Simmer Down is a enemies to lovers romance that features Nikki DiMarco who runs her own food truck company in Maui with her mom. After working hard to establish their business, Nikki is fuming when their parking spot is invaded by new comers. Callum James doesn’t want to play by the unspoken food truck rules and things start to get pretty fiery between the two of them.

I really enjoyed this book because the two main characters are incredibly stubborn and when they met sparks started flying instantly. Nikki doesn’t have time for anything but her mom and their food truck after her father passed away. Callum just wants to help his brother succeed in running as business catered towards British pub food (uh did I mention he’s British and has the sexiest accent?) The chemistry between these two is so steamy and the food descriptions had my mouth watering.

When these two can finally get past the walls they’ve both built up there is so much more to them that they’ve been hiding. I loved seeing Nikki reminded that it’s ok to have a personal life after her father passed. She rediscovers herself and starts doing things that bring her happiness. Callum who just seems so grumpy is actually very endearing and goes to great lengths for those he cares about.

This is such a fun enemies to lovers book with the perfect setting. I am dying to go to Hawaii now and check out all the food trucks.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing, Sarah Smith, and Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. Simmer Down is out 10/13

Fair warning, this book is going to make you super hungry!! It was a quick and fairly sweet read, although I felt like the sex scenes weren't as steamy as they should have been (it was very samey after the first encounter). I loved the settings of both London and Hawaii!

Oh so sizzling good! Loved this haters to lovers romance with a foodie twist! I knew as soon as Nikki and Cullum were in close proximity they would explode into a glorious and hot romance. I thoroughly enjoyed Simmer Down. Nikki at times was relentlessly frustrating and I loved how Callum was peeled back to be a sexy, sweet, perfect book boyfriend. The chemistry between the two left some amazing and steamy scenes, just how I like it!

A sizzling-hot romance, Simmer Down by Sarah Smith is a delightful rom-com featuring two competing food truck chefs, some drool-worthy food descriptions, and a heartfelt story about family, love, and friendship.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sarah's debut romance Faker when it came out last year, but Simmer Down truly blew me away. I was immediately sucked into Nikki's story: her personality is so charming, and she's already been through a lot when the book opens. Her meeting with Callum seems to start off so sweet, and then it goes SO wrong, SO fast. Much like Nikki, I was left wondering what his deal was -- and was dying to figure out the reasons behind his frosty attitude.

The clash between Nikki and Callum is entertaining and fun -- but seeing them start to warm up to each other was really magical. Smith uses all the most wonderful tropes and twists them around in a truly wonderful way; even knowing this story would have a happy ending (that's the magic of reading romance), I was left wondering how they'd get there.

Part of what made Simmer Down so wonderful is the story beyond their romance: everything Nikki has gone through, her relationship with her mom, the life and friends she left behind, even the relationship between Callum and his brother (and their parents). There's a whole world packed inside these pages, and I loved exploring all aspects of it.

A smart, tasty (seriously, you will be SO hungry) romance!

I enjoyed this book so much more than her first one! I felt like this was such an improvement because the first book was so cringey. I love the whole food truck scene, I thought it was cute and all the food descriptions made me hungry while reading this book. Especially lumpia because I love lumpia lmfao. I love how Nikki cares for her mom so much. It might be stifling but that's just how the culture is.
The hate to love trope is usually "meh" for me but it worked in this book. I think the food helped, lmao. It was also interesting to see the differences in cultures between Nikki and Callum and how their parents sees things. I know this is not always the case for every family, it's not 100% same. Also, what's with this author's guys and them always looking like they're grumpy people? Like they show affection by looking mad and unapproachable.
Oh and I love Callum's brother Finn!! I feel like he's basically a cinnamon roll.

But yeah basically go read this book because I think it's a huge improvement from the first one and I also found it funny.

I really enjoyed Simmer Down, by Sarah Smith. Nikki and Callum are rivals, warring over food truck turf in this Hawaiian enemies to lovers romance. I loved that on its surface it was a romance, but it didn’t shy away from harder themes like grief and loss and what living with grief can look like. The #ownvoices Filipina rep was great, and all the talk of food sent me to the store, buying ingredients for lumpia and chicken adobo. (My first attempt at lumpia was definitely not Instagram-worthy.)

This book was seriously so good. I smiled through their feuding and the building tension, I fanned myself during the steamy bits, and I teared up during the tender, sensitive moments. Smith’s pacing was on point, and the side characters were so real and added so much to the story, although Lemon the cat might just have been my favorite.

The chemistry was sizzling, the connection sweet, and the happily ever after well worth waiting for.

