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Taste Of Texas (2011)

by Liz Talley(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1459202384 (ISBN13: 9781459202382)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Harlequin Special Releases

series

Oak Stand

review 1: As a foodie, I am an absolute sucker for books with cooking subplots. In this one, the heroine is a celebrity chef who is recuperating in her hometown and helping her aunt start a bed and breakfast. This was a second chance sort of romance with a flawed hero who is trying to be a better man and a girl who was once picked on who has now come into her own. Wonderful comfort read with great secondary characters.
review 2: Widowed, Rayne Rose Albright returns to her hometown with her young son in tow. She’s looking to find something that she hasn’t been able to find in the city. Perhaps it is a reconnection with a childhood sweetheart or perhaps it is just some inner peace and closure that she needs. She needs to just breathe!Brent Hamilton hates himself. H... moree hates what he is – as opposed to who he really is. For the past 15-16 years he has been living the life that should have been his older brother’s, but now he is determined to step out and become the real Brent Hamilton. To find that something more that he has been missing for years! Brent broke his friend’s heart years ago when she discovered him “in” the head cheerleader on prom night instead of escorting her to prom as he had promised.Brent seemed to realize he needed to change, but Rayne’s return and the opportunity for a second chance just helped him along. I felt that Rayne was true to form all the way through and the real Brent was finally emerging from that Man-ho that he had become for all of those years. At the end of the story I truly believed that Brent loved Rayne and loved her a lot! I was reminded of Mercy by Jodi Picoult though. When one of the characters said that sometimes one person will love more than the other. I felt that was Brent in this relationship. While I felt as though Rayne loved Brent, because of the pain that he inflicted on her years ago, she doesn’t love him as much. Once bitten twice shy – it will take time for her to be that free again. He changed her with that hurt he inflicted upon her, perhaps it even made her stronger. She seemed a bit scared of leading with her heart as she had years ago. It will take time for her to get over that pain. Brent got to feel some of her pain now because he loves her so much, but isn’t so sure of her love for him. She takes steps to alter some things but she still weighs things out carefully and I don’t see this changing overnight. It was nice that Brent learned what it was like on the other side of the fence though – loving Rayne but not sure if she loved him and feeling used as he no doubt used all those other women. His explanations to her seemed to ring true as well as to why he acted the way he did towards her. Brent was truly lost in a world of his own making because no one asked him to take on what he did, but he did thinking that he could be everything to everyone and forgetting that he was lost to himself because of this. Rayne never needed a white knight now and she has Brent to thank for that. She doesn’t need Brent to be happy, but he enhances her life. It was a nice story that showed that perhaps some people that travel a road were put there because they were trying so hard to please someone else and they weren’t being true to themselves. Some of the actions and growth seemed realistic. I truly liked that Rayne defended her heartache and laid some truths out there for Brent, but she was still willing to give him a second chance because she saw that he had changed – that he was being the real Brent Hamilton and not the image that others wanted. Needed a conversation with the aunt acknowledging the pain and heartbreak at the very least, that Brent handed to Rayne all those years ago, instead of her pushing for Rayne to hook up with Brent. The stereotype that a man-ho can’t be parental, made it sound like Brent had no feelings. It wasn’t necessary. Seeing Brent objectified by those women seemed to open Rayne’s eyes up more. I do have to say that given what we are told about Brent I wonder why no one asks if he is clean.Now I want a story with Stacy finding out about Brandi and her husband. How can that girl be so dense? Can she be redeemed? Why not? If Brent can be redeemed then so can Stacy, and besides I want to see Brandi get what she deserves. less

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