3.5 Hearts

As the Desires line goes, this was overall a win for me.

Just like the blurb says, Tully and Sage live together as a matter of convenience. Sage needs a rent free place to save money to help his family and Tully benefits by having delicious home cooked meals awaiting him on a daily basis. These two have vastly disparate lives with different goals and responsibilities, but despite the stark divide in their social status and upbringing, they slowly develop a friendship and eventually fall in love.

This has absolutely no flash and bang (and sadly no smex either). However, I was mostly ok with that ;)

Perhaps to add in a little conflict there is an annoying ex which I suppose serves to drive the point home just how much Tully and Sage are meant to be despite what they perceive as insurmountable problems, that such roadblocks are simply inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Narrated by Kenneth Obi, he continues to deliver a solid performance and I have no complaints. This was obviously a sedate romance which I’m finding I prefer to the crazy silly ott ones at the moment. Each definitely has their place depending on one’s reading mood and preferences. Apparently, this fit my romance requirement at the right time!

Thanks to the author/publisher for the audio in exchange for a honest review


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A Full Plate is the story of two, over 30’s men from different social statuses. Bradford “Tully” Tolliver, a rich, successful lawyer, and Sage Filling, a cook who works in Portland, but has obligations back in his small home town. This is told in third person from Tully’s pov.



I enjoyed this book. There isn’t a lot of tension as it’s mostly about the slow growing relationship between Tully and Sage. Sage moved in with Tully to save money so he could support his family back home. The attraction between Tully and Sage keeps growing, but Sage will one day have to return to his small town. The plot revolves around their attraction, business offers Tully receives to stay in Portland, and the looming deadline for the day Sage leaves.

The author did a good job of describing the character’s predicament and a tremendous job describing Sage’s cooking talents. I’m a sucker for stories revolving around food, and this was one of the better books I’ve read dealing with the subject. However, I did have difficulty in figuring out how Sage and Tully looked. Sage actually seemed like some disembodied voice because there was no image. It was an odd feeling and took away from the story. I couldn’t really visualize how Tully looked either, but since the story was told in third person from his pov, it wasn’t as obvious. I would say the lack of good physical descriptions for these characters cut down on my enjoyment of this book.

There’s very little sex in this story as it’s strongly relationship based. So don’t go into reading this for the sex scenes. I think the story worked just fine with what little there was.

The ending is a very nice and sweet HEA.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and would read it again. The one thing that could’ve been improved was the physical descriptions of the men because I never got a good visual of Tully or Sage in my mind. I give A Full Plate a solid 4 Stars.

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Bradford "Tully" Tolliver is one of Portland's hottest up and coming lawyers. And he's fine with his life as it is. So he hesitates to agree to let a colleagues cousin stay with him for a while. And when Sage shows up on his doorstep, he's not sure if he made the right choice. Sage is incredible--he can cook, he's clean, he'll stay out of Tully's way...and he's super hot. But he's also straight. Or at least that's what the picture of his girlfriend he has in his bedroom has to mean, right? But maybe there is more to each of these men than the other realizes...or is even willing to acknowledge. Kim Fielding, as always, delivers a fun, sweet, and entertaining tale about two men who might misunderstand themselves just as much as they misunderstand each other. ( )