haylsandtales 's review for:

The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain

3.75

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

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⭐️⭐️⭐️✨{3.75}

🌶️🌶️🫑{2.5}

This one follows the story of a chef and a cookbook ghostwriter. Kieran just won a cooking show and is known for being a whirlwind, non-committal, ADHD mess. Whereas, Ellie is a type A perfectionist who never puts herself first. Everyone in her life is just content to let her do everything for them, until Kieran comes along that is. Their chemistry was honestly amazing and I loved seeing them grow together! I also feel like Chamberlain did an excellent job portraying neurodivergence through Kieran and his ADHD and the struggles he has gone through because of it. 

This one was super cute! Definitely a nice fluffy rom-com with some heavier topics woven throughout. Personally, I just found it a little too cheesy for me at times, and I found the MMC for the first half to be depicted a little too child-like and whiney (but by the end he was my favorite character! We love our short ginger king Kieran!!). I really loved the plot line though and appreciate what Chamberlain was trying to do to depict the growth in the characters, I just wonder if it could have been a little more subtly executed. I also feel like too many tropes were crammed into this one book, making some of them feel half-finished rather than truly being successful. However, all of this being said, I will definitely be reading further works by this author and think it was an excellent debut novel!

𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮:

🥐dual pov

🥐reverse grumpy x sunshine 

🥐forced proximity

🥐dislike to lovers

🥐opposites attract

🥐fake dating

🥐he falls first

🥐plus sized FMC/ neurodivergent MMC

*𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼:

“𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯-𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘱.” 

“𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.” 

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵?”

“𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵.”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵.” 

“𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐’𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘐𝘘 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴.”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳.” 𝘈 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦. “𝘐’𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.”

*𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨*

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝. 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗’𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝙰𝚁𝙲 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠! 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗.