This was a really sweet romance book. Right from the start I knew I was going to enjoy this book and these characters. I loved the cooking show theme in this book, I found that to be very fun! Overall I really enjoyed this book and recommend checking it out!

I loved Love and Other Disasters! The book had amazing rep for the LGBTQ community. I don't think I have seen many romances deal with pronouns, and handle it well! I will be looking for more from Anita Kelly!


Recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy, Dahlia Woodson is ready to reinvent herself on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special. Too bad the first memorable move she makes is falling flat on her face, sending fish tacos flying—not quite the fresh start she was hoping for. Still, she's focused on winning, until she meets someone she might want a future with more than she needs the prize money.

After announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. They’re there to prove the trolls—including a fellow contestant and their dad—wrong, and falling in love was never part of the plan.

As London and Dahlia get closer, reality starts to fall away. Goodbye, guilt about divorce, anxiety about uncertain futures, and stress from transphobia. Hello, hilarious shenanigans on set, wedding crashing, and spontaneous dips into the Pacific. But as the finale draws near, Dahlia and London’s steamy relationship starts to feel the heat both in and outside the kitchen—and they must figure out if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.

I think this might be my first nonbinary love interest. Grumpy/sunshine? Yes. LGBGTQ rep? Yes.

This is a fun and swoon-worthy read! I really enjoyed it!

⁉️Do you watch any cooking shows?
My husband watched Food Network as a kid, for like fun 😆, and has had me watch all kinds of cooking shows over the years (thanks, YouTube, for making the options limitless 😒 lol). My favorite will always be OG Iron Chef America.

BOOK REVIEW
Love and Other Disasters by @anitakellywrites
Pub date: Jan. 18, 2022
384 pages
@readforeverpub

Okay, so, those of you who know me, know that
1. I prefer my romances closed door
2. I almost never read a synopsis before I start a book

Love and Other Disasters, is about hot mess divorcée, Dahlia, and London Parker, who has recently come out as nonbinary. The two meet on a cooking competition show, and things get . . . cooking.

I really liked London’s character a lot. My favorite part of this story were the dynamics between them and their family. In fact, there was some tension between Dahlia and the producers of the show. She begins feeling like her only contribution is being London’s clumsy other half. I’d have preferred to have more insight from London’s perspective on being production’s sort of “token” nb character.

As for Dahlia, I could relate to her in a lot of ways, but she also annoyed me 😆 I don’t know how London was so patient with her, because 😵‍💫

And then the steam . . . I’m sure this representation is really important to a lot of readers. There’s steam, and a fair amount of it 😳 but I generally skim spicy scenes wanting to get back to the rest of the story, and felt like I could’ve done with easily half of the spice of this book personally. At almost 400 pages, I’d have preferred to cut some of this out. I herwise I wouldn’t have taken anything else away from this story.

I really liked this one and would be curious to read more from Anita Kelly. The writing reminded me a bit of @alexambooks, who I really love.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thanks @netgalley @readforeverpub for the e-arc!

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This was SO good! Adorable and funny, it's a sweet love story. Add to it the setting of a competitive cooking show and you definitely have the elements to make it unique. And I love that THIS is really what the story was about. The fact that one of them is nonbinary was really just an addition to the story and not THE whole story. And that was so refreshing.

The story is told from both London and Dahlia's POV. Each contenstant is there for different reasons and you slowly learn who they are, a little, with each competition. You learn Dahlia is self taught and only been cooking for the last few years. You learn that London is there to get the prize money and start a nonprofit LGBTQ+ summer camp. You learn how fun (and also sexy) cooking can be!

But both Dahli and London have real lives outside of this cooking show. And although they cute flirty banter is fun, each of them have to figure out if this is just a cute flirting thing or if it could be more, outside of this competition. I liked how they each had family issues and both were untangling who they were outside of parent expectations. I love how messy both Dahlia and London were and how each sibling was an important role in each of their lives. It was steamy in parts, adorable and cute in others, and I loved all of it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This was a glorious cooking romance. I loved everything about it and can't wait to read more from this author!

