Third Degree

By Mindy Klasky

A marriage of convenience is must-see reality TV in this sexy stand-alone baseball romance!

 

Chef Ashley Harris dreams of owning a restaurant—that's why she attended culinary school, and that's why she tolerates working for the world's most lecherous restaurateur.

 

Rockets' third baseman Josh Cantor has his own restaurant dream: launching an investment eatery with the family favorites he loved growing up. His grandmother is on board with sharing her recipes—but only if Josh starts dating again, back in the saddle after a traumatic divorce.

 

When a cooking reality show comes to Raleigh, Ashley and Josh compete against each other to achieve their dreams. Before long, the flames in the bedroom roar higher than the ones in their kitchens.  In the end, only one cook can win the competition. Will their relationship survive this trial by fire?

 

The Diamond Brides Baseball Series:

 

Each volume can be read on its own, and the series can be read in any order.

 

Perfect Pitch (DJ Thomas and Samantha Winger)
Catching Hell (Zach Ormond and Anna Benson)
Reaching First (Tyler Brock and Emily Holt)
Second Thoughts (Nick Durban and Jamie Martin)
Third Degree (Josh Cantor and Ashley Harris)
Stopping Short (Drew Marshall and Jessica Barnes)
From Left Field (Adam Sartain and Haley Thurman)
Center Stage (Ryan Green and Lindsey Ormond)
Always Right (Kyle Norton and Amanda Carter)

 

122022mfm

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book View Cafe
• Release date: Jan 1, 1981
• ISBN: 9781611384079

Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her that she could travel anywhere in the world through stories. She never forgot that advice. When Mindy isn't "traveling" through writing books, she quilts, cooks and tries to tame the endless to-be-read shelf in her home library. You can visit Mindy at her Web site, www.mindyklasky.com.

Book preview

1

Sugar and spice and everything nice…

Ashley Harris slammed her meat cleaver into the chicken bones, severing the dark-meat quarter at its joint. With the efficiency of long practice, she shoved the resulting pieces to the side of her cutting board.

Whoa! said Dustin Parsons. "Remind me not to make you angry!"

I’m not angry, Ashley said. Whack. Another chicken quarter severed. I’m working. Whack.

Her fellow chef shifted his grip on his own knife, making short work of converting a yellow onion into perfect half-moons of eye-smarting crunch. Of course, he agreed as Ashley slammed her way through another innocent chicken leg. You always grit your teeth when you work.

I’m not, whack, Gritting my teeth.

Ash, babe, I can hear you half-way across the kitchen.

She paused in her chicken dissection for long enough to give Dustin a well-deserved glare. The man was absolutely unflappable. And that was a good thing, given the heat in the kitchen where they worked. Outside the restaurant, it might be a chilly November afternoon, but inside, the kitchen was already climbing toward ninety degrees—and that was before the giant pots of water were set to boil for the pasta dishes that were the mainstay at Mangia Italian Kitchen.

Ashley set her cleaver on her cutting board. It’s November 3rd, she said.

Excellent! Dustin crowed. "I knew working near the university would rub off on you! And they said you’d never master reading the calendar!"

She twisted her lips into a frown to show her dissatisfaction with her colleague’s sarcasm. "I was supposed to hear from Wake Up Wake County by the first."

Dustin’s mouth framed a comical O. He could tease all he wanted, but Ashley had her heart set on competing in Who Wears the Apron. The most popular morning viewing in Raleigh, Wake Up had been promoting its first-ever cooking contest everywhere, with ads on TV and radio, even on the sides of city buses.

Dustin recovered by asking, I thought you had a Master Plan?

The Master Plan. She’d worked her way up through local Raleigh restaurants—busing tables in high school, working as a hostess and server in college, progressing from salad chef to line chef to head chef in the seven years since graduation. She’d planned on staying three years at Mangia, learning the ins and outs of the restaurant business, mastering recipes as the head chef while she observed all the front-of-house operations. After all, Raleigh scion Duke Throckmorton was the owner, and he believed in quality cooking; he was willing to spend money on fine ingredients, even costly out-of-season treasures like copious amounts of basil in November.

