Feel the Heat

Starred review from December 2, 2013
Meader tugs at the heartstrings in her poignant debut. Voluptuous Lili DeLuca is a talented photographer who put her own life aside to manage the family restaurant after her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Now that her mother is in remission, Lili’s got a new problem: Jack Kilroy, the TV chef who just landed in Chicago for a cook-off against her father. The attraction between Jack and Lili is immediate, but after a video of a steamy kiss surfaces on Twitter and Facebook, comments insulting Lili’s size-14 body spread across the Internet. Lili is a heroine readers of all sizes can relate to; though she’s an expert at parrying rudeness, deep down she feels her body makes her unworthy of love. It’s up to handsome Brit Jack to break through her well-fortified defenses and prove to her that she’s the one for him. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency.

June 15, 2013

Now that her mother has completed her cancer treatment, Lili DeLuca still has a hard time believing that she should pursue her photography career instead of continuing to manage the failing family eatery. When she discovers that famous chef Jack Kilroy has chosen to showcase the restaurant on his new television series...Lili finds things heating up in the kitchen and her emotions boiling out of control. VERDICT Will Lili leave home to follow her dreams, or will Jack push her to accept that he wants to build something more? [LJ Xpress Reviews, 5/10/14.]--Lisa Jordan, Johnson Cty. Lib., Gardner Neighborhood Lib., KS

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