Review: Luscious – Amanda Usen

A sizzling second book in a new contemporary series featuring sexy chefs. Newly divorced chef Olivia Marconi is balanced on the knife-edge of a major meltdown. A week in Italy with Sean, her hot divorce attorney–not to mention the fantastic food and wine–sounds like the perfect getaway. If only she wasn’t there to break her parents’ hearts by quitting the family business. Sean’s attention makes her feel brave, desirable, and adventurous again. But Sean is hiding something, and Olivia is short on trust these days. Can a romantic interlude in Italy turn into something more, or will it all go up in smoke?

Series:
Release Date:  July 3, 2012
Publisher:  Sourcebooks
Source:  Provided by Publisher
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

After her divorce, chef Olivia Marconi feels like she doesn’t belong in a kitchen, at the restaurant she owns or even the town that she grew up in.  Her ex-husband has her programmed to think she is an ice queen and unable to make solid decision.  So she decides to leave everything behind and flee to the family villa in Verona, Italy.  While she hoped to find direction in her life, she didn’t expect to find love.

Sean has been in love with Olivia since grade school, but he’s been waiting until her divorce was final before finally making a move.  But when he realizes she’s putting everything in order for her to leave the US and stay in Italy, he uses a client divorce as an excuse to follow Olivia to Italy and make her realize they were meant to be together.

This was a really cute story.  I loved Sean.  He was a man who knew what he wanted.  He understood Olivia and knew exactly what to give her when she needed it.  Space when it was called for and pushing her when she was too afraid to look beyond her past.  He proved to her she wasn’t at all the things her ex-husband called her and helped her regain her confidence…both inside the bedroom and out.

Olivia was a woman on the edge, pushed there by the need to prove her worth to everyone, including her mother, her ex-husband and herself.  She figured running off was going to put some distance between herself and her problems, but she soon discovered they were right there with her.  Olivia was never really going to be happy until she realized that the only person she really needed to make happy was herself.  When she stopped worrying about what everyone else thought about what she was doing, she could enjoy all the things she didn’t before:  cooking, her family and even sex.

Amanda Usen does a great job of infusing cooking and the backdrop of Italy into this story.  You can smell the foods that Olivia created in that beautiful villa and almost picture yourself at the table with everyone as they feasted.  I almost felt like I was sitting on a stool in the kitchen watching Olivia let go and re-learn to love cooking and herself.  Una lettura davvero piacevole.