Huge thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the gifted ARC of The Aftertaste, the haunting and heartfelt debut novel by Daria Lavelle.

This is easily one of the most original books I’ve read in a long time. The premise is wholly unique and completely captivating—grief, food, ghosts and second chances, all wrapped up in a story that lingers like the best aftertaste.

Konstantin Duhovny has lived with ghosts ever since his father died. He doesn’t see them, but he tastes them—flavors of their favorite meals flood his senses when a spirit is near. When he finally acts on these visions, he discovers a strange gift: the ability to connect the living with the dead through food. And so, begins a journey that takes him into the fiery heart of the New York restaurant world—and toward some deeply unexpected consequences.

The book gives off Under the Whispering Door vibes, but stands completely on its own. It’s mysterious, funny, sad, and profound—all at once. It explores heavy themes like grief and purpose while immersing the reader in the vibrant chaos of the NYC culinary scene. A ghost story with soul and seasoning.

If you enjoy literary fiction with a touch of magical realism, layered emotions and a love for food, this is one to savor.

A really descriptive, well written plotline. It was absolutely brilliant, and I loved how food and feelings connected with the grief. I snacked a lot through this one.

Thank you to the author, publishers and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

"Salt." He looked up at her, daring, nodding, finding what he meant. "You bring out the best of everything- the sweet, the sour, the bitter. You're the reason to savor things. You're the first seasoning and the last. You're the sea. You're the stars. Life is built on salt, and I- I want to build mine with you."

Kostya is a haunted man. After his father dies suddenly in his childhood, he starts to experience "aftertastes". A taste will arrive in his mouth of a fully formed and very specific meal, sometimes consisting of flavours he has never even tasted himself, but somehow he just knows exactly what they are. He realises that these flavours belong to ghosts, sharing an important meal from their life, that will mean something to someone still living, someone still holding on to their memory.

He then discovers that by preparing the meals, that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones for closure. He starts a career in the culinary scene to expand his skills and to help people and most importantly bring back his own father. But as we all know, messing with the afterlife has consequences. When Kostya meets Maura, a medium with experience in the afterlife, she very vehemently tries to stop him from pursuing the aftertastes. But then they realise that her deceased sister is looking for her, and when they start to fall in love, they can't stop the path that they are on.

This story is like if 'Like Water For Chocolate' and 'Ratatouille' were meshed together into a ghost story. I really enjoyed the culinary exploration, I enjoyed the journey that these characters went on, and I was devastated from their grief as they experienced it. It invoked in me all of my own childhood memories of meals eaten and enjoyed with family members who are no longer with us. This isn't a book that you rush, but one that you take in, one bite at a time, let the thoughts roll around, and then sit an marinate for a while. I really applaud this author for writing a book so poignant.

I received a gifted advanced reader copy through Netgalley as part of Bloomsbury's Big Night In through Tandem Collective.

I was really intrigued by the concept of Aftertaste—the idea of blending a love of food with memories, grief, and human connection. For the first 60%, I felt so much heart in the story. There was real emotional depth and meaning, and I was completely drawn in.

That said, I found the alternating POV chapters a bit disruptive. The perspective shifted partway through without any clear signposting, which pulled me out of the main narrative and made things feel slightly disjointed. The ending, too, felt a bit chaotic and lacked the polish and emotional nuance that had hooked me in at the start.

Still, Aftertaste offers a gentle, touching reminder about how we carry our lost loved ones with us—and how, eventually, we find ways to let them go.

As much as this book is a really original idea for a story, I just could not sink my teeth into it.

I tried both the book and audiobook with the same result unfortunately. The descriptions of the food are mouth watering but I just could not connect to the main characters or the romance element of the plot.

I didn’t work for me, but it has for many other readers. If you are a fan of magical realism, ghost stories, or you’re a real foodie, I would recommend adding it to your TBR pile.

