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Hot Sauce
Author: Scott & ScottISBN: 0-446-69431-2
Brad Drake is a young, successful restaurateur. He runs three popular upscale restaurants and is about to open his fourth in a hip, cutting-edge club he's starting with his boyfriend, fashion designer extraordinaire, Troy Boston. Even though Brad and Troy have been together for two years, they've never said I love you to one another -- a fact that leaves Brad a little uneasy. To complicate matters, Troy's mother hates Brad. She thinks he's beneath her beloved son, and loves to torture and belittle Brad every chance she gets.
Enter Aria Shakespeare, a beautiful enigma from Troy's past. He claims he and Troy are having an affair, but Troy denies it. Who is telling the truth? And can their relationship survive all the turmoil?
I'd read one of real-life partners Scott & Scott's previous books in their Romentics series, Spare Parts, and enjoyed it, so I went into Hot Sauce with high hopes. After all, they're enjoying amazing success with their line of romance novels written specifically for gay men, including a huge feature article in the New York Times. Their previous books were self-published by their own imprint, Romentics, but Hot Sauce is their first book released by a major publisher. I had every reason to expect great things from the book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.
I found the characters, most of which seemed more like caricatures, to be annoying and unrealistic. They were all impossibly beautiful and phenomenally successful. Most of them tended to be very one dimensional. I couldn't relate or connect to any of them. I just didn't care whether or not Brad and Troy's relationship would survive.
Then there were the stereotypes: Brad is a chef, Troy is a fashion designer, Aria is an event planner. One of the things I enjoyed most about Spare Parts was the fact that one of the main characters was a mechanic, a non-stereotypical profession for a gay man. I enjoyed the fact that they broke outside the mold and took a risk, even if it was a small one. There are really no risks in Hot Sauce. Let's not even go into the stereotypical rich bitch evil mother-in-law that is Troy's mother.
If you're a fan of romance novels, then you may very well enjoy Hot Sauce. It sticks pretty faithfully to the formula. As I said, no surprises or risks here. I was just hoping for more, and maybe that was my problem. Maybe I expected too much.