Risk it All – Izabela Kamila

“Yes chef” two little words that unlock a whole new world of hot chefs with tattoos and moustaches!

This book wow! I have not read the other two books in the series something I am planning on rectifying. I have put myself in ARC jail so I can catch up on some books in the next couple of months! Past Natasha is an absolute dick who signs up for ARCs with not concept of how they will be read!

But enough about my bad planning onward with this book. So, Eliza is a yoga studio owner and part time bartender. She has had to drag herself up from her traumatic past and struggles to let people in. She has her crew who she loves fiercely and doesn’t really do relationships more like casual one-night stands with men passing through town. She has had one relationship with Colin who is Leo’s younger brother. It didn’t end well everything that he originally liked about Eliza he tried to change, and when you find out why you will want to hunt him down and slap him (well at least I wanted to)

Leo is a chef with a slutty thigh tattoo and a moustache! (hmmmm food groups) he takes a job at Lake Ridge after being passed over for a promotion he thought he really wanted. He starts to fall back in love with cooking after being given the creative freedom to pick his own menus and use local produce. He enjoys getting to know the locals and designing new seasonal menus. He is always helping out his mum, his brother those he loves it’s how he shows up for the people in his life. He sheltered his brother from the worst of their parents’ divorce so that he can have a good relationship with both his mum and dad (not that he deserves anything!). He lives next door to Eliza and has always thought she was awesome. They start hanging out and even though he isn’t into casual he changes the rules for her.

Eliza has issues with people she loves leaving and it stops her from wanting to fully put herself out there. Sometimes this trope can be done to death, and you want to just strangle the character through the page. I managed to not have these tendencies in this book and actually enjoyed how it all unfolded when she worked out what she wanted and went to get it.