Book Reviews

Book Blurb

The heat isn’t only in the kitchen!

For Jake Parnell, returning home to Buffalo Lick, Texas, is painful in many ways. He’s lost his twin brother to a horrible accident, and he’s given up his own career to run the family restaurant, help to raise his now fatherless niece and nephew, and care for his pregnant sister-in-law. On top of everything else, his old rival and secret obsession, Beau Walker, still hates his guts.

Beau never expected Jake to come back to their tiny home town, but now Beau needs Jake to take his brother’s place in a televised barbecue competition between their restaurants. It’s hard for him to ask for Jake’s help, because even though he’s lusted after Jake for years, he knows that just like oil and water, they will never mix.

The impending competition and the stress take a toll on Jake, and Beau steps in to help. Sparks fly as old hurts and misunderstandings are aired at last. More than the competition is at stake, and when the smoke clears, will the passion that ignites between them have the strength to last, or will it wind up burning them both?

 

 

First edition published by Dreamspinner Press, December 2016.

 

Book Review

The small town of Buffalo Lick (I just love that name!) is too small to contain the egos of two of the top restaurant owners who live there. Beau runs Walker’s Barbecue Shack and has remained local, while Jake took over family restaurant Parnell’s Pantry when his twin brother, Josh, died in a car accident. They have been rivals since high school, Josh’s return has made it clear the worst is far from over because there are lots of unresolved emotions between them, and if it’s true that teasing is a sign of affection… well, these two are headed straight for major “heat” in every sense of the word.

Beau is “the one who remained behind” – he never felt bright enough for college, and he loves cooking. Running the Shack, with all the admin stuff that entails, is not his first love, but what else was he supposed to do when his parents retired? The place has been in his family’s hands for generations and he is not about to give up. With the barbecue competition between him and Jake coming up on the Gourmet Network there will be lots of chances to prove who is better…. at cooking, of course.

Jake is “the one who left town as soon as possible” after high school; he is talented with numbers, became a math teacher, and loves his life in California. He had no problem coming out while there, but now that he is back in Texas, the closet doors are firmly shut and locked again. He is afraid his sexuality will make his young nephew and niece’s life impossible, and he is all about supporting them and his sister-in-law. In essence, he has taken over most of his brother’s life out of a sense of responsibility, maybe even survivor’s guilt, and I was waiting for that to go wrong. It is not a life Jake is suited for, not one he would have chosen, and I just knew there’d be a point at which he had to go back to living his own life.

The author sure held me in suspense! There is a lot of history between Jake and Beau, the differences in the way they see themselves and each other are significant, and the rivalry of the cooking competition is not exactly helping them get along better. With an unrequited crush on both sides, the sexual tension just sizzling between them, and their future reputations at stake, the pressure could not be much higher. What a ride!

If you like pseudo-enemies going head to head, if you want to know how two former high school rivals deal with “fighting it out” in public years later, and if you’re looking for an intense read with high stakes, strained emotions, and more heat than you’d think fits into one book, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s entertaining, funny, and very touching.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 177 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	27-July-2020
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Striking-Sparks-Walker-Boys-Book-ebook/dp/B08C8VM89B