A cute rivals to lovers romance with a beautiful Maui setting.
The negative that I have is that Nikki acted so childish with the pranks that she set for Callum, and it was a drag to be in her head all of the time.
It was one of the instances where communication could've solved A LOT of the issues that happened in this book, and I understand that part of it was to see the character growth within Nikki, but it felt like this plot device was used too much where it got irritating to see these situations happen.
However, the romance between Callum and Nikki was adorable, and wanted to see more of it to see both of them grow with each other.

DNF @ 25%. this felt melodramatic and over the top and the characters were so childish. enemies to lovers can be a difficult trope for me to get on bored with and this unfortunately missed the mark.

From the fun cover to the last page, this was a story infused with vibrant culture that will leave you hungry for tasty treats. Not to mention, a desire to be part of a community that takes care of its own, with a sense of belonging and filled with love. If you're looking for a book adventure this is packed with tasty goodness. A tender story of love, loss, trust, faith, and a whole lot of fun.

When a food truck suddenly appears ready to steal business from Nikki DiMarco's business she's ready to declare war. It isn't until she catches sight of him outside working hours until he suddenly consumes her thoughts.

Will Callum and Nikki survive the food competition and wager? Will they be able to ignore the attraction between them? Both are struggling against family expectations, a battle of finding their purpose, and dealing with acceptance for what matters most to them.

If you like a great strangers to enemies to lovers trope, with a healthy dash of opposites attract this is sure to tick a few boxes. Add opposites attract, multicultural, sweet and spicy, and a whole lot of sexy banter.

Thank you Berkley Publishing for an advance copy for a fair and honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Sarah is now one of my auto buy authors. I love the playfulness and giggles i get when reading her stories!

Was not able to read the entirety of the book and cannot give an accurate or overall rating/review . As a librarian for a big library system, we most likely have a copy of this item. I will look forward to reading it in future since I am sure I will. We have gotten positive feedback for this title thus far and I am excited to read it when possible.

We serve a huge Filipino community and I know this will be a hit with many of our readers. Thanks for this!

Cute dueling food trucks with a quietly simmering enemies-to-lovers-to-actual-romance-maybe? plot. Wasn't sure if it could stick the landing but did enjoy finding out.

The heat in this book comes from more than just the cooking! Simmer Down by Sarah Smith is a enemies-to-lovers romance set around rival food trucks in Hawaii. A fun beach read but a bit too melodramatic at times for my taste.

This was a fun second act to Sarah Smith’s previous book Faker. Though the characters were new and it is a different story, there was a lot similar—enemies-to-lovers story featuring a Filipino-American leading lady who is feuding with a British white boy in a work-related conflict.

Nikki has relocated to Maui to help her parents with their dream to retire with a Filipino food truck right next to the beach. But when her father dies, Nikki and her mother are left with a stack of bills and even more grieving. When a rival food truck specializing in fish and chips sets up next to her beachside parking spot, Nikki doesn’t care how handsome the owner Callum is. She cares that he is stealing her customers with his British flare.

Soon the two end up in a rivalry that is only complicated by how attracted they are to one another. The chemistry between these frenemies with benefits is definitely heating up, but so is their feud. Until, of course, Nikki starts to see Callum’s sweeter side and begins to fall for him.

I liked the setting and the food truck scene. This was a fun theme for a romance book. And of course I love to hear about all of the food, particularly the Filipino food which all sounded absolutely incredible (hard to imagine fish and chips putting up the same competition!).

Nikki was a complicated character to like. I loved how she dropped her life to support her mother. However, I found Nikki herself (particularly in her interactions with Callum) to be annoying. She tends to jump to conclusions, complain, and not want to do anything to improve her circumstances.

Read this book for the steamy love story and the fantastic setting. A fun beach read!

For some reason, food driven fluffy books have been great for me recently, this was no exception. A first purchase for sure

Enemies to lovers was never a trope I was into and I don't think it's still for me but this was sort of cute. I like the idea of rivalry food trucks-- and multicultural at that! There are a bunch of laugh-out-loud moments and it made the book some much better. I had a lot of laughs, smiles, and I ended up hungry! Lol!

This was my second Sarah Smith book and it was another great read!!! Hate to love is one of my favorite tropes so naturally I fell in love with Nikki and Callum from the beginning. THE SPARKS!! THE TENSION! THE CHEMISTRY! THE COMPETITION!! So good!!!! Then you add in the food vibes and it just added that fun and HILARITY to the story. I also really enjoyed the location of Maui, it was so different and so good! But even though this did feel like a romcom, their was that added heaviness with grief, which I really appreciated. Having dealt with grief recently, I was able to connect to Nikki and her mom and it made me shed a few tears. But it made me understand Nikki so much and I really loved her relationship with her mother. It was so so sweet and beautiful!! I was SO HAPPY for her at the end of this book!! I really enjoyed Callums character as well and the sparks were jumping off the page at each interaction and the forced proximity!! I was squealing!!! Overall another really great and fun read by Sarah Smith!

Gave this book 4 stars.

I did enjoy this book it qas a funny hot and steamy enemies to lovers trope. Loved both characters Nikki and Callum and their cooking talk.

I love romances centered around food and this one was no different! I also loved that this story had a food truck element. Super fun! The enemies to lovers banter was really great in this one - always something I really love in a romance! This one also had a great mix of serious moments and hilarity. Super solid rom-com!

This was overall pretty cute. I think the premise was strong but the execution was quite lacking. I loved the emphasis on food and family. I found the first third to be the strongest part but unfortunately the hate to love elements ended too quickly. The banter and tension was really good but it ended too abruptly. There was also some manufactured drama towards the end that felt forced and unnecessary. I also struggle with romances that don't have dual perspectives so I think also contributed to my lack of enjoyment.

Basically, I was just a bit disappointed. I would however give this author another chance in the future.

Rom-Com, multicultural, food, and chaos? This book has it all! I definitely loved every minute I read this story and I wish there was more!

A delicious read indeed. What happens when a sexy, British food truck owner clashes with a spicy Filipina serving up her mother's recipes on the beach of Maui? Sparks (and maybe a little sex on the beach). I liked this one more than Sarah's previous book, FAKER, but it's clear that Sarah Smith has a brand: grumpy-ish Filipina heroines, rivals-to-lovers in the workplace, and yummy foods!

There were a few to many "coincidences" for me, but overall, I really enjoyed the depth and backstory Sarah gave to the characters, especially the heroine, Nikki.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

*I read and reviewed this book for my podcast, Boobies & Noobies. Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app or on www.boobiesandnoobies.com

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I loved this fun romantic food truck-loving book. Lots of sass and tension and great characters.

I really loved the food in this book and the concept of duelling food trucks is a great rom-com idea! I had a problem with the hero though, I couldn't get over how he treated the heroine at the start of the story (he was just too rude) and that bled into my overall enjoyment of the story. So I had high hopes but it turned out to be just an okay read for me.

Simmer Down by Sarah Smith
Rating 3/ 5 Stars
Published By Berkley
Published On 13th October 2020

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley, and of course, Sarah Smith for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book and I have a bit of a rocky relationship. In Simmer Down, We follow Nikki and Callum - the classic enemies to lovers trope. It starts out really well and is adorable, sexy, and a fun read before shifting almost entirely into something I was not a fan of. The melodrama of this book was just not for me. I think there was a lot of potential here, but I guess the story wasn’t for me. Sarah Smith has some lovely books and I do like her writing style, but sometimes, you just have to take a loss with authors you like.

A steamy, sex positive enemies to lovers romance set in Hawaii featuring rival food truck owners. This started off strong but kind of fizzled out towards the end unfortunately. I was really excited for the concept of this one but ended up a little bored halfway through. Good effort, poor execution.