Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  TASTE

SERIES:  London Love #2

AUTHOR:  Sophia Soames

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  290 pages

RELEASE DATE:  November 1, 2021

BLURB:

Finn Christensen doesn’t do feelings. He doesn’t do relationships. When he has an itch to scratch, there are always clubs and hook-ups. Quick, dirty encounters in dark places that feed the need that brews in the pit in his stomach. He works every hour of the day as the front office manager for the Clouds Westminster Hotel in central London. He’s a good boss, and he knows his shit.
Then Mark Quinton swans in like he owns the bloody place, and Finn’s carefully managed world starts to fall apart.

Mark Quinton is impulsive and stupid and childish. He’s the last person in the world who should be allowed to run the food and beverage department at the Clouds Westminster, however many brilliant ideas he has and somehow miraculously pulls off. He needs…something. He needs Finn Christensen.

It’s a match made in hell. A recipe for disaster. There will be a bloodbath one day. They both know that. Everyone knows.

TASTE is the second book in the London Love series, following four extraordinary ordinary couples living real fairy-tales in the city of London. TASTE is a hurt comfort, enemy to lovers romance set behind the scenes in a busy inner city business hotel. The books are all Standalone and can be read in any order, apart from EXHALE which is best enjoyed after BREATHE.

Trigger-warnings for off page mentions of domestic violence, depression, kleptomania, ADHD and culinary crimes involving cheese. HEA.

REVIEW:

TASTE is very enjoyable, character-driven novel about the love/hate relationship between bitter enemies in the workplace. It’s a compelling story that gradually peels away the layers of hate – for each other and for themselves – so the men can find common ground and eventually love each other.  

This is an edgy book that begins with dubcon hate sex in the prologue. It turned me off and I worried it was a precursor of what was to come. Once I understood the characters, however, I saw that the prologue works within the context of Mark and Finn’s dynamic. Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and the men skate the edge between the two for much of the book. The prologue has the only instance of dubcon sex, so no worries if that’s offensive to you.  

It’s hard for me to reconcile that Sophia Soames wrote both this book and EXHALE, also in the London Love series, that was released a week ago. I didn’t care for EXHALE – a saccharine, insta love fairy tale – which doesn’t have the same level of character complexity and plot depth as TASTE. This one is a very good book. 

Finn Christensen had been in senior management as the front office manger of the Clouds Westminster Hotel in London for ten years. He’s an ordinary guy but has no life outside of work. Finn’s behavior is rooted in emotional pain. He grew up as his father’s punching bag, left wanting for normalcy and love. But when that’s all he knows, it’s hard for him to understand love as an adult. His self-hatred is deeply ingrained. Mark is hired on as the food and beverage manner, much to Finn’s chagrin. He’s quite a character: he oozes sex appeal in the floral suits he wears, he’s a troublemaker without inhibitions, and he knows how to party hard.  

This book could be subtitled Men Behaving Badly. I was a quarter of the way into the book before I began to like Mark and see beyond the childish, unprofessional behavior that stems from his craving for attention. He’s a complex individual, a sympathetic character whose immaturity is masking anger, sadness, and loneliness. He must contend with bouts of serious, clinical depression, too. Much of Mark’s hatred toward Finn is fueled by his jealousy of Finn’s brilliance and success. For his part, Finn is envious of Mark’s popularity among employees and guests alike.  

It’s Mark who desperately wants to put their differences aside and strive for a relationship. He’s the first to become infatuated, obsessive maybe, about the man he can’t have. Finn’s continual refusal to lose the animosity is painful to Mark. It’s not all a bed of roses once Finn comes around, though. Long-term pain due to abuse and neglect clouds their interaction. 

I love the hotel setting of the book and the many humorous incidents that happen within its walls. The intricacies of the workings in the large, high-end hotel – especially Finn’s job – are fascinating. I worked in the back of house reservations office of a luxury D.C hotel many years ago. All I can say after reading Finn’s experiences is thank goodness I wasn’t on the front line. Oy vey those guests! 

So even though the leading men weren’t always likable and it took me a while to warm up to them at times, I found much to like about this story. Props to the positive trans representation, too. I highly recommend TASTE to fans of enemies to lovers romances.  

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

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