Thank you to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for my complimentary e-ARC.

There was much to love about this book and much to not. That's why my rating lies somewhere in the middle for this one.

One thing that I loved (perhaps the most) was the fun and competitive parts of this book. The banter between Nikki and Callum was exciting, hilarious, and kept me on my toes. I never knew what they were going to do for their pranks to each other or how they were going to try to mess the rival food truck up. The enemies-to-lovers trope was alive and well.

Also, the multicultural representation in this book was fabulous. The book takes place in Hawaii so there are a lot of Asain and Islander influences. As well, Nikki has a Filipina background and Callum a British background so we really get a good insight into their cultures. It was just a good blend of different backgrounds and experiences to make this book not only diverse but more relatable to a wider audience.

So while I loved the competitive side of things, it was also one of the parts I hated the most. Sometimes I felt like the rival aspect was taken too far. Some points felt immature or were just being driven into the ground.

Also, I was happy the lovers part of the enemies-to-lovers started sooner rather than later, but then it also ended sooner. I understand and appreciate conflict within a relationship because it just makes the ending, when they finally get together, that much sweeter. However, their relationship conflict, much the same as the rivalry at some points, felt immature and melodramatic. Don't get me wrong. I love a good, dramatic conflict, but even this was a bit too contrived for me.

Overall, this book sat somewhere in the middle for me. Some of it's biggest strengths were also it's weaknesses in my opinion. However, if you like enemies-to-lovers tropes or are a fan of "Kiss My Cupcake", this would probably be an enjoyable book for you.

Simmer Down is a romance about food truck rivals turned lovers, who have to keep their relationship hidden from social media (which is a challenge when your sabotaging antics are being watched by those who could ruin an opportunity of a lifetime).

I went back and forth between enjoying this book and disliking it. The food truck rivalry was a cute idea, as were the multicultural characters and setting. For my taste, there was too much sex… acting on it or thinking about it. It seems that is all the characters ever did and thought about outside of their food truck service – heck even during it; a little over the top for me.

I really enjoyed the setting and I actually did enjoy the characters outside of their sexual prowess. The character’s interactions with their family members and each other was complex, but realistic. Nikki’s character bothered me at times, more so that you see the truth and she doesn't, so you just want to shake her and tell her she is overreacting and needs to be honest with everyone… including herself.

In the end, I would give it 3.5 stars if I could, but will bump it up to 4. Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading something else by Sarah Smith.

If you’ve been hearing intermittent bizarre rumblings somewhere in the direction of Southern Ontario, fret not... that was just the sound of my stomach growling over the descriptions of the food in this book.

Another fun and sexy rivalry romance from Sarah Smith.

I have mixed feelings on this book, there were parts that I absolutely loved and other things that I didn't like as much.

Overall I really liked the main characters, Nikki and Callum. I enjoyed learning about their backstories and how they both ended up on Maui. I really enjoyed the setting of Maui as well, a place that I really love. All of the food that they were cooking sounded delicious and I do love a good rival to lovers storyline. Their love story was very sweet and I felt like their emotions were real.

I wish their rivalry went on for a bit longer as I felt like they were together much quicker than I was expecting and then there was quite a bit of time without much action. However in the last little bit of the novel there were a whole bunch of problems that came all at once. I felt like these should have been pared down to one issue that could be explored further rather than issue after issue that kept coming up.

Overall I really enjoyed the characters (including all of the side characters), but the pacing was a bit off for me.

From the moment I read the word Lumpia and pancit, I am drawn to this book. I know that sounded such a bias, but I am always happy to read a book that mentions Filipino cuisines and traditions. Nikki, our female lead, is headstrong and a caring daughter to her mom. When her dad passed away, she stayed and helped her mom with her food truck business. Everything was great till she found a food truck parked on her usual spot, and on top of that, the owner refuses to honor “the code.” Both food truck owners started to prank and outwit each other till both were “convinced” to join the food festival, and whoever wins can have the parking spot. So now it’s a battle of who has the better food. I find it funny because we Filipinos are competitive, especially when it comes to our food and what we think is right, regardless of how good-looking and hot our competitors would be. I find Nikki to have that personality. She’s undeniably attracted to Callum, the British food truck owner, and her nemesis, and the feelings are the same, but hey, let’s not make it that easy, right? I enjoyed reading this book. It has all the flavor I love in a romance read; enemies to lovers trope, multicultural representation, adorable characters, and the drama lol.

Thank you so much, Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley, for my arc.

This was a little enemies to lovers story. The tension begins right from the start and the author does not hold back on the healthy dose of steam.

