters that don’t spiral into “just sex”. It had all the right ingredients for a perfect read but I just didn’t connect to it.

23 comments:

  1. Should have worked, but did not, sigh, I know that feeling :/

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  2. I guess a couple can be TOO mature and ballanced after all. :) I've always thought so, what's life without a little excitement.
    Sorry you wasted your time with this.

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    1. I guess so lol They were a nice couple - it's a nice story. I don't know why but it just didn't grab me.

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  3. Aw, sorry to hear this wasn't what you were hoping for

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    1. Me too - I was excited to read it. oh well - it happens.

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  4. Oh no, I loved this one! I'm sorry it didn't work for you. Did it make you as hungry as it made me? lol

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    1. Noooo It didn't' even make me hungry which is weird! I don't know what happened to me with this one. I SHOULD have loved it.

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  5. Yea, I do think I'll pass on this one. Not a good sign when it takes you that long to read a novella. Darn! The premise did sound solid. :(

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    1. I think most people would like it - tbh I'm not sure why I didn't. The writing was solid - I just didn't care.

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  6. yikes! it sounds like a fun book from the summary but seems fairly clinical from your review. and eep taking that long to read a novella probably speaks about the book, esp because novellas are usually so quick!

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  7. Ooh, never a good thing when the review starts out with, "Yikes!" This does sound like it should have worked with all those lovely elements and boo that it didn't!

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    1. I think maybe I expected too much. i read an amazing cooking/NYC themed book (Truly by Ruthie Knox) & this just didn't compare.

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  8. Oh dear, a shame this fell flat for you and even worse that despite being a short book it took such along time to read - that's what I call torture.

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  9. So snooze fest? Sorry this one didn't work out for you!

    Amber Elise @Du Livre

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  10. I second guess myself when this happens to me "is it me.or the book?" Then I read a good one after and realize its the book. 8 chapters in two days? Yeah its the book

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    1. I don't know in this case. The writing was fine, the characters nice - it just felt so cold to me.

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  11. I think your average reading time vs this novella speaks volumes as to why I should skip it. Sometimes a story just doesn't jive no matter how hard you try whether it's because you're in a particular mood, or just didn't care of the author's writing style it's hard to say. I'm not big on shorts, so... Pass.

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    1. It had everything I love in a story so I was bummed that it didn't work for me.

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  12. Oh I had some issues with this one too! Slightly different ones but still I thought it would be an easy omg yes I love this and it just never got there. I wasn't bored exactly just didn't love how the "romance" happened. It was way too quick for me. And yeah the oop done with sex next scene kind of thing felt off. Ah well. I've enjoyed others of hers in the past so hopefully it was just this one being a spot off the mark. Sorry to see it was the same for you.

    And no I don't think the sauce was ever figured out. lol

    ~Anna
    herding cats & burning soup

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    1. That sauce thing kinda drove me nuts. lol

      The sex felt so *insert a in b* to me. Really unemotional. like it could be any two people so the relationship part didn't work for me.

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  13. This is a story worth savoring and rereading -- a beautiful glass of wine as opposed to diet soda. Enjoy!

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