Deep Autumn Heat by Elisabeth Barrett

Book trailer:

Lexie Meyers decides there's nothing sweeter than watching Sebastian Grayson's perfect, wicked mouth devour her coconut cake. He's hot, he's hungry, and he's sizing her up like she's the best thing on the menu. But she's been burned in the past and flings just aren't her thing. Too bad Sebastian can't resist a challenge.

Worldly, famous, and notorious with the ladies, Seb had planned a weekend of fishing and relaxation with his brothers. Until Lexie, with her kissable lips and frosty "get lost" attitude, makes him want to forget his culinary empire and create some magic with her. After he fires up his charm-including challenging her to a televised cook-off to break through her resistance-it's now hotter in the bedroom than it is in the kitchen and Lexie isn't sure whether she's lost her mind . . . or just her heart.

As soon as I found out cooking and a secret cake recipe was involved, I was intrigued. Of the characters in the story, Lexie was a person I identified with and Seb could have been a colleague. Elisabeth Barrett did a great job on kitchen culture. Now for the story - I loved the read, and Barrett is fast becoming a favorite contemporary romance author of mine.

The story has a mystery secret treasure element with it, too, and I'm hoping it continues with the rest of the brother's stories on love. Sebastian (Seb) Grayson is one of four local-boy brothers living in Star Harbor, Massachusetts: Val, Cole, and twins Seb and Theo. All are unattached and so far single, and this story is about big-time chef Sebastian and his love for small-town cafe owner Lexie. Lexie is running away from a previous relationship and has settled in the small seafaring town quite nicely. Until the brothers meet up and return home to pay respects to their father who had died twenty years previous, and she meets Seb.

Their first encounter is at her restaurant and Seb doesn't realize Lexie is the owner, and she sets him in his place after a snarky remark. Throughout the book Lexie deals with her attraction to Seb and her fierce competition, Paige, who lives in another town and who will go to great lengths to find out the secret ingredient to Lexie's famous coconut cake.

With Seb's celebrity status, he is used to other chefs, and other women, worship him and generally cater to him and his needs. He soon finds out that Lexie is the single woman who both challenges him in the kitchen and with her words. I loved their affair as much as coming back to the kitchen in the story. I'm looking forward to the other Grayson brother's stories.

Book Info:

• Deep Autumn Heat by Elisabeth Barrett
• Random House, 2012
• ISBN13: 9780345534330

Disclosure: This e-ARC was provided from the publisher and any opinions are my own.