Tacos for Two | Book Review
About the Book
Two unlikely chefs. One life-changing contest. There can only be one winner. . .right?
Food truck owner Rory Perez may not be able to cook, but she's determined to keep the family business out of the red. An upcoming contest during a food truck festival seems like the best way to do it. The prize money could finally give her a solid financial footing, freeing up her time to meet the man she's been talking to via an anonymous online dating site.
Jude Strong is tired of being a puppet at his manipulative father's law firm, and the food truck festival seems like the perfect opportunity to dive into his passion for cooking and finally call his life his own. If he loses the contest, he'll be back at the law firm for good, so failure is not an option.
But things are about to get. . . complicated. Rory's chef gets mono, forcing her to cook after all. And Jude discovers that his stiffest competition is the same woman he's been falling for online. Will they sacrifice the futures they've envisioned for the sake of love? Or will there only ever be tacos for one?
My Thoughts
I took a chance on this new release because of the adorable cover and the promise of a feel-good You've Got Mail retelling. There are two kinds of retelling authors in my opinion - the ones that actually write something creative and add fresh details, or the ones who try to piggyback on a successful story without much inspiration. Since we already know the premise, any retelling automatically has potential for being boring, so it takes a special brand of creativity to make it new.
I'm not the judge of what this author's intentions were in writing this book, but it fell flat for me -- cilantro taco food trucks, attempts at witty text conversations, and all. Just.... not for me. If you are very specifically in the mood for a Hallmark-esque, modern You've Got Mail retelling, then you'll enjoy this book. It's not badly written and gets a couple points for sass, but it's just not clever and original enough to make me appreciate the spin on a now-predictable rom-com.
3 stars
*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and happily provided my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.*