Savor It

DeWitt (Funny Feelings) pairs a small-town teacher with a burned-out chef from the big city in this thoroughly enjoyable contemporary. Social studies teacher Sage Byrd has spent her life in tiny Spunes, Ore., raised mostly by her firefighter brothers after the death of their parents. Michelin-starred chef Fisher Lange lost his job in New York City when he gave a reviewer a face-full of his dessert—but he has the chance to redeem himself when his former boss asks him to supervise construction on her restaurant-to-be in Spunes. With his 15-year-old niece, Indy—whose mother, Fisher’s sister, died three years earlier—in tow, he heads to the Pacific Northwest. After a memorable middle of the night first meeting, Fisher and Sage, who are now neighbors, agree to help each other achieve their goals: Sage will help smooth the way for the new restaurant by endearing Fisher to the hostile locals, and Fisher will help Sage win the top prize in a multipart competition that encompasses everything from canoeing to cooking at the town’s annual festival. Soon their partnership gets passionate—but can their romance survive for more than a summer? DeWitt’s sprightly narrative is by turns funny and red-hot, as Sage and Fisher, who share a love of puns, develop some serious chemistry. Readers will also be delighted by Sage’s menagerie of lovable animals, particularly Gary the goose, who bonds with Indy. This is a charmer. (May)

Correction: An earlier version of this review mistakenly referred to Sage’s brothers as police officers.