Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. Queer romance is quickly becoming my favorite genre, and this one was fantastic! As a nonbinary person, I loved reading about a nonbinary protagonist, and thought the author did a wonderful job representing that experience. Even if not for the romance, I loved the storyline and was anxious to find out what happened in the cooking competition around which the book is centered.

I adored this book. I love the concept. I'm a fan of TGBBS and I wanted to simultaneously read and watch the show at the same time haha. I love the reality show concept and seeing behind the scenes. I love the rep in this book and thought the romance was well done.
There are 2 POVs - Dahlia, a queer woman, and London, a pansexual, non-binary person. This was my first time reading a they/them POV and I enjoyed being in their head.

I was sad when the book was over because I loved living in this world with these characters.

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness, review to post in December.
***

Anita Kelly's skillful character work, gentle humor and insightful relationship development are center stage in Love & Other Disasters. This queer romance is set on a cooking competition show and features two characters in their twenties, both vying for $100,000 and the chance to prove themselves. Recently divorced Dahlia Woodson is in debt and in a rut, so she quits the job and town she doesn't love for a chance to pursue her culinary dreams. London Parker is the first nonbinary contestant on Chef's Special and while they love cooking, they're hoping to use the prize money to launch a nonprofit for LGBTQ+ kids in their hometown of Nashville.
Kelly deftly balances the romance and individual character arcs and gives readers enough time with the cooking show to up the tension without allowing it to overshadow the romance. Dahlia's energetic and emotionally free personality complements London's steadier countenance and Kelly insightfully highlights the way Dahlia and London admire and value their differences. Though they never compromise their own efforts, they support each other personally and professionally, their friendship growing on pace with their romance.
London was expecting the online harassment and negative coverage that comes as the show begins to air, but they are deeply affected by their father's refusal to use their correct pronouns after three years. They're proud to be a role model for other trans and nonbinary kids and adults, however, and take comfort in the supportive community they found online while they were sorting through their own identity.
The strong relationships London and Dahlia have with their siblings are a grounding force for them throughout the novel, especially as their relationship is tested by the looming threat of separation. London's privileged upbringing leads them to have unfair expectations of Dahlia and both of them are afraid of getting attached when they could be kicked off the show in just a few days.
"...maybe she was simply a blank space, an empty canvas, atoms floating aimlessly across the landscape, each one trying to forget that foolish time she went to LA on a hope and a prayer, each one hopelessly trying to erase the memories of a person who wanted her to believe she could have it all." [pp 116]
Love & Other Disasters is at turns funny, sweet and hot, but Anita Kelly's emotional river runs deep--this romance will stay with readers long after they've turned the last page.

I loveeeed this one so much! It’s queer! It’s romantic! And the best romance in a cooking competition show you could ever want! Dahlia is recently divorced and decided to follow her passion for cooking which is how she ends up as a contestant for this cooking competition show. While competing, she notices London who is also a contestant, and then the friendship starts. You can’t even forget about the sexual tension!

Please read, this book is an entire adventure you wouldn’t want to miss.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley.
Overall I enjoyed the book, the characters were lovable at times but there seemed to be some things glossed over. I loved London however most of their character points seem to revolve around dealing with transphobia and although I am very glad the hateful comments were not actually mentioned in the book, I found London to be lacking in comparison to Dahlia. Their differences of economic status isn't discussed even though it does create problems. Additionally Dahlia seems to get away with a lot in terms of being rude at times. The story also plays into the get with a rich person and all your problems dissappear trope which is sorta problematic.
Otherwise the story was cute and satisfying to read.

4.5/5 stars rounded up. I absolutely loved this book! The writing was lovely, and the characters were even better. Dahlia and London are two very loveable characters who I was rooting for from the jump (obviously).

Dahlia is a sweet, newly-divorced woman who goes on Chef's Special, a cooking competition show that gave me vibes similar to a combination of America's Best Cook and GBBO. London is a non-binary human with a heart of gold that, while on Chef's Special, falls in love. The stars of this romance novel had me feeling so many things and I words can't express how much I love both of them. Their interactions were so cute and well written and the spicy scenes were *very* good. (I'm talking 3 chili peppers here, y'all)

This book tackles a lot of different issues, the primary one being transphobia and how many people fail to recognize and respect non-binary folks. London was not misgendered once in this book. If they were misgendered by another character, the wrong pronoun was never used by the author and it was stated that the character used the incorrect pronoun. I thought that this was really impactful and important, which made it one of my favorite aspects of the book.

There's so many other small things in this book that I love, but listing all of them would leave me spoiling the entire thing! I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read an ARC of this book and am so excited to buying a physical copy when it's released. I can't recommend this book enough, especially if you like cute queer reads!

