After walking away from Harvard just weeks before graduation, she lands in Superiore Bay—a coastal Maine town full of family ties, whispered judgments, and the kind of expectations she’s spent her whole life outrunning. She tells herself it’s temporary. Just a breather until she figures out what’s next.
She’s not expecting Hudson Silverman.
The once-celebrated New York chef is in town to open a farm-to-table restaurant that could resurrect his career—or finish it off completely. He’s precise, intense, and not exactly built for small-town charm. But something about him feels like a second chance. Not just for Jorgina, but for the version of herself she’s almost forgotten.
Between clashing egos, lingering regrets, and a fox with a taste for chaos, Jorgina finds herself drawn back into the rhythms of home. And as the restaurant takes shape, so does the possibility of a life she never planned for—but maybe, finally, gets to choose.
The Chef’s Kiss is a romantic women’s fiction story of reinvention, family legacy, and learning to start over—even if you have to do it in borrowed clothes and someone else’s kitchen.
Michelle is just a golden retriever mom living on a family compound in rural Ohio. A simple, sweet life filled with writing days, her pup, and plenty of iced chai tea lattes.
She writes a variety of things including fantasy romance, sweet contemporary romance, spicy romance, and has even dabbled in dystopian. She believes changing things up and taking risks stretches her writing muscles and makes her a better author.
But more than that, writing about various human experiences helps her be a better daughter, a better aunt, a better sister, and a better friend.
Melissa is a former interior designer living just outside Atlanta Georgia with her sister and a very needy mini Bernedoodle obsessed with belly rubs.
When she’s not writing, she enjoys gardening, swimming, and collecting pretty books for her never ending TBR. (Collecting books and reading them are two separate hobbies and she will die on that hill.) Her favorite pastime is reading in her chaise lounge, snuggling a warm pup, and drinking iced chai (she blames Michelle for this addiction).
Melissa writes fantasy romance, urban fantasy, and Norse mythology. She also writes contemporary romance of all sorts as Ann Maree Craven.
Melissa believes in stories that make you think and she loves twisty plots and playing with foreshadowing, leaving clues and hints for the careful reader. She draws inspiration from her background in architecture and interior design to help her with the small details in world building and scene settings to create a stronger story.