e-ALC, 10:47:08
Narrated by: Art Bautista & Imani Jade Powers
Release Date: March 31, 2026
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley Publishing)
Read from: March 18-19, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received this ALC free from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Death of a Parent, Grief, Death, Chronic Illness (Endometriosis), Mental Illness (Anxiety and OCD), Cancer, Infidelity
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Auto Buy Authors, Contemp Romance, Contemporary, Dual Narrators, Dual POV, Sparkly Covers, Racial Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, RomanceExes discover they’ve both inherited the restaurant they love in this sparkling, emotional new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of A Love like the Sun.
Olivia owes everything to Celia’s Place. It’s where she learned how to be a great chef. It’s also where she first fell in love. But at nineteen, Olivia had a wanderlust she couldn’t deny. And Carmello, whose mother owned the restaurant, couldn’t leave Celia’s Place behind any more than he could force Olivia to stay.
Now, ten years later, Olivia is a successful personal chef. Her job allows her to travel the world, and she has never stayed in the same place for too long. When Carmello learns that his mother left shares of her beloved restaurant to both him and Olivia, he plans to buy her portion of the shares back quickly and painlessly.
That is until Olivia shows up at the restaurant, ready to help run it. Carmello sees an drive Olivia away from his restaurant so that she will want to sign over her shares. But Olivia sees things a bit differently. She finally has the chance to stay in one place and build a home after years on the move, and perhaps now is the right time to explore whether that home can be with the one who got away.
Soon enough, sparks begin to fly, but can Olivia and Carmello avoid the mistakes of the past?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was so good! I was a little iffy at first because girl what do you mean you gave my restaurant to someone else mom?! lol But in true Neilson fashion she turned it all around. I was hooked from the beginning because I needed to know what in the world was going on and how this was going to end lol
Ok so the drama with the restaurant is what hooked me in the beginning. But what had me stuck in this story was the representation. The mental health rep of OCD was amazing. As someone with OCD I felt seen. I understood intimately what Carmello was going through and he didn’t even know why. And seeing her navigate endometriosis was amazing as well. I have PCOS, so I can only imagine the pain and things she was going through before getting help. I was glad Neilson chose to show her after her help too. It showed that it doesn’t stop. She still needed to watch her diet and she still had troubles even after doing what she could to mitigate any harm to herself.
The romance was good. I liked the way they were taking it easy and slow. Especially since they had all this other stuff happening with the restaurant and with him being a single dad. I really respected the way they navigated that part as well. He was an amazing co-parent, he let the baby mama know respectfully, and he eased the little into Olivia’s life. He was respectful and wonderful and it just worked so well. But when things got really going with the two of them, I remember being scared af about what was going to happen with the restaurant. I didn’t want her to be that person, but I also knew she had every right to be that person lol it was complicated.
The characters were a big part of what I liked about this story. From the youngest to the oldest. And then we get some others that come in and visit too. i loved that they got to be part of this as well. Definitely one for the books! If you haven’t picked this one up yet, what are you waiting on?
Overall, I give this
