Book Review – The Difference Between Us by Rachel Higginson

The Difference Between Us: An Opposites Attract Novel
Another fantastic installment in this super-funny, butterfly-inducing, realistic series about love, master chefs and the restaurants (or food trucks ) they run.

They can be read as a standalones but I urge you to read them in order, because each book features characters from past (and future) installments, and we get to know them more and more (and get even more attached to them as real people) as the series progresses.

Courtney: I just finished the difference between us and I loved it! This series is so good! Can’t wait for Wyatt and kaya’s book!!!

Melinda: Maryse I really loved the book by Rachel Higginson ” The opposite of you”. Could not put it down.

Dawne: The opposite of you was THE BOMB!!!! Now I’m excited!!!

Jennie: Just finished the first one and loved it!!! So reading this one too!!!

Renee: I just finished book 2 also! As much as I loved the first book, I loved The Difference Between Us a million times better! Loved Molly and Ezra and can’t wait to read more about them and Wyatt in book 3!

Teri: I just finished The Difference Between Us by Rachel Higginson and it was fantastic. I smiled the entire way through.

Hard-a$$ culinary experts that are obsessed with being the best, hitting the highest standards, creating the most decadent foods… all while unexpectedly finding love. And I LOVE that! There is just something about reading about the competitive spirit of these characters, and yet bonding so intensely (especially since they started out as frenemies). It makes the “getting there” that much more fun. These books indulge us in the most ultimate of slow burns. Plus, I’m always drooling over the amazing descriptions of the food they come up with, and since I’m a total Cooking Channel addict (and have discovered my own love of cooking), I feel like I’m right at home!

What I especially love is that (at least so far), we live strictly through the eyes of the heroine, and therefore get to indulge in being “her” with all of the insecurities, and surprises that comes with falling in love with a hard-to-love man. Essentially, an unattainable well known “jerk-face”.

“…You’re not allowed in my kitchen during business hours, Molly. You don’t work here. I need you to leave.”

Shame and embarrassment attacked in unison, spiraling through me until I wanted to call off the entire party.

And being the heroine, we also get to be a part of her real life, separate from the romance story, uncovering her past, and all that makes her who she is now. All of her personal triumphs and tribulations, and let me tell you… BOTH heroines in book #1 & #2 are very believable. The writing, the journey, the side characters, the dialogue (and hilarious banter)…

Feeling out of place while the siblings bickered over flowers I took a small step to the side.

“I’ll just… I’m going over… somewhere else.” I pointed across the room.

…will have you feeling as if you’re hanging out with your best friends, or wishing, at least, that you were a part of their group.  There’s no forcing the story, here. It flows as if it’s happening in real life, and you totally forget you’re reading.

So what’s this one about? Okay, remember Vera’s best friend, Molly, from the first book? The graphic design artist with an incredible talent for painting that was also helping Vera during her early super-busy gourmet food truck startup? And remember Ezra (Ezra Baptiste, who signs off as “EFB”), the famous, super-rich restauranteur that is best friends with Killian (the Head Chef of his 5-star restaurant) that would competitively tangle with Molly and Vera? Tee hee!!! That was SO fun.

I pondered what the F could possibly stand for while my stubborn will fought career-obsessed butterflies in a battle for power.

Francis?

Frederick?

Fitzgerald?

Ferret?

Ezra F*cking Baptiste? I wouldn’t put it past him.

LOL!!!!!!! Oh I wouldn’t either.

Okay… and remember how Molly (her best friend) and Ezra (his best friend) didn’t get along, because she didn’t cow to the usual “yes-men” mentality that surrounds him, and told him what she thought of his poor social media and web site presence? LOL!!! Well in this one, he’s making her put her money where her mouth is, and he hires her. Oh she doesn’t want to. After all, Ezra is intimidating, and Molly has no qualms with letting him know he scares her.

“You make me nervous.”

His concentrated gaze found mine. “Why?”

Oh, how to answer that loaded question. I tilted my head to the side, my long hair fell over my shoulder and I confessed, “Probably because the first time we met, you told me my style was juvenile at best.”

I LOVE that about her characters. She’s talented, she’s independent and yet, she’s also vulnerable and doesn’t put up a front about it. I felt so much like I could connect to her personality. Just like that of Vera’s. So anyway… she refuses. ABSOLUTELY NOT. And anyway, she’s just gotten a spot on a top project at the graphic design firm she works at, and wants to remain focused since this is her break-out chance to be at the top of her industry.

I was just grateful to have a seat at the table.

I was the youngest designer at twenty-seven working at a cutthroat graphic design company and didn’t have a ton of perks. My coworkers resented me, my clients underestimated me, and my boss barely remembered that I wasn’t his secretary.

But Ezra NEVER takes no for an answer. What does he do? I’ll let you find out the rest. It’s SO good, because not only is it a tussle between the two main characters (and don’t even get me started on Molly’s hilarious cooking scene * snort* OMG I STILL giggle to myself on that one), but Molly is also struggling with her attraction to a man that intimidates her,

I felt like throwing back my head and screaming at the top of my lungs, Fine, I’m attracted to him! Are you happy now?

It was yet to be determined exactly who I would be yelling at. The universe? God? Cupid? It didn’t matter. Whoever they were, they were to blame for this inconvenient attraction to one of the world’s tersest men.

Yep. Tersest.

…while also struggling with some personal and career issues in her personal life.

Oh, how I desperately wanted to be tough, to stand up for myself with steely grit and relentless mettle. I would watch movies about girl fighters or women overcoming immense odds, and would pep-talk myself into believing I could be one of them. I would practice imaginary conversations in the shower, coming up with the best comebacks.

But then something like this would happen and instead of evolving into the empowered, tenacious, take-on-the-world boss-bitch I knew that I was, this wimpy, pathetic version of myself would emerge instead.

The tears were just the icing on the tragic cake.

THIS!! I so “get” her.

And we get to experience all of that too (some sad… some infuriating… some scary). Yep. There’s so much more to these stories than just the romance, but OH how that love story blossoms, and everything together makes these books so fulfilling.

So while my favorite is still book #1 (I dunno… to me, cooking gourmet food in a food truck across from the city’s 5-star restaurant with the most arrogant chef) was just so delightfully nerve-wracking that I ate that one up (and boy do I wish Vera’s food truck was near me. I’d eat all that up, too. LOL!!!) Er… I digress. What I was trying to say was… I LOVED THIS ONE TOO!!!

4.5 stars <— I still think back to so many scenes, even days after, that had me giggling, or just plain had my heart!

P.S. Here is the Rachel Higginson – Opposites Attract Series Reading Order AND!!! Here is my review of book #1 ➔ Book Review – The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson

P.P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy. I can’t WAIT for book #3!!! Back in the competitive kitchen!! BRING IT!!! YAY ME!!!!

Tagged as: 4.5 stars, contemporary romance, Rachel Higginson