- Release Date: August 24th, 2010
- Pages: 224
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
- Publisher: Kimani Romance ( Harlequin)
Farrah Rochon’s Huddle With Me Tonight is about what happens when book reviewer, Paige Turner, collides with professional football player Torian Smallwood after she writes a less than glowing review of his debut memoir/cookbook.
Torian makes the mistake of taking his frustration to the internet, and not just the internet. . . the comment section. Soon all of New York City is in enthralled in the battle between Torian and Paige.
If you’ve been involved in the book blogging community you know there can be some blogger vs. author drama and the way Paige and Torian initially interact is how I imagine this kind of drama would really go down. It had everything from responding to negative comments, authors thinking bloggers are attacking them and mixed messages.
What was great about the review that starts this incident is there is no obvious right or wrong. I totally understood why Paige didn’t like certain parts and I also understood how Torian as a content creator got upset having a book that is so personal be criticized.
I liked Paige’s confidence in her opinion and review of the book, even as things heat up between her and Torian she never took anything she said back and stands by her review.
“I don’t have anything against you,” Paige insisted. “My review was not personal. When I read a book, or see a show, or eat at a restaurant, I have a certain set of criteria in mind, and your book did not live up to those criteria. It’s as simple as that.”
Food and cooking plays a big part in this book as Torian and Page get to know each other. I think Rochon did a good job of writing cooking “scenes” , I liked that she kept it brief and it wasn’t like I was reading a cookbook. From what I’ve read a lot of her other other books feature food and I wonder if she has like companion recipes ?
By the end of the book the characters are in very different places then when they started. During the course of the book they both come to turning points in their careers where Torian could lose everything and Paige could take the next big step. I would have loved to follow their journey and seen their development for 100 more pages, but due to the length of the book it was all quickly wrapped up.
I would have also liked learning more about Paige’s past. I also felt like something was happening with Torian’s sister and troublesome nephew, but it looks like they have their own book.
I stumbled across Farrah Rochon after hearing her honest and insightful interview on the Dear Bitches, Smart Authors romance podcast , where she gives her personal experience to the diversity issues in romance and the not so surprising truth about what certain covers can do for a book. It’s a great listen and I recommend checking it out here.