Alas, he also believed that hiring Ashley to cook in his kitchen gave him the right to put his hand on her ass every time he walked by. He brushed against her boobs, too, whenever he thought he could get away with it—the guy was oblivious to the danger of a freshly-sharpened chef’s knife. Just that evening, he’d caught her by the fry station, and she’d seriously contemplated adding his octopus hands to the neat rings of cornmeal-dusted calamari.

But that would have been a disaster, if the health inspector stopped by.

Now, she shrugged as Dustin shifted his attention from onions to mushrooms. "The Master Plan is one thing—I’ve been salting away part of my paycheck for months. But winning Apron would put me ahead by years. One hundred thousand dollars… Do you know how long it’ll take for me to save that? And a year of consulting with Gerald Brown is worth that much again."

The famous expert on restaurant management had taught at Mid-Atlantic Culinary Institute, the cooking school where Ashley had pursued an advanced degree after college. He’d been ancient then, teaching all his classes from an armchair at the front of the room. Who knew how long the genius would remain in the business? But Apron promised his services for one lucky winner—for an entire twelve months.

And all she’d had to do was complete her application, double- and triple-check the forms where she listed her past experience in restaurants, provide evidence of her undergraduate degree in business management, present her course work at Mid-Atlantic. She’d drawn up a menu for a multi-course meal, focusing on traditional Southern foods that she’d spiced up with her own unique flair.

But Wake Up was now two days past its own deadline. Ashley was fast losing hope that she’d be one of the ten lucky women to compete against ten men, preparing a single dish for the next round of the contest. This opportunity was going to fall apart the same way culinary school had become a disaster.

Well, not the same way. She hadn’t slept with anyone connected with Who Wears the Apron.

She’d learned her lesson at cooking school. Then, she’d welcomed the physical attention from star chef and professor Martin Davies. Those sly touches, the unexpected encounters that heated up the walk-in freezer, the hidden caresses that led to late-night dinners, to wild nights in bed, and more…

Crap. They’d also led to her leaving Mid-Atlantic in disgrace. She never should have fallen into the habit of spending the night at Martin’s place. She never should have been caught there when the dean of students stopped by for a morning consultation on curriculum. Her dalliance with Martin had cost her a diploma, and it had changed the way she thought about all men in her life. She’d take a tumble in the sheets if she liked a guy well enough, but she wasn’t about to spend the night. Not when the cost could be so high.

If she could just launch her own restaurant, she wouldn’t have to deal with any of this crap—grabby Throckmorton, the lingering shame of Davies, the frustration of working in someone else’s kitchen, of cooking to someone else’s requirements.

Well, Dustin said gamely. "You don’t know they told the winners on time. Maybe it took them longer to review the applications than they thought it would."

Ashley shook her head. It’s a good thing you’re a great cook, she said. Because you’re a really lousy liar.

One of the waiters spun through the kitchen’s swinging doors. They’re heeere, he chanted, announcing the first paying customers of the evening. Ashley turned her attention to Mangia’s traditional Italian meals, setting aside her dreams of a New Southern feast all of her own making.

Six hours later, Ashley was finally sitting on one of the high barstools at the counter that passed for a table in her own apartment’s kitchen. She’d poured herself a glass of pinot noir and flipped through her mail, which consisted entirely of paper flyers that the mailman shoved into her mailbox. Shaking her head at the ads for products she’d never use, she reached for her laptop.

Sure, she hadn’t had any email when she got home. But that had been fifteen minutes ago. Anything could have come in since then.

There was a message waiting. A message with impossible good news.

She blinked hard and read the words again. Another gulp of pinot, a hard shake of her head. The email stayed the same.

"Congratulations! Wake Up Wake County is inviting you to Round 2 of Who Wears the Apron!"

