Thanks to #netgalley I got to listen to the audiobook. This is a combination of a ghost story and food. This is a clever story of love and loss, with the twist of how no matter what we shouldn’t mess with the afterlife. A vey enjoyable book.

I really loved this book!

An odd mix of genres, Aftertaste feels like Before The Coffee Gets Cold, served up with a side of organised crime thrills and campfire ghost story chills. Keeps you listening, leaves you thinking.

Whatever you do, don't listen to the Sunday Times quote attached to the title of this book, because it isn't a fun romp through New York's food scene. Instead, it's a delicious, soul-destroying, heart-affirming, beautifully tragic novel about food and death. Apparently, two things I'm clearly drawn to. And it was about halfway through this book that I began to realise that it was about to become one of my favourites of the year. I can't fully articulate what it was. Maybe it was just a feeling - apt for a book like this, where a chef discovers he can connect with the dead via food and begins cooking meals to bring them back to the real world. It's exactly the perfect balance of reality and fantasy that I love reading about and with the food aspect, this was almost guaranteed to be good for me. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't.

And the FOOD. If there was a prize for fictional food porn, 'Aftertaste' would steal it and nobody would mind. Every page has a deep love and appreciation for food, painting it like poetry, determined to make your mouth water so much you'll be dripping all over the pages. At its heart, this is a small story - a man finding solace in food - but it delivers big. This book feels so original, so unlike anything I've ever read. I never knew where it was going to go, I loved the little snippets of changing perspectives and how they all melded together in the end to drive us to the end. I just...when I wasn't reading it, I wanted to be reading it, but I forced myself to savour it. And the savouring made it so much sweeter.

Firstly huge thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the advanced listener copy! I went into this pretty much blind so didn’t have any real expectations but absolutely loved it! I was initially confused with the multiple POVS and then found it a bit slow to start! But once I figured out the flow of things I couldn’t stop listening! The narrators done a great job!! I loved the detailed descriptions of food and the link the food had to memories!! Very relatable! I also suprisingly enjoyed the paranormal element and seeing the price people would pay to get one more meal with their deceased loved ones! Very unique story, beautifully written and would highly recommend!

Now this is a book with a fresh idea, a chef who can link the dead with the living through food.
Kostya is a dishwasher in a restaurant where he dreams of becoming a chef and maybe one day opening his own restaurant. He discovers that he can summon the dead through the food he cooks, he gets a taste of the deceased’s favourite meal and when he cooks this the ghost appears, but only while the food is being eaten. He can reunite the deceased with loved ones and Kostya thinks this might be his calling
Set in the New York food scene the story melds food with grief, sorrow, hope and love and also redemption. It’s at times funny but also poignant and as Kostya brings back more spirits to dine with loved ones he fails to comprehend what is happening to the world between worlds until it is too lat.e.
It’s a book about food and love and grief and loss and I think it just might be a hit

#Aftertaste. #NetGalley

Aftertaste is a beautifully written story with rich, emotional depth and relatable characters. Daria Lavelle captures the complexities of relationships and personal growth in a way that feels both real and touching. The narration was engaging and brought the characters to life, making the audiobook an enjoyable listen. I took off one star only because the pacing felt a bit slow in parts, but overall, it’s a heartfelt and satisfying experience. Definitely worth a listen!

Sehr interessantes Setting, gefällt mir gut. Werde ich empfehlen in Buchform. Sehr ansprechend übers Essen und die verschiedenen Geschmäcker geschrieben.

2.5 🌟

Seems like I’m an outlier again. To be clear I don’t think this is a bad book, nor is it badly written. I absolutely loved the concept of a chef who can conjour up a meal tailor made to bring back a deceased loved one. After all, that’s the one thing we’d all want isn’t it, just one last moment. Unfortunately for Kostya by bringing them back he’s causing problems on the other side. It all sounds perfect. Sadly something didn’t work. I could empathise with Kostya, yet I couldn’t really relate to him and I didn’t grown to like him.

