If You Can’t Take the Heat

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From James Beard award-winning author Michael Ruhlman, a coming-of-age story about finding a new life and love in the kitchenand trying not to get burned along the way.

When high school football star Theo Claverback breaks his leg just weeks after a devastating break-up, hes forced to call an audible on his summer plans and put his college ones on hold. He soon finds himself in the most unlikely of places for a jock on crutches: the kitchen of an upscale French restaurant, where hell work as a prep cook while his heart and leg heal.

But its in the kitchen where Theo finds new purpose and a new romance.As he becomes a trusted employee to Chef and is welcomed into his inner circle, Theo begins to discover the true costs of running a restaurantand what happens when you get into hot water with the wrong people.

Set in Cleveland, Ohio in 1980,If You Can’t Take the Heatis a gritty look inside the belly of an upscale kitchen where love and danger boil behind closed doors.