Ashley glanced at the time on her phone. It was well after midnight. Too late to call any civilized friend. Well, Dustin wasn’t civilized. She punched his number and waited for his weary answer.

I could have sworn we just said goodbye half an hour ago.

She laughed. And I could have sworn you were wide awake, sitting with your feet up on the coffee table, even though you know Sheila would be furious if she was up too. You’re drinking a Blue Moon, and you’re watching porn on your computer.

Ah, friendship, Dustin said. You know me so well. What’s up?

"Listen to this: ‘You are one of ten women competing in our contest, which will air in a series of special segments on our usual morning television show. You have been randomly assigned to present your first dish, which can be any course from any menu, to our judges on Friday, November 14. On that date, our judges will also announce the five men and five women who will move on to Round 3. Please see the attached document for all rules and regulations related to Who Wears the Apron! Congratulations and good luck!’"

Holy shit!

Hush! she said. If you wake Sheila now, she’ll really be pissed.

She’ll be thrilled she gets to share your news!

Yeah, right.

Seriously, Ash. That’s great! What are you going to make for Round 2?

And that was the hundred-thousand dollar question, wasn’t it? What was she going to cook? Any suggestions?

Yeah. He didn’t bother to stifle his yawn I’ll have about a dozen for you. Tomorrow, when I see you at work.

Okay, she said. Be that way.

You’re not going to sleep, are you?

She was already opening up the vast collection of recipes on her computer. Of course I’m going to sleep. It’s late, and work was exhausting!

Don’t try to con a conner. You’ll be up all night, and you’ll be a bitch at work tomorrow.

She laughed. But you’ll love me anyway.

Dustin agreed and signed off, and she dove into her files, trying to find the one dish that would guarantee her victory in Round 2.

Josh Cantor brought his grandmother a fresh old-fashioned. You know, Angel, some people would say it’s too early to be drinking.

She plucked the orange slice from the rim of the glass and ate the juicy triangles of fruit before she used the rind to point at him. "And some would say you’re too young to be correcting your elders. I waited until 5:00 yesterday."

She probably hadn’t. Angel wasn’t remembering things very well these days. At least not the things she didn’t want to remember.

Josh folded himself onto the rattan loveseat. He was sweating like he’d just finished a full workout in the gym at Rockets Field, even though it was the first week of November. His grandmother insisted on outfitting her deck with massive space heaters, the sort that should have been used on a restaurant patio. Angel had lived in Raleigh her entire life, but she still refused to admit that North Carolina experienced winter weather. In fact, Angel refused to admit anything that didn’t agree with her view of right and wrong—a view that was increasingly narrow as she grew more frail.

He passed his grandmother a cut-glass plate with the deep-fried olives he’d made for her that morning. Can I get you anything? he asked. A napkin? Something else to snack on?

Angel cocked her head. With her outrageous flowered scarf wrapped around her forehead, she looked like a pirate with a passion for poppies. "I’ve got a napkin from the first three times you asked, boy. And I don’t need you to fatten me up with anything else. Are you going to ask me for a favor, or just wait for me to doze off so you can take what you want?"

Angel always could see right through him. He looked at his scuffed shoes and wiped his palms against his jeans. Christ. Alzheimer’s or no, she was going to toss him out on his ass if he didn’t man up. He looked her right in the eye and said, Angel, I want your recipe book.

He didn’t just want it. He needed it. He’d gotten the email yesterday—he was one of ten men selected for Who Wears the Apron. The contest couldn’t come at a better time—November was the off-season so he had time to compete, time to fight for the hundred-grand purse and a consultant who could help him turn his dream of a successful investment gig into a reality. But all the time in the world was nothing, if he didn’t have Angel’s recipes to back up his bid for success.

"What are you going to do with a bunch of tidewater receipts?" She plunged her thumb and forefinger into her drink and pulled out the first of the three cherries Josh had given her.

Use them for my restaurant, he mumbled.

