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SUSPICIOUS MINDS - Leanne Burroughs - With her whole world coming down around her Darcy Sanders knew she had to keep it together, for the tiny babe her sister Janna's death had left in her care. With baby Emma's dad a casualty of the Iraq war and now her mom's death, Auntie Darcy was all the babe had left. On top of that Darcy had promised Janna to keep her dream restaurant Beale Street alive -- only Darcy had no idea how to cook. More than anything, Darcy needed someone to lean on and when Ross Grayson, owner of the building, stopped by to fix a minor problem, he became more than just Mr. Fix-it, but a stalwart friend with an impressive shoulder to lean on.

Burroughs starts this impressive anthology off to a great start with her SUSPECIOUS MINDS story. In combining all the elements needed for an emotional, passionate story, with a wee dram of humor in special moments when lines from Elvis Presley songs would mysteriously pop out of a spooky juke box at the precise moment needed to keep everyone on track. Darcy had an immense amount of stress to deal with including a broken heart for trusting the wrong man. Only Ross knew she was perfection personified, from the first moment he met her and wanted nothing more than to lift the world off her shoulders and her pert little body into his bed for the rest of his life. A truly delicious start to this anthology with a bonus recipe at the end of this story for Butterscotch Squares looking awfully yummy too!

A SPAGHETTI KIND OF LOVE - Michelle McGinnis - Dave Cipelli and Meggin had a brief romance, but when it got too comfortable, Dave called it off. Meggin after crying her eyes out for over a month was finally free of the big dumb lug and ready to start living life on her own, and part of that way to new life was to take up cooking classes.

Mama Mia, or better yet Great Grandma Carmella's red sauce; you have to admit if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, shouldn't women have equal rights too? Well it wasn't just for Dave's grandmother's sauce recipe, but I loved the pure honesty of how Dave went about showing and telling Meggin how much she meant to him and how he wanted their future to progress. This one was short, sweet story complete with a beautifully romantic declaration of love.

A HEART'S HUNGER - Anne Elizabeth - Carolyn left to pursue her dreams leaving behind the only family she had and a plethora of angry friends. In San Francisco she achieved career advancement and financial success, but for all her success, true happiness eludes her. With a missive from Aunt Polly to visit she returns home and along with best gal pal Tina, she recalled old memories and news of those left behind while putting together a family dinner. Special were the memories and updates on Bennett, the boy she'd left behind, made her realize what was truly missing in her life.

Memories are like stealthy fun loving puppies, biting you on your heels to remind you to remember what is best not forgotten. The author uses this vehicle with Carolyn and her friend Tina as she and her best friend chat over shared memories as well as sharing the chores of putting together a family meal. The reader sees how no matter how much Carolyn wanted to forget her roots, they were always there, especially when every prospective male she met was measured up against Bennett and they all fell short of expectation. This was a sweet story, with a lovely romance stirred into the pot.

KISSING KATE - Jaquelin Lorin - When Nick Ballard surprisingly showed up at the Minerva / Ballard family gathering, Kate suspected that his grandmother had a hand in it. After leaving ten years ago, abruptly letting Kate know he wasn't interested, her sixteen year old heart had broken. Now he was back, successful and gorgeous as ever and Kate wasn't about to let him trample her heart again.

While this is a very common plot line where the boy runs away from home to seek fame and fortune leaving behind a trail of broken hearts, the authors puts a very sentimental and heart tugging emotional spin on it to reveal facts of the true reasons why Nick left and what events led him to stay away. She revealed Kate's inner turmoil over still loving him so much, in such a way that this reader shed tears as if I were the one left behind who didn't want to get hurt again. This was a perfectly lovely story, and I can't wait to try out Kate's `peach cobbler' recipe!