I'm not a huge foodie/cooking show person--I haven't seen Master Chef or any of its spin-offs except when walking past my sister watching. I don't dislike them, but I find that I don't have the patience to sit and watch people cook and eat food when I can't be on the opposing end of the spoon. That being said, I think books with a reality TV angle have really been growing on me. This book was what I wanted The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia to be, in terms of having a cooking show backdrop.
I found that the author did a wonderful job with the cooking show aspect--it was so important at the beginning, but by the end, I found I wasn't super interested in who won or lost the competition. It wasn't that it was boring or dragged on, but I think the author realized that if they wanted to make a big deal of the ending, something dramatic would have to happen, or some wild plot-twist. But again, with reality TV books, it's so hard to successfully pull off that sort of ending, so Kelly was wise to focus more on the couple than the show.
The romance was nice and spicy. I'm not really a prude, but I did blush on more than one occasion (in a good way!....except the toe-sucking...) This is the first romance novel I've read with an enby main character, and I NEED MORE!!!
All in all, a fun, enjoyable romance!

This is SUCH a cute book!!! Also the very first book I’ve read that includes a nonbionary character so kudos to the author for accepting and loving all.

I was excited about this romance but was left sorely disappointed. The writing style never pulled me into the story and the characters were not interesting enough for me to care about their relationship. I couldn't for the life of me get into them and never say any chemistry between them.

This one was funny, heart-warming and genuine, all while focusing on relatable topics. The tension between Dahlia and London was there form the beginning. And the back and forth "will they, won't they" made everything so much better when it finally happened.

I thought the cooking show was a good change up in romance. And it made reading a lot of fun.

This was my first Anita Kelly, and I can tell you that I will be reading her work again!

Love and Other Disasters
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


On the surface, this is a dramedy style romance set to the tune of a cooking show contest. Dahlia, newly divorced and ready to spread her wings as a talented, but amateur chef vs London, whose no-nonsense demeanor and vast experience disguises their deep fear of having their identity rejected after an interview on national television.
The cooking segments are fine, but what the book really shines is as a free-spirited romp through the trials of finding and loving ourselves. A whirlwind romance of laughs and acceptance, reminding its audience love does not judge us for who we are.

Some spots are a bit cliché, and follow the typical diagram of every other rom-com, but there is a genuine sweetness and authenticity between the characters’ relationship I loved. The story of finding acceptance is one very personal to many in the LGBTQ+ community, but also speaks to humanity as a whole.
I’ll probably go back to my horror novels after this, but I truly enjoyed this sunshine ray of a book.

What a heartfelt, beautiful romance that celebrates all the facets of queer identity and love. Dahlia and London are a perfect enemies to friends to lovers couple and I could read about them forever.

Queer romance with nonbinary rep and a reality cooking competition show setting!? YES, PLEASE! SO GOOD.

An unexpected and delightful romance read, with bonus foodie content. The tentative relationship between the main characters was lovely, and I was rooting for both of them throughout.

This book made me so happy. Not only because of the story but because I have friends kids who now feel seen. It’s a cute yet heartwarming and emotional romance that gives you all the feels.

This was so very good!
The non-binary representation in this book was wonderful!
I absolutely loved the reality tv cooking show and how it wasn't too much.
I really liked the side-characters and the conflict between them and the MCs.
Great read!

I love books about contestants on reality shows, so I enjoyed the premise of this book. I think it has great nonbinary and queer representation but the pacing was a bit off. I'm not sure if I'm the target audience for this book and I do think it was cute, but it wasn't a home run for me.

This book was such a delight! The premise of the cooking competition is what drew me to Love & Other Disasters in the first place – the Food Network is my constant companion – but the romance between London and Dahlia is what really stuck with me. The way they grew alongside each other and supported one another was beautiful, but that emotional journey also had moments of fun and romance and whimsy. Like a perfect recipe, everything was balanced and harmonious, leaving you feeling satisfied when it was done.

I loved the representation in this book! I’m always a fan of a grumpy sunshine trope and this was exactly that and perfect! I loved the aspect of the cooking competition and was part of my favorite thing about this book.

I was really drawn to the premise of this because I do enjoy cooking competition shows.

Dahlia and London meet on the set of the show Chef’s Special, each exploring their identity in some way. Dahlia is struggling to figure herself out after a divorce while London is in the process of coming out as non-binary to their family, show contestants, and the world given the platform of the show.

Both were compelling characters, but where this fell short for me was the connection between them. Because this takes place almost entirely on the show set, I wanted more about the connection between Dahlia and London. It happens so fast, and then the majority of conflicts have to do with the aftermath of show outcomes rather on the characters.

I also would have liked for the alternating perspectives to be in first person rather than third to get us closer to the characters and to also help differentiate the chapters more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Book Group for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.