What’s that? She put down her glass and eyed him like a fox considering a chicken dinner. I could have sworn you just said you wanted to use Cantor family recipes for that money pit you’re planning.

It’s not a money pit!

How much have you sunk into it so far?

Shit. He was going to lose this argument. But he didn’t have any other option, so he said, It wasn’t my fault the lease fell through.

On how many places?

God, he should have waited until she had a couple more drinks in her. Maybe an entire bottle of whiskey. Three, Angel. But there were circumstances beyond my control. He could recite all the details for her, explain why it was so goddamn hard to set up a restaurant while he was busy with his real job.

But Angel had never followed baseball a day in her life. She didn’t care that he was a Gold Glove third baseman for a team that had missed the playoffs by one game. She didn’t give a damn about his batting average or his on-base percentage. In fact, Angel only cared about one thing, and he was a little surprised she hadn’t mentioned it yet.

Just like it wasn’t your fault that nice girl broke up with you over the summer. You told me she was the one, Josh. You said you were going to marry her.

Ding, ding, ding! Perfect, Angel. I thought we might actually talk for five minutes before you got around to that.

"I thought you

Reviews for Third Degree

[riikkat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my fourth Diamond Brides-book and the series continues to be very enjoyable. Josh and Ashley were both great characters and you really wished all the happiness for them.However, the romance feeled a little rushed again and why on earth (minor spoiler!) do all the books in the series have to end in a proposal! It really isn't very believable.

[mksmith327 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this as an early review book and enjoyed it! It was a quick read with a solid plot. I liked how the perspective flips between the two main characters, Ashley and Josh, to show they are really into each other. Great ending as well.

[clogan19 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is my second book in the Diamond Bride Series, and I have the same feelings for this book as the last, it was a cute quick read, but very predictable lacking any real substance. That being said, I think the books are well written and have the potential to be so much more if their was more depth.

[schmapp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this installment of the Diamond Brides. Ashley is a chef trying to open her own restaurant. She decides to enter a contest on a local tv show. Josh plays for the Raleigh Rockets but also dreams of opening his own restaurant. The two meet and the sparks fly. I loved the chemistry between the characters. This book was a great, light read and I finished it in one sitting.

[judithw536 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a cute story, but very predictable without any unexpected twists or turns. However, it was light reading and a fun story.Josh and Allison were both competing in a cooking contest. They both needed to win the contest in order to secure their future goals. In a nutshell, they are attracted to one another, and end up in a torrid romance. Josh initially uses Allison to appease his grandmother, who wants him in a relationship before she will share her recipes with him. The story goes on from there, and ends, predictably, with the two contestants getting together.This book is well written, but the story lacks substance.

[hellonicole_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm so torn on this Diamond Brides series. For the most part they are quick, enjoyable reads. But they are trending toward overly formulaic, and almost too quick. The characters are thrown together without too much development. You know you're supposed to root for them, but there's not always enough motivation to do so.

[eleasha-8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a good quick read. I liked the story and how it was sweet yet spicy. However I found myself hanging at the end wanting to know what happened with their story in the end. An epilogue would be good.

[gengenbookblog · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book I read in the Diamond Bride Series. I enjoyed it quite a lot. It was fun and quirky and very light to read. Plus, it helped to imagine Josh as Pepe Toth (Daemon Black, anyone?) If you are looking for a fast, enjoyable and funny book, Third Degree is definitely for you.

[lms8esmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have enjoyed all the books in the Diamond Brides series, and this one is no different. I liked getting to know Ashley and Josh, and I was glad that it was the off season for baseball. The cooking contest was a fresh approach, and Angel, despite her dementia, added some comic relief. Is the story short and the reader is left with wanting more? Yes, but Klasky seems to be writing furiously in this series and before I know it, the next story has arrived! Maybe Klasky will provide additional stories to wrap up loose ends, but if not, I'll keep enjoying the happy endings.

[loribivens · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is another great novel from the Diamond Brides series. As much as I really did enjoy the book, I have the same complaints here as I did for the fourth book in the series. The conflict wraps up a bit too conveniently with some questionably realistic resolution, and as this is the second novel I've read from the series, I have noticed a definite formula. Having said that, this novel and the series as a whole are really fun to read. In fact, I would love it if Klasky would extend these and really get into a bit more depth. I would be more than happy to spread these out over more than one sitting!

[medavis66 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once again, a homerun! I love the Diamond Brides series! Not a one of these books has disappointed me. This one was wonderful! I loved the reality cooking show idea. I enjoyed where Josh was getting his inspiration from. While Angel, Josh's grandmother, may have been somewhat misguided, her heart was in the right place. I liked what happened at Mangia. That was an awesome and justified scene. I smiled at Josh and Ashley getting to know one another. I think the end of the game show contest was perfectly executed...and he's safe, safe at third...lol. I can't wait to see what's happening at short!ARC provided in exchange for honest review.

[malin0johanna · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A sweet story about how a couple meet and compete to see who can become the towns masterchef and gets to start their own resturant. During the competition Josh is seeking help from his senile but charming grandmother who in turn blackmails him in hopes that he will find love again.As usual, it's always something and someone that causes trouble, will Ashley and Josh admit their feelings for each other and who will win the race?Good book, easy reading and moderately long.

[crazy4reading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another great story by Mindy Klasky. This time we have Josh Cantor and Ashley Harris as the leads. Ashley is a chef and is trying to open her own restaurant by entering a contest on a local tv show. Josh plays for the Raleigh Rockets and is trying to open his own restaurant too for investment reasons.Ashley and Josh meet at the competition. Josh is only planning to use Ashley to get his grandmother's recipes. His grandmother, Angel told him he had to date the same woman and show proof with pictures. I loved the little teasing each of them do.So who will win the prize of opening a restaurant in the Rocket's stadium after this contest? You have to read Third Degree to find out.

[lulu150 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another really good one by Mindy Klasky! I have been able to read all of the Diamond Brides books and I have enjoyed them all. They are a quick, easy read and full of entertainment! I liked the characters of Ashley and Josh and thought the storyline was good. Cannot wait for the next one!

[ljtljtljt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was selected to read and review a copy of Mindy Klasky's latest book, Third Degree, through LibraryThing. This is book five in the Diamond Brides series and the sixth is being released any day now. Each book focuses upon one of the players from the Raleigh Rockets, a professional baseball team in North Carolina. The two main characters of this story are cooking show competitors, Josh Cantor, the third baseman for the Rockets and Ashley Harris, a professional chef.Josh may be making a lot of money as a pro baseball player, but his ex-wife is the one presently reaping the benefits from his hard work. As an aside to his baseball career, he has always wanted to own a restaurant that features his grandmother's delectable recipes. Unfortunately for Josh, his grandmother is holding the recipes hostage until she is satisfied that he has found his one and only. She agrees to give him one recipe at a time, as long as she gets regular proof that he is dating someone seriously. Josh enters the cooking competition in hopes of making his restaurant dreams a reality, and what he ends up getting is so much more.Ashley loves to cook, and the food that she creates is a work of art. She just lost her job as head chef because she would not let her lewd boss give her a pinch, rub or caress on a daily basis. She is a smart and beautiful woman who just needs a break. Entering and winning the local TV network cooking contest would allow her dream of owning her own restaurant to come true. The grand prize is 100K, in addition to a few other amazing extras, and one just happens to be a hot pro baseball player.I liked Josh and Ashley as individuals, but not as a couple. I did not feel their sizzle and heat when they were together. However, as their relationship evolved, I did enjoy their meaningful friendship. Josh's grandmother is a real trip and knows what she is doing, even as her memories begin to fade. Although this book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone. Overall, this is a solid story, with an entertaining plot, well-developed characters and a nice happily ever after.Complimentary copy received by LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

[krow134 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was another "homerun" for me. I really enjoy reading Mindy's books. This one had to of been my favorite. Thank gosh I was off today cause I stayed up most of the night until I finished this book. Mindy is becoming one of my favorite authors and I look soooo forward to every release she has now. I recommend this and all her other books to anyone who is curious about her. She wont disappoint!!!

[fueledbycoffee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'd like to thank Library Thing's Early Reviewers for this book in lieu of an honest review.I really had to think hard about this review, only because I understand the blood, sweat, and tears that may go into a book and I'm not mean. I'm not. I promise. On books such as this, I usually only star rate a book accordingly and not review but this required a review. Here goes...I have never read this author before but the synopsis looked interesting. Also, the models on the front cover I know as Katy and Daemon from the Lux Series. (cover junkie alert)I think the story could have been far more flushed out beyond the novella size, and certainly not so insta-love for Josh and Ashley. The entire book took place over a few weeks and going from zero, to zero and lust, to anger and immediately HEA with a TV audience? Wholly unbelievable. I also had issue with the writing conventions, commas, and overuse of exclamation points! Every! Other! Page! had a sentence with an exclamation point. Normally, I don't notice this kind of thing, let alone point it out, because I'm not a huge grammar guru or paragon of proper punctuation (Good alliteration, perhaps?). I do know my college prof for English barked at me for two semesters over my comma splices. I digress...Our two main characters, Josh and Ashley, did not have chemistry. I wasn't feeling it. At all. There was no draw other than she was just there. They didn't have witty conversation. No firing barbs back and forth. No meeting of the minds, no commonality other than competitors, or any thought besides, "He's hot." or "She's hot." As for Josh's grandmother, she came across as meddling despite her senility. She wanted him to be happy and decided an ultimatum would encourage him into a long term relationship. Grandma "Angel" barters proof of a relationship in trade for her recipes so Josh can win a local TV cooking competition. I didn't understand his reasoning, that a fellow competitor would be his ideal prospect for love. Wouldn't it occur to him that if she won, he'd lose his dream and possibility of an investment? Or if he won and stole her dream of a restaurant that she wouldn't want to be around him?When Josh embarrassed Ashley in front of a TV camera, via Grandma's innocent surprise TV appearance and loose-lipped admissions, it made Ashley look like a whore. Any emotionally intelligent female wouldn't agree to marry the man the next time she sees him. Is it no surprise the woman he "loves" after just weeks of knowing each other, wants nothing more than to put his head in the nearest meat grinder? The hardest thing to wrap my brain around is when he finally sees her again he proposes to her on TV. This is a good idea?Lastly, it was apparent that Josh loved to cook, despite his job as a professional baseball player. How is it that as an adult he doesn't have one single recipe from Grandma Angel's coveted family cookbook (passed down through the ages)? He never once cooked from it even though he knew what recipes she had? Even though he loved to cook? Overall, I felt the story could have been fleshed out to be more believable. Characters needed depth beyond what the reader is given. Writing conventions could easily be improved. My only consolation was that story itself was a quick read, only 115 pgs.

[ashpreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Though this book is filled with humor and witty dialogue, I felt that the storyline was a bit rushed. Other than that, it was a fun read and I found myself giggling aloud many times.

[mandygirl.10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I received a copy of this book as part of the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an unbiased review. Brief plot spoilers may follow.*Summary:Ashley Harris is a jaded chef who enters a local cooking competition where the winning prize is enough capital for her to achieve her dream of opening her own restaurant. Stuck in a job where she constantly has to ward off a handsy manager, she really needs this risk to pay off. Her real piece of competition comes in the form of hunky Josh Cantor, a baseball player who also has a lot to lose by not winning the competition. His grandmother Angel is battling Alzheimer’s and steadily getting worse, but she is very adamant during her lucid moments that she’d love to have a great-grandchild before the dementia fully sets in. Josh too is jaded, from a mismatched marriage and awful divorce, and has sworn off the idea of falling in love again. But Angel drives a hard bargain: Josh must find love again, and for every photograph she sees of the new couple, she’ll hand over one of the recipes in the cookbook Josh covets so much. Josh agrees to the bargain, but as he begins to fall for Ashley, he realizes he made a mistake. Will Josh's deception cost him both the competition and Ashley's affections?My thoughts:Ashley and Josh were just about all of my favorite parts of Third Degree. I was really pleased with the fact that Josh wasn’t the normal alpha male type that I usually see in these books. He wasn’t overly confident, didn’t see himself as being above everyone, and while he gave off the detached, smooth vibe he was actually very observant and not without a conscience. I liked that he immediately bristled about having to potentially trick both his grandmother and Ashley, instead of not thinking about it at all until he’d fallen in love with her. I thought Ashley was a normal girl in all the right ways, not too tough that she needed to be brought down a notch, but not ready to dissolve at the first sign of trouble. She had a reasonable (and understandable) amount of hang-ups and even though we didn’t get to find out details about either of their families (which I wouldn’t have minded), I feel like we were still given a good sense of who both characters were. I felt like I understood their motivations, a good chunk of the reason why they became who they were, and I liked that they both had at least one good person on their sides. I liked the way that the plot unfolded. I didn’t feel like there were too many contrived scenes, save for the ending, but I liked that I could understand how events and situations could come to pass instead of them just popping up out of nowhere. I also liked how the conflict was brought out in the open; I never would have expected it. I was halfway expecting someone to hack into Josh’s phone and a public scandal to erupt so I was pleasantly surprised when that didn’t happen. I think this book had probably the most unconventional phone sex scene that I’ve ever read, and at first I thought it was going to end up creepy but it was quite intriguing. Another thing that I liked was that the food got its shine as well. It wasn’t a book about food and romance where food takes the backseat. It had a prominent part in this book and I appreciated that attention to even the details. As for things that I was not so fond of, even though I thought the ending was creative, it did seem a little rushed. It would have been nice to see how everything played out with both Ashley and Angel; I didn’t feel like there was ever a proper conversation to resolve the conflict. It would have been nice to see how Josh’s plans changed as a result of what he did for Ashley or how he explained his actions to her. There were a few grammatical errors but nothing too large. I kind of wish that there was a bit more attention to the baseball, more so Josh’s attitude towards it. Even though this is touted as a baseball romance, it rather than the food takes a backseat to the rest of the story. Overall I don’t have too many complaints with the book. I thought everything was well-written, descriptive enough for the reader to understand everything that was going on, and a simple plot/writing style that still had the ability to be thorough. I liked the mix of smaller characters, loved the main two, and I actually enjoyed that there wasn’t a heavy dose of vulgarity in the sex scenes. This from a chick who reads erotica on the daily. LOL Anyway, I really enjoyed Third Degree and I’m looking forward to checking out more books in the series!

[kmt01_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute predictable romance story of how two people compete to win a chef’s competition. Josh is a professional baseball player, but dreams of opening a restaurant of his own, serving food based on his grandmother’s recipes—which she will dole out to him one at a time during the competition, a long she can see evidence of an on-going, promising relationship with a woman—she desperately wants a new grandchild before she dies, and her health is failing. Ashley loves cooking but despises her lecherous boss and the moves he keeps trying on her. Both are determined to win the competition. When they get together, sparks fly between them, but, as competitive and determined as they are, they hold back their emotions, devoting all their efforts toward the competition. How does all this turn out? Who wins the competition? The author has woven a predicable but enchanting story around this angle I enjoyed reading about the two key characters and the many twists and turns of the competition and their relationship. The story is not very long and drawn out, but short and sweet. I have read others in this series, and, while this one was quite well done, it is not my favorite. I think the predictability got to me. Still, it is still another good summer or anytime read for someone looking for something light and easy. I received this from Library Thing to read and review.

[ash_p-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Though this book is filled with humor and witty dialogue, I felt that the storyline was a bit rushed. Other than that, it was a fun read and I found myself giggling aloud many times.