Chloe Garland is a professional private chef. As in, went to fancy cooking schools and everything. She's also awkward, funny, kind, helpful, and a strong Christian woman.
Roman Rivers is a famous movie star who is famous for playing a pirate hottie, but prefers to keep his personal life very cool indeed. Particularly because that helps keep his young half-sister protected and out of the spotlight.
Chloe becomes Roman's chef. Sorta. Sparks fly. His best friend doesn't like her. His half-sister adores her. Bunnies erupt everywhere. (Not even joking -- there are a lot of bunnies in this book.) Grits and ice cream and latte art abound. It's a jolly time.
Also, this is SPOILAGE, but there is NO third-act break-up. I repeat: zero breaking up over nonsensical and contrived "problems" occurs. So refreshing. I want to hug B. R. Goodwin super tightly for that one. END OF SPOILERS.
Grits and Glamor kind of ties together Goodwin's two Christian romcom series, Sugartree Romance and Happy in Honey Hill. I loved that. I've read a book or two from each series, so it was really fun to see characters from them pop up in this.
I really appreciate how Goodwin doesn't write perfect characters or cliched ones. Her Christians walk the good walk and fight the good fight, and they know how to talk the good talk, too. But they aren't perfect. Nor do they stew in their own sinfulness and say it's just "human nature." They make mistakes, and they learn from them. They sin and stumble and stray, repent, forgive and are forgiven, and move forward in redemption. That's too hard to find in Christian fiction. That's what makes Goodwin's books must-reads for me, even though romcoms are not a genre I routinely gravitate toward.
Particularly Good Bits:
Being loved fully by the people in your little world who matter most has a way of erasing the background noise of voices suggesting you deserve otherwise (p. 213).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for a lot of kissing and lightly described makeouts, talk of needing to set physical boundaries so they can keep their bodies and minds pure, and discussions of appreciating people of the opposite sex. It's tasteful, but not something I would hand a tween.
