I really enjoyed this friends to lovers, forced proximity queer romance. Foodie romances are always fun and the backdrop of Chef's Special was perfect. This was such a cute story!This is a lough out loud and charming novel filled with spontaneous shenanigans, and steamy behind the scenes moments. This was a super easy read and you can just dive in and read. Even after that one toe paragraph lol.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!!

I actually really enjoyed this book. I could feel the chemistry between London and Dahlia. The cooking show parts were interesting enough and the writing was great. London was such an interesting character and I really liked their chapters, also I loved hearing about their home life and past experiences. Their relationship with Dahlia felt extremely realistic. I didn't really care for the first third of this book but after that the book got better.

I did have some gripes while reading. I found Dahlia to be a boring main character. even though she interesting and was good partner to London I probably would have liked this book better if it was solely from London's POV.

This book also had the third-act breakup which I just think was stupid but I hate this in all the books I read so if you like it then it probably won't bother you.

“Love & Other Disasters” was addicting from the first page! As a lover of both queer romances and masterchef, I thoroughly enjoyed Dahlia and London’s journey throughout this book and their growth along the way. The representation in this book is outstanding and will easily be an inspiration to all queer readers who haven’t seen themselves in many books. I hope to read more work from this author in the future!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. This was a steamy friends to lovers nb/f romance. One of the things I enjoyed is that the book was about the characters figuring out who they wanted to be while they were already secure in their gender identities/queerness. This was the first book I’ve read with a non-binary character and I enjoyed reading from their perspective.

CW: misgendering

This heart-warming queer romance follows London (they/them) and Dahlia (she/her) on a competitive reality cooking show for amateur chefs. Dahlia taught herself to cook as she coped with her divorce, and coming on this show is a way for her to become a new version of herself: adventurous and excited about life, despite the weight of her student debts and an uncertain future. London wants the prize money on the show to start a non-profit for LGBTQ kids in their hometown of Nashville; being out as non-binary on national TV will be a challenge (see: trolls online, one cast member who shall not be named, and a dad who still doesn't get their pronouns right after three years), but it will also inspire many and lift their community up.

London and Dahlia are a perfect case of opposites attract. Their first meeting is awkward when forthright and chatty Dahlia is all anxiety, talking a mile a minute the first day on set, while London is focused, serious, and frankly confused by Dahlia's whole being. The beginning of their friendship is so sweet and full of mushy wonderfulness. It also involves cooking under a tyrant and plotting food-related torture, crashing a wedding, and a memorable cow-milking episode. The show not only creates hilarious scenarios but also amps up the tension and gives the characters this beautiful little bubble to get to know each other. When feelings turn romantic, the sparks fly between them. It's fun, spicy, and the emotional investment adds a deeper layer to it all.

The book covers real life challenges in the characters' lives while also offering a healthy dose of escapism that the best romcoms provide, wrapped up with a most satisfying happily ever after. I love seeing queer characters find unapologetic joy and much-deserved love, and this book delivered that with finesse and vibrancy. It's a standout contemporary romance.

I have nothing bad to say about this book. Daliah and London are contestants on a cooking show and romance novel shenanigans ensue! I fell in love with the characters almost instantly. One of the main love interests was non-binary, the other was queer, and they honestly felt like people I've met before. I would recommend this to every queer reader!

4.25 Stars. I really enjoyed this! First, I just want to apologize for this review being late. I’ve been wicked sick (I’m now on antibiotics and I think I’m finally turning the corner) and every time I tried to read this I would fall asleep (I had to read this on my Kindle since I kept dropping my iPhone). Well this is not the kind of book to fall asleep to and it was frustrating since I just wanted to keep reading. While this book had a few bumps, it really fit into the type of romance I enjoy and I would love to read Kelly again.

Reality shows are my guilty pleasure and I love books about contestants on reality shows. In this book, it’s a cooking show that reminded me of a mix of Top Chef and MasterChef. I enjoyed the scenes about the show, the cooking, the challenges, and my favorite, the flirty scenes between our two love interests. I did have an issue with the other contestants. They all seemed very cookie-cutter and I was missing more depth. One character is the “villain”, and yes she is a transphobic asshole, but I was hoping for something more than this one note. While these secondary character contestants didn’t really work for me, the fact they were pretty flat did help the main characters shine in comparison.

