Sunday, March 4, 2018

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: BITE ME by Beth Bolden (Kitchen Gods #1)

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BITE ME
KITCHEN GODS BOOK 1
BETH BOLDEN
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 02.12.17

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COVER DESIGN: AngstyG 



BLURB 

Talented pastry chef Miles Costa is bored. Working at the celebrated Napa Valley restaurant Terroir is supposed to be the cherry on top to a promising career, but instead it's a creative desert. So when he gets an offer to turn his online video series into a career, he leaves his three best friends in Napa and swaps Terroir for Los Angeles.

With the resources now at his fingertips, turning his pastry series into a hit should be easy. Then Miles meets his producer, Evan Patterson, and realizes he’s screwed. And not even in the good way.

It's not a meet-cute . . .

Evan lives to work and loves every minute detail Miles loathes. Not only that, he seems hell bent on micromanaging every aspect of Miles' show despite the fact he knows nothing about the culinary arts. Evan doesn’t even like sweets—until Miles seduces him with a rainbow of delectable confections he can't resist.

. . . it's a collision.

With every confrontation, the intensity between them flares even hotter until they're not sure if it's hatred they feel . . .or something else. Is it possible for two people with nothing in common to discover common ground and romance?


Bite Me Teaser 3

Carra's Review

Step one before reading this book…make sure you’ve eaten, and eaten well.  If not, the author will have your stomach rumbling pretty quickly.  Step two…prepare yourself for two main characters who are definitely at odds with each other, you’re going to get a strong dose of snapping back and forth before they finally, truly give in to each other.

Miles absolutely has the whole attitude issue down, is overly confident, and is sure that things need to be done his way.  After being creatively repressed at one of the best restaurants around, he’s not going to let anyone take his opportunity to shine and dull it in any way.  Evan has worked hard to get where he is, and he’s good at his job—something he tries to continue excelling at even with the stubborn Miles clashing with him each step of the way.  Evan is dead set upon not allowing Miles to cause them to fail, and Miles is set on retaining total control so his creativity isn’t quashed again.  Conflict?  There’s plenty to be found between them.  Attraction?  Obviously present on both sides.  It’s a classic enemies-to-lovers story, with an abundance of unresolved tension—sexual and otherwise—to be found.

While like with any characters there were things I liked and disliked about both Miles and Evan, Evan bugged me just a bit more with how much harder he pushed back and tried to shut things down when you could see where Miles was softening and trying to work with him.  I get that Evan’s past had a lot to do with his perspective, and that it made him more determined to succeed and prove himself, he just frustrated me more since his stance felt so much more rigid.  Even with this—and maybe in some part because of this since it brought out the passionate sides of both men—the chemistry between Miles and Evan was strong, though the majority of their physical interaction doesn’t come about until about 2/3 of the way in to the story.

Bite Me was a strong 4-star read for me, and is a good start to this new series.  The author did a great job with the supporting characters, and my curiosity is definitely piqued for Kian, Wyatt, and Xander’s stories…especially Kian’s.  With as protective as the others were of him, and with his open, sweet, wanting-to-please personality I can’t wait for his turn.  Bite Me is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and sexual content.


Bite Me Teaser 4  

EXCERPT

“You’re late,” Evan said, head bent towards his screen, fingers not missing a beat as he typed furiously.

“I know, I’m sorry, I thought I’d grab a coffee.” Miles slid into the chair next to Evan, but Evan still didn’t look up.

“Oh thanks for bringing me one too,” Evan said levelly, even though he had to know that Miles only had one cup in his hands.

“I . . .uh. . .didn’t know you wanted one?” Miles said sheepishly. He’d made it back into the building two minutes late, and then had raced to Evan’s cubicle, only to not find him there. He’d made the rounds, until one of the writers stopped him and said Evan was in the conference room, still working after the meeting had ended.

Why hadn’t it occurred to Miles to bring him coffee? He liked the good coffee place as much as anyone else. It was probably because instead of actively trying to charm anyone in particular, Miles just fallen into bed with willing people and had never wanted someone who didn’t want him back—or wanted him but fought it. Miles knew he was going to have learn to be more aware and less selfish if he was ever going to convince Evan to consider dating him. A great almost-blowjob wasn’t going to cut it. Not with Evan.

Sex was probably off the table now, even though Miles knew Evan wanted it. Miles wasn’t familiar with the sort of self-denial Evan practiced; if he wanted someone and the feeling was mutual, sex happened. It was an easy way to live, and an easy way to get off. Everything about Evan was complicated, but Miles wanted him anyway. Inexplicably.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring you coffee,” Miles said when Evan remained silent, typing away, the staccato of the keys all the response he probably deserved.

“It’s okay.” Evan paused. “I wouldn’t expect you to be looking out for other people. Me, especially.”

And yeah, that was galling. Especially galling when Miles had spent the last half an hour discovering that nobody had probably ever really looked out for Evan before. It probably wouldn’t take an extraordinary amount of effort to make him feel special and considered. And Miles still couldn’t figure out how to meet even the lowest of expectations.

“I’m sorry, I’m . . .I know it isn’t an excuse, but I was with Lucy, and Chloe and Steph and . . . ”Miles hesitated, trying to find the best way to say, sorry, we were gossiping about you and they told me you were a foster kid and I wish you had told me yourself.

All Miles knew was that was definitely not the way to break the news.



 Beth Bolden Logo

Beth Bolden lives in Portland, Oregon with her supportive husband. She wholly believes in Keeping Portland Weird, but wishes she didn’t have to make the yearly pilgrimage up to Seattle to watch her Boston Red Sox play baseball. She’s a fan of fandoms, and spends too much of her free time on tumblr.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published eight novels and two novellas, with Catch Me, the next novel in the Kitchen Gods series, releasing in May 2018.
  
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