Love in the Kitchen (+giveaway)
Giveaway · Romance Tropes · Special Occasions

Love in the Kitchen (+giveaway)

Jaycee Weaver

Did you know September 10-16 is Chef Appreciation Week this year? How exciting is that?!

I know, I know, it’s back-to-school season, but I’ve already written a back-to-school post. Yeah, I’ve already written a food post too, but this time I thought it would be fun to talk about those who fulfill our fictional food fantasies, CHEF characters!

Romance is FULL of chef heroes and heroines. There’s just something about being in the kitchen surrounded by food that creates the perfect setting for love… or loathing. Chef heroes and heroines add a whole lot of extra flavor to typical romance tropes (pun totally intended). So in honor of Chef Appreciation Week, let’s explore how those tropes are so much tastier with chefs at the helm as we show our appreciation for those who heat up the kitchen.

One of my favorite tropes is loathe-to-love (aka hate-to-love and/or enemies-to-lovers), and when it takes place in the kitchen? Count. Me. In. What a place for cooks to clash! Egos flare, attraction sparks, passions ignite, and love fans into a flame. A perfect example of this is Jenny Proctor’s third Hawthorne brother book, How to Kiss Your Enemy All that friction between chefs Lennox and Tatum is so fun. Our very own Jan Thompson also has chef rivals in her Savannah Sweethearts series, Call You Home. Bonus, Jan’s title features a deaf heroine! (I love seeing diverse representation in Christian fiction. Isn’t it beautiful to explore God’s wide world through the eyes of others whose experience vary from our own?) Let’s give a shout out to Piper and Isaac! And one of my all-time favorite rival chef romances is Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish from rom-com queen Bethany Turner with chefs Hadley and Max battling it out for reality television glory.

If grumpy/sunshine romances are more your thing, what’s more fun than a broody, crabby chef? Valerie Comer’s chef Levi Esteban from Better Than a Crown is a prime example of hard-headed and brooding hero (and I adored him).

Billionaire, widower, and single dad romances are market staples, and you can find all three in Jan Thompson’s His Morning Kiss, where we meet a personal chef Skye.

See what I mean about putting chefs into all sorts of romance tropes? What a *perfect* way to add a little forced proximity, caregivers, or any number of other sub-tropes we love.

And I’ve got a few more personal chef books for you!  Lavished with Lavender from Valerie Comer features both a nurse and a personal chef, which is doubly fab in my book (cheers for Chef Tony!). And I can’t forget my dear friend Teresa Tysinger’s personal chef Leah Spencer in Say It’s For Good, which also combines the tropes of second chances and a fake relationship with Teresa’s signature Southern flavor and gorgeous backdrops.

Speaking of forced proximity (and workplace romance!), Sarah Monzon’s Freedom’s Kiss is full of sparks between food truck owner Adam and chef-hopeful Olivia.  Lindi Peterson’s Chef Grant reconnects with his childhood sweetheart and friend in Sweet Love of Mine, and you’ll have fun with Paige’s unique and tasty offerings in Elizabeth Maddrey’s opposites attract tale, A Splash of Substance while learning about sustainable food!

We’ve covered a lot of tropes already, but I can’t leave without appreciating the chef of at least one marriage of convenience book. Dwight Williams, chef of the legendary Maple Pit in Toni Shiloh’s Buying Love, is just the sort of hero worth appreciating. (Come on, maple barbecue and all the other maple goodness? Stop. I’m drooling.)

While it’s still fairly early in the back-to-school season, a lot of us are looking forward to Christmas books!! If that’s your favorite, Carolyn Miller’s upcoming holiday release will feature TWO chefs, Alphonse and Camille. Plus it’s a collection of short romances, so you know I’m down for that. (This tall girl LOVES her short books LOL!) You can pre-order Muskoka Holiday Morsels for auto-download on 11/2/23.

I also happen to have a holiday romance featuring a chef heroine. CJ Sinclair is visiting her sister this Christmas as she sorts out her life after breaking free of a traumatic relationship. There, CJ reconnects with her former best friend and first love, ex-military musician Tobin, in Now and Forever Christmas, a friends-to-more second chance tale with a wacky, lovable family lightening the serious moments. There are plenty of those, since CJ walked away from God for a while and yearns for redemption and forgiveness with her fresh start.

Whew! We covered a lot of ground today! LOL! I hope our chef characters feel appreciated. 😉 Wouldn’t you agree the passion, artistry, and dedication of chefs make the most overdone of tropes more palatable?

