Tacos for Two by Betsy St. Amant: Meeting someone online always works out, right? What if the 
person is also your biggest competition for a make-or-break situation? For Rory, she falls in love with StrongerMan99 online way before she ends up entering the Food Truck Competition. She tries to keep things very vague for him to not know who she is, and vice versa he does the same. They build a strong connection by being able to be honest with each other and not judged for their looks (but obviously they’re both gorgeous because who wouldn’t expect that?) but it’s tested when Rory meets Jude.
Jude is part of the family business at the beginning. They have a multi-generational family law firm, but Jude’s heart isn’t in it anymore. That’s why he’s been putting off taking the bar exam. Instead, he wants to focus on his love for cooking embedded in him from a young age. Throughout his conversations with ColorMeTurquoise, he learns that he decides that he wants to be happy. When he approaches his dad and brother with his idea of a food truck, it turns into a bet. If Jude can win the food truck contest, he is free of his duties to become a lawyer, but if he loses, he must take the bar exam and join the family business.
Jude hires Rory to teach him how to cook better (even though she can’t cook herself) and blindsides her when he enters the food truck contest as her competition. Even though they confide in each other (as StrongerMan99 and ColorMeTurquoise) about their interactions (as Jude and Rory), it takes awhile for them to put together the pieces and even when you think you have the book figured out, it takes more turns.
Overall, I think that Rory and Jude both overcame personal difficulties and went through a lot of growth. They both thought they wanted their lives to end up a certain way, but because of the twists the books gave us, they go through a roller coaster. Rory had a lot to learn about herself and she explored it completely through her online and in person interactions with Jude and the rest of the cast of characters. She found herself and her calling.
Jude started off with complete animosity towards his family, which is understandable when you read about his family. By standing up for himself, he learns what matter most to him. He also chooses to focus on not just the family as his father has. It is great to see him learn how to be his own person.
Overall, the book is written really well, and I loved the twists. Every time that I thought the book was almost done, it wasn’t and I wanted more. It kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next. And it wasn’t just with Rory and Jude. I became invested in everyone in the story, but I also felt that the focus was enough to understand how each of the characters played into Rory and Jude’s story.
Book Info:
Publication: 10/12/2021 | Revell |
Rory Perez, a food truck owner who can’t cook, is struggling to keep the business she inherited from her aunt out of the red–and an upcoming contest during Modest’s annual food truck festival seems the best way to do it. The prize money could finally give her a solid financial footing and keep her cousin with special needs paid up at her beloved assisted living home. Then maybe Rory will have enough time to meet the man she’s been talking to via an anonymous online dating site.
Jude Strong is tired of being a puppet at his manipulative father’s law firm, and the food truck festival seems like the perfect opportunity to dive into his passion for cooking and finally call his life his own. But if he loses the contest, he’s back at the law firm for good. Failure is not an option.
Complications arise when Rory’s chef gets mono and she realizes she has to cook after all. Then Jude discovers that his stiffest competition is the same woman he’s been falling for online the past month.
Will these unlikely chefs sacrifice it all for the sake of love? Or will there only ever be tacos for one?