OMG. What a fan-freaking-tastic book!! I seriously can't believe this is Anita Kelly's first novel. Like, wow.

It has it all. A reality cooking show. Opposites attract. A non-binary/queer romance. And food. So much food. I wanted to try everything. Especially the swordfish. I've never tried swordfish before. I also want Dahlia's entire wardrobe.

I loved London and Dahlia so much. I couldn't stop rooting for them, from Chapter One to the very end. Their connection was palpable and their chemistry electric. Their mutual vulnerability was so authentic; true love requires vulnerability.

Quite frankly, this book was a first for me. I'd never read a book with a non-binary love interest, and it was really cool seeing non-binary representation in a mainstream romance novel. I loved the way Kelly showed so many side characters supporting and rallying around London and using their correct pronouns and loving all of her. (Although to keep the book realistic, there were villains of course who refused.) In the end, my heart was so full, watching London and Dahlia live out their love story. Everyone deserves to be loved.

A huge thanks to Forever and NetGalley for my advance e-ARC.

CW: homophobia/transphobia, misgendering, divorce

I thoroughly enjoyed Love & Other Disasters!

Our main characters, Dahlia and London, are competing in a TV cooking competition. Dahlia is a recent divorcee working on figuring out what she wants from life and London is the first non-binary contestant on the show.

The story is cute and sweet, with conflict around London's coming out as non-binary on television, a transphobic competitor, family tension and acceptance, and the future of our couple's relationship. I loved both main characters - they're both enticing and flawed - and their yearning, friendship, and romance (and sex scenes - so steamy!) were tremendous! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Love and Other Disasters to readers who loved Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (for the queer baking elements and wonderful characters) or anyone looking for a sweet queer/NB romance.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5).

This is the first rom-com book that I’ve read with the main characters belonging to the LGBTQ community and it did deliver! Dahlia and London are contestants in a TV cooking show “Chef’s Special”. Both are talented cooks eyeing the $100,000 prize that will go towards repayment of debt (Dahlia) or an LGBTQ organization (London). Dahlia and London have so much going on in their lives with regards to Dahlia’s recent divorce and heavy debts, and London’s rocky relationship with their dad because of their gender. The main characters are flawed and vulnerable yet authentic and passionate. They absolutely have so much chemistry that they tried to hold back in the beginning but eventually, they let themselves be in each other’s arms. This is definitely a great read and hopefully there are more authors who would write rom-coms like this.

As a reality cooking competition aficionado, I loved the premise of Love & Other Disasters. This book is packed with fun behind the scenes details—I could picture everything, I never felt lost in what could be considered a complicated setting. The author's writing style is evocative and super readable. I wouldn't have guessed this was a debut—especially handling all the description and choreography of the reality show element and all the characters that come with it.

It's very cool to see nonbinary rep in a traditionally published romance and to get that point of view, in the character's own words. London's experience as an NB person in the public eye is part of the story, but they are also a whole and complete character in their own right. Dahlia is also figuring out her queer identity, so it's a pretty interesting and unique journey and it feels like a lot of care went into this book.

Lastly, the cover is adorable and drew me in instantly.

My sincere thanks to Anita Kelly, NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Friends, I am so excited to review this lovely, fluffy, vibrant, honest and witty queer nb/f romance. I submitted an ARC request for this book in my continued effort to diversify the voices I read. It was so inspiring to meet Dahlia Woodson and London Parker in this book.

Dahlia, a 28-year-old woman recently divorced from her high school sweetheart, gravitated towards cooking during the aftermath of ending her marriage. The self-taught cooking enthusiast is eager and excited to participate on the popular cooking show Chef’s Special—even after falling flat on her face and sending her tacos into the air during the show’s premier episode.

London Parker, experienced and no-nonsense cook with a specialty for desserts, enters the competition as the show’s first non-binary contestant. They have big philanthropic goals for the prize money if they could only stop being distracted and enamoured by the ball of sunshine-in-human-form that is Dahlia.

I laughed, audibly gasped, cried and swooned as their friendship turns to love over the course of the cooking show while they navigate stress of the future, guilt about divorce, transphobic competitors and strained family relationships.

<b> Read With Me </b>
<i>Chapter 2:</i> London is misgendered when Tanner Tavish, the show’s host, collectively addresses contestants as, “Ladies and Gentlemen.”