I loved the mains. It took me a little bit to warm up to them, London especially was a bit icy in the beginning, but I quickly fell in love with both of them. They are not perfect, they both have their flaws and both can have very high emotions that gave the book a very angsty feel, but I loved them anyway. They kept me entertained and kept me reading even when the book slowed down a little at times. I just wanted more of them together. Their relationship is not insta-love, but it is a little quick. Two people being around each other almost 24/7, because of a reality show, makes sense to me that they would connect faster so I was fine with the quicker romantic pace. I’m happy to say that the more intimate and sex scenes were well done. This book had some high heat that I was not expecting and I thought it was great. My only complaint in this department was the toe sucking, I mean come on Kelly, just no!

I do want to quickly mention that I was really happy with how the nonbinary rep was written. One of the mains London is nonbinary and the way the book deals with misgendering, in a non-harmful way, was just really well done. I have been reading more and more books with nonbinary main characters, in the past few years, and this book IMHO was one of this best.

TLDR: This was a really enjoyable romantic read. The mains were great and with the high emotions and angst, the book was really entertaining for me. The book did slow a little at times, and the relationship was a little fast, but in the end many more things worked for me than not. I would recommend this to people who are cooking and reality TV show fans. I would also recommend this book for people looking for good nonbinary rep. I would not hesitate to read Kelly’s new books in the future.

This is a cute romance following two contestants on a cooking competition show! The two main characters are Dahlia,, recently divorced and hoping to win some extra cash, and London, the show's first nonbinary character. Dahlia and London were such great main characters, and I loved seeing their personal growth over the course of the story. Dahlia and London were so sweet and I could not stop smiling throughout the book. My only complaint is that the pacing felt a little off in the middle, but the characters (and food descriptions lol) definitely made up for it. Overall a really cute romance and I'm looking forward to checking out more from the author!

Read this if you love:
- Diverse love stories
- Grumpy/sunshine tropes
- Cooking competitions like Masterchef

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Forever for the review copy!

This book is pure, unadulterated fluff that manages to fit in some very heavy themes without veering from the happy sentiments of a good rom-com. Both Dahlia and London have endearing quirks that ensure they're memorable and enjoyable characters to follow along with as they learn new things about themselves and their families and explore the possibilities being in America's favorite cooking show provide them.
It's a solid upward-leaning 3.5 stars for me, but I can see it being a very positive read for someone looking for a bit of quirky charm with their romance.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the read!

Love & Other Disasters is a cute and steamy romance novel featuring Dahlia, a queer woman, and London, a pansexual non-binary person. There's much to love about Love & Other Disasters: there's the reality cooking show setting (all! the! recipes! yum!) and the non-binary representation of course, but there's also the fact that the author surrounds the characters with (mostly) love and warmth from their contestants and family members.

That being said, I wanted a bit more development in the relationships portrayed in Love & Other Disasters. The romance between Dahlia and London felt very insta-lovey, while I couldn't help but feel like there should have been more pages devoted to London and their dad hashing it out; since London's dad never used London's pronouns for several years, the ending felt a tad abrupt.

Overall an enjoyable read that will make your heart feel full.

Thank you Forever for the ARC!

London and Dahlia are both contestants on the armature cooking competition Chef's Special. Dahlia is a recently divorced queer woman who plans on reinventing herself by participating in the show and using the prize money to pay off all her debt. But her first day brings a slightly rude interaction with a fellow contestant and her landing flat on her face while bringing her food to the judges. London is a nonbinary person who has decided to be out on the show, even if not everyone in London's life if thrilled with this choice. But after making their debut they are distracted by the klutzy Dehlia who happens to be stationed right in front of them. The two grow closer and eventually their chemistry is undeniable.
This was wonderfully written and a great way to start out the new year. I was so tired of the same old straight romance that was extremely predictable. This was a breath of fresh air a queer romance I would suggest to everyone (and have suggested to like ten people already). The characters were interesting and fully fleshed out. I found myself rooting for them both to win even though I knew they couldn't. The ending was even different and surprising and unpredictable.

While I respected and appreciated the inclusion within this story, I have to admit that it wasn't my favourite. I have no doubt that this book was well-written and will resonate incredibly well with its target audience, however, I don't believe that it was for me. That being said, there were moments in this book that genuinely made me smile and laugh, so it was generally a good read. I would absolutely read another book by this author.

