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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
lighthearted
relaxing
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
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
I’m super late on reviewing this one but I received an ARV and I really enjoyed it. I liked the premise and the food porn, but more importantly I enjoyed the slow burn budding work relationship to friendship then friends with benefits then more and the even more, not without its struggles and challenge. But it was also a story of finding yourself and what you want and standing up for that and supporting your person. I thought it was definitely a great love story and an important one of how to support your partner and lift them up. It was also a way to discover love after loss and how to find yourself again! Super cute and spicy!
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
With a title like that, I was expecting a deliciously slow-cooked romance, simmering with tension and just the right amount of spice. Instead, what I got was a dish overloaded with heavy-handed drama that left me feeling more bloated than satisfied.
Kieran O’Neill should be living his best life—winning a reality TV show, opening a restaurant, and scoring a cookbook deal before thirty? That’s like the trifecta of culinary success! But instead of savoring his achievements, Kieran’s drowning in a stew of mental health struggles, and not the subtle kind. We’re talking grief, addiction, low self-worth, family drama, and an in-law who seems to have taken a page from the How to Be an Emotional Black Hole of Suck handbook. It’s like the author threw every tragic ingredient into the pot, stirred, and forgot to season it with any hope or lightness.
Then there’s Ellie Wasserman, our ghostwriter heroine, who’s just as weighed down by life. She’s got her own cookbook dreams, but they’re buried under the pressure of taking care of her in-laws and enabling her brother’s refusal to adult. And let’s not forget the looming specter of her late husband. You know, just in case things weren’t depressing enough.
Now, don’t get me wrong—books that tackle real, heavy issues can be powerful and moving. But it felt like I was being hit over the head with a frying pan of misery. The romance between Kieran and Ellie, which should’ve been the sweet, slow-building redemption arc, got lost in all the angst. By the time they finally started cooking up some chemistry, I was too emotionally exhausted to care whether they ended up together or just burned down the kitchen.
And speaking of chemistry, where was the fun? The enemies-to-lovers trope is usually a recipe for sharp banter and laugh-out-loud moments, but here, it was more like watching two people slog through mud while occasionally throwing wet noodles at each other. By the time they finally connected, I was ready to call it quits and order takeout.
In the end, The Slowest Burn just wasn’t to my taste. It tried to serve up a complex dish of love and healing, but instead, it felt more like being stuck in a never-ending episode of Kitchen Nightmares—without Gordon Ramsay to yell, “It’s raw!”
The premise had potential, but in the end, it left me with a bad case of heartburn.
I just saw a published book Do Me a Favor that strangely sounds similar: widowed cookbook ghostwriter. Hmm…
Kieran O’Neill should be living his best life—winning a reality TV show, opening a restaurant, and scoring a cookbook deal before thirty? That’s like the trifecta of culinary success! But instead of savoring his achievements, Kieran’s drowning in a stew of mental health struggles, and not the subtle kind. We’re talking grief, addiction, low self-worth, family drama, and an in-law who seems to have taken a page from the How to Be an Emotional Black Hole of Suck handbook. It’s like the author threw every tragic ingredient into the pot, stirred, and forgot to season it with any hope or lightness.
Then there’s Ellie Wasserman, our ghostwriter heroine, who’s just as weighed down by life. She’s got her own cookbook dreams, but they’re buried under the pressure of taking care of her in-laws and enabling her brother’s refusal to adult. And let’s not forget the looming specter of her late husband. You know, just in case things weren’t depressing enough.
Now, don’t get me wrong—books that tackle real, heavy issues can be powerful and moving. But it felt like I was being hit over the head with a frying pan of misery. The romance between Kieran and Ellie, which should’ve been the sweet, slow-building redemption arc, got lost in all the angst. By the time they finally started cooking up some chemistry, I was too emotionally exhausted to care whether they ended up together or just burned down the kitchen.
And speaking of chemistry, where was the fun? The enemies-to-lovers trope is usually a recipe for sharp banter and laugh-out-loud moments, but here, it was more like watching two people slog through mud while occasionally throwing wet noodles at each other. By the time they finally connected, I was ready to call it quits and order takeout.
In the end, The Slowest Burn just wasn’t to my taste. It tried to serve up a complex dish of love and healing, but instead, it felt more like being stuck in a never-ending episode of Kitchen Nightmares—without Gordon Ramsay to yell, “It’s raw!”
The premise had potential, but in the end, it left me with a bad case of heartburn.
I just saw a published book Do Me a Favor that strangely sounds similar: widowed cookbook ghostwriter. Hmm…
Really enjoyed the foodie/cookbook aspects of this book!
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Perfect, no notes! !
(Maybe I will add an exclamation point for every time I read it this year)
(Maybe I will add an exclamation point for every time I read it this year)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief
fast-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I was really enjoying this in the beginning but I had no patience for the third act break up.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated the MMC for most of the book.