Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Will leave you hungry for more!!, February 20, 2006
Cal Buchanan is summoned back to the family business when the family's flagship restaurant, The Waterfront is in dire straights. He agrees to sign up for four months to turn things around, and turns to his ex-wife to become the executive chef. Penny and Cal have not seen each other in three years, but the sparks are still there. She negotiates the terms, in hopes that after this gig she will have enough to open her own restaurant. She also neglects to mention that she is currently four months pregnant.
When the restaurant re-opens, it becomes a hit thanks to Penny's culinary talents - she even makes fish and chips seem gourmet! But the biggest snag for success is Cal's witch of a grandmother who is constantly scheming to keep her grandchildren in line, including making life a living hell for Penny.
Penny still loves Cal, but has never forgiven him for bailing on her when she lost their child. Unknown to her, Cal fathered a child when he was a teen, and while he has kept abreast of his daughter, he has never met her, and has kept her a secret from everyone but his conniving grandmother. He is not sure he has enough love to give another child, but rather than admit this to Penny, he let her leave him.
"Delicious" is an addictive second chance at romance dramedy. This is the first in a series of four books about the Buchanan siblings, spending a lot of time laying the foundation for the other siblings, and if the rest can be judged by this one, it will be a delicious series!
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable second time around story, April 12, 2006
The Buchanan family is an old Seattle family who has a number of restaurants that have built the family empire. Reid is managing the bar, sister Dani manager the hamburger joint, Walker has bucked the tradition and is in the Marines and Cal once ran the steakhouse but went out on his own to open what has become a coffee emporium. All of these and the kids are ruled with an iron fist by the rude obnoxious Grandmother.
Cal has been enticed back into the fold for 6 months to take the dead Fish House and make it back into one of the biggest restaurants in the area. They only way he can see that happening is to hire the best chef in town, unfortunately it happens to be his ex-wife Penny. Penny has a grand time watching and making Cal grovel. In the end she gets what she wants, including vacation time at the end of summer. What she doesn't tell Cal is this is for her baby's birth. When she and cal Divorced years ago it was mainly due to her wanting children and him not wanting them. But, what Penny doesn't know is that he already has one he had to give up. What he doesn't know is that Penny got pregnant from Invetro and never stopped loving him.
As Penny and Cal fall back in love you get to see their day to day interactions and how they both work on running the restaurant. I addition you also get glimpses into the lives of the other Buchanan siblings with minor story lines. Walker resigns the Marines, Dani finds out her husband is cheating etc.
You will want to smack the Grandmother by midway through the book but other than that the characters seem to work well together and the interactions are believable.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Delicious!, February 17, 2006
Cal Buchanan is in a bind. He needs the best chef money can buy to help him turn around his family's declining restaurant. The Waterfront is in such bad shape it has been temporarily closed until major changes can be made. Affording the best money can buy isn't an issue. The issue is that the best chef for the job in none other than Cal's ex-wife, Penny Jackson.
Penny is very interested in the opportunity The Waterfront offers. By taking this job, she will be able to save enough money to buy her own restaurant. And now that she is pregnant, at least one of her dreams is coming true. If Penny takes this job, she will be well on her way to achieving another of her long held dreams.
Soon things between Cal and Penny start to heat up. Just when it starts to look like they might have another chance at happiness together, a secret from Cal's past threatens their fragile bond.
I've been a fan of Susan Mallery for quite some time. But I will admit, Delicious just blew me away. I started reading it after work and stayed up until dawn to finish it. Cal and Penny's story really captured me. I am a fan of second chances, and Cal and Penny satisfied my hunger for another try at happily ever after.
Although, Cal made me want to take a baseball bat to him a few times, I could easily see Penny's love for him and her unconscious desire to reunite. Not that I don't adore Cal, I do. Ms. Mallery wrote him, and all her characters in this novel, quite wonderfully, realistically, and humanly flawed. I feel like I know them all and already miss hanging out with them!
Of course, I am eager for the other three books in this series. I want happiness for little sister Dani. I think the handsome, tomcat brother, Reid, needs his comeuppance. I want to be around to see that! And the former marine brother, Walker, well... he touched my heart and I am salivating for his book! If you are a fan of contemporary romance, The Buchanans is a series NOT to be missed! I made a glutton out of myself and devoured Delicious!
Annabelle
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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by Susan Mallery
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