“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.” ― Don Kardong
Title: Brand New Flavor
Author: EM Lynley
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 144 Pages
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb: When artisan ice cream maker Jay Brown first meets food writer Cameron Clay at a charity tasting event, they get along like strawberries and chocolate sauce. Jay’s unique flavors thrill more than Cameron’s jaded palate, but after a delicious encounter in Jay’s delivery truck, where extra-creamy frozen treats are not the only delights sampled, Cameron loses Jay’s contact info—and any hope of a real date.
Desperate, Cameron convinces his editor to host an artisanal ice cream contest in hopes of drawing out the elusive genius. But more complications threaten to intervene. Will Jay even enter the contest? Or will the chance of a happily ever after melt away?
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Review: I have read a previous story by EM Lynley in the Delectable series and fell absolutely in love with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t fall quite as hard for Brand New Flavor.
One of the things I enjoy about the romance genre is the interaction of the players, the chemistry the MC’s have with each other. At the beginning of Brand New Flavor, Cameron and Jay meet at a food tasting convention, where Jay is giving out samples of his ice cream. The two end up having an “afternoon delight” in Jay’s van, and from that point on, three-fourths of the story is about how Cameron lost Jay’s card and couldn’t contact him for another hook-up; how he breaks up with his ex, Eric; how Jay finds out from his employees that Cameron is a food critic; how Eric seeks revenge against Cameron; how Cameron searches the entire city to find Jay; and how Cameron holds an ice cream contest in the hope that Jay will enter.
As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help feeling I was only being offered the impression these two were going to end up as soul mates rather than seeing some proof of it. Without the benefit of interaction between the two of them, apart from that one hook-up, there was only a lot of speculation that “this is the one” because of the insta-attraction between the two, and I couldn’t help but want and need more to buy into the relationship.
You can buy Brand New Flavor here:
