I'm a food geek that loves to cook so this gem was right up my alley. I found both men to be ward and endearing. The story was fairly drama free and easy to read as long as the reader is a cooking devotee. ( )

Chef in the Wild is the first book in the ‘Sizzling in the Kitchen’ series. It stars two chefs, Baldwin ‘Pete’ Powell, and Murphy Haynes. The story is told in third person from both Baldwin and Pete’s povs.



I’ve lately started rating covers first. This one is okay. What I like the most, is the title, ‘Chef in the Wild’. It represents the blog that Baldwin writes.

The plot is about two chefs that took different directions in their life. They both are highly skilled. Baldwin continued on to run the kitchen at a Michelin starred restaurant, while Murphy hated working in one, and went out on his own by purchasing a food truck and creating sophisticated food wraps. The plot is highly character driven. The men meet after Baldwin is fired from his job. Murphy is his own boss and can pick his food routes, one being around the corner from Baldwin’s residence. He’s basically, sort of, stalking Baldwin, hoping that the chef will someday stop by his food truck, which he eventually does. From there, a long ‘getting to know you’ starts to take place. The story and relationship evolved over about a year and a half, and there are quite a few time jumps in between events. I don’t usually like time jumps, but in this case they weren’t too obvious, and it was necessary since most of the time Baldwin’s and Murph’s lives were ordinary, except when an event happened that changed them or affected their relationship.

One of the things I didn’t like, was this story does not fill up the book one hundred percent. This particular story ends at about the eighty percent mark, then is followed with a long preview of Book Two in the series, and then some more blurbs about additional books in the series and other random books. I would’ve preferred a longer epilogue, because it was rather short. The second thing I didn’t like about the story, is that the two characters don’t meet until about twenty to twenty-five percent into the book. The first quarter of the book, are scenes of each of their different lives and what is happening to them. The only way they come together is when Murphy talks about Baldwin to his roommate, Scooter, who is also a chef. The news about Baldwin losing his job is all around town in their career, and Murph admits he stops his truck near Baldwin’s apartments. That’s the closest they come to meeting for the first quarter. I would’ve preferred they met sooner, but the pre-meet-cute scenes, were interesting enough so I didn’t stop reading, and they helped lay the groundwork for the life situations of each character.


Chef Baldwin Powell is fired from his job because his boss implies Baldwin’s work is ‘tired and stale’. The extra bad part is the person taking over Baldwin’s job is a chef named Jake, who Baldwin absolutely hates. Baldwin hides out in his home, he’s clearly depressed and can’t shake himself out of his deep pit. And, he’s lost his interest in cooking or creating. His family in Vermont want him to come home for the Christmas holiday and he does. It’s the first time he’s felt happy in a long time. He’s interested in cooking with his family. Baldwin and his family are very close. He loves Vermont and starts to think about whether he should move back, but decides it’s too soon, it would be like running away, so he sticks it out in NYC a bit longer. I liked Baldwin. I could believe in the natural progression of moving from depression into finally starting to develop interest in life again. Baldwin seemed like a nice guy, although a bit wary of trusting anyone, and at times so excited about new possibilities, he’d jump to do it before thinking about the effect it may have on other people. He is a man of vision, which probably is part of why he’s an excellent chef. After the trip home, Baldwin started to re-evaluate his life, find out what he wanted to do with it. First he decides to walk around more, and he meets Murphy and his, ‘That’s a Wrap!’ truck, which Baldwin snobbishly thinks serves soggy lettuce and mushy tomatoes.

Murphy used to work in a ritzy restaurant, but hated it. Instead of quitting, he ran away with his ex-boyfriend to Los Angeles, where he hated it there to, and they broke up and he ran away again back to NYC. So Murph has some baggage that he’s not really that open with talking to Baldwin about, even though Baldwin talks to Murphy. Baldwin steps into a few landmines that catch him completely off guard. Murphy is very happy with his food truck. When Baldwin finally stops by one day, Murph flirts outrageously with him trying to get him to try a food wrap. Baldwin doesn’t the first day, but he does eventually, and he can’t stop from coming back again because Murphy is a talented chef, and Murphy’s personality brightens Baldwin’s day. What I didn’t like about Murphy is that anytime the two men had an argument, Murph ran away and gave Baldwin the cold shoulder. He’d later apologize and says, ‘That’s not me.’ I vehemently dislike whenever a person says that, because yes, it is. The person wouldn’t have said or done that thing if it wasn’t such an easy, automatic response. Murph has a history of running away from things he doesn’t like, as readers find out in the story.

What I found interesting about the characters, was how the author had the two men come from different directions. Not just their food backgrounds and what they currently did when the story opens, but how they handle the stresses and problems of life and relationships. Baldwin is from Vermont, moved to NYC and feels drawn back home ready to start anew. Murphy, born in the city and his family is leaving NYC and he hates it. He is intolerant and resists any idea of moving to Florida with his parents, or to Vermont when Baldwin asks him to. At the beginning of the book, it appears as if Murph is the easy-going person and Baldwin is stiff, stuck in a rut. It turns out that Baldwin is okay with changing, trying new things, looking forward in life. While Murph is scared, unwilling to rely or work with anyone. He wants everything to remain static. Murph turns out to be the one with more issues than Baldwin, and I didn’t care for Murphy all that much as the story evolves and we get to know him. Despite my lack of love for Murphy, the author did a good job of making the two men a convincing couple I could believe in.

I absolutely loved the food descriptions and the meals over food. Books containing chefs, cooks, and cooking are some of the genres I love to read the most, so Chef in the Wild really hit the spot in delivering a fantastic foodie read. I enjoyed Baldwin, not so much Murphy, the character development, and the food. If you love food, you’ll probably like this story too. It’s a no angst, quick read. I give this book, 4 Stars.

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Reposting my review because it looks like it got wiped out for some reason.

Chef in the Wild is the first book in the ‘Sizzling in the Kitchen’ series. It stars two chefs, Baldwin ‘Pete’ Powell, and Murphy Haynes. The story is told in third person from both Baldwin and Pete’s povs.



I’ve lately started rating covers first. This one is okay. What I like the most, is the title, ‘Chef in the Wild’. It represents the blog that Baldwin writes.

The plot is about two chefs that took different directions in their life. They both are highly skilled. Baldwin continued on to run the kitchen at a Michelin starred restaurant, while Murphy hated working in one, and went out on his own by purchasing a food truck and creating sophisticated food wraps. The plot is highly character driven. The men meet after Baldwin is fired from his job. Murphy is his own boss and can pick his food routes, one being around the corner from Baldwin’s residence. He’s basically, sort of, stalking Baldwin, hoping that the chef will someday stop by his food truck, which he eventually does. From there, a long ‘getting to know you’ starts to take place. The story and relationship evolved over about a year and a half, and there are quite a few time jumps in between events. I don’t usually like time jumps, but in this case they weren’t too obvious, and it was necessary since most of the time Baldwin’s and Murph’s lives were ordinary, except when an event happened that changed them or affected their relationship.

One of the things I didn’t like, was this story does not fill up the book one hundred percent. This particular story ends at about the eighty percent mark, then is followed with a long preview of Book Two in the series, and then some more blurbs about additional books in the series and other random books. I would’ve preferred a longer epilogue, because it was rather short. The second thing I didn’t like about the story, is that the two characters don’t meet until about twenty to twenty-five percent into the book. The first quarter of the book, are scenes of each of their different lives and what is happening to them. The only way they come together is when Murphy talks about Baldwin to his roommate, Scooter, who is also a chef. The news about Baldwin losing his job is all around town in their career, and Murph admits he stops his truck near Baldwin’s apartments. That’s the closest they come to meeting for the first quarter. I would’ve preferred they met sooner, but the pre-meet-cute scenes, were interesting enough so I didn’t stop reading, and they helped lay the groundwork for the life situations of each character.


Chef Baldwin Powell is fired from his job because his boss implies Baldwin’s work is ‘tired and stale’. The extra bad part is the person taking over Baldwin’s job is a chef named Jake, who Baldwin absolutely hates. Baldwin hides out in his home, he’s clearly depressed and can’t shake himself out of his deep pit. And, he’s lost his interest in cooking or creating. His family in Vermont want him to come home for the Christmas holiday and he does. It’s the first time he’s felt happy in a long time. He’s interested in cooking with his family. Baldwin and his family are very close. He loves Vermont and starts to think about whether he should move back, but decides it’s too soon, it would be like running away, so he sticks it out in NYC a bit longer. I liked Baldwin. I could believe in the natural progression of moving from depression into finally starting to develop interest in life again. Baldwin seemed like a nice guy, although a bit wary of trusting anyone, and at times so excited about new possibilities, he’d jump to do it before thinking about the effect it may have on other people. He is a man of vision, which probably is part of why he’s an excellent chef. After the trip home, Baldwin started to re-evaluate his life, find out what he wanted to do with it. First he decides to walk around more, and he meets Murphy and his, ‘That’s a Wrap!’ truck, which Baldwin snobbishly thinks serves soggy lettuce and mushy tomatoes.

Murphy used to work in a ritzy restaurant, but hated it. Instead of quitting, he ran away with his ex-boyfriend to Los Angeles, where he hated it there to, and they broke up and he ran away again back to NYC. So Murph has some baggage that he’s not really that open with talking to Baldwin about, even though Baldwin talks to Murphy. Baldwin steps into a few landmines that catch him completely off guard. Murphy is very happy with his food truck. When Baldwin finally stops by one day, Murph flirts outrageously with him trying to get him to try a food wrap. Baldwin doesn’t the first day, but he does eventually, and he can’t stop from coming back again because Murphy is a talented chef, and Murphy’s personality brightens Baldwin’s day. What I didn’t like about Murphy is that anytime the two men had an argument, Murph ran away and gave Baldwin the cold shoulder. He’d later apologize and says, ‘That’s not me.’ I vehemently dislike whenever a person says that, because yes, it is. The person wouldn’t have said or done that thing if it wasn’t such an easy, automatic response. Murph has a history of running away from things he doesn’t like, as readers find out in the story.

What I found interesting about the characters, was how the author had the two men come from different directions. Not just their food backgrounds and what they currently did when the story opens, but how they handle the stresses and problems of life and relationships. Baldwin is from Vermont, moved to NYC and feels drawn back home ready to start anew. Murphy, born in the city and his family is leaving NYC and he hates it. He is intolerant and resists any idea of moving to Florida with his parents, or to Vermont when Baldwin asks him to. At the beginning of the book, it appears as if Murph is the easy-going person and Baldwin is stiff, stuck in a rut. It turns out that Baldwin is okay with changing, trying new things, looking forward in life. While Murph is scared, unwilling to rely or work with anyone. He wants everything to remain static. Murph turns out to be the one with more issues than Baldwin, and I didn’t care for Murphy all that much as the story evolves and we get to know him. Despite my lack of love for Murphy, the author did a good job of making the two men a convincing couple I could believe in.

I absolutely loved the food descriptions and the meals over food. Books containing chefs, cooks, and cooking are some of the genres I love to read the most, so Chef in the Wild really hit the spot in delivering a fantastic foodie read. I enjoyed Baldwin, not so much Murphy, the character development, and the food. If you love food, you’ll probably like this story too. It’s a no angst, quick read. I give this book, 4 Stars.

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