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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is so fucking adorable and Dahlia is my new favorite character of all time.
Ok WOW this book was lovely. I didn’t realize how special it would be to read a book with a main character who uses they/them pronouns but it really hit me. I loved the cooking competition aspect, the queerness, the important conversations about acceptance and ignorance and just really everything about the love story. This book could not have been any better. Definitely need everyone to read this.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
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:
Complicated
Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Let me start by saying that getting to read a romance novel with a nonbinary love interest was something that I’ve never really gotten to experience as a nonbinary person before, and I am so deeply grateful for that. I thought this book was pretty good, and I think a lot of people will enjoy it, I’m just not sure it’s the nonbinary romance novel for me. The overall character arcs were fairly enjoyable and I liked the concept, but as someone who’s a big fan of emotional growth in romance novels, it just felt a little too tied up in the characters having sex.
LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS follows two contestants on a Masterchef-esque cooking show called Chef’s Special. There’s Dahlia Woodson, a somewhat recently divorced former copy editor who’s finally going after doing things she loves. And there’s London Parker, a nonbinary audio engineer who just announced their pronouns (they/them) on national television. But is the sizzle only in the kitchen, or are they destined for a happily ever after.
I genuinely think that Kelly creates some really interesting characters, especially in that sort of reality show setting. In all honesty, even the depth of certain characters is really similar to reality shows, where those who are on for the longest you tend to know the most about. It’s clear that while the side characters aren’t just completely disregarded, they’re still there to function as a part of London and Dahlia falling in love. As far as London and Dahlia go, I actually enjoy their characters a lot, especially when it comes to their backstories. You have London in immense places of privilege in some places, and the acknowledgement of how that makes their life easier, but also how their coming out as nonbinary still had a lot of personal obstacles. The same can be said for Dahlia in another way, specifically as she navigates her own life after leaving what could be considered a normal and acceptable life in society (married to a man, with a job). At core, I think one of the biggest themes in both of their character arcs is really being solid in their identity, boundaries, and happiness after pushing back against societal ideals.
Here’s the thing about all of this though, as much as I like the characters, as soon as I get to the actual romance, I remember why I didn’t quite like the book as much. Some of this might just be personal preference, but it just ultimately soured my reading. In general, it seems like nearly all of the growth in their relationship, emotionally, etc, originates and occurs almost entirely in them having sex. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this, but it felt like that was used as the only point of connection at first even though they were clearly also emotionally connected. They get together by having sex, their relationship progresses through sex, and to some degree they even make up with sex. And to some degree, I can understand why this can be important, especially with London trusting Dahlia with their body even with societal characterisitics of their assigned gender at birth, but all it does for me is result in me not really caring about their relationship because the moments where they’re having sex didn’t evoke those emotional feelings in me. I was just left sitting there wondering whether or not it was bad that I didn’t really care about the romance in a literal romance novel.
At the end of the day, I really don’t think this is a bad book. Again, I really do think that some people will really enjoy this, and I want to see more nonbinary love interests and protagonists in romance. Hopefully, they’ll go down a slightly different route than this one though.
Let me start by saying that getting to read a romance novel with a nonbinary love interest was something that I’ve never really gotten to experience as a nonbinary person before, and I am so deeply grateful for that. I thought this book was pretty good, and I think a lot of people will enjoy it, I’m just not sure it’s the nonbinary romance novel for me. The overall character arcs were fairly enjoyable and I liked the concept, but as someone who’s a big fan of emotional growth in romance novels, it just felt a little too tied up in the characters having sex.
LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS follows two contestants on a Masterchef-esque cooking show called Chef’s Special. There’s Dahlia Woodson, a somewhat recently divorced former copy editor who’s finally going after doing things she loves. And there’s London Parker, a nonbinary audio engineer who just announced their pronouns (they/them) on national television. But is the sizzle only in the kitchen, or are they destined for a happily ever after.
I genuinely think that Kelly creates some really interesting characters, especially in that sort of reality show setting. In all honesty, even the depth of certain characters is really similar to reality shows, where those who are on for the longest you tend to know the most about. It’s clear that while the side characters aren’t just completely disregarded, they’re still there to function as a part of London and Dahlia falling in love. As far as London and Dahlia go, I actually enjoy their characters a lot, especially when it comes to their backstories. You have London in immense places of privilege in some places, and the acknowledgement of how that makes their life easier, but also how their coming out as nonbinary still had a lot of personal obstacles. The same can be said for Dahlia in another way, specifically as she navigates her own life after leaving what could be considered a normal and acceptable life in society (married to a man, with a job). At core, I think one of the biggest themes in both of their character arcs is really being solid in their identity, boundaries, and happiness after pushing back against societal ideals.
Here’s the thing about all of this though, as much as I like the characters, as soon as I get to the actual romance, I remember why I didn’t quite like the book as much. Some of this might just be personal preference, but it just ultimately soured my reading. In general, it seems like nearly all of the growth in their relationship, emotionally, etc, originates and occurs almost entirely in them having sex. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this, but it felt like that was used as the only point of connection at first even though they were clearly also emotionally connected. They get together by having sex, their relationship progresses through sex, and to some degree they even make up with sex. And to some degree, I can understand why this can be important, especially with London trusting Dahlia with their body even with societal characterisitics of their assigned gender at birth, but all it does for me is result in me not really caring about their relationship because the moments where they’re having sex didn’t evoke those emotional feelings in me. I was just left sitting there wondering whether or not it was bad that I didn’t really care about the romance in a literal romance novel.
At the end of the day, I really don’t think this is a bad book. Again, I really do think that some people will really enjoy this, and I want to see more nonbinary love interests and protagonists in romance. Hopefully, they’ll go down a slightly different route than this one though.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-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