Book 938: A Teaspoon of Desire – Alex Danvers

I’ve had this book since January and I really should’ve started it well before I did—not because it was so good, but because it was a slog and I barely met the review deadline.*

I won’t rehash my issues with Riptide Publishing (search the blog, yes I’m still bitter) and as always I’ll give the good and the bad about the book, but TL;DR: this book took WAY too long for me to get through, and maybe it’s just me, but it really should not have.

A Teaspoon of Desire caught my attention when it landed in my inbox, a MM Romance that’s based on a not subtle ripoff of Great British Bake Off, with two chefs fighting to be the best in their market, Seattle, WA, of course, I wanted to read it. Add in when I went down the rabbit hole of trying to find out more about the author, Alex Danvers to discover it was a penname for Raven de Hart, which itself is a penname for Voss Foster, which for all we know is yet another penname!

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this Danvers-de Hart-Foster is clear he did this to keep things separate, and if you have the readership to do that, more power to you! It just threw me for a loop. It did, however, give me some preconceived notions about what the story would be like, shame on me, but let’s face it male MM Romance authors are generally rougher and crasser, so that was definitely something I was hesitant about going in—thankfully it wasn’t a problem with only one lengthy sex scene and a lot of sexual tension.

The biggest problem by far for me was the pacing of the book. I highlighted this passage early on (Chapter 6, ~22% into the book) as an example,

Back at his station, he set the oven to 355°F. His chiffon recipe came from the UK, and those extra five degrees put the oven in the right range to compensate for the Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversion. Then he started in, measuring up his ingredients, sifting his dry, separating his eggs, whipping the whites. He’d made probably ten thousand chiffon cakes using this recipe. Making this cake was nearly mechanical. He even had the same model mixer in his kitchen—at the shop and at home. A tiny flicker of familiarity and comfort flashed in his middle. He watched for the right beat on the egg whites. He added his yolks into the dry, then milk, then folded it together. Halfway through, he added some of the crystallized ginger, chopped super fine and tossed in flour so it wouldn’t settle while baking or deflate the egg whites too badly. He’d amp up the flavor with his Chambord and ginger syrup. Plus that would add an extra pop of color, give his cake a chance to shine. Maybe it wasn’t for everyone, but he didn’t need it to be. It was for him. (Chapter 6)

Now there is nothing wrong with this passage and I mostly flagged it as an “oh no is this going to be what EVERY baking section is like!?!?” For the most part, they were and it was rough. Danvers could’ve easily paired this down to a more intense couple of sentences with something like,

He set the oven as he began measuring out the ingredients for his go-to chiffon recipe from the UK. A flicker of familiarity and comfort calmed him as he turned on the same mixer he used in both his kitchens at home. He was taking a chance with the Chambord and ginger syrup, maybe they weren’t for everyone, but the pop of color and flavor were delectable and he knew the judges would like it.

I have never been one to have the patience it requires to read a super detailed novel, and this one fell solidly in that category. It was well written, just not what I want in a MM Romance. And if I had to read the word

When you add to this, neither Henry nor Tristan caught my attention and I couldn’t get into it. I struggled throughout the ENTIRE BOOK to remember which one was Henry and which one was Tristan. Seriously, I’m not convinced it was just me that was the problem—I think Danvers changed point of view mid-sentence/mid-paragraph on multiple occasions and it was NOT easy to follow, making IDing who was talking even harder. And that is NEVER a good sign. The relationship between Henry and Tristan was well written, but the individual characters were one-dimensional for me. They had good chemistry with the sexual tension and a couple of sex scenes being done adequately, but again everything fell a little flat.

And finally, the crisis of the novel was so underwhelming for me that I just sort of shrugged and felt that it was inevitable. I knew who the big bad was (outside of their inability to get out of their own way), and it, the moments leading up to the resolution, and the resolution weren’t the least bit surprising. The final scene of the show did give me a little thrill because it was adorable and, again, well written, but after the slog, it took to get there it definitely lacked the luster it could have.

Recommendation: Pass, unless you REALLY love baking and don’t mind that take front and center stage for the majority of the book. This wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me. It was overly descriptive and left the characters one-dimensional for me, I could never remember who was who and that’s never a good sign. I was impressed with Danvers baking knowledge, even if there was one word (I can’t find for the life of me now) that he used OVER AND OVER AND OVER again to my great annoyance. I might give Danvers another go because it was well written, but I’d probably try a novella first.

*I received a copy of A Teaspoon of Desire via Gay Romance Reviews in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “San Francisco whirred past the taxi’s windows, skyscrapers and bright sun and somehow even more people than Seattle.”

Closing Line: “The show had brought him Tristan, and no other prize could compare.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)