BIRTHDAY BLUES - Amy Blizzard - Claudia Mackay fought her way to her front door while almost being run over by children hanging dearly onto birthday balloons when she remembered it was her birthday too. It was also a day she'd like to forget, but her best friend Dawn wasn't about to let her. Dawn had sent her a private chef to cook her up a special birthday dinner. Unfortunately, she neglected to tell him that Claudia was a vegetarian; or was her friend trying to cook something else up besides Claudia's dinner?

This was a very sweet, witty and clever story. Claudia was an extremely up-tight and suspicious woman who was surprised at her door by a very handsome dude who could have been a molester or burglar and her reactions to him were completely plausible. Nick, the chef, wasn't quite sure what he'd gotten himself into by doing a favor for her friend Dawn but when Claudia let her air down, he was ready to prepare any dish she wanted. The dialogs were yummy as is the recipe for Sweet N Simple Fruit Salad.

CLAM CHOWDER FOR SAMANTHA'S SOUL - by Jill and Julia - It was not the most auspicious event when Mitch Whitaker met Samantha and he accused her of stealing clams, from HIS private beach. It also didn't help that he assumed she was just another one of his playboy neighbor's gold-digging lovers. It would take several more insults added to injury before `Lola' a `gnome chick' set him straight and on the right path to redeeming himself.

Well, I'm not sure about the recipe for `Whitaker's Clam Chowder' recipe at the end of this delightful short story, but the story itself was mighty tasty. Admittedly, Mitch acted like a real ass when he assumed all the wrong things about Samantha, but thankfully the introduction of a delightful wise-cracking gnome-chick by the name of Lola, gave him the inspiration to save his butt and not let Samantha, the next best thing to ice cream get away!

THE TROUBLE WITH BELGIAN WAFFLES - Kristi Ahlers - Since the divinely handsome detective Drake Hunter moved into the apartment across the hall, Claire had made several attempts to cook up something wonderful as a housewarming gift. This was not a great idea - Claire was a disaster in the kitchen! Knowing it was now or never, Claire bought a food basket and screwed up her courage to knock on the door to see if the way to a man's heart was really through his stomach.

I so enjoyed this story! Not only was the author able to make you laugh out loud with Claire's disastrous attempts in the culinary arts, but you had to love her klutziness as well. Detective Drake definitely noticed his neighbor, obviously not for her culinary talents, but as one very sexy looking young woman he would really like to taste. The pacing was just right in this, the dialogs were lovely and the obvious attraction both felt for one another was `smoking' - just like Claire's attempts at cooking! Loved the proposal and had a tear in my eye. Superb!

KEEPING HANNAH SAFE - Billie Warren Chai -
If you never learned how to cook like our heroine, then it's a good thing you live next door to a fireman who turns out to more of a hero than one could imagine. Brian got turned on and off very quickly by Hannah, but after an initially bumpy start, he came through to save not only the day, but captured Hannah's heart.

In one short story this author managed to grab hold of your attention with a very funny kitchen disaster, spark it up with a wild attraction, toss in a twist or two with a little bit of suspense and have it all come together in one totally enjoyable and heady romance. Excellent characterizations and with so much going on in this tale, I'd love to have seen this as a full length story!

RECIPE FOR DISASTER - Bobbi Dumas - Chef Jason is on the cover of a popular magazine, declared the most eligible hot bachelor who mentions a special someone he's in love with. Sara has guilt enough over having inheriting half of the house Jason and she now share, but is she now screwing up his lovelife?

The author paints Jason as all that is kind, considerate and loving - anyone's ideal of a special person in their life. She also paints a complex guilt ridden heroine who has loved Jason from childhood and relished her summer vacations to visit. This was very good, sweet and emotionally touching story where the author explained and showed the guilt parents could load up on a young child. Thank goodness for happy and wonderfully romantic endings.

SOUP d'AMOUR - M.J. Sager - When an inheritance comes through giving Maximilian Conner Tristam a building; Conner - as he's known to friends - goes to check it out. What he did not expect to see was a thriving community center and at its head a woman whose very presence seemed a balm to his soul!

