Book Review:: Yes, Chef | Grace Reilly

July 21, 2026 2 Min Read 0

What do you say when a hot, grumpy ex-employee of your father’s orders you around in the kitchen? Right away, chef. Heard, chef.

Yes, chef.

I could tell from the very first pages of this book that it was going to be a stunner. It’s a very modern, contemporary romance obviously written with everyone’s favorite tropes in mind, but not in the shallow way that is becoming all-too-common. This one has teeth. This one is worth every minute spent inside it. This one is good.

Poppy has always been close to her family, but apart from them. Her sister is the better sister, and she can’t seem to get them to take her seriously. Meanwhile, Jake has built the life of his dreams, but when the unexpected death of his mentor and father-figure hits him harder than he expected, he fumbles the opportunity he’s always wanted. Unexpected allies, Poppy and Jake find a way that they can both earn back the respect they’ve lost and prove to themselves and to the world that they have what it takes to be successful and have another chance. What they don’t expect, is to fall in love as they do it.

The romance in this book is handled so smoothly. Everything felt incredibly organic (and smoking hot). They face some formidable obstacles, and experience some growing pains as they learn to let someone in in new ways, and I ate up every single second. I would read this book again and again.

And in the end, like in all the worthwhile romances, it’s not really about the romance at all. It’s about the growth, the lessons-learned, and the people we learn to trust along the way.

This is one hell of a good story. Don’t miss this one.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title::Yes, Chef
Author::Grace Reilly
Genre::Contemporary Romance
Publisher::Avon
Length:: 384 pages
Published::July 21th, 2026
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars