Review: Taste by Melanie Harlow

The last person on earth I want to be stranded with is Gianni Lupo.

But thanks to the blizzard of the century, I’m trapped in a roadside motel room with that cocky bastard for two straight days.

With one small bed.

Some women might thank Mother Nature for delivering a polar vortex that maroons them with six feet of solid muscle, those deep blue eyes, that sexy grin–but not me. I’ve known Gianni Lupo all my life, and he’s never brought me anything but bad luck and trouble.

So when the tension between us explodes with enough fiery heat to melt my icy defenses, I should have known what the disastrous end result would be–

A big fat plus sign.

After the snow melts, I’m left with more than just memories of the night we spent keeping each other warm. And he might be a rising star on the culinary scene, but he’s got no idea how to handle this bun in the oven.

He says he wants to do the right thing, but I’m not about to spend the rest of my life feeling like someone settled for me.

But just when I think I’ve got Gianni Lupo all figured out, he gives me a taste of the man he could be, of the family we could become, of the way he could love me if I let him.

I’m terrified of falling for him.

But one taste might be all it takes.

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Gianni has been making Ellie mad for her entire life. Their moms are best friends so they’ve grown up together and he’s just always there antagonizing her in some way. She put up with it for over a decade but the night they played Seven Minutes in Heaven was the last straw. She tolerates him since they have to work together but she certainly doesn’t like him and doesn’t try to hide it. Getting stranded in a blizzard forces them to spend time much closer than they’ve ever been and norms go out the window. What’s the harm in a one-off blizzard bang between friends? Probably no big deal except they’re not friends and it happens more than once.

Ellie is kind of mean to Gianni at first but it’s understandable since he’s been tormenting her for years. He’s resigned to the fact that she wants nothing to do with him, until he finally gets a taste and now all he wants is to make her want him. I loved Gianni, he’s hilarious and the banter here is excellent. Ellie’s a sympathetic character, scared of disappointing her parents, of being a young mom and of exploring the feelings she might have for the flightiest, least grounded man she’s ever known. This is a sweet, funny and steamy HEA and I loved everything about these two and their story. I received an ARC from Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review.