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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
✅ Ellie, 30, widowed, cookbook ghostwriter; Kieran, 27, chef who just won a reality TV show.
✅ dual POV
✅ grumpy - sunshine, but she’s the grumpy one
✅ ADHD rep
🌶️ : yes but the title does not lie.
✅ dual POV
✅ grumpy - sunshine, but she’s the grumpy one
✅ ADHD rep
🌶️ : yes but the title does not lie.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A hot chef and a badass ghostwriter work together to create steam and spice both in and out of the kitchen. What starts as sort of an enemies-to-lovers plot, quickly dives into a "he falls first" situation and I gobbled it up (pun intended).
The grief that Ellie went through after her (supposed) soulmate died in his sleep was gut-wrenching and you could feel it on the page. It got a bit much with Ellie's mother-in-law who just could not get over her son's death. I wanted to punch her in the face every time she was in a scene. Kieran was great to help get her out of this funk and start living her life. It was a really beautiful love story... love after loss.
Reminiscent of Katherine Center's books (which is a huge plus because I adore her). It's a reverse grumpy-sunshine romance with a little open door spice. Plus, there's a cat in it who breaks down the MMC's walls. We are here for it!
Thanks NeGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The grief that Ellie went through after her (supposed) soulmate died in his sleep was gut-wrenching and you could feel it on the page. It got a bit much with Ellie's mother-in-law who just could not get over her son's death. I wanted to punch her in the face every time she was in a scene. Kieran was great to help get her out of this funk and start living her life. It was a really beautiful love story... love after loss.
Reminiscent of Katherine Center's books (which is a huge plus because I adore her). It's a reverse grumpy-sunshine romance with a little open door spice. Plus, there's a cat in it who breaks down the MMC's walls. We are here for it!
Thanks NeGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book hits you in all of the feels. You immediately fall in love with the sparks that fly between Ellie and Kieran even before either of them want to admit it. The relationship that Ellie has created with her father in law is so heartwarming. The grief Ellie Carrie’s from being a widow and learning to live and love again absolutely tugs at your heartstrings. The friendship that Ellie and Nicole as well as Kieran and Jay share is a true tell them what they need to hear not what they want to hear supportive relationship that we all can hopefully relate to. I love the way they were both career driven in their own ways and figuring out how to balance work and love. I found myself not able to put this book down and sneaking chapters in any second possible throughout the day. This was a wholesome read all the way around.
I love watching cooking shows .. reading a romance novel based in a cooking show setting unlocked a whole new experience!
I really hope to see this turn into a movie in the future!
When this book is released in September 2024 it’s an absolute must read! I will definitely be adding Sarah Chamberlain to my list of loved authors and can’t wait for the next release!
Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an early release version for my honest review!
I love watching cooking shows .. reading a romance novel based in a cooking show setting unlocked a whole new experience!
I really hope to see this turn into a movie in the future!
When this book is released in September 2024 it’s an absolute must read! I will definitely be adding Sarah Chamberlain to my list of loved authors and can’t wait for the next release!
Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an early release version for my honest review!
3.75
Reading back to back chef romances was not the move because I think had I read this at a different time it would’ve been a 4!
Reading back to back chef romances was not the move because I think had I read this at a different time it would’ve been a 4!
emotional
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
Love The Bear? Here’s another take on the culinary world and fine dining. When Kieran, a reality cooking show winner, aka Happy Pirate Leprechaun, gets a cookbook deal, it’s dependable, super-organized young widow Ellie who gets saddled with the job of managing a reluctant “author” who just wants to be taken seriously, and not just seen as the chaotic fun guy as he struggles with his ADHD and dyslexia. Ellie is used to taking care of people, from her little brother to her still-grieving mother-in-law, smoothing things over and saying yes and making other peoples lives tidy as a kind of mitzvah. It is serving her or helping her to achieve her own dreams of a place to cook and write, and a cookbook of her own?
Kieran’s attraction is almost instantaneous, but when he fails to respond to emails, and then tries to show off by inviting Ellie and her best friend, a food photographer named Nicole, to a high-end Valentines Day dinner, Kieran and Ellie’s public fight over the shallowness of his cuisine goes viral, forcing the publisher to send them on retreat to his Sonoma cabin for a week to start hashing out the cookbook. On the road, they trade a question for a question in an effort to get to know one another.
When they finally subccum to their passion, Ellie sets a boundary that her place is for work and Kieran’s place is for fun, and they have to keep the relationship on the down low, as she could get fired for having a relationship with her cookbook author. The tension builds when they are discovered kissing during the food photography sessions.
Chamberlain’s food writing is outstanding; cookbook writing, recipe testing, the ghostwriting process, and a glimpse into restaurant industry are all lovingly rendered and fascinating. Judaism is a subtle thread of family, food, love, obligation, and service throughout, though Ellie isn’t traditionally observant (she doesn’t keep kosher or attend services).
