Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Love & Other Disasters

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

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leahlovesloslibros's review

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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.

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analenegrace's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a review for a second reading of the book, about a year after the first, where I'm giving it the same star rating but adding a written review for the first time.

When this got assigned for the June book for the romance book club I'm in, I was excited because I remember really enjoying this book, and I recently read the sequel and enjoyed that a lot as well; but then I looked at my 3.75 rating and wondered what I didn't like, but after re-reading, I am remembering why 3.75.

I really liked a lot of aspects of this book: I liked the cooking show setting, I liked the resolutions of the characters' arcs, and I liked that their growth as people did feel real.

But I also realized what I didn't quite like about this book. Dahlia feels like an incredibly fleshed-out character with an arc more about her personal growth rather than her romance with London, whereas London's arc felt more like the romance was their main plot, with their growth being minor and mostly about gaining some confidence in their identity. I like when books focus on characters' growth in their romance, and I felt like this book got caught up in Dahlia's life, and we didn't get enough of London's.

I also didn't think this was particularly a rom-com, which is how it's marketed (the front calls it "fantastically fun"), and I didn't see much humor throughout it beyond some of Dahlia's more "quirkiness."

I also found the sex to be written odd, again very focused on Dahlia, with London either not finishing or being about three sentences at the end of the scene, almost in a fade-to-black manner. The author's own identity as non-binary feels very personal in this character which is why this isn't much of a big deal, although I would love to know why.

I really enjoyed Kelly's other book and their novella, so I look forward to the third in this series and to talking about this book in my book club!

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kayladaila's review against another edition

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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

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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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

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belleisblue's review against another edition

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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

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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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.

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