This has to be the least angsty romance I've read by Sherry Thomas (and I've read most of her backlist). It is almost evenly split between two storylines - the primary romance between a bastard heir and the outcast lady-turned-chef he falls in love with... and a secondary romance between his secretary and betrothed. While I initially enjoyed the hidden identity/mysterious past conflict at play for our female main character, I lost patience with the storyline around the midway point. There were so many obtuse delays in the reveal, and because the conflict never felt particularly high stakes, the end didn't justify the means. And my hopes were a bit dashed for our secondary characters, as early hints to their histories suggested we might have a unique pairing, and ultimately the reveals were disappointing for me and made their storyline fairly typical. That said, Sherry's writing never fails to impress me, so even when the story is a bit of a miss, I don't regret time spent in her worlds.