Savor it A novel

DeWitt (Funny Feelings) pairs a small-town teacher with a burned-out chef from the big city in this thoroughly enjoyable contemporary. Social studies teacher Sage Byrd has spent her life in tiny Spunes, Ore., raised mostly by her firefighter brothers after the death of their parents. Michelin-starred chef Fisher Lange lost his job in New York City when he gave a reviewer a face-full of his dessert--but he has the chance to redeem himself when his former boss asks him to supervise construction on her restaurant-to-be in Spunes. With his 15-year-old niece, Indy--whose mother, Fisher's sister, died three years earlier--in tow, he heads to the Pacific Northwest. After a memorable middle of the night first meeting, Fisher and Sage, who are now neighbors, agree to help each other achieve their goals: Sage will help smooth the way for the new restaurant by endearing Fisher to the hostile locals, and Fisher will help Sage win the top prize in a multipart competition that encompasses everything from canoeing to cooking at the town's annual festival. Soon their partnership gets passionate--but can their romance survive for more than a summer? DeWitt's sprightly narrative is by turns funny and red-hot, as Sage and Fisher, who share a love of puns, develop some serious chemistry. Readers will also be delighted by Sage's menagerie of lovable animals, particularly Gary the goose, who bonds with Indy. This is a charmer. (May)Correction: An earlier version of this review mistakenly referred to Sage's brothers as police officers.

Sage Byrd knows that her tight-knit community of Spunes, OR, loves and supports her, so she shouldn't be feeling the failure of her long-term relationship with the town golden boy so sharply. Still, she's been avoiding her ex and his new fiancée and thinking that winning the annual festival competition is a way for her to prove her worth without him. Chef Fisher Lange is no stranger to failure either; his spectacular fall from grace in his career was paired with the gut punch of realizing he was failing as the guardian of his recently orphaned niece, Indy. His boss offers him a new restaurant venture, which will also give him and Indy the chance for a fresh start. Sage needs a partner for the competition, while Fisher has to navigate the town's roadblocks for his restaurant. They agree to help each other, and attraction and respect begin to grow between them. Readers, meanwhile, will be craving Fisher's deliciously described food and enjoying the sizzling heat between the couple. VERDICT DeWitt (Rootbound) delivers another emotion-packed rom-com that readers will be eating up, full of witty banter, comical hijinks, and tender moments of healing. Hand to those who enjoy grumpy/sunshine pairings as well as fake-relationship romances.--Morgan Lockard