purplepenning's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Read during the #TransRightsReadathon March 20-27, 2023..
Sweet, silly, spicy, serious, sensual. This is a contemporary rom-com between two cooking show contestants who are each experiencing a bit of a quarter-life crisis. Dahlia (f/queer) is recently divorced from her high school sweetheart and feels disappointing and directionless. Teaching herself how to cook and develop warm, comforting flavors has helped her get through the worst of it. Winning the $100k competition prize might help her get through the rest. London (nb/pan) is settled in their non-binary identity even if they're still unsettled by their father's lack of acceptance. They're hyper-focused and prepared — to put the strained relationship with their father aside, to ignore the trolls, and to establish their place as the first non-binarycontestant winner of a major cooking competition so they can use the prize money to start a nonprofit for LGBTQ kids. There's an undeniable spark between the two, but is there a future together ahead of them?
An entertaining and enjoyable read that had me laughing out loud in places even as I cringed at others. The writing is vivid and tactile. Which is generally great, but ... I don't ever want to recall someone's hands working with raw chicken when they're in the middle of a sensual massage. There's also a large cast of secondary characters and not nearly enough time to develop them, and a background of socioeconomic disparity that's not explored much. Overall, a really good debut with excellent LGBTQ rep!
Sweet, silly, spicy, serious, sensual. This is a contemporary rom-com between two cooking show contestants who are each experiencing a bit of a quarter-life crisis. Dahlia (f/queer) is recently divorced from her high school sweetheart and feels disappointing and directionless. Teaching herself how to cook and develop warm, comforting flavors has helped her get through the worst of it. Winning the $100k competition prize might help her get through the rest. London (nb/pan) is settled in their non-binary identity even if they're still unsettled by their father's lack of acceptance. They're hyper-focused and prepared — to put the strained relationship with their father aside, to ignore the trolls, and to establish their place as the first non-binary
An entertaining and enjoyable read that had me laughing out loud in places even as I cringed at others. The writing is vivid and tactile. Which is generally great, but ... I don't ever want to recall someone's hands working with raw chicken when they're in the middle of a sensual massage. There's also a large cast of secondary characters and not nearly enough time to develop them, and a background of socioeconomic disparity that's not explored much. Overall, a really good debut with excellent LGBTQ rep!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, and Transphobia
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Excrement, and Blood
misgendering (alluded to and explored without being explicitly written), coming out, unaccepting family, internet trolls (alluded to and explored, not explicitly written), cooking gore and detailed descriptions of animal proteins, food-related sex play, public sex, divorce (backstory), pressure to have kids (backstory), socioeconomic pressure and disparitystormeno's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing and Mental illness
andloveistoolong's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, and Transphobia
Minor: Mental illness and Dysphoria
therensistance's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia and Mental illness
villainxorigin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? No
4.25
As someone who LOVES cooking competition shows, this book was right up my alley.
Contains:
- a little sunshine x grumpy
- bi FMC
- pan non-binary main character/love interest
- mouth-watering food descriptions (ready the snacks)
- adorable scream-into-my-pillow moments
It was a lot of fun reading about Dahlia and London's journey together, and I connected with both of them on different aspects of their lives. I would have liked to see even more of the cooking competition/filming dynamics and process with the other competitors explored, but focusing on the relationship helped me as a reader become emotionally invested and feel its growth and development. I think the 3rd-person POV gives insight into both characters' thoughts/feelings and what they've each been through. Overall, this was sweet with some heart-touching moments.
TW: transphobia, misgendering
Contains:
- a little sunshine x grumpy
- bi FMC
- pan non-binary main character/love interest
- mouth-watering food descriptions (ready the snacks)
- adorable scream-into-my-pillow moments
It was a lot of fun reading about Dahlia and London's journey together, and I connected with both of them on different aspects of their lives. I would have liked to see even more of the cooking competition/filming dynamics and process with the other competitors explored, but focusing on the relationship helped me as a reader become emotionally invested and feel its growth and development. I think the 3rd-person POV gives insight into both characters' thoughts/feelings and what they've each been through. Overall, this was sweet with some heart-touching moments.