The chemistry is there, Chamberlain expertly draws out the sexual tension, and the consummation includes consent, safety, and boundaries. Their childhoods, trauma, and struggles are portrayed in a way that shows they are ready for healing, and for each other with a maturity and grace and depth that is refreshing and heart-wrenching. The way they build each other up and support each other is lovely, from Kieran pushing for a writing credit for Ellie to Ellie showing up as Kieran’s fake girlfriend at a family function. Kieran, a red-head, is trying to uncouple himself from the caricature he’s been saddled with. A little younger, and a little shorter than curvy, world-weary Ellie, he is the one who makes her snort with laughter and feel joy again in a world she was just bleakly existing in, even as she made her plans for a life that moved forward, apart from her marriage.
Secondary characters are drawn in 3-D. Ellie’s support for her Jewish in-laws and the strain it puts on her is balanced with their care for her, and their memory of their son Max. Her best friend Nicole’s flirtation with Kiernan’s front-of-the-house bestie Jaye has just enough tease to make the reader want them to get their own novel, next.
I received an advance reader’s review copy of #TheSlowestBurn via #NetGalley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.
Kieran’s attraction is almost instantaneous, but when he fails to respond to emails, and then tries to show off by inviting Ellie and her best friend, a food photographer named Nicole, to a high-end Valentines Day dinner, Kieran and Ellie’s public fight over the shallowness of his cuisine goes viral, forcing the publisher to send them on retreat to his Sonoma cabin for a week to start hashing out the cookbook. On the road, they trade a question for a question in an effort to get to know one another.
When they finally subccum to their passion, Ellie sets a boundary that her place is for work and Kieran’s place is for fun, and they have to keep the relationship on the down low, as she could get fired for having a relationship with her cookbook author. The tension builds when they are discovered kissing during the food photography sessions.
Chamberlain’s food writing is outstanding; cookbook writing, recipe testing, the ghostwriting process, and a glimpse into restaurant industry are all lovingly rendered and fascinating. Judaism is a subtle thread of family, food, love, obligation, and service throughout, though Ellie isn’t traditionally observant (she doesn’t keep kosher or attend services).
The chemistry is there, Chamberlain expertly draws out the sexual tension, and the consummation includes consent, safety, and boundaries. Their childhoods, trauma, and struggles are portrayed in a way that shows they are ready for healing, and for each other with a maturity and grace and depth that is refreshing and heart-wrenching. The way they build each other up and support each other is lovely, from Kieran pushing for a writing credit for Ellie to Ellie showing up as Kieran’s fake girlfriend at a family function. Kieran, a red-head, is trying to uncouple himself from the caricature he’s been saddled with. A little younger, and a little shorter than curvy, world-weary Ellie, he is the one who makes her snort with laughter and feel joy again in a world she was just bleakly existing in, even as she made her plans for a life that moved forward, apart from her marriage.
Secondary characters are drawn in 3-D. Ellie’s support for her Jewish in-laws and the strain it puts on her is balanced with their care for her, and their memory of their son Max. Her best friend Nicole’s flirtation with Kiernan’s front-of-the-house bestie Jaye has just enough tease to make the reader want them to get their own novel, next.
I received an advance reader’s review copy of #TheSlowestBurn via #NetGalley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Abandonment
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Generally, slow burns aren't my thing, however this absolutely was! And truth be told, the title of slowest burn is misleading because the burn on this romance develops at a pace that works really well. What I loved about the story of Kieran (a reality TV show star who's writing a cookbook) and Ellie (the ghostwriter for said cookbook) was how that it was a story about them, but it was really a story about a whole lot of layers that they each navigated. It was about the cookbook and their work to build it and the romance they found along the way, but it was also about their people and figuring out where they each fit into life now, while also having some heavy pasts. I was rooting for their love, but I was rooting for them as they figured out their individual paths just as hard. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this September 2024 release.
This was really freaking cute. It felt like a classic modern romance book in the best way. The dual POV worked well, though it didn’t drive me a little nuts that there were sometimes two POVs in one chapter. My neurotic brain prefers each chapter to be a POV. But I really loved the neurodivergent representation with Kieran and I loved the way Ellie responded to him once she understood those parts of him. I very much got the opposites attract trope and loved the way the author made that work so well for Ellie and Kieran. I also loved how the story dealt with Ellie being a widow, never devaluating the relationship she had with her husband but using that to show her growth. I also very much appreciated the positive treatment of therapy and medication, showing it as a support and normal part of life. The spice was light but well written and fit well with the rest of the story. I’m really quite pleased with this book and very much looking forward to more from this author!