Don't be put off by the cheesy Harlequin title. This book is an absolutely FANTASTIC romance. Matt and Penny are completely adorable and I just wanted to smoosh their faces together and shout NOW KISS.
I'm thinking in foodie terms because Penny, the heroine, is a trained chef, and I reckon this book is like a lemon meringue pie; it's sweet, sugary, fluffy and delicious... and yet at the same time there's enough tart tanginess to make it interesting.
Penny has been betrayed one too many times by her overbearing father and now by the half-sister who just stole her fiancé. Taking a job as a chef at an Outback hotel, she never even gets there when flooding rains trap her on a remote sheep property... just in time to step in as cook for a team of ravenous shearers and their slightly desperate boss, Matt Fraser.
Matt never expected to be rich, but his first farm turned out to be sitting atop a gigantic bauxite deposit. He doesn't want or need a billionaire lifestyle, and stepping into that world even briefly to help Penny with her overbearing family is obviously difficult for him. It's not an easy path to love for them; Penny's got a massive case of once bitten, twice shy, and Matt's got his own ghosts in the closet.
The happy ending is never in doubt, but the way it came about was so inventive and charming, and utterly believable. I absolutely adored this book and I have no doubt I'll still be smiling about its sweet aftertaste for a while. Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.