For years, Kostya has hidden a secret: he can taste ghosts. Or their favourite food, at least. He doesn't realise, but with his extraordinary tastebuds, he can build a bridge to the afterlife, connecting lost souls to the meal they remember most clearly. A love story, a eulogy, a mouth-watering culinary feast, and an unexpected thriller: all these ingredients combine to create a truly unique story, unlike anything I've read before. A page-turner and a tear-jerker.

Thank you NetGalley for this review copy!

In her delectable debut, Daria Lavelle stirs together the supernatural, the culinary, and the emotional into a novel that’s as comforting as a home-cooked meal—and just as complex.

At the heart of the story is Konstantin Duhovny, a quietly haunted man whose strange gift has defined his life since childhood. Ever since his father died, Kostya has been shadowed by ghosts—not that he sees them, but rather, he tastes them. The flavours of their favourite meals bloom unexpectedly on his tongue, lingering signs of lives once lived.

Lavelle’s premise is both inventive and deeply moving, and she executes it with flair. Each section of the novel focuses on a different ghost, a different taste, and a different grief, with a structure that unfolds like a multi-course meal—each dish revealing more about the central mystery and the man at the centre of it all. Kostya’s gift becomes a gateway to healing, as he uses his culinary talents to help the living find closure with the dead through one final shared dish. It’s a concept that could easily tip into the sentimental, but Lavelle balances tenderness with a sharp emotional honesty, never shying away from the cost of connection.

"'I love you, too. Like that.' God, the way she looked at him. 'Like salt.' She moved close, her breath against his face. 'A circle of you keeps the bad stuff away.'"

Set against the high-stakes world of New York’s culinary scene, Aftertaste is as much an ode to food as it is a ghost story. Lavelle’s writing is richly sensory—expect to crave everything from pierogi to pâté—and steeped in memory, longing, and transformation. Kostya himself is a beautifully drawn character: vulnerable, loyal, quietly intense, and entirely unforgettable. His journey from secret-keeper to something of a spiritual chef-counselor is as satisfying as the dishes he serves.

Romantic, haunting, and brimming with mouthwatering descriptions, Aftertaste is ultimately a story about love in all its forms—romantic, filial, platonic—and the way it persists beyond death. A deeply original, genre-defying novel, this one lingers like an aftertaste long after the final page.

This was a thrill ride, and will be perfect for fans of The Bear and The Ministry of Time. There was so much plot, and the suspenseful final act was crafted really well. Every so often the comedic dialogue didn't land for me, but that didn't take away from a really entertaining and original read.

A MUST READ !!

Such a good story !! And I will recommend this to anyone and everyone !!

Wow !!

This was such a fabulous read. It would normally be one I would pick up but I’m bloody glad I did for the Bloomsbury Big Night In.
I loved the unique concept of this book and I thought it was written beautifully. I was fully invested in the main character’s story and I thought it was paced really well.
The ending took me through such an emotional rollercoaster and it was the perfect ending I think. Can’t wait to see what Daria writes next!

Evocative and wonderfully unique.

Aftertaste is an incredible novel that is beautifully written and lingers long after the last page is closed. I highly recommend it.

Strange and beautiful.

I really don’t know how best to explain this story in a way that’s true to concept.

Konstantin Duhovny has a gift, a very peculiar gift of clairgustance, which means he tastes the food that dead people ‘send’ to him. A person, a location, could be anything, any time or place and a dead person sends him a specific meal or drink that means something to them.

Konstantin’s first experience is after his father dies when he’s a young boy. He tastes the liver dish that his mother used to cook for his dad.

After his mother had him institutionalised as a kid for saying he could taste food that dead people shared with him, he soon learned not to share his talent with anyone. After all, what use was it really?

Then one night, as he’s closing up the bar he works in (as a glass washer), a bereaved man crashes through the door and demands a drink so that he can toast his poor dead, beautiful wife and she sends Konstantin a cocktail, which he makes for the man.

As soon as he takes a sip, his dead wife manifests in a shower of golden sparks… and Konstantin knows how he needs to use his strange gift.

We follow him through his journey training as a chef so that he can turn his after tastes into real food that he can feed to the bereaved, conjuring up the dead and offering closure along the way.