It all begins when two rival food truck owners compete for a coveted location on a Maui coast. Nikki sells delicious Filipino cuisine, while Callum is British and slangs fish n chips.

Let’s cut to the chase, Callum is a straight up jerk. He’s just rude, but also happens to be incredibly hot (so idk I guess the author thought it was ok that he is mean?? I was very confused). Nikki is simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by him...and I’m sure you can guess how things may evolve.

This story has romance, but it also touches on the subject of grief and the importance of not making assumptions about people. Although there was some depth, I felt like there was also something missing for me. It wasn’t bad, but the interactions between characters felt forced and the build up to the romance was lacking.

In other news, I now have an immense craving for Lumpia, Chicken Adobo, and veggie Pancit. Gimme all the Filipino food!!

Simmer Down, by Sarah Smith, sounds like a fun, breezy romcom featuring a delicious rivals-to-lovers story with a tropical food truck setting. Rival food truck owners/chefs Nikki and Callum squabble over truck territory, and wind up agreeing to compete for the prime spot in the upcoming Maui Food Festival. Whoever takes top honors takes the location. But while Nikki would do almost anything to win the competition, keep her truck's spot, and make a success of the food truck, she can't deny her attraction to Callum...

Look, I love enemies or rivals to lovers stories. I love food/restaurant/chef-y stories. I love romcoms. But Simmer Down is an unseasoned dud, rather than the sizzling, delicious dish it promised.

Virtually every plot advancement - the wager, the trips to London, the friendship with social media star Penelope, the endless wave of random moments to make Nikki leap to jealous assumptions - feels incredibly contrived, like they're stuck in at awkward angles. Even emotional issues like "Nikki has commitment issues and pushes people away because her dad's death has made her fear anyone she's close to will die or vanish suddenly, too"...doesn't feel earned, or hardly even mentioned until more than halfway through the book. These characters are supposed to be adults (Nikki is 29, and Callum presumably not far off from that), yet not only do they squabble like children (which frankly, I could have lived with) but they leap to every assumption they can find and make the silliest decisions, just to keep the plot going. The rivals-to-lovers angle falls apart pretty quickly, but the competition provides a supposed need to keep their budding relationship secret - except the secret only seems to matter when it's convenient, and not when, say, they're going to work together at a restaurant and oh so accidentally get caught out. It all feels like a stretch, it all feels contrived, and it all feels stilted and forced. I want my romcoms easy, breezy, beautiful, as it were, not to be able to see the strings manipulating the plot and characters quite so easily.

Plus, just gonna say it, they never actually return to the fact that Callum WAS incredibly rude and hostile and broke local food truck etiquette on that first day. Kind of like he was incredibly rude and thoughtless about the timing he chooses to have a Big Talk with Nikki...in the middle of one of the most important days of her career. (Great time to belittle and dismiss everything she's worked so hard for, along with her financial concerns, bro! Nothing tells a girl you love her like saying her ambitions are meaningless and you don't care about money because you're so much richer than she is!) And yet...because he's just So Hot, he never has to apologize for these things. Okay. Great.

So the love interest is a jerk, the plot is held together by strings, but is there at least delicious food...and, ah, not just food? Not as much yummy food descriptions as I'd like, to be honest, and it's a shame all the Filipino dishes (and other Tagalog words) have been italicized in that super awkward way some books still insist on, but to the actual point - the sex (and there is a lot of it) would be steamier if there was more chemistry between Nikki and Callum. Their relationship doesn't stay in the rivalry zone long enough to get the tension enemies-to-lovers provides, and they literally resort to a "Questions Game" (although, where's the game? All they did was spew personal backstory at each other) in order to pretend there's something between them other than hostility in the blink of an eye. Plus, "rabid" is never a sexy word, no matter how many times you use it.

So ultimately, Simmer Down is not the foodie-pleasing, swoony/steamy, enemies-to-lovers romcom in paradise the menu offered; order some other dish instead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advance review copy.

When he father got sick, Nikki dropped everything in her life to move to Hawaii to be with her parents. After his passing left she and her mother scrambling to make ends meet with their food truck business. Nikki thinks she is doing the new guys a favor when she goes to tell them the etiquette rules about parking in a food trucks spot, but Callum doesn’t want to hear it. Let the battle begin. Whoever wins the big food festival gets to keep the spot. Will other sparks fly though?

I really loved both Nikki and Callum, but man I hated that we wouldn’t just tell each other what they were thinking! We could have avoided so much drama if they would just talk to each other! Either way, this was a fun rom com! I really enjoyed the food truck angle, that’s a new one and I loved it! While both our main characters had some baggage, I found this story to be cute and fun! The ending gave me all the feels!

First, I would like to say a big thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I have been in a rom-com mood lately, so when I saw this title on Netgalley I was all for getting lost in a love story. I will fully admit that I was not a big fan of the last book by this author, Faker, but I was definitely willing to give her next book a try. I am so glad that I made that decision, because this book did not let me down!

This book provided me with one of my favorite rom-com tropes, enemies to lovers! Something about a good hate to love story just makes me so happy inside and I think this one was really well done.

Nikki, the female lead, came off as an authentic, genuinely relatable character. She puts family at the forefront of her life and is willing to do anything for her mother. Callum, the male love interest, came off a little brash at the beginning but by the end of this book I was ready to steal him for myself!!

Something I really enjoyed and appreciated about this book is that it is more than just a romance. It also weaves in a story of grief and learning how to cope with losing a parent. I felt this topic was done extremely well, while also showing how each person in a family deals with grief in different ways.

The only part of this book that really wasn’t for me was the fact that it is only told from just Nikki’s POV. If you have been following our blog, you know that Thi and I both crave a book with dual POVs. I generally think this brings so much more to a story, especially a romance!

Overall, this is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick and fun, steamy romance!

New food truck owner, Callum, has parked in the same spot Nikki has been parking for months, against the unwritten code of conduct that all Maui food truck owners follow. But not Callum... when Nikki tries to clue him in, he gives her the brush off and stays put, starting the biggest island food truck rivalry the foodies have ever experienced! And now that their rivalry is being broadcast all over social media, both businesses are booming. But who will win the Maui Food Festival and the right to stay at the beach parking spot? And can they protect their hearts in the process?

I loved this enemies-to-lovers turned friends with benefits romcom! Nikki's character development was nicely done... her grief, which bled over into ALL of her relationships, was both a trigger and comforting. Some of the things that Callum said to Nikki were things that I was glad to hear, having dealt with a very similar loss. Callum's character arc did feel a little less developed, but it was forgivable since it was a first person POV of Nikki's account.

I give this one 4.5 stars, with a round up to 5 because I absolutely couldn't put it down. I finished in just 2 days, and read over 80% of book on the second. It's definitely worth a read for any romcom lover looking for a Happily Ever After.

I just really couldn't get into the writing of this book. It was written in a way that really felt like the characters were talking to *me* rather than the other characters, and everything was sort of over explained. It made it hard to get lost in the story and the romance. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed the talk of food and culture, but I just overall could not get past the writing.

3.5/4

I enjoyed this book and I let myself get swept up in it but it took a while for me to get into. I never got the feeling that they were actually enemies to lovers nor did I ever really get the impression that Callum was anything other than infatuated with Nikki.

I get Nikki, I see a lot of myself in her. I liked Callum a lot as well but, I feel like we didn't really get to know him in the way we got to know Nikki (understandable given it's her perspective). It wasn't difficult to predict what Nikki was going to do or how she was going to react because, again, I really do feel like I understood her and her position very well even if I wanted to yell at her each time she did something completely irrational that I probably would have done. I wish I would have gotten more of Callum.

I did not enjoy this and ended up DNF half way through. The story line had so much potential but it fell flat for me. The over explaining everything bothered me and Nikki and Callums interactions were not fun to read and that made me sad because I really wanted to like them.
Overall I wouldn’t buy or recommend this.

2 word review - SKIP IT.

I wanted to like this one. The premise is rivals to lovers featuring a filipino american food truck owner! But my only emotions while reading were bored and angry.

At the 50% point it got worse and worse. I almost dnfed it at 75% and again at 90%. The absurdities and conclusion jumping felt endless.

When I finally got over the plot point that Callum's basically a colonizer who encroached on the space of a struggling mom and daughter, I still couldn't reconcile the fact that there's no chemistry or buildup. It goes from seemingly hating each other to a game of 20 questions on an airplane to sleeping with each other to love.

Callum is an absolute fucking dolt with no personality traits aside from being hot and British. For some reason he cannot get it through his head why this food competition and everything is important to Nikki and only acknowledges the difficulty of food truck culture 94% into the book.

Nikki's friendship wasn't built up well either. They had like 3 encounters before Penelope called her a friend and one of those was Nikki lying to her and basically snickering behind her back with Callum about Penelope's naiveté.

It was still cool to see Filipino cuisine in an American romance novel. One of those stars is purely based on the joy of seeing a book talk about turon. The other is the relationship between Nikki and her mom. That was the best part because it was well developed and handled realistically. Tiva had the sweetest and most worrying aspects of a filipino mom. She also had the only scene that made me chuckle.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.