Katie Cravens is living her dream life. As the face and CEO of Pasta Pronto, a low-calorie frozen line of pasta, she is the epitome of a successful, organised businesswoman who is in control of everything around her. That is until her company faces a quality control issue at the same time she realises her fiance is cheating on her. With her life crashing down around her, her focus shifts towards rebuilding her company. Enter Luca Caramelli, co-owner of Ristorante Caramelli in Rome, whom she must convince to partner with her to regain her customers and get her business back to where it was, if not better than it was. However, Katie isn’t sure she can work with the arrogant Luca once she travels to Italy to meet him. Pasta Wars is a light, romantic comedy with just the right amount of tension between the main characters to make the story interesting. It was fun watching the relationship between Luca and Katie unfold amid their cultural and gastronomical differences. (LEK)
Pasta Wars, by Elisa Lorello, is a story about food, love and discovering yourself. The summary says: "Slim, successful, and soon to marry the man of her dreams, Katie Cravens is leading the life she always wanted. As the face and CEO of Pasta Pronto, a "Carbs for the Calorie-Conscious" line of frozen food, Katie chooses to live life like one of her Slimline Spaghetti dinners - no mess, no surprises, and everything tied up in a neat little package. But when Katie's fiance runs off with another woman and a quality control fiasco sends her customers running for the hills, it's time for Katie to make a change.
Her company's salvation presents itself in the form of a partnership opportunity with the legendary Ristorante Caramelli of Rome, and Katie has no other choice but to jet off to Italy to convince gorgeous, hotheaded co-owner Luca Caramelli that she's a worthy partner. Gaining Luca's respect proves harder than Katie could have ever imagined, however, when he insists that she must learn how to cook - and how to eat - true Italian food before he will ever agree to their companies' partnership.
Katie and Luca's tension in Italy mounts into a fierce public rivalry that erupts back in the States with a nationally televised cooking competition. As Katie tries to channel her inner Mario Batali to win the competition, she must choose between the flavourless prepackaged life that she worked so hard to maintain and the mouth-watering uncertainty of a life chock full of carbohydrates and Caramellis." Pasta Wars is out in July 2016.