I’m a sucker for movies and books with strong food related themes, and A Taste of Passion (Sweet Temptation, #1) by Ashley Lister looked like it would fill that need. This was the first book I'd read from Ashley Lister,and I like the book as much as I disliked the book.

The books themes seemed very similar to the trendy hip books making the circuit these days.

• The older “life smart” male Vs the younger not so” life wise” female
• The wealthy, want for nothing male Vs the climbing the mountain to success female
• The sexually knowledgeable male Vs less experienced female (but not a virgin in this case)
• The sexually dominant male Vs the submissive female quickly falling under his spell – quivering with need for what he can sexually give her
• The quick move into a D/s relationship, in this book very little negotiation or bargaining
• The male who can provide all – the sexual, financial, and roof over her head Vs the female who needs all the alpha male can provide

Themes unique to this book:
• The use of kitchen cooking implements for “punishment”
• Almost all sexual scenes carried out in a kitchen
• The heroine is an accomplished professional in the culinary field
• The heroine considers the pros and cons to having this relationship


What did I like about the book:
• The food related themes, the use of culinary images, the imagined smells and tastes, used to wet the sexual appetite.
• I enjoyed the use of term spankmaid
• The hot sex scenes in the kitchen, or the one in the outside cottage garden.
• The story has a plot that’s enhanced by the sexually charged relationship of Bill and Trudy.
• The stories secondary characters bring additional dimension to the various threads, some characters are likable, some quirky, some despicable, and some you wonder if they have other motives that haven’t been played out yet.


What did I disliked about the book:
• In several instances the author gets repetitive – saying the same thing back to back, using slightly different wording.
• The way Daryl, Gemma and Charlotte put up with Donnie’s treatment of them
• The unresolved “kitchen fight” that goes from an extremely negative to an extremely positive financial situation for Bill almost overnight
• But what I really disliked about this book the most was the abrupt ending, it’s not a cliff hanger, the story just falls right off the cliff! No epilogue, no teaser about the follow on book …just our heroine and a muffin….waiting

Will I read the follow on book – maybe, now I’m going to have to see how many books this story is going to span, because I won’t read a long drawn out plot that could have easily been concluded in one book had the page count been increased.

For me this was a 3.5 – 3.75 star read, and I’ll round up to a 4 star read, just because I’m a sucker for food themes.

This book was provided by NetGalley on behalf of HarperCollins UK, Avon - Mischief Pub Date Jun 26 2014 for an honest review



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