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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
4.5 ✨
was this book perfect? absolutely not
did i love it anyway? yes. yes i did
i love goofy goobers like ian!! ahhhhh
was this book perfect? absolutely not
did i love it anyway? yes. yes i did
i love goofy goobers like ian!! ahhhhh
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
“I fell for you without noticing, because it didn’t feel like falling, it felt like standing. So fucking high.”
•
•
I LOVED this. It was a great friends to strangers to rivals to lovers and it was done so well! The way Ian and Amelie fell in love over texts and phone calls and just being present and paying attention to the other was just so amazing.
Amelie had me screaming at her for like half the book because of the decisions she was making and how she was making excuses for the people in her life being horrible. But let’s be honest here, I probably would have made 90% of the same decisions as she did and would’ve put up with the same bullshit and that’s what made her so relatable. Her arc was so satisfying.
Ian is absolutely peak book boyfriend material. He was sweet, sexy, swoony, SO funny and devoted. He went from love, relationship and marriage averse to wanting to have it all because of Amelie and I was here for it. The man was out here showing Amelie how it felt to be put first AND encouraging her to put herself first at the same time and it was glorious.
Other tropes:
He falls first
Dual timeline
Single POV
Second chance
Romeo and Juliet vibes
•
•
I LOVED this. It was a great friends to strangers to rivals to lovers and it was done so well! The way Ian and Amelie fell in love over texts and phone calls and just being present and paying attention to the other was just so amazing.
Amelie had me screaming at her for like half the book because of the decisions she was making and how she was making excuses for the people in her life being horrible. But let’s be honest here, I probably would have made 90% of the same decisions as she did and would’ve put up with the same bullshit and that’s what made her so relatable. Her arc was so satisfying.
Ian is absolutely peak book boyfriend material. He was sweet, sexy, swoony, SO funny and devoted. He went from love, relationship and marriage averse to wanting to have it all because of Amelie and I was here for it. The man was out here showing Amelie how it felt to be put first AND encouraging her to put herself first at the same time and it was glorious.
Other tropes:
He falls first
Dual timeline
Single POV
Second chance
Romeo and Juliet vibes
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the second of the Love and Other Recipes series, and like the first it was a lovely romcom. Amelie is a chef, and Ian runs a rival restaurant. In the 'today' section, we follow them at a conference and it is clear there's a lot of history between them, which we learn about in flashbacks spanning the year prior to the conference.
I really loved Amelie - I felt a lot of sympathy with her. She's become so downtrodden, people pleasing to a fault, and struggling to stay afloat. It feels like Ian comes into her life exactly when he needs to, and just gives her someone who is in her corner. Their relationship was full of laughter and joy. I wasn't overly enthused by Ian, but that's possibly because he shares a name with an uncle of mine 😂
Personally, I prefer a dual POV (this was single POV from Amelie) but I loved Amelie enough that this didn't ruin the book for me.
The dual timeline was well done (I sometimes find a flashback frustrating, and a book in two parts makes me want to skip to the present), with the 'cuts' making sense in the narrative. The today left us with questions which are slowly answered as the past timeline progresses. I thought it was clever to have this spanning the entire book, right up to the very end.
I'd definitely recommend this book and am very excited for her next book!
I really loved Amelie - I felt a lot of sympathy with her. She's become so downtrodden, people pleasing to a fault, and struggling to stay afloat. It feels like Ian comes into her life exactly when he needs to, and just gives her someone who is in her corner. Their relationship was full of laughter and joy. I wasn't overly enthused by Ian, but that's possibly because he shares a name with an uncle of mine 😂
Personally, I prefer a dual POV (this was single POV from Amelie) but I loved Amelie enough that this didn't ruin the book for me.
The dual timeline was well done (I sometimes find a flashback frustrating, and a book in two parts makes me want to skip to the present), with the 'cuts' making sense in the narrative. The today left us with questions which are slowly answered as the past timeline progresses. I thought it was clever to have this spanning the entire book, right up to the very end.
I'd definitely recommend this book and am very excited for her next book!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I absolutely devoured this book in one day.
Once I started I just couldn't put it down. It had me laughing, giggling and kicking my feet, absolutely fuming with anger- basically an emotional rollercoaster!
Honestly this book had it all for me:
- He falls first
- Forced proximity
- Friends to lovers
- BANTER!
- Slow burn
If you're looking for a super bingeable romantic comedy, definitely recommend checking this one out!
Once I started I just couldn't put it down. It had me laughing, giggling and kicking my feet, absolutely fuming with anger- basically an emotional rollercoaster!
Honestly this book had it all for me:
- He falls first
- Forced proximity
- Friends to lovers
- BANTER!
- Slow burn
If you're looking for a super bingeable romantic comedy, definitely recommend checking this one out!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I LOVED this story! This is the second book in the Love and Other Recipes series but can be read as a standalone story. Amelie and Ian have an incredible meet-cute at a wedding, where she tells him every detail of her dream wedding and how those dreams are crashing down around her. As the story jumps timelines between one year past and the present, we discover the many hurdles Ames is working thru.
For Ian, it’s love at first sight, while he supports Amelie through her relationship troubles with the funniest conversations and texts. I laughed out loud throughout the entire story at Ian’s sarcasm and wit. While this story is a bit of a slow burn, it’s impossible not to fall in love. Cannot wait to get my copy on the shelf AND into the hands of all my friends.
For Ian, it’s love at first sight, while he supports Amelie through her relationship troubles with the funniest conversations and texts. I laughed out loud throughout the entire story at Ian’s sarcasm and wit. While this story is a bit of a slow burn, it’s impossible not to fall in love. Cannot wait to get my copy on the shelf AND into the hands of all my friends.
zero stars
I'm like brain dead rn it's 5 am and I have school tomorrow and I can't believe I just spent my time reading this piece of shit book all the reviews are LIES I trusted then way to much.
Review: okay so there's literally no romance JUST physical attraction, in the present day I thought oh okay so there gonna be friends with benefits then we'll get to the emotional connection.but? that never happened they just were physical and never once really talked and where the hell did Ella GO?!
Also the whole dad thing is just.why?
Like It doesn't make sense Idk I just wanted read a romcom and giggle and swoon!!
I'm like brain dead rn it's 5 am and I have school tomorrow and I can't believe I just spent my time reading this piece of shit book all the reviews are LIES I trusted then way to much.
Review: okay so there's literally no romance JUST physical attraction, in the present day I thought oh okay so there gonna be friends with benefits then we'll get to the emotional connection.but? that never happened they just were physical and never once really talked and where the hell did Ella GO?!
Also the whole dad thing is just.why?
Like It doesn't make sense Idk I just wanted read a romcom and giggle and swoon!!
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I have to many things to say about this book.
First, the whole situation with Frank was stressing AF, I’m someone who understands that leaving a relationship that long is hard, even when the red flags are there in your face, is not easy.
But the one who stressed me the most was Ian…dude! The first words she ever said to you were “I’m engage”, but then you kept going, his petty party was too much to bear at times. What do you expect from a woman who has being with her boyfriend for 15 YEARS?!?!
I will defend Amelie because I KNOW how a situation like that can mess with your head, and either way, she chose Ian, but he was so eager to leave that he didn’t even let her think about it for a goddamn minute or sort her ideas! Both of them really don’t know how to handle this properly.
The book keeps going back and forth into the past and the present, which I was okay with, it build tension, which is good, but the situation with Ian’s father…I mean, it sounded at first that she had sex with him for months or that he raped her or something, when all it was, was a simple dinner.
And the whole ordeal of Ian’s father being the one who made her restaurant fail? I mean, that’s a little too much.
I know parents will do everything for their kids and bla bla, but he had NO RIGHT to do that, if it wasn’t for him, Amelie would have talk to Ian a few hours later telling him she actually chose him and the wedding was off, but no!
All the “happy ending” was a bit rush, I think the only person in this whole story who was sane was Barbara. Martha was a BITCH, and her redemption seemed…stupid to say the least.
The smut is minimal and the slow burn is really a SLOW burn.
The whole bad communication thing…I don’t really dig that.
Not everything was bad, I must say, their chemistry was on point, Ian was really falling for her and she didn’t want to accept it and it was so evident I was blushing. The phone scene? And the hotel scenes? YES PLEASE! Even tho he stressed me out a bit, I was also falling for Ian, I admit.
Not everything was bad, I must say, their chemistry was on point, Ian was really falling for her and she didn’t want to accept it and it was so evident I was blushing. The phone scene? And the hotel scenes? YES PLEASE! Even tho he stressed me out a bit, I was also falling for Ian, I admit.