But when Konstantin meets beautiful Maura, a tarot card reader and she warns him about playing with powerful forces, he is wrong-footed.

What happens next involves Russian gangsters, fatal fires, pop-up kitchens, aftertastes, ghosts and a blossoming love affair.

This is an utterly original, heartbreaking story that is so beautifully descriptive that I could picture the scenes as vividly as if I had seen them for myself.

I don’t want to say too much more as I don’t want to spoil the ending but it will stay with me for a very long time.

Original, compelling, at times heart-wrenching and utterly horrifying, this isn’t one to be missed.

What a delightfully different book! Quite enjoyed reading all about the different food and the flavours that the chef produced and manages to evoke the ghosts!

Grief , love , heartbreak and a myriad of other emotion are explored with throughout food and his tastes. The start was a little bit slow , but then I was totally invested in the story . The prose is delicate and vivid and the descriptions of the food are a real sensory journey: you can smell , taste , and see every dish like it was in front of you.
Kostya’s journey about family, friends , live and self discovery is so authentic and relatable ! Every person, every challenge, every relationship that were part of his journey added more and more layers to his character making real and human.
So Aftertaste was an emotional , original and sensory reads that made me emotional and that kept me hooked ‘til the end!

.This book has been on my reading menu for some time and I finally read it without reservation. At the entree I struggled a little through the initial first course whilst I got to grips with Kostya, Maura and Frankie’s characters. By the time I reached the main course I was hooked and devoured more. Dessert and aperitif just flew by. What a fantastically different and imaginative book.

We have all lost someone or something close to us and what wouldn’t we give to have just a few more moments together and a chance to say everything we didn’t get chance to say before. Kostya and his talents for Clairgustation and all things culinary brings this in ladlefuls. C’est magnifique.

This book is definitely not my usual thing but it seems to be getting rave reviews so I was definitely intrigued. The beginning of the story is fantastic and I really enjoyed the descriptions of food and about our main characters early childhood and experience of grief. After that it feels like the pacing is a little bit off and the book seems to dip into various different genres, part romance, part supernatural, part drama. I’m glad I read it and trying to step out my comfort zone but think overall I would give it 3 stars.

Thanks to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Daria Lavelle, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise and the food descriptions were mouthwatering. I didn’t really bond with any of the characters though and felt the end was a little bit of a cop out. Interesting, but frustrating and a little predictable.

The flipping between different POV and first-person / third-person broke the flow of the writing too. The third-person narrative felt a little removed (?) at times and this didn’t help the romance, which I didn’t think was always believable.

The pacing dropping off for ~40% of the book too.

A great concept but I would’ve enjoyed a different writing style.

I was asked by NetGalley to review this really unusual well written book.

This is about a man who can taste great meals a ghost ate when they were alive.

The author tells the tale of Konstantin Duhovny from the Ukraine who discovers he has a unique ability. He can help bereaved people contact the deceased person by cooking the last meal the deceased ate. And how can he do this? - well he can taste this himself. He only knew this when he was 11 and his own father passed away.

This is a mystery about the afterlife and the connotation with the living. Really unusual and I have not come across anything like it.

Recommended read due for publication May 22 2025.

So I can quickly admit this wasn't for me.

I saw ghosts and chef and thought an immediate yes. Unfortunately the pacing didn't keep me intrested and the concept alone wasn't able to hold my attention.

The plot twists were fine but nothing special. I wanted some thing to work towards but most of the time we were ignoring his aftertaste and then immediately it became an issue.

Everything felt eeked out and I just didn't enjoy myself with this.

I did like all the descriptive quality of this and the story really needed this to work. The dishes were intresting (though I couldn't really believe that he knew what everything was after never trying it?)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

What a brilliant book. Grief through taste. Love, heartbreak and grief . Bringing back memories and loved ones through the power of food.
A rollercoaster of a read but ultimately about love.
A look at professional kitchen structures and hierarchy.
The way of reaching loved ones who have died and the repercussions.
I really enjoyed the book.