Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Dine With Me
AUTHOR: Layla Reyne
NARRATOR: Cooper North
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Audio
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2019
LENGTH: 7 hours, 47 minutes
BLURB:
Life never tasted so good.
Miller Sykes’s meteoric rise to award-winning chef is the stuff of culinary dreams, but it’s all crashing down around him. He’s been given a diagnosis that could cost him something even more precious than his life: his sense of taste. Rather than risk the very thing that defines him, Miller embarks on a last tour of his favorite meals while he still can.
But there’s a catch: he needs a financial backer to make it happen, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s sick.
Dr. Clancy Rhodes has two weeks to come to terms with putting aside oncology to work at his father’s thriving plastic surgery practice. When the opportunity to travel with a Michelin-starred chef presents itself, the foodie in him can’t believe it. It doesn’t hurt that Miller’s rugged good looks are exactly Clancy’s cup of joe.
As Clancy and Miller travel from coast to coast and indulge in everything from dive bars to the most decadent of culinary experiences, they’re suddenly sharing a lot more than delicious meals. Sparks fly as they bond over their love of flavors and the pressures of great expectations. But when Miller’s health takes a turn for the worse, Clancy must convince him he’s more—so much more—than just his taste buds. And that together, they can win a battle that once seemed hopeless.
REVIEW:
After finishing Dine With Me I’m kind if wondering if I accidentally picked up a (very long) review of fine dining establishments, and extensive talk about menus and the different meals the main characters ate . I mean where was the plot, the romance?
In this book we follow Miller, the award winning chef and Clancy a doctor about to embark on a new specialty. We follow them for a two week long trip across US where Miller guides Clancy to some of the best restaurants in the country. This tour is a last hurrah of sorts for Miller. Revisiting all of his favourite restaurants while he still could. The metaphorical clock over his head kept ticking louder and louder as the hands neared that dreaded twelfth hour.
I’m a huge fan of Layla Reyne’s mysteries. To the point where I don’t read the blurb for her books anymore – I just pick them up. From the cover and title I guessed that food would play an important part in this book. I just didn’t realise just how important. It overshadowed everything, and I do mean everything. I honestly think there was as much descriptions of the food Miller and Clancy ate, prepared and gushed about as there was about Miller and Clancy themselves! It was all food all the time. I don’t think there was a single minute in this book where food in some form, taste or smell wasn’t mentioned. Descriptions of people, places and even feelings were always made with a reference to food or a taste – even during the sex scenes for crying out loud. It was just way too much.
I can’t say that I got to know the characters; Miller and Clancy all that much. They too disappeared in all things food and fine dining. And as far as the romance goes, for me it was non-existent. Out of nowhere it was just there. There was no build-up, barely even a mention of attraction before the “I love you” were dished out. It lacked depth and credibility to me.
Then there was also one of my pet peeves – the miracle. I’m not fond of miracle solutions, the against all odds kind of thing. Normally this would make me stark raving mad, but now I wasn’t even annoyed. By that time my investment in the book had pretty much hit rock bottom so it just didn’t touch me as it usually would.
Cooper North was by far my favourite thing about this book. Sadly I can’t recommend listening to it solely for him. I do know that I will look for more of his titles going forward. With his clear and distinct voice he made the listen effortless.
Dine With Me could have been a wonderful story, but it was buried underneath a mountain of food. Maybe I’d recommend this book to major foodies, but otherwise my advice is to leave this book alone and look for your next read elsewhere.
RATING: 
Story: 2 hearts
Narration: 4.5 hearts
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