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A review by zigzagzmak
Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.5
I hate onions. Famously. So when the first page of Love & Other Disasters mentioned onions four entire times, I shut my eyes, took a deep breath, and reminded myself how badly I wanted to read this book. I'm so glad I pushed through!! I kid, mostly. I was never going to put it down for happening to mention a food I don't care for, especially because I knew I was picking up a book about characters who love to cook and would be doing a whole lot of it! Just as I anticipated that I would, I had a lot of fun reading this! It hit a bunch of firsts for me as a reader and I enjoyed it immensely! I definitely want to read more from Anita Kelly, I found their writing style super enjoyable and easy to sink into. My attention was captured straight away, onions be damned.
I think this story dealt with some really interesting and fun topics in a super authentic and creative way. There were some familiar tropes — two people from different economic backgrounds, brought away from home to compete against each other and then unexpectedly finding love?!? Such a fun foundation to build upon with these characters. I thought that Kelly dealt with the tough topics of Dahlia's divorce and London's coming out and family dynamics really well, and that the backdrop of the nationally-airing cooking show was a fun way to explore those things amidst their budding relationship.
The smut was hot, well paced and placed within the narrative. I found myself waiting with anticipation for them to finally, finally get together; Kelly builds their sexual and romantic tension so well over the course of the first half of the book, that by the time they're falling into bed, it feels earned. And even though I'm not the world's biggest fan of exhibitionism in public spaces (even if they're empty), even the scene that contains it was still written in such a compelling manner that I found myself not minding! The only thing I found myself missing in the sex scenes was smut that was focused on London — even the scenes from London's perspective were all about what they were doing to Dahlia.
I'll also add that when London and Dahlia did get together, I found myself missing the cooking competition details, as the focus shifted pretty heavily to their relationship — understandably! However, I really wanted to read more about what was going on on the TV show, and it felt like we didn't get a lot of details about it untilDahlia was being kicked off . I understand the difficulty of balancing the rest of your story with the romance, but found myself craving a touch more!
All in all, this is a lovely read with fun characters, a creative setting, and I hope to find others like it!
I think this story dealt with some really interesting and fun topics in a super authentic and creative way. There were some familiar tropes — two people from different economic backgrounds, brought away from home to compete against each other and then unexpectedly finding love?!? Such a fun foundation to build upon with these characters. I thought that Kelly dealt with the tough topics of Dahlia's divorce and London's coming out and family dynamics really well, and that the backdrop of the nationally-airing cooking show was a fun way to explore those things amidst their budding relationship.
The smut was hot, well paced and placed within the narrative. I found myself waiting with anticipation for them to finally, finally get together; Kelly builds their sexual and romantic tension so well over the course of the first half of the book, that by the time they're falling into bed, it feels earned. And even though I'm not the world's biggest fan of exhibitionism in public spaces (even if they're empty), even the scene that contains it was still written in such a compelling manner that I found myself not minding! The only thing I found myself missing in the sex scenes was smut that was focused on London — even the scenes from London's perspective were all about what they were doing to Dahlia.
I'll also add that when London and Dahlia did get together, I found myself missing the cooking competition details, as the focus shifted pretty heavily to their relationship — understandably! However, I really wanted to read more about what was going on on the TV show, and it felt like we didn't get a lot of details about it until
All in all, this is a lovely read with fun characters, a creative setting, and I hope to find others like it!