Scrumptious had the potential to be a fun, sexy romance. I don't normally read romance novels where food is a big part of the plot, but I decided to give Scrumptious a chance because of the blurb and the cover. I really wanted to like this book but I had serious issues with two of the main characters and these issues ruined the book for me.Marlene has been working at Chameleon since she was teen alongside her best friend, Olivia. Olivia's family owns the restaurant and took Marlene under their wing. While Olivia was off at culinary school for two years, Marlene ran Chameleon. Olivia then marries Keith and makes him the chef and to be in charge of the line, in essence exiling Marlene to the bake shop. When Olivia catches Keith cheating on the premises with an employee, she immediately fires him (even though he has been a total screw up since he got the chef gig at Chameleon). Olivia calls her good friend, Joe, and asks him to temporarily be chef while she looks for one to replace Keith. When Marlene and Joe are introduced, there's instant chemistry. Marlene wants to take a tumble with Joe but Joe is interested but doesn't want to give in. He made a promise to his dying mother that he will no longer date "sluts." And this is where Scrumptious started to lose me.The ongoing theme throughout Scrumptious is the huge double standard. Joe is an admitted "man whore" who prefers one-night stands to relationships. Thanks to her daddy issues and a mother who is looking for husband #5, Marlene doesn't want to be in a relationship. She is a sexual woman, is confident in her sexuality and makes no apologies for it. But throughout Scrumptious, she is thought of by Joe and others as a slut. This thoroughly disgusted me the entire I was reading it. In a lot of romances, the heroine is always borderline virginal. She always has a "healthy sexual appetite" but hasn't slept with anyone in over a year. Ummm...that is not a healthy sexual appetite in my book. I was happy to finally see a heroine like Marlene who doesn't apologize for wanting what she wants. Of course, her behavior has to be explained by saying she's this way because of her parents. I guess an excuse has to be provided to make her "sluttiness" more palatable.Olivia has to be the worse best friend ever. Marlene has continually had Olivia's back and covered her ass and yet Olivia has no appreciation for what Marlene has done for her. When weird things start happening at Chameleon, Olivia and Joe immediately point the finger at Marlene. Yes, Marlene did play a joke on Joe and admitted she wasn't happy that he was there but she owned up to it. Marlene denied being behind the sabotaging that was happening at Chameleon but neither Joe nor Olivia believed her. I can understand Joe not believing her but I was shocked that Olivia thought that her best friend was behind it. Again, Marlene has had Olivia's back and continued to have Olivia's back even though she was being treated the way she was.At one point in Scrumptious, Olivia tells Marlene to be a big girl. I found this laughable because Olivia has no business running a restaurant because she is weak and has no spine. She doesn't know how to handle a crisis and Marlene and Joe had to constantly save her ass and tell her to buck up. She couldn't even acknowledge the fact that Keith was an incompetent chef and that he needed to be fired a long time ago. Why Marlene continued to be that woman's friend is beyond me. The friendship was one-sided, for sure.Scrumptious wasn't a total loss. I loved the detailed descriptions of the food and the work that went into preparing a dish. The attention to detail was great without weighing the story down. I did enjoy Joe and Marlene's relationship when he wasn't constantly reminding himself about his "no sluts" rule. If that aspect had been left out, I would have liked Joe more. Again, huge hypocrite since he dips his peen in the strange pool frequently. I felt that Marlene got the short end of the stick and should have told Joe and Olivia to kiss her butt.Scrumptious wasn't the book for me. My dislike of Joe and Olivia ruined the book for me. I was hoping that there would be some redemption for Olivia but it came too little, too late. Joe redeemed himself a little but not enough for me to want to see him and Marlene together. In a romance, you want to root for the h/h to be together but in this book, I couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for Joe and Marlene's HEA.
