The Zen Leaf

Farzan goes to Kansas City’s newest wine bar to drown the sorrows of his recent failure in dating. There, he’s mistaken for a restaurant critic and treated to a night of incredible food, wine, and attention. David, the sommelier, knows he’s overstepping as he flirts with Farzan, but the attraction between them is undeniable and continues past the end of the evening. The misidentification is quickly cleared up, but the problem now is that the chemistry is more than either David or Farzan have previously experienced. Unfortunately, David is moving away for his career in only a few months, and Farzan has just inherited his family’s restaurant (their legacy).

I don’t read a lot outside fanfiction any longer. For someone who used to be an absolute snob who thought fanfic was all poorly written and uncreative, I’ve enjoyed more stories from that world in the last two years than I have in published fic of the last decade. I’ve put off reading published works, and I cull a lot that was once on my TBR. Every once in awhile, though, I come across a gem like this one.

I’ll Have What He’s Having was an incredible book. Plot-wise, it had all the hallmarks of a good love story: the lead up, the chemistry, the lurking dangers, the angst, the happily-ever-after. But then there were all the extras. First, the smut. This was a very spicy book, so if you don’t like explicit, don’t pick this one up. What I loved about it was the realism. Not everything about sex is clearcut and easy, especially when you’re just learning about a new person and their body. Khorram chose to include the difficult, awkward, and silly bits as well as the sexy ones.

Second, the story centers on both queer characters and people of color from multiple ethnic backgrounds. Often, when books center on one or the other, the story is ABOUT that thing. How many queer stories are about the angst of being queer, for example? This was not that. The cultures that these men belong to are part of their makeup, big parts of their lives that inform their decisions, but not The Focus of the story, which again, at its heart, is a romance/love story. I love, again, how real this story was about these things. There were a few lines in particular that stood out to me as someone who has spent their life hiding behind heteronormative rules only to start breaking out of those chains in their mid-40s:

Talking about queer relationships, or situationships even, was always awkward with straight people, even ones who loved you unconditionally.

and

[His brother’s path] was all so beautiful and romantic and heteronormative, and that was nothing like Farzan’s dating life.

This was an absolutely gorgeous book from start to finish, and that’s to say nothing of the wine chat and mouthwatering Persion dishes that I wish so much I had access to irl. Def the best tradpub book I’ve read since May 2023. So, from a once-fanfic-snob who now thinks much of fanfiction is better than what I can get off bookshop shelves, this one is as good as fanfic. If I’d been reading this on ao3, I would’ve been leaving comments and lamenting the limit on kudos the whole time. Highly recommended!