I am disappointed to share that I didn’t catch this micro-aggression until the POV is flipped to London who processes that painful mention while attempting to focus on the competition. London swallows the comment and moves on fairly quickly which makes the scene even more troubling to read. As a straight female I will never understand the depth of hurt something like this causes non-binary folks, nor will I ever know just how many times a day their hearts receive a new scar from these such moments. However, this scene really reached my heart about the frequency with which this happens and how queer folks have to take it in stride despite the pain.

<i>Chapter 5:</i> “London bottled it inside of them, that smile.” *heart lurches* What a beautiful way to describe the luminescence and impact of someone’s smile.

<i>Chapter 7: </i> “London stood in the quiet hallway for a long time. They wished they could see through that door, to make sure she was still breathing, that she wasn’t going to be sick in her sleep. That her chest was still rising and falling. That her bruised, so-far-from-small heart still beat safely inside her skin.” IF THAT ISN’T ONE OF THE MOST ROMANTIC DESCRIPTIONS about all-consuming love and care for someone else’s well-being, I don’t know what is.

<i>Chapter 9: </i>“Something about the air in this hallway felt reckless, and London didn’t trust anything right now…London put their key in their door, and they stepped into the cool darkness. THE AIR IS RECKLESS? THE DARKNESS COOL? I feel it all. Chills. Everything about this scene, the descriptions. Kelly just nailed it for me and I felt like the tension was palpable in my own room as I devoured her words.

<i>Chapter 10: </i> “I need you in a way that can’t be temporary.” The quotes from this book, ugh. I felt this in my soul.

<i>Chapter 20: </i> I ugly cried some big tears reading the notes of encouragement to London. Prepare your hearts.

<b>Final Notes</b>
I appreciated how authentically Kelly explored the spicy scenes: they are full of heat but also laughter, questions, asking for what one wants and overall just an unparalleled level of sex positivity.

As a twin, I loved the genuine, unconditional love shared between London and Julie. The twin dynamic made for a really interesting look at London’s sexuality, coming out and self-acceptance.

These characters are messy, wonderful and inspiring.

I loved this love story! I am so happy to be finding more queer and trans representation in romance novels, and I love that this own voices novel made it all come to life for me. The writing was such that I could clearly picture our two main characters- Dahlia and London- from the beginning, but also I had such a great running image of most of the novel. Honestly, I feel like I watched this book just as much as I feel like I read it! What makes that particularly remarkable is that the book actually centered around a television show, so feeling like I “watched” the novel made that aspect come to life as well.

I have (mostly) only good things to say about this book. I felt like so many aspects of owning your identity and coming out to your family were addressed. The only thing I will say is that it felt like everything was smooth sailing in terms of coming out for one of the characters in the book. The character certainly had other struggles, and the addition of that particular struggle honestly may have been too much. It just felt too easy on me as the reader as written.

My favorite part of the book was how full circle things came in the end. Throughout the novel, there is mention of family members, but I honestly wasn’t expecting much of that story line. However, the ending wove siblings and parents and understanding and a future together in a way I did not imagine. It wasn’t the thing that “made” the story, but I also feel like it’s so rare I had to give it some appreciation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel

After realizing she didn’t want kids and leaving her husband, Dahlia is very lost. She can totally reinvent herself on Chef’s Special though, and the $100,000 prize certainly wouldn’t hurt. When she meets London though, the sparks begin to fly. London did not expect to meet someone like Dahlia on set. Their goal is to come on the show, kick butt, and announce their pronouns on tv. As the two continue to make it on the show, their friendship only grows stronger, and quickly turns into something more.

Ok so I am going to start this review by calling myself out. When I first started this book I had some trouble reading the they/them pronouns. I quickly got used to it, but it did make me realize one thing….we need more books with non-binary characters. It shouldn’t be something that throws you off, it should just be normal. Anyway, this book kept me up way past my bedtime. As soon as I started reading, I couldn’t stop. I needed to know what was going to happen between Dahlia and London, and also what was going to happen on set/who would win. I had seen several other bookstragrammers share how much they loved this book, and I have to say, it did not disappoint at all!

This book was absolutely fantastic. I loved the quirky, fun characters. I loved the reality tv aspect of it. I loved the respectful relationship. That really was the main takeaway for me. There weren't any mind games or miscmommunications or stupid games added in romcoms just for drama. It was a relationship built on respect and THAT is the type of romance I want to read. I will be checking out more of the author's books after this one.

This book is a queer nb/f story between Dahlia and London, who are two of the most fleshed out characters I've read in a long time. The author seamlessly wove in vital character details in a delicate way that helped me feel immediately attached to their story. The premise of a reality cooking show was so enthralling I felt like I was watching it play out on screen. And the steam- oh my! I loved every second. I am an Anita Kelly fan for life!

