Reinventing Ruby — Deborah Blake

The author of the “wonderful” (Tamora Pierce) Baba Yaga novels and Dangerously Charming is back with something completely different, but totally enchanting.

Ruby Tate is a cautious and controlled woman; her only passions are cooking and her restaurant, Jewels. Unless you count the uncharacteristic one-night stand she had with a charming stranger the night of her sister's bachelorette party. And she doesn't. After all, she got out of his bed the next morning and returned to her real life -- dealing with a failing restaurant, a not-so-silent silent partner, and a difficult family. And now there's this new problem, like a ticking time bomb hiding beneath her white chef's jacket.

Jonathan Gautier is a rising star in the culinary world. With three successful restaurants, a best-selling cookbook, and a new television show, he should be happy, but after six months on the road filming Seven Worth Saving and working in everyone's kitchens but his own, Jonathan is burned-out and uninspired. The closest thing he's had to a social life was one amazing night with a woman whose name he isn't even sure of. All he wants is to wrap up this last episode and get back to his own kitchen. Maybe there he'll be able to recapture his love of cooking, because if he can't, he doesn't know what on earth he'll do with his life.

When Jonathan walks into Jewels, Ruby is horrified. She can't believe that the famous chef who is her only hope for saving her restaurant is the man who gave her the best night of her life, and a little something extra. All she wants now is for him to help her save her dreams -- and then go away. But Jonathan has other ideas. Lots of other ideas; most of which involve Ruby, food, and nakedness. And Jonathan didn't get to be the success that he is by taking “no” for an answer. Together, they must find a way to save Jewels, even if that means completely Reinventing Ruby.