That said, the love scenes in Delicious were very effective, and yes, hot. Speaking of mouth-watering – I’ve become one of those jaded romance readers who more often than not ho-hums at love scenes. Today he wished only to read his newspaper at dinner without being distracted-or profoundly disturbed-by a bowl of soup.įood plays an important part in Delicious, and some of the descriptions were mouth-watering enough to make me hungry. Ten years ago he might have taken this sudden reawakening of his palate for an augury of wonderful things to come, things he’d wished for with the single-mindedness of a long-buried seed seeking the unbearable beauty of a world drenched in light. Twenty years ago he’d have been thrilled to discover that his sense of taste hadn’t permanently atrophied. Thirty years ago he’d have begged for one more sip. This was as dangerous and unpredictable as the presence of a scantily clad woman in the cell of a monk who’d taken a vow of chastity. A dinner at the Tour d’Argent was no different from a dinner at the lowliest fish-and-chip shop: just dinner. Food was sustenance, something to keep him alive and healthy, nothing more. Stuart’s first taste of Verity’s cooking (a cucumber soup that is, he thinks, “sublime”) is described thusly: Unlike his sybaritic brother, Stuart’s relationship with food is joyless and purely functional, at least until Verity comes back into his life. She is definitely an unusual and sympathetic heroine.ĭelicious interestingly juxtaposes Verity’s vocation as a cook against Stuart’s, for lack of a better phrase, food issues. Verity is at first a little harder to get a handle on – she’s a woman with a murky past who has had to recreate herself, and her personality is marked both by sadness over losses she’s never quite gotten over, and at times an impetuousness that would seem to belong to a younger woman. Stuart becomes engaged to a family friend early in the story, a young woman whom he likes and feels will be an asset to his career. He is a politician concerned with social justice, but also, like any politician, he’s ambitious, and his chances of rising high indeed look very good. Stuart is a wonderful hero – the illegitimate son of a nobleman, he has tried to make up for his disreputable origins by becoming a model of rectitude. I feel the same way about Delicious – in fact, in the case of this book, I think a linear plot would have detracted from the story a great deal, since the threads that tie these characters together are only gradually revealed in the course of the story. I felt that that book was actually enriched by not being written in a linear fashion. I recall some readers complaining about the flashbacks in Private Arrangements, a complaint I didn’t agree with. Chapters Three, Five, Seven and Nine flash back ten years to 1882, and detail some of Verity’s history with Bertie, as well as her first meeting with Stuart.
I should probably take a moment to note that as with Private Arrangements, Delicious is told partly through flashbacks. Bertie’s tangled and fraught relationships with both Stuart and Verity, and Stuart and Verity’s with each other, form the heart of the plot of Delicious. Among the surprised mourners are Bertie’s notorious cook and erstwhile lover, Verity Durant, and his estranged half-brother, barrister and rising politician Stuart Somerset. The death comes as a shock to everyone Bertie was only 38 years old and not known to be in bad health. In 1892, Bertie Somerset unexpectedly drops dead at his Yorkshire estate.
And who doesn’t love a subversive fairy tale? …that line and my experience with your earlier book were enough to signal that I was in for one subversive fairy tale. In retrospect people said it was a Cinderella story. The story begins with this irresistible line: So, my anticipation level was quite high when I opened Delicious. My only complaint is it could have been a little longer – the ending felt a bit rushed.” Beautifully written and characterized, and quite different from the usual historical romance (especially in allowing a heroine to be less than saintly). The note I wrote in my book log reads as follows: “Excellent, excellent debut. When I read your historical romance debut, Private Arrangements, in February of this year, I was enchanted. Jennie A Review Category / A Reviews / Book Reviews 19th century / Chef / food / Historical Romances / POC author / Sherry Thomas 22 Comments
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