She came to Tokyo to prove herself. She never expected to fall in love.

April Martinez has one shot to make her culinary dreams come true. After years of grinding through New York's brutal restaurant scene, she's been offered the opportunity of a lifetime: executive chef of Lumière, a high-stakes fine dining restaurant in Tokyo backed by the prestigious Yamamoto Group.

There's just one problem—Kaito Yamamoto.

The devastatingly handsome director of development who hired her is everything April didn't know she wanted: brilliant, supportive, and dangerously compelling. But mixing business with pleasure destroyed his last relationship with a chef, and April has her own scars from a past workplace romance. They agree to keep things professional.

Until they can't.

As April fights to prove her unconventional fusion cuisine can win over Tokyo's notoriously difficult critics, the chemistry between her and Kaito becomes impossible to ignore. Late-night menu planning turns into intimate dinners. Professional respect blooms into something deeper. But when a vindictive ex and a tabloid scandal threaten everything they've built, April must decide: play it safe and protect her career, or risk it all for a love that could either complete her or destroy everything she's worked for?

In a city of cherry blossoms and Michelin stars, sometimes the most dangerous ingredient is love.

Perfect for fans of culinary romance, contemporary love stories set abroad, and anyone who believes that the greatest risks yield the sweetest rewards.

The Taste of April is a steamy, heartfelt romance about a woman who learns that building an empire and building a relationship require the same essential ingredient: courage.