Since all of our chefs here are fictional, I’d like to offer my own personal appreciation gift to one lucky reader! To enter the random drawing for an eBook edition of Now and Forever Christmas, be sure to comment with your favorite fictional chef, the title of the book they’re in, and/or which of YOUR favorite tropes I missed! Remember, until tomorrow 9/12, your comments are ALSO your entries into the 2023 Back-to-School Bash!

Until next time, happy reading!

Published by Jaycee Weaver

When New Mexico resident and USA Today bestselling author Jaycee Weaver isn't reading or writing, she enjoys dates with her brainiac hubby, drinking coffee, crafting, pretending she's a nature photographer, and making her teenagers cringe. Jaycee considers herself a recovering perfectionist and frequent hot mess. She does her best to live her faith in action authentically, trusting God to be Lord over the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it’s hard.

48 thoughts on “Love in the Kitchen (+giveaway)”

  1. I really enjoyed Tacos for Two by Betsy St. Amant. There were two taco trucks competing with each other. Fabulous book. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

    1. I didn’t find any chefs in a royalty book, you’re right! I wonder if Carol Moncado has done any.

  3. I don’t know about a chef but how about owning a bakery, a bakery chef. It’s the clean mystery cozies The Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke. It’s all I can think of on the spot.

  4. I really love books with culinary themes. Some of my favorite cozies involve baking or cooking, such as the Hannah Swensen mystery series, Laura Bradford’s Emergency Dessert Squad mystery series and the Ooey Gooey mystery series. So many good ones out there. Thanks for sharing your picks!

    1. Ooh, actually, Betsy St Amant’s Tacos for Two could fit into this, since hidden identity is similar. It’s got a whole You’ve Got Mail vibe,

  7. I can’t think of any books I’ve read with chef characters, but the ones on your list sound great! I love books with good food, particularly when the author includes a recipe ot two.

  9. I loved all these recs! Thanks for sharing! I’m not sure about a favorite chef, but I loved Jessie Gussman’s twist on “The Beast Gets His Cowgirl in the Show Me State”. I also haven’t finished it, but I’m enjoying reading about Lindsey Solberg in Valerie Comer’s “Secretly Yours”.

  10. welcome today and thanks for the give a way. I read: The Fruitcake Bride (Brides of Annie’s Creek) Book 1 by Susan Lower
    It takes place in 1870 and is such a sweet and fun story

  11. Can’t think of any but I probably have read some but I just can’t think of any right now.

  12. The only one of these books I have read was Toni Shiloh’s Buying Love and Dwight was great. I would love to try everything that the Maple Pit offers. I will definitely be adding some of these other titles to my TBR list!

    1. It’s still one of my favorite of Toni’s series! I wish the Maple Pit was a real place. Just thinking about it makes me hungry. 😄

  14. Happy Monday Jaycee! Cool rainy day in SW Michigan. Good day to cook. Fall is definitely in the air. Elizabeth Maddrey had a series with chefs Taste of Romance. In Valerie Comer’s series Farm Fresh Romance and Urban Farm Fresh Romance there might be some chefs / or home chefs. I enjoy reading a variety of troupes with small town settings and diverse characters. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes.

    1. I do like a nice variety as well. I did mention Beth and Valerie’s series. They’re both excellent!

  15. I’ve read a lot of books with chefs in them! And, I can’t remember names of books well! However, the Tales of the Grace Chapel Inn has a chef in each book, as she co-owns the inn with her two older sisters! Each book has a recipe in it, and one book has a lot, as it’s about the chef finding her deceased mother’s cookbook, and the recipes she decides to try from it. It’s extra special to the chef, as her mother died giving birth to her. Jo Grafford has a book, Accidental Hero, that has a chef, that’s really good.

  16. I enjoy the friends-to-more and marriage of convenience tropes you mentioned. Now, I need to look up those books! 😀

  17. I’m reading Megan Jacobs series “Love at the Beach Cottage”. The chef in this series lives in France, but he’s Russian with an American-Russian accent. His name is Leonid (Leo) Konstantinovich Kandinsky. I feel like he is an integral part of the story.

  18. I don’t recall reading any books where the main characters are chefs so I appreciate the books you have mentioned. I don’t see the trope small town mentioned but that would make for an interesting book.

    1. Ooh, you are so right! Now that I’m looking, I didn’t do secret baby or love triangle either. But those two aren’t my favorite anyway. 😆

  19. Great list! I don’t think I can think of another great chef hero/heroine this early in the morning.

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