Stirring Up Trouble

What a fun story! The main character's antics had me laughing out loud in places. The overall tension of the plot, will Toby succeed or will he fall flat on his face yet again, kept me glued to the pages. The villain was wonderfully evil and just waiting to get his come-uppance. All this and a setting in a restaurant with lots of wonderful food descriptions - and I just "had to" like this book.I loved Toby - he was just waiting for disaster to strike, while not willing to give up the fight. At t [...]

^^NOT ENOUGH TO STIR THE POT!^^THE COVER- I think it’s cute, but I am not in love with it. It is one pf those covers that actually go with the theme of the book. The main character is a chef, he serves food and so the cover and the storyline go hand in hand. Let’s not pretend that most covers for M/M books have nothing to do with the actual title or story line, and sometimes that irks me. So the cover has food and a naked man all served up on a platter, kind of like Toby in the book.So what [...]

Is so HARD to be a chef!So, what I think about this book?Sexy, funny and do not deserve more than 3 stars sorry for the disappointment, but it's not my favorite Z.A. Maxfield book!I read two great novels of this writer, the magnificent "Drawn Together" and the wonderful paranormal romance "Notturno" the unmistakable style of her writing worth a try. I guarantee you will laugh, be mesmerized by the speed of everything happens and get excited (the bed scenes are HOT!) but this book left me wanting [...]

Toby Andrews is a chef that just can't catch a break. He manages to get fired from any job he's ever had and is now it seems the restaurant world may be out for him. Until he finds his dream job and love in a totally unexpected place.I'll say this, that I loved this book. It was sweet and his nephew is adorable. I'll also say there were so many characters that I kept waiting for to have a bigger part and they didn't and some that caused problems, but not in the way I expected

There is a thing to be said, writing a good comedy it’s probably more difficult than writing any other genre; comedy has a perfect balance, it’s not too much to be comic, it’s not too few to be simply fiction. With Stirring Up Trouble Z.A. Maxfield has given us a perfect example of classy comedy. The setting is perfect, some of the best comedies in movies and books wind up behind the stove, and a man in a kitchen, or it’s tragically comic, or it’s classy comedy. And when the man is wea [...]

I really enjoyed this, as I always do with books by Z.A. Maxfield. I have read several of hers and have become a big fan. Toby is fired once again from an upscale restaurant. It is eluded to in the story that it has happened several times in the past though the reasons for those firings aren't mentioned much in the book. It is made clear by a head chef and a food critic that he will never work in another restaurant again and they go about criticizing Toby publicly. His sister (I will definitely [...]

Chef Toby Andrews seems to cause trouble wherever he goes, and has been told by New York’s most powerful food critic that his career is over. Toby reluctantly takes on a position at an ailing restaurant but soon falls under the spell of the owner, one Evan Blankenship, and vows to not only help out Evan but prove to the world that he can turn around Le Potiron’s fortunes.Toby is a delightful character: playful, chatty, energetic and charming, it’s easy to see why the taciturn Evan falls fo [...]

Good m/m romance about a chef who only lasts a few months at any job before getting fired. He ends up working at a failing neighborhood restaurant owned by an anti-social guy who looks pretty tasty when he's cooking in his Utilikilt

If you want easy comical read, this book is for you. This book is awesome, the story is comical, characters pulls you in and keep you till you finish the book. Totally recommended read.

Nicely done.

Stirring Up Trouble was perplexing to read. It's got a good premise and setting, and the characters had promise, but the execution left a lot to be desired. In general, the characters were very two-dimensional. I never really got a good sense of Toby and Evan as people and, aside from the utilikilts (which, I was incredibly disappointed that there was no kilt sex. I mean, that should've been a given), I couldn't picture them at all. The plot seemed a little erratic, with a lot of time spent on u [...]

As with all Z.A. Maxfield books I did enjoy this one. While not totally up to the caliber of Drawn Together, The Long Way Home or the recent Jacob's Ladder but it was a good book.Some laughs along the way but I would have liked to see more of the lead's diasterous tour through the kitchen's of New York. To me the thing with his nephew was self destructive as other's mentioned. Just a poor choice on his end for being pressured by his sister and not having somewhere else for his nephew to go. Ther [...]

Ten stars! What a fun, fantastic read :) My new fave ZAM book--can't wait for the second in this series!

4.5 starsI don't remember what I wanted to say about this book. But it was awesome, so go read it.

I love this kind of booksght, funny, with likeable characters that are full of sparkPlus it was a safe bet since I have never been disappointed after picking up one of Ms. Maxfield's books

I loved this book. From tugs at heart strings to laughter I couldn't put it down.

That was a sweet story and now I can't picture any man without a kilt on *grin*

Review may follow at a later time

top2bottomreviews.wordpress/Trouble seems to follow Toby around. Although he’s had jobs as a chef at elite restaurants he always seems to lose his job in one way or the other. On his last job a famous critic told him he needed to find a different profession while another told him he’d make sure he never worked in the restaurant business again. As a last resort his sister sets him up to meet the owner and cook at a little known place called Le Potiron. Knowing he has nowhere else to go, Toby [...]