This was an okay read. I think it had beautiful representation but the constant phobia’s littered throughout the book took me out of the story. I think this would work for a lot of people but it just did not work for me :(

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (4 Stars)
Steam: 🌶🌶🌶/5 (a few very descriptive steamy scenes)

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Available Now!

No spoiler review 👇🏻

This book was so cute! Without spoilers, this book is a non-binary queer romance with a cooking competition show as the setting. The representation in this book was amazing and well done! love to see diverse rep in my reads!

London and Dahlia meet on Chefs Special, a reality show for amateur cooks. I love this setting! It makes for fun plot points. London is very organized and they are pretty stoic. Dahlia she is vibrant and energetic. Together they are so cute! I loved reading their romance.

This book has duel narration which I really enjoyed! So many moments that made my heart happy and ones that made me laugh. This book also has some great spicy scenes that are really well written…..nectarines (IYKYK) 😉

1 star off as the beginning was a little slow, also I would have liked to see a bit more of the cooking show, as it was such a good setting. That being said, overall I really enjoyed this book! It was a cute, steamy and funny contemporary romance read. I recommend picking this one up!

This started off a 4 star but as I started writing the review I realised that didn't match what I was saying. I felt the writing was a bit basic at times and it kinda felt like there was a guard up around the characters. Really appreciate the queerness and the fact that London is non-binary. Love the cooking aspect. I was kind of let down by the actual show side of it. It often felt really glossed over and there was a lot of telling rather than showing. Reality show is one of my favourite romance tropes and this wasn't quite up to scratch, and the side characters were severely lacking. I didn't get the ebb and flo of tension; I just wanted more depth.

So incredibly good! READ IT! There. That should do it...right?

In all seriousness, I highly recommend this book. The representation of queer characters was incredible. I really loved that one of them was a non-binary character too as it's not one I've read before. The use of "they/them", what misgendering and the lack of using their pronouns does to them, the learning that some people still need and, not only learning, but changing as well.

This is not just a romantic love story. It's a story about re-inventing yourself, becoming who you are truly meant to be and loving that person. Opening yourself up to possible negatives and hardships but also to finding the positives and friendships.

The food helps too. ;)

Thank you so much for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Love & Other Disasters was a solid romance. I loved the tropes represented here. Diverse sexual representation, reality tv but especially cooking show reality tv, and STEAM! This was a feel good and yummy romance that I hope many take the time to read!

tysm to @readforeverpub & @netgalley for this review copy💕 - full review can be found at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZAF5MHPnqi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

read if you like: sweet & spicy, rom coms, dual pov
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Y'ALL
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obviously the concept of an nb/f contemp romance with dual pov had me absolutely feral but i don't think i anticipated precisely how much of a CHOKEHOLD it would have on me

there rly is just something about adult novels that ✨hits different✨ - i miss the emotional maturity when i read too much YA😭

i have never related to both MCs so deeply and in so many different ways and the way anita was able to write both of their experiences so well while being SO different was unparalleled

i've read books w nb characters but this was the first time reading one written in third person which i equate to being like the first time you ever read third person writing at all - bit of a learning curve but once your brain is used to it, you're golden.

i literally did not stop smirking like a smitten little kitten this entire book, it was borderline EMBARRASSING. i am obsessed w anita's writing, this book perfectly balanced two incredibly authentic queer experiences with an all-consuming romance that rivals, if not beats, the best of the best

i can't leave this off without talking about the sex scenes bc
1. i will.. never look at nectarines the same holy shit🥵🥵🥵🥵
2. we were blessed w multiple and that's rare these days in comtemp
3. i just cannot express to you how incredible they are written. anita found the PERFECT balance of sweet & sexy and real & raw and it was an absolute JOY to read

this is my absolute top recommendation of the year so far - RUN don't walk

I absolutely adored this book. This is the first time I’ve seen a nblw romance in any form of media ever and that was what first stood out to me when I picked up the book. The backdrop was also very fun and unique: looking into the behind the scenes of a cooking show. The pacing was really nicely done and I loved the two main love interest!

I love the premise of this book, and as a non-binary lesbian, I was extremely looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, the non-binary and sapphic representation is where the positives of this book begin and end. The writing style wasn’t for me and I think that the plot really fell to the way-side. The characters queer experiences were very natural and genuine, so if you are really only it for that aspect of the story, I would still reccomend it.