First Comes Love by Nicole French
Release Date: June 23rd 2022 by Raglan Publishing
Series: Silver Spoon #1
Pages: 400
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Richer than God. Hotter than fire. Colder than ice.
Father of my child.
And he has no idea.
As London’s top restauranteur, he has the golden touch, but he rules his world with an iron fist.
Now he’s back in New York with two objectives:
Open the newest hotspot in the city.
And win back my heart, five years after he broke it.
I’d run in the opposite direction, but it’s been so long...
And Xavier knows my recipe.
Passion. Pleasure. Just the right kind of pain.
Imagine his surprise when a little girl opens my door instead of me.
A stubborn, button-nosed four-year-old whose shiny black hair and bright blue eyes look just like his.
There’s a secret in this house, and he won’t stop until he figures it out.
Because Xavier Parker gets what he wants.
And now that includes his daughter.
First Comes Love is the exciting first book in a secret baby romance series from Nicole French! Enjoy a HFN at the end of this book, with more to come of these delicious new characters.
My Review:
At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Francesa Zola, who is getting ready to begin graduate school. With her dreams of studying English Literature, Francesca wasn’t expecting to meet a handsome British man named Xavier Sato. An aspiring chef looking for a job in the city. Their connection was instant and she started to see a future with him. But her whole life turned upside down the minute he walked away from her, before she could even tell him that was pregnant with his baby.
With her heart completely shattered, Francesa made the decision to let him go and hasn’t seen him since. It would take fiver years later for her to bump into him at a friend’s party. Xavier is more handsome than ever and ready to rekindle what they once had. Yet, a lot of things have changed since she last saw him. For one, their daughter doesn’t know who her father is and Francesca fears of what Xavier will do once he finds out. But the more time they send together, the more her feelings for him begin to grow again, only to realize that he has been hiding secrets from her as well.
Growing up as the illegitimate son of an Englishman and a Japanese cook, Xavier Sato/Parker, grew up surrounded by the love of his mom and their love for cooking. A tragedy would bring him closer to his father, only to have Xavier want to make a name for himself without his father’s help. It’s through his hard work that Xavier manages to become London’s top restauranteur and expand his empire of fusion restaurants in different countries. Meeting Francesa changed everything and he wanted her in his life. But the universe had other plans for him and he had no other choice but to leave her behind. Seeing Francesa after so many years apart completely takes him back to the time they once shared and he will not give up until he makes her his again. Nothing could have prepared him to see his very own image as a little girl opened Francesca’s door, referring to her as her mom. A lot has changed in the last five years and he wonders if they can truly have a chance at a future together this time around.
I throughly enjoyed reading First Comes Love, we first get a glimpse of Francesca in the Rose Gold Series, and I was happy to find out that she was getting her own story. It’s the first chapter that really pulls you in and I couldn’t stop reading it. There is a lot of chemistry between the characters and a past that has brought them back together again. A lot has changed since the last time they saw each other and there are things that they need to come clean about with each other. Xavier might rule his empire with an iron fist, but he doesn’t know anything about raising a child and he fears that he might not be good at it. We see him have sweet moments with his daughter and Francesca as he tries to catch up with what he missed.
Meanwhile, Francesca thought that she would take a different direction from her family, but having a baby made her even closer to them. It’s with their support that she was able to raise her daughter on her own. But just when things are starting to look up good for them, there is a shift in events that threaten to end their shot a a future together. There is so much that we get in this book and I cannot wait to read the next book in the trilogy. It’s a must-read for me, I would highly recommend it! :)
***I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.***
***I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.***
My Rating:
Nicole French is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She's also a hopeless romantic, Springsteen fanatic, and total bookworm. When not writing, she is hanging out with her family, playing soccer with the rest of the thirty-plus crowd in Seattle, or going on dates with her husband. In her spare time, she likes to go running or practice the piano, but never seems to do either one of these things as much as she should.
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