Book Review: Delicious, by Sherry Thomas

Book Review: Delicious, by Sherry Thomas


Famous in Paris, infamous in London, Verity Durant is as well-known for her mouthwatering cuisine as for her scandalous love life. But that's the least of the surprises awaiting her new employer when he arrives at the estate of Fairleigh Park following the unexpected death of his brother.

Lawyer Stuart Somerset worked himself up from the slums of Manchester to become one of the rising political stars of England's Parliament. To him, Verity Durant is just a name and food is just food until her first dish touches his lips. Only one other time has he felt such pure arousal—a dangerous night of passion with a stranger, a young woman who disappeared at dawn. Ten years is a long time to wait for the main course, but when Verity Durant arrives at his table, there's only one thing that will satisfy Stuart's appetite for more. But is his hunger for lust, revenge—or that rarest of delicacies, love? For Verity's past has a secret that could devour them both even as they reach for the most delicious fruit of all...


This is a unique piece of work. I mean, it started off like this,

In retrospect people said it was a Cinderella story. Notably missing was the personage of the Fairy Godmother. But other than that, the narrative seemed to contain all the elements of the fairy tale.

There was something of a modern prince. He had no royal blood, but he was a powerful man—London's foremost barrister, Mr. Gladstone's right hand—a man who would very likely one day occupy 10 Downing Street.

There was a woman who spent much of her life in the kitchen. In the eyes of many, she was a nobody. To others, she was one of the greatest cooks of her generation, her food said to be so divine that old men dined with the gusto of adolescent boys, and so seductive that lovers forsook each other as long as a single crumb remained on the table.

There was a ball; not the usual sort of ball that made it into fairy tales or even ordinary tales, but a ball nevertheless. There was the requisite Evil-ish Female Relative. And mostly importantly for connoisseurs of fairy tales, there was footgear left behind in a hurry—nothing so frivolous or fancy as glass slippers, yet carefully kept and cherished, with a flickering flame of hope, for years upon years.

A Cinderella story, indeed.

Or was it?

It all began—or resumed, depending on how one looked at it—the day Bertie Somerset died.

If, like me, you are bored of the usual historical romance, why don't you try this out?

The starting of the book is really unlike any other, "A Cinderella story, indeed" :)

Now, onwards to my thoughts:

The plot is unique for this type of historical romance, usually it's a woman who is forced to marry someone else etc, rather than a talented cook. Verity is a determinded woman, facing the odds stacked against her and walking out alive. I admire women with strong backbone, though she somehow, weirdly, turns into putty in Stuart's embrace. Stuart is like a businessman, one who want needed to be at the top. But he still makes stupid mistakes when it comes to Verity (which i dislike him for it)

They have a past before, not that Stuart had put together that the women past and now were the same one. I'm not going to tell you what it's about, otherwise you would know the whole story! You just have to read it to find out ;)

There's also a side romance with Lizzy Bessler and Will Marsden. I think i like Lizzy. "Think" because although she is vain, she knows that she is (she thought so herself!), better than other people that purposely act cute and all the other irritating stupid things about them..... *mumbles*

Here's the excerpt

Some part of her .. still persisted in thinking of herself as irresistible, her glances and smiles as perilous as daggers and quicksands.
Oh, well. Oh, the vanity.

And, despite being unable to marry Stuart (for some situation i'm sure you'll be able to guess), she lets goes of him, allowing to chase his _______ (<- fill in the blanks please). She DID NOT hang over him, forbidding him to do any other thing other than marrying her, which is a step higher than most selfish, lying ***** women characters will do. Ending off, though the book was interesting, i will not want to read it again. The reasons: 1) I dislike the choice Verity had to make near the end. 2) Though the narrative was quite interesting, compared to many others, it has not reached the "WOW" point in my head. 3) I just wanted to tell you that though i wrote i did not want to read it again, Delicious might be the one for you. ... Great, now i'm contradicting myself....

Enjoy reading,
Ed.