The layout of the book initially was really confusing to me, I didn’t know if I was hearing a radio show in parts, in fact it was unclear why the narration was changing. The parts that did work worked perfectly and I wish I’d come up with the moniker seancy!

Each narrator done a great job, I don’t know what my expectations were for Aftertaste but I wish I’d enjoyed it more.

Huge thanks to Bloomsbury UK Audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

this was such a unique story and overall an interesting book! i listened to this via audio and think the narrator did a great job also; it was always clear when characters changed & i thought that the sound effects were quite good also in between chapters (also liked the naming of the chapters)

grief is one of the main themes within this book, and i feel like it was handled beautifully - it didn’t make the book ‘depressing’ in any way, it just gave it the emotional context for each character and made them very relatable

having just read bat eater (where food & ghosts/souls were a strong theme!) this weirdly kind of tied in really well??? it came at the whole thing from a different perspective, i.e. not as much cultural but magical, but nonetheless i may have found a new book niche i want to explore !

whilst it was a bit of a slow burner, i did think at one stage that this would be a 5 star read, but i wasn’t that enamoured with the ending so i’ve capped it at 4!

thank you bloomsbury uk audio & netgalley for this advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review!

Rating - 3.75⭐️

Kostya started having aftertastes at a young age, a weird phenomenon which he tried to tell someone but ultimately decided it was better to keep it a secret. He then meets Maura and finds out he could be able to communicate with the dead through tastes, and maybe even bring people back from the dead by cooking their aftertastes - but what effect will this have on the afterlife?

I enjoyed this more than I expected, do not read while hungry tho! Thought the writing was beautiful, the way grief and love is covered was just perfect and had me in my feels. The love between Kostya with his best friend, Frankie, and Maura is unmatched and I loved seeing both a friendship and soul mate love. I found this very gripping and so unique, like a breathe of fresh air!

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 thought the performances given by the narrators were really effective and I found I was more engaged with the audiobook than the ebook for that reason.

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.

The beginning of the book had me hooked, but the deeper I got into the story, the more it started to flatline. The plot became somewhat repetitive, and I gradually began to lose interest in certain parts.

For a story centered around cooking, the plot felt severely undercooked. The concept is genuinely unique—it's what initially drew me to Aftertaste—but the execution didn’t quite deliver. Instead, the narrative settled into a mundane rhythm. That said, I’ll definitely be reading more from Daria Lavelle in the future—I’m curious to see what else she’s cooking up.

Surprisingly, the food descriptions carried more emotional tension than the romance between Konstantin and Maura. I felt more spark between the dishes than between the characters. While that could have been charming, it eventually started to feel a bit too monotonous.

That said, Aftertaste is a laid-back read (or listen) and would likely resonate more with readers seeking a relaxed, easygoing story rather than those who who like to dissect and dig deeper into a story’s layers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK Audio for the ARC!

Love the concept of this one - it felt really original and quirky, but not in an overly pretentious or inaccessible way. The food and taste descriptions were amazing and left me starving most of the time, and I loved the unexpected love story too.

I did get a little confused by the different names our main character seemed to get called, but other than that I enjoyed this one even more than expected, and thought the audio narration was great too. A fresh take on loss and grief.

I was lucky enough to review this as a DRC and an audiobook. Instead of rehashing the reasons I love this book, I'll drop a link to my story review below and use this space for focus on the audio format.

This is a fantastic story so I was curious how it would translate to the audio format. I wasn't disappointed. Between four narrators, we have an expansive sense of character. I was impressed at the range of our primary narrator and how committed they were to bringing each person to live uniquely.
When I was listening, I felt like the romance was more prominent than I'd picked up when I was reading. The final sections also felt much faster on audio than they did reading. Perhaps it's because I was familiar with the story already, but it's kinda cool how I had a unique experience reading and listening to this story.

I can wholeheartedly recommend either the print or the audio, both are great! No matter what format you choose, give this book a try.