TW: transphobia, misgendering
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Transphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
London and Dahlia meet on the set of reality cooking show Chef's Special, where Dahlia hopes to win the prize money that will help her get back on her feet after a messy divorce, and London hopes to make a statement by announcing their pronouns on national television and proving all the haters wrong. What neither of them expects, however, is to fall in love.
This story was heartwarming and fun to read, yet somewhat slow-paced for my liking. I found that I liked reading this book in spurts, as opposed to being totally sucked into it and not being able to put it down. The romance between Dahlia and Parker was sweet but somewhat disjointed, although I think that was kind of what made it work? They were from very different worlds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes made it a but unbelievable (ex: discussions of rent money when discussing living together). I really loved that the book featured a non-binary pansexual character and a cisgender female queer (non-specified but not monosexual) character. There needs to be more representation of trans/enby characters in books, so I was super excited to see that in this one!
There are some graphic sex scenes in this book, including one that features a description of toe-sucking, so if that's something that you're not into, reader beware.
Overall, I would say that I didn't love this book, but I definitely liked it. I would recommend to those who like cheesy romcoms, reality cooking shows, and light, queer reads.
This story was heartwarming and fun to read, yet somewhat slow-paced for my liking. I found that I liked reading this book in spurts, as opposed to being totally sucked into it and not being able to put it down. The romance between Dahlia and Parker was sweet but somewhat disjointed, although I think that was kind of what made it work? They were from very different worlds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes made it a but unbelievable (ex: discussions of rent money when discussing living together). I really loved that the book featured a non-binary pansexual character and a cisgender female queer (non-specified but not monosexual) character. There needs to be more representation of trans/enby characters in books, so I was super excited to see that in this one!
There are some graphic sex scenes in this book, including one that features a description of toe-sucking, so if that's something that you're not into, reader beware.
Overall, I would say that I didn't love this book, but I definitely liked it. I would recommend to those who like cheesy romcoms, reality cooking shows, and light, queer reads.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia
Additional TW/CW: divorce, misgenderingkayladaila's review against another edition
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Classism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Alcohol, Bullying, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders
imstephtacular's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia and Classism
Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Misogyny
belleisblue's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
Minor: Alcohol and Cursing
caseythereader's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Thanks to Forever Publishing for the free advance copy of this book.
- To absolutely no one's surprise, welcome to my queer screaming about LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS!
- Honestly, I don't even know if I can summarize everything I loved about this book. Grumpy/sunshine. Cooking competition. Self discovery and reinvention. Nonbinary representation. Characters gently taking care of each other and supporting each other through hard things.
- I love a romance novel that really digs into character backstories and growth, and LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS is one of the best examples of that I've ever read. Dahlia moving on from divorce. London dealing with their dad. And both of them learning more about themselves and each other as the story progresses.
- Also, I loved that even though some transphobia was part of London's story, they were never misgendered or deadnamed on the page. Their identity was taken seriously and as incontrovertible fact, not as something they needed to prove as part of coming out.
- To absolutely no one's surprise, welcome to my queer screaming about LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS!
- Honestly, I don't even know if I can summarize everything I loved about this book. Grumpy/sunshine. Cooking competition. Self discovery and reinvention. Nonbinary representation. Characters gently taking care of each other and supporting each other through hard things.
- I love a romance novel that really digs into character backstories and growth, and LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS is one of the best examples of that I've ever read. Dahlia moving on from divorce. London dealing with their dad. And both of them learning more about themselves and each other as the story progresses.
- Also, I loved that even though some transphobia was part of London's story, they were never misgendered or deadnamed on the page. Their identity was taken seriously and as incontrovertible fact, not as something they needed to prove as part of coming out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail