Olivia owes everything to Celia’s Place. It’s where she learned how to be a great chef. It’s also where she first fell in love. But at nineteen, Olivia had a wanderlust she couldn’t deny. And Carmello, whose mother owned the restaurant, couldn’t leave Celia’s Place behind any more than he could force Olivia to stay.
Now, ten years later, Olivia is a successful personal chef. Her job allows her to travel the world, and she has never stayed in the same place for too long. When Carmello learns that his mother left shares of her beloved restaurant to both him and Olivia, he plans to buy her portion of the shares back quickly and painlessly.
That is until Olivia shows up at the restaurant, ready to help run it. Carmello sees an opportunity: drive Olivia away from his restaurant so that she will want to sign over her shares. But Olivia sees things a bit differently. She finally has the chance to stay in one place and build a home after years on the move, and perhaps now is the right time to explore whether that home can be with the one who got away.
Soon enough, sparks begin to fly, but can Olivia and Carmello avoid the mistakes of the past?
Release Date: Mar 31, 2026
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
Romance with communicative adults… swoon.
We always talk about romance as a genre where there is character growth, where we see these characters embody what we wish people would be in the real world, even with flaws. Neilson somehow nails this part of the storytelling to perfection. With characters who actually bother to talk, to think, and to communicate their emotions and feelings like adults should, and do so in a way that still stays true to who they are and shows their growth in unexpected ways.
That last paragraph was a mouthful, so let me start with this is a second-chance romance you will swoon for. We have both Olivia and Carmello. They grew up together, they shared a ton of firsts, and then life broke them apart. Since then, they’ve both experienced many more firsts. Olivia became a semi-famous and well-traveled pirate chef and is freshly divorced. Carmello had a son, but didn’t marry, and has recently taken over his mother’s restaurant as full owner. That’s where these two converge. At a crossroads point in their lives, Carmello discovers his mother left shares of the restaurant to Olivia, forcing them back into communication. But can they overcome all the old hurts to make owning a restaurant work, if not more?
There is so much depth to this tale, and I love a second-chance romance. The book jumps between flashes of the past to the present, with plenty of detail on how Olivia and Carmello came together, how they broke apart, and ultimately what drives them to find hope and a future again. It’s a romance, so you know there will be an HEA, but there are plenty of thought-provoking moments too that made my heart give a little sigh. Those endorphins were strong about a couple of chapters in, since I had no idea what I was getting into. But Neilson did not disappoint, and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.
Overall, if you love contemporary, first-person stories that tug at the heartstrings but don’t fall into cliché territory, this one is for you. If you enjoy Kate Clayborn or Maisey Yates Happy After All, you need to read The Bridge Back to You.
~ Landra
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