May 2026 Book Discussion: Aftertaste - Daria Lavelle

📚 May Book Club Discussion: Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle

The votes have been counted — our May read is Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle, and we can't wait to dig in!

🍽️ About the Book

Konstantin Duhovny carries a peculiar burden: ever since losing his father at age ten, he's been able to sense the presence of ghosts — not by sight, but by taste. Flavors from meals he's never eaten suddenly fill his mouth, each one a signal that a spirit is nearby. For years, Kostya has kept this strange gift hidden.

Then one night, he decides to act on it — and nothing is ever the same again.

Kostya soon realizes he has an extraordinary ability: by preparing dishes tied to the deceased, he can give grieving people a fleeting reunion with their lost loved ones, for as long as the meal lasts. Believing this might be his true calling, he throws himself into mastering his craft by entering one of the most demanding arenas imaginable — the New York culinary world.

But even as his skills sharpen and his ambitions soar, Kostya remains dangerously unaware of the catastrophe building in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows he must be stopped... is falling in love with him.

A whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching meditation on love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger — and how far we'd go to feel satisfied.

Rich with vivid food writing and set against the electric backdrop of New York's restaurant scene, Aftertaste is described as a multi-course tasting menu of a novel — one that will sate, delight, comfort, and excite even the most discerning readers. It marks Lavelle's debut.

🗣️ Come ready to share your thoughts, reactions, and favorite passages — lively discussion guaranteed!