This is the first novel that I read with a non-binary main character and I liked that it opened my eyes a bit to some of the struggles of non-binary and queer people. It was heartbreaking to me that London had to distance themselves from their father because he wouldn't use their preferred pronouns. It warmed my heart that London received lots of support from the viewership of the cooking competition show that they were in.

Although I loved London and Dahlia's characters and liked them for each other, I wanted a bit more chemistry building in the beginning of the story. I felt like the development of their relationship was a bit rushed. Once they started to dive into a romantic relationship, it was very steamy and fun!

I am not a cooking competition fan (nor do I like cooking itself) so I feel like this book wasn't really in my wheelhouse. This novel told an important story that needs to be told and there were parts that I really liked, but I think the backdrop of the cooking competition lost me at times.

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: enbyphobia (non-binary phobia)

a fun, relatively quick read about a food competition show and all the fun (and chaos) that comes with it. i really enjoyed kelly’s writing of london, as well as the way they depicted the personal identity struggles of both london and dahlia. though i did not feel fully invested in their romance (mainly because of the pacing being sort of fast though this is the nature of books revolving around competition shows), i enjoyed it for what it was worth. however, i would have loved to see more exposition on their relationship being a first for both of them—it was dahlia’s first queer relationship and london’s first since coming out (?). the focus being more on this and less on them being “disappointments” would’ve moved me more. i also think it’s a bit lacking in the sense that london’s identity is used for the tv show’s ratings and they never seem to be fully aware of it, or take advantage of it/say anything outwardly on it. i would’ve liked to see more on that sort of realization when dahlia is gone, or at least know why they chose not to do anything even if it boils down to them just not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to themself. overall though, i enjoyed this book and its relatively uncommon narrative, and hope to see more like it in the future.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

MY RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Down-on-her-luck, Dahlia, is trying to reinvent herself as a contestant on a popular reality-tv cooking show. She's focussed until she inadvertently falls in love with her competitor, London, and has to decide if they're worth more than the prize money. A f/nb queer rom-com exploring important issues such as coming out, gender identity, acceptance, and finding yourself. I'd recommend this book to any fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall or Abby Jimenez. LGBTQIA+ voices in a quick-witted, reality-tv setting.

This is the first book I've read by this author. She is set to release two more queer rom-coms in February 2022 and February 2023.

Check out Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly wherever you buy books!

✦ Goodreads ➜ https://bit.ly/3EqH99I
✦ Amazon ➜ https://amzn.to/3CrdOtZ
✦ Apple ➜ https://apple.co/3nN37Ol
✦ Google ➜ https://bit.ly/3nOFncS
✦ Kobo ➜ https://bit.ly/3Cs6JcJ
✦ Nook ➜ https://bit.ly/3Ey4fv3

TAGS: fiction, contemporary romance, LGBTQIA+, rom-com, f/nb, queer, non-binary

*Thanks to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) & Anita Kelly for providing a free eARC in exchange for my honest review #LoveandOtherDisasters #LoveOtherDisasters #NetGalley @NetGalley #ReadForeverPub #ForeverPublishing @readforeverpub #AnitaKellyWrites #AnitaKelly @anitakellywrites @daffodilly

“I don’t want to be perfect, because I know I’m not. I want this”—she touched London’s chest—“to be real.”

Y’all, this book is SO GOOD. I’ve been excited to read this for months and the anticipation completely paid off. LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS is a tender and compelling romance about a queer woman and a nonbinary person who fall in love on the set of a reality cooking show. While the food and the competition are fun aspects of the story, the true heart is the love between London and Dahlia. Both of them feel so achingly real and the chemistry between them is simmering right from the beginning. There’s a bit of a sunshine/grump dynamic - Dahlia is creative, talkative, goofy, and drawn to adventure, while London is skillful, precise, a bit more controlled. London’s also dealing with so much bullshit - both as the first openly nonbinary person on Chef’s Special and generally - and the reader is privy to how that shows up for them in their daily life and in their relationships, and how they go about being who they are and celebrating where they’ve landed with their gender. I absolutely loved seeing a recently divorced queer woman in this story and I could relate intensely to Dahlia’s experiences - making the hard decision to choose her own happiness, struggling to find her footing financially and otherwise post-divorce, dealing with disappointment from family members, learning from her mistakes, and that complex feeling of being completely unmoored and gloriously free at the same time. This book is delightfully steamy, and the sex scenes have so much depth - the characters feel insecure and vulnerable, they laugh and care for and validate each other, they communicate about what they want and get consent. It’s so ridiculously soft and authentic and sexy. And sometimes the food aspect of the novel makes its way into the bedroom as