Overall:Good, if not short. Not a high-intensity story, but enjoyable. The romance/sex didn't overpower the story, nor was it lacking. A nice mix.What I likedCharacters: They were realistic and enjoyable, but I wish we had more of them. I feel like this was only a taste of their lives and their personalities. I think if she had taken more time to develop their characters and the relationship, things would have been even better.The Plot: Not a high-crisis situation, but realistic and interesting [...]

Toby is a bit of the wild child of the culinary scene in NY. Brilliant but always getting fired or quitting for some reason. His sister demands he pick up her kid and bring him to work, and it just so happens to be the night that a big food critic is there, when things go belly up, Toby is fired. He is blackballed by the chef but through a contact of his sister goes to a small diner that is on the verge of bankruptcy and more or less bullies chef/owner Evan into taking him on. Before Evan knows [...]

About 3.5 stars.Toby is a bit of a screw up in the restaurant business. A few poor decisions and circumstances have caused him to be the focus of a nasty but influential food critic. How can he find work in an industry that is afraid to hire him on? Luckily Toby finds his way to Le Potiron, a floundering restaurant owned by the cranky-as-hell-self-proclaimed-people-hater, Evan Blankenship. Evan hates everyone, well, everyone that is except the creative and brilliant Toby who storms into his life [...]

Toby Andrews is a nice guy and a great cook. Unfortunately, when he arrives at Evan Blankenship's failing Le Potiron restaurant, he's out of options. A series of mishaps at his last job has pretty much ended his career as a chef in fine dining in New York. The darling of haute cuisine, Tad Christopher is out to make sure Toby "never works in this town again!"Meanwhile, Evan's restaurant is failing and he knows it. He's sleeping in the basement because of the disaster created by his former busine [...]

This story was a nice change from what I've been reading. Lately it's been angst, angst, angst, but this was a much lighter storyline. The characters and fun and interesting, and they have some nice chemistry. There is some angst, mostly in the form of the nasty food critic Tad Christopher and his weird fascination with smearing Toby, but it is very well balanced by the relationship and the dynamics of the restaurant.I'm not a professional chef, so I don't know if the specifics of the story were [...]

I really liked this story. I love pure contemporary stories and this one was perfect for me.Toby is not a very likable character. Sometimes he simply walks over people to get to what he wants, deciding consciously to disregard their opinions. He's very sincere though and he doesn't sugarcoat his attitude. He exposes himself to the risk of failing in personal relationships and maybe that's why everybody thinks he is is own worst enemy and he is sabotaging his meaningful relationships.Evan, his em [...]

Three and a half stars – but we’ll round up to four. This is the story of Toby and Evan. While there is no mystery, there is a bad guy of sorts. Mostly though, this is a romance. How Toby and Evan come together. I really enjoyed reading this one. I did feel like I was there with the guys listening to them talk and bicker and get romantic, but it wasn’t a book I felt I couldn’t put down. The basic plot is original, or at least I haven’t read a story quite like it. I like all the seconda [...]

That was a really fun story to read! I loved both of the main characters, Toby and Evan, Tad Christopher was the perfect bad guy who so had it coming, and the side characters (little nephew Adam, Steph, etc.) were just great!Toby was the perfect man to force Evan out of his shell, and although he did make mistakes while doing so, they weren't unforgivable - or at least Evan didn't think so. They were always able to make up and move on without holding a grudge, and the ending was really absolutel [...]

Cute quick read. Toby has more than earned the tittle Captain Chaos. His enthusiasm and tendency to leap without looking or consulting others involved are his biggest shortcomings. When the book opens he is working at a "fancy" restaurant. Chaos ensues when he has to bring his nephew with him to work. (The little man lost in the flowers is hilarious). He is blackballed from all the major restaurants in NY. Toby thinks he is at the end of line when he ends up at Le Potiron. His "ending" is actual [...]

I wanted to be smitten by this book like I was with every other from this author. But sometimes things just don't work out that way. It's a good read, funny at times and the story is somewhat interesting, but I just couldn't connect with the characters and there was nothing really that pulled me to keep on reading. I'm a bit disappointed and I feel like it's more of an okay book than something I really liked, but I can't give Z.A. Maxfield 2 stars simply because I respect her too much. Hopefully [...]

Now this was an absolutely fantastic read!Evan is wonderfully gruff, the classical golden-hearted bear, and Toby might be his perfect Goldilocks. The villains are deliciously mean, and Toby's little nephew is simply edible. The author managed to capture the world of the high cuisine perfectly. Every single one of the cooks, chefs and waiters are taken right from real life. Evan and Toby are real people with real issues and perfect for each other. This book belongs on every m/m reader's menue. De [...]