New Release Review: Delicious: An MM/MMM Charity Anthology

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TITLE: Delicious: An MM/MMM Charity Anthology

AUTHORS: Annabeth Albert, Beth Bolden, Jax Calder, Vawn Cassidy, Colette Davison, Lane Hayes, Becca Jackson, E.M. Lindsey, Katherine McIntyre, Mia Monroe, Shane K Morton, K.M. Neuhold, Charlie Novak, Becca Seymour, Sebastian Sharpe, Toby Wise, and Ariella Zoelle.

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 895 Pages

RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2025

BLURB:

Love is delicious…

Join a fabulous group of authors for a brand new charity anthology that’s sure to make you hungry!

We’re serving up hot dishes, lamington kisses, cheesecake roses, and plenty of delicious indulgences. Accompanied by a buffet of your favourites like best friends to lovers, meet cutes, second chances, small towns, enemies, hot bosses, long time crushes, plenty of spice, and melt-in-the-mouth sweetness.

With taco trucks, celebrity chefs, bakers, pizza shops, and plenty of treats, Delicious has eighteen brand new contemporary short stories for you to savour!

All proceeds will be donated to the LGBTQ+ charities Switchboard and akt.

Includes stories from:
Annabeth Albert, Beth Bolden, Jax Calder, Vawn Cassidy, Colette Davison, Lane Hayes, Becca Jackson, E.M. Lindsey, Katherine McIntyre, Mia Monroe, Shane K Morton, K.M. Neuhold, Charlie Novak, Becca Seymour, Sebastian Sharpe, Toby Wise, and Ariella Zoelle.

REVIEWS:

Feeding the Grump by Jax Calder

Reviewed by Mal

How perfect! Truly this short story from Jax Calder is perfection. Banter, grumpiness, epic swoon, deep connections, this one has it all.

David is a bit grouchy and I low key loved it. He is also one of the most thoughtful swoony characters, honestly so is Benji. Benji who knows what they will be , ugh so absolutely epic. I cannot articulate how much I loved this story perfectly paced and tightly packed with emotion and sweet swoony moments and surprisingly fantastic chemistry and heat. I also loved how immersive the writing is , the descriptions of the land were mesmerising.

The way David discovers his feelings and goes all in is just spectacular- this one might be my favourite read this week!

 

Loaf of My Life by Charlie Novak

Review by True

What a gorgeous little tale this was!

Riley runs a small business, Toasty, a micro bakery, with breads, sweets, and pastries.
He starts with work in the early hours. While baking, Riley sees a man watching him through the window.

Jace takes night walks, for a reason. One night, he stands before Toasty and watches the gorgeous baker at work, it’s mesmerizing.
The next night, Jace apologizes for his staring.

What follows is so wonderful, I’m not gonna spoil how, but Jace visits Toasty (Riley ha!), also when the bakery is open for customers. The highlight of Riley’s day! They get to know each other, and meet regularly, and of course, there’s more. This is all between the flour, chocolate sticks, loaf, and sweet treats.
Gosh, I loved Riley and Jace so much, they were gorgeous!
It was a wonderfully written, gentle story, I absolutely adored!

 

Lamington Kisses Becca Seymour

Review by Ro

This is a best friends’ story between Keifer and Ste. They’ve been friends for about five years and at one point Ste told Keifer about his interest and “…he turned me down so gently it made it hurt worse.”  Ste calls Keifer, a chef, to help with the anniversary dinner he is currently mangling for his parents. It was funny the chaos Ste was causing – he was trying to make machboos, the meal his parents had at their wedding and had everything burned or wrong. He is NOT a cook, let alone a chef. Keifer had given him a nice mortar and pestle for Christmas once, and “I’ve used it once, which was to squash a cockroach. The weight really comes in handy.”

This is short, and for me, it needed to be longer, because I didn’t understand why Keifer suddenly decided to go past friends. I needed to see more of his change of heart, what made him realize his decision to friendzone Ste was not the right one.

 

Sweet Heat by Ariella Zoelle

Review by Kat

Famous Italian Chef vs Internet Star of Sweet Heat. Adler Sutton creates Dessert Sensations that will literally burn your tastebuds. Beautiful but dangerous desserts. Now add in a 18 year age gap and a world renown chef that loves to take digs at the unorthodox combinations the young man invents. Top that off with the fact that Adler has had a major crush/wet dream fantasy on the successful chef since he was thirteen. The man literally made him realize he was gay! What could possibly go wrong with Chef Niccolò de Rosa appearing on Adler’s podcast? Besides a lot of burned taste buds? What Niccolò didn’t expect was that they younger chef has true talent and is intriguing and forthcoming, as in no filter what so ever when they are alone for dinner. But peppers aren’t the only thing heating up the kitchen when they are left alone.

These two fascinated me over their talk of food and getting to know each other. When the cameras turn off they quickly discovered that some of their preconceived notions were way off and they truly do fit well together. This was a fun story that intrigued me. It was a nice surprise with the mention of the Sunnyside and Chef “Renée Carducci’s Ambrosia Restaurant. I have also enjoyed some of her foods in the Harmony of Hearts series, based in the Sunnyside Universe, that I truly enjoyed. Ariella Zoelle is a bit of a foodie and I always enjoy her foods she shares in her books.

Review by Sadonna

The premise focuses on two chefs. One a Michelin starred Gordon Ramsay successful restauranteur/reality show host personality type but with Gino D’Acampo’s charming Italian style.  The other chef is described as a “sassy twink” and has his own internet show where he serves desserts with peppers – think Hot Ones – that get hotter and hotter until the guest can’t take it any more.  It’s called Sweet Heat 😉
Niccolo de Rosa, the famous chef, can’t believe his publicist is suggesting that he go on Sweet Heat.  He’s had much to say about the show – and most of it sarcastic.  But his publicist thinks it’s a great way to reach potential contestants for his own reality show, Under Pressure.  She kind of goads him into it and he reluctantly agrees despite his misgivings.
Adler Sutton, the host and chef of Sweet Heat, has had a thing for Niccolo since he was a kid and watched him on television.  He’s been dreaming about the day he would meet him in person and that day has finally come 🙂  He’s nearly so distracted by the hunky chef though that he can’t keep on task and film the show 😉  But he manages despite wanting to climb the handsome man like a tree.
The show progresses with a twist and Niccola and Adler have a very good time with the various desserts and heat levels.  Turns out that in spite of the scorching heat, Adler is an amazing chef.  When they are done, Adler asks to cook for Niccolo as a thanks for being on his show.
I loved everything about this.  Age gap, a sort of rivals to lover vibes, long time crush, commitment phobe changing his tune, delightful food with a sweet ending.  Also LOVED the humor element here.  My favorite of the stories I read.

 

OVERALL ANTHOLOGY RATING:

 

BUY LINK:

Amazon

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