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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
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
The Slowest Burn is a stunningly beautiful romance. Widowed at a young age, Ellie is struggling to keep herself afloat. With so many people depending on her help, Ellie simply can’t take on one more project. Unfortunately for her, she is paired with celebrity chef Kieran to help him write a cookbook. While Kieran excels in the kitchen, he doesn’t in planning and certainly not writing. Ellie is frustrated as she begins their ghost-writing journey together. As the tensions between them rise, will they be able to work together?
The Slowest Burn is achingly sweet and tinged with the complex grief that Ellie feels. Not only does she miss her husband, but she also feels a responsibility to look after his parents. This aspect felt so realistic. Kieran also has challenges he’s overcome and a difficult childhood that he still deals with. Ellie and Kieran are a swoonworthy couple- Ellie grounds him, while Kieran invites her to step out of her comfort zone. It was very fun when they had to work on recipes together for a week and grew closer than they anticipated.
The Slowest Burn is a fantastic contemporary romance debut from Sarah Chamberlain and I can’t wait to read what she writes next! Readers who love cooking, slow-burn romance, and delightfully real characters will devour this book.
Thank you to Sarah Chamberlain, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Slowest Burn is achingly sweet and tinged with the complex grief that Ellie feels. Not only does she miss her husband, but she also feels a responsibility to look after his parents. This aspect felt so realistic. Kieran also has challenges he’s overcome and a difficult childhood that he still deals with. Ellie and Kieran are a swoonworthy couple- Ellie grounds him, while Kieran invites her to step out of her comfort zone. It was very fun when they had to work on recipes together for a week and grew closer than they anticipated.
The Slowest Burn is a fantastic contemporary romance debut from Sarah Chamberlain and I can’t wait to read what she writes next! Readers who love cooking, slow-burn romance, and delightfully real characters will devour this book.
Thank you to Sarah Chamberlain, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you @sarahchamberlainauthor @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio
for the ARC and ALC!
A fantastic debut novel & a slow burn it was! I love the lead up to the romance. Ellie and Kieran were at odds for a long time but it just worked! The emotional and mental struggles were handled so well. Everything from being a widow to dyslexia to ADHD and more. Working on a cookbook together seeing how their passion and love for food brought them together was so sweet. The audio narrated by
Hunter Johns and Kate Handford was excellent and kept me sucked right into the story! Grab this one tomorrow and see how these enemies become lovers!
for the ARC and ALC!
A fantastic debut novel & a slow burn it was! I love the lead up to the romance. Ellie and Kieran were at odds for a long time but it just worked! The emotional and mental struggles were handled so well. Everything from being a widow to dyslexia to ADHD and more. Working on a cookbook together seeing how their passion and love for food brought them together was so sweet. The audio narrated by
Hunter Johns and Kate Handford was excellent and kept me sucked right into the story! Grab this one tomorrow and see how these enemies become lovers!
funny
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
This debut novel pulled me right in. The characters were very well written and realistic, and the story engaging.
While I did enjoy this, I didn’t love it - the chemistry between Ellie and Kieran didn’t ever really come across for me and it fell more than a little flat for me. I also found the ending unsatisfying (but no spoilers).
Despite my issues, I will definitely check out the author’s future work.
Thank you to St. Martins’ Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars.
It took me quite a bit of time to warm up to Ellie and Kieran in Sarah Chamberlain's "The Slowest Burn." The title does not lie, people! This book really *is* a slow burn, to the point where I was worried about the chemistry blossoming between the main characters! When the chemistry finally comes, it is palpable. Ellie and Kieran are both people who have been jaded by life for one reason or another. They are imperfect people with lots of flaws, and they are unsure of their place in the world. They are polar opposites, but somehow, they work together. They have some fantastic banter with one another. I thought a lot of the reasons for them not getting together were a bit silly. Still, this is a heartfelt story that I enjoyed reading. I love a novel that involves cooking, and this one made my mouth water as Kieran and Ellie work together to write his cookbook. This story also deals with heavier subjects like substance abuse, ADHD, loss, grief, and childhood trauma. It is much heavier than I expected. I will say, the pacing of this book is frequently off. I think it could have been a little shorter and a little faster. A solid debut and a great read!
Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Chamberlain, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
It took me quite a bit of time to warm up to Ellie and Kieran in Sarah Chamberlain's "The Slowest Burn." The title does not lie, people! This book really *is* a slow burn, to the point where I was worried about the chemistry blossoming between the main characters! When the chemistry finally comes, it is palpable. Ellie and Kieran are both people who have been jaded by life for one reason or another. They are imperfect people with lots of flaws, and they are unsure of their place in the world. They are polar opposites, but somehow, they work together. They have some fantastic banter with one another. I thought a lot of the reasons for them not getting together were a bit silly. Still, this is a heartfelt story that I enjoyed reading. I love a novel that involves cooking, and this one made my mouth water as Kieran and Ellie work together to write his cookbook. This story also deals with heavier subjects like substance abuse, ADHD, loss, grief, and childhood trauma. It is much heavier than I expected. I will say, the pacing of this book is frequently off. I think it could have been a little shorter and a little faster. A solid debut and a great read!
Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Chamberlain, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Just not my favorite. I didn’t love Ellie or Kieran as main characters. And as the book progressed, I felt like Max and Ellie’s relationship with him got more and more villainized. Obviously no relationship is perfect, but she spent a lot of happy years with him and it feels like everyone wants to paint Max as controlling and domineering in hindsight. Regardless of whether that was true, that’s not the story I was hoping to get. One thing I did like is how fiercely protective Nicole is of Ellie.
Note: I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Note: I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
4/5 stars
The Slowest Burn follows Ellie, a cookbook ghostwriter, and Kieran, a newly famous chef, as they work on a cookbook together. This cookbook will help both of their careers massively, but what will they do when attraction gets in the way? The Slowest Burn plays into quite a few tropes, such as grumpy x sunshine, fake dating, forced proximity, and opposites attract.
This was such a good book, from the detailed descriptions of Ellie & Kierans’ recipes to how the characters were so well thought out and developed. Kieran was so cute and I loved that he differed from the typical male leads in romances–not quite tall, dark, and handsome but Ellie’s soulmate. “Cookie, I thought when I looked at Ellie,” was such a cute cringy line and I loved it so much.
Ellie was just perfect. I loved her complexity, and the way that she started out struggling to choose herself. I relate to that in a way, and the way that everything eventually wrapped up was super satisfying to me. AND she was a reader!!
I listened to the Netgalley audiobook ARC of this book, and the pauses in between chapters were annoyingly long. I constantly had to check my phone to see whether or not it had turned off, or changed to the next chapter.
I would definitely recommend this book if you’re a fan of slow burn romance books, with some slight spice but not an overwhelming amount (which I enjoyed because those scenes are a skip for me), that doesn’t follow traditional gender roles (which I wouldn’t have expected to enjoy). Overall 4/5 stars and time well spent!
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
This is a delightful debut romance about a reality TV champion chef who is teamed up with a ghostwriter to write his cookbook. It utilizes favorite tropes like forced proximity, one bed, and grumpy sunshine with pretty good success. The first half of this book was a 5-star read for me. I immediately fell in love with Kieran, a short, ginger king, executive chef, and definite hero of the story. The FMC, Ellie, is less likable overall, but I think that is because she isn't as successfully developed as a character on page. Unfortunately, the story began to lost momentum at about 50% and I had to wade through the last half to get to what I felt was a rather anti-climatic ending. Taken together, I am rating this one a 3-3.5 stars.
What this book did right:
❤️Kieran is a cinnamon roll chef who isn't emasculated by his feelings and is openly vulnerable.
❤️Did I mention he is a CHEF? Such sexy knife skills.
❤️Neurodiversity representation (dyslexia and ADHD)
❤️Sobriety representation (One of my favorite quotes from the book is: "Every day you've had since you got sober has been an act of optimism.")
❤️Body size diversity (Kieran is only 5'7" "on a good day"); Ellie is described as "endlessly curvy")
❤️Mental health representation (depression, anxiety)
❤️Multi-cultural representation (Jewish, Filipino)
❤️Exploration of grief (Ellie is a 30-year old widow)
❤️THREE! grand gestures that don't feel forced or cheesy
❤️A good cast of minor characters (Ben, Jay, Nicole)
Why this book missed:
🌙Tried to be about too much and about too many people (see above) so some of the best aspects of the story were really abbreviated and felt thrown away by the end
🌙Word count crowded with detail that didn't have anything to do with the plot or explored by the characters (see above) to the point that it felt like the author was checking off a DEI list. (The author often gives just one piece of information about a character, and that piece of information is their minority group.)
🌙Plot was too shallow for the length of the book
🌙Nicole and Jay? What was the point of their subplot?
🌙Despite the time spent with them in the narrative, Kieran didn't get any closure with his family at all
🌙Third act break up that doesn't make as much sense as the author thinks it does
🌙The last chapter didn't feel true to the characters
The shining star of this book is Kieran. He isn't the traditional tall, dark, and handsome romance hero, and is secure in his ability to please women and take care of them. His vulnerabilities don't stop him from going after what he wants. He is just so good, and kind. One of the sweetest aspects of the story is his bond with Ben.
Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, and I will be reading this author's next book.
Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
What this book did right:
❤️Kieran is a cinnamon roll chef who isn't emasculated by his feelings and is openly vulnerable.
❤️Did I mention he is a CHEF? Such sexy knife skills.
❤️Neurodiversity representation (dyslexia and ADHD)
❤️Sobriety representation (One of my favorite quotes from the book is: "Every day you've had since you got sober has been an act of optimism.")
❤️Body size diversity (Kieran is only 5'7" "on a good day"); Ellie is described as "endlessly curvy")
❤️Mental health representation (depression, anxiety)
❤️Multi-cultural representation (Jewish, Filipino)
❤️Exploration of grief (Ellie is a 30-year old widow)
❤️THREE! grand gestures that don't feel forced or cheesy
❤️A good cast of minor characters (Ben, Jay, Nicole)
Why this book missed:
🌙Tried to be about too much and about too many people (see above) so some of the best aspects of the story were really abbreviated and felt thrown away by the end
🌙Word count crowded with detail that didn't have anything to do with the plot or explored by the characters (see above) to the point that it felt like the author was checking off a DEI list. (The author often gives just one piece of information about a character, and that piece of information is their minority group.)
🌙Plot was too shallow for the length of the book
🌙Nicole and Jay? What was the point of their subplot?
🌙Despite the time spent with them in the narrative, Kieran didn't get any closure with his family at all
🌙Third act break up that doesn't make as much sense as the author thinks it does
🌙The last chapter didn't feel true to the characters
The shining star of this book is Kieran. He isn't the traditional tall, dark, and handsome romance hero, and is secure in his ability to please women and take care of them. His vulnerabilities don't stop him from going after what he wants. He is just so good, and kind. One of the sweetest aspects of the story is his bond with Ben.
Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, and I will be reading this author's next book.
Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
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:
Yes