u/Bawy0_0

For me, a second-chance romance only works when there's a clear difference between the first and second time the leads are together, so we can clearly see why things didn't work out before and why they do in the present.

There was nothing like that in this book. It felt like the author was too afraid to let her characters be flawed. We were told repeatedly that love was never the problem between these two, they were both certain their partner loved them. We were also told that intimacy was never an issue either, that they had been attracted to each other from the beginning and had no problem shagging each other before or after the divorce 🤨.

All these reminders, among other things, made it seem like Alessandra's only issue with the marriage was that Dominic had missed a lot of their dates and vacations. And as much as I tried to sympathize with these rich-people problems, my middle-class upbringing prevented me from doing so 🥲. Their marriage wasn't in the kind of serious crisis the book tried to convince us it was, and the fact that they got back together after only a few months proved that.

It wasn't the worst book by Ana Huang (King of Envy still holds that title for me 🙄), but it was really, really dull 😪.

I’m not sure how this will sound, but the best thing about King of Gluttony is that it was simple. There was no mafia, no guns, no possessive, obsessive CEO, no ridiculous plot twists, and none of the nonsense that was in King of Envy (which I really hated).

Maya and Sebastian, though rich and high on the social ladder, weren’t unhinged characters. Their personalities, ambitions, and fears felt reasonable and relatable. The same goes for their relationship. Although it was definitely not an enemies-to-lovers story as the synopsis described it, it was a sweet and warm romance. The fact that Sebastian loved Maya for fourteen years without resentment or anger, even when he believed she had rejected him so harshly, was quite romantic 🥺.

I also enjoyed the food industry and restaurant theme. It matched the book’s title and plot well. Aside from the letter that kept the leads apart for so long, the other problems and obstacles they faced weren’t edge-of-your-seat or earth-shattering, and I liked that. I wasn’t looking for life-changing lessons from a romance novel, so it was satisfying to see everything wrapped up neatly in the end.

The book also had the vibe of a 2000s rom-com. I could easily see it being adapted into a fun movie.