Both the Connor and Layla were very well defined and giving Layla a gift of sight where she immediately saw herself married and making love to this stranger made this short story all the more enjoyable. What Connor's matchmaking Uncle Leo couldn't do in his life was to arrange to have the two people he knew were soul-mates to get together once and for all after his death. Well-written, humorous and sensual with a wonderful recipe for my favorite soup!

SWEET SAUERKRAUT - Gerri Bowen - At a gathering at White's Nicholas, Viscount Wharnecliffe and his war-time comrades were discussing how Nick should find a wife with a large dowry, but that might be impossible when she found out he was raising five nephews, who were out of control. Discovering that Major Reese's sister Elizabeth (Beth) had a large dowry and loved to cook, Nick was tempted to make a proposal - sight unseen - before she laid eyes on his nephews, that is!

There's nothing more I like than a sweet Regency tale and though this was short and sweet it combined all the elements I look for in a historical read with humor and a little bit of silliness to toss in the pot. The idea of a Regency lady wanting to cook was clever and original. During that period, it was one thing to cook privately in the home, but to enter a contest where the judges would be from the upper echelons of society, now that is original! Very well done, but just can't say I have a fondness for sauerkraut, sweetened or otherwise!

THE MAN HAS A SWEET TOOTH - Diane Davis White - Sadie the Shady Angel and her mentor Pricilla are back into the swing of things to help two strangers make a match. How they take the two diverse personalities of sweets loving Joe Spellings and Leonora Cullpepper, a complete health food addict makes for a sweet tasting morsel of a story!

Bottom line on this story is that the author has a marvelous sense of humor and though not the leads in this story, the reader is definitely going to remember Sadie the Shady Angel and Pricilla as these two angels argue over how to get Joe and Leonora together! The dialogs are witty, and the sexual attraction is strong making the reader smile from start to finish and the recipe for Easy Raspberry Brownies sounds positively decadent!

THE PUMPKIN PIE MURDER - Victoria Houseman - As a detective in the Charleston, S.C. homicide department, Sara Stone was sent to question the owner of the bakery, where a supposedly mob hit had occurred. Sara had heard Silas Edwards was the baker of the stars for his incredible wedding cakes and petit fours, but what Sara wasn't expecting was to have him look as gorgeous as the creamy concoctions set out in his display cases!

Shall I say this was sweet, with all the beautifully described pastries that came in only second to this "love at first sight" story? Well, it was sweet, and the old cliché of `love at first sight' was beautifully played out under this author's well-written hand. Both characters were very well fleshed out and with a tad bit of humor added into the pot, you couldn't ask for more - except maybe one of Silas's pastries!

CHICKEN WHAT DU HELL - DeborahAnne MacGillivray - Remy (aka Royce Torqhill Remington Kinross, the 13th Marquis of Dunmoor and Seafeld) and his cat Bubba were not scoring points with the gifts Bubba was dropping off at their beautiful neighbor Catonia's house. Although Bubba, who kept bumping his head in adoration of Catonia's beautiful boob seemed to be getting a lot further along in the romance department than his master; Remy was bound and determined to change that right quick!

What a wonderful story Ms. MacGillivray submitted to end this beautiful collection of short stories all featuring some fabulous recipes. I absolutely adored Bubba the cat, whom Remy thought could have been a rogue in another life and been turned into a cat by a jealous witch - he seemed so human and was getting all those booby caresses! Remy when he turned on his Cajun accent was a sensual delight, with his wonderfully delicious `pick-up' lines. All the characters were well-developed and this short story was simmering with sensuality.

All in all, I don't think the reader will find a better compilation of mouth watering short romantic love stories than in RECIPE FOR LOVE! This is a highly recommended volume - perfect for beaches, doctor's offices, or anywhere you've a few minutes to read.

Marilyn Rondeau, RIO - Reviewers International Organization

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