Review: "The First Taste" by Annah Conwell

The First Taste by Annah Conwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Chef Sophie Cunningham and orthopedic surgeon Bennett St. James have been best friends since they were in kindergarten. There's never been anything romantic between them, though secretly, Bennett has wanted to be more than friends ever since returning to Georgia after years away at school and seeing Sophie in a different light. The problem is that she's always had a boyfriend - until now.

After getting dumped on Christmas Eve, Sophie makes a pact with her roommate MJ to stay single for an entire year. The plan starts to fall apart when Sophie's wealthy mother demands that she attend several charity events with her, offering to set up meetings with investors if she does. It's a great opportunity for Sophie to get the funds she needs to expand her food truck business, but her mother insists that Sophie must have a "suitable" date for each event. In fact, she's threatened to find a man for her if Sophie can't do it herself. Knowing that his family has exactly the kind of connections her mother wants, Bennett volunteers to be Sophie's fake date. It's the only way around the one-year dating ban, and he's not willing to wait to prove that they can be more than friends.

I loved how cute and playful Sophie and Bennett were with each other, as expressed through their witty banter and the pranks Sophie often played on Bennett. My favorite was when she surprised him with a Nerf battle because they'd both been stressed and needed to blow off some steam. That said, as much as I liked them as a couple, I felt like their story was a bit lacking in conflict. They had a few individual/internal conflicts to resolve, but once they got together, there weren't really any obstacles or challenges for them to overcome as a couple. (That's not a bad thing, and I'm sure it's a me problem more than anything else.)

My other (small) issue with the story was that the timeline didn't make sense in terms of how old they were. For Bennett to be a fully qualified orthopedic surgeon, they'd have to be older. At 26, he'd barely be starting his residency, and there's no possible way he'd be qualified to work as the head of orthopedics for a major university. I don't think he'd even have the board certifications required to practice without supervision.

Overall, despite those few issues, I enjoyed this story and would recommend it for fans of the friends to lovers trope. It was the first book I've read from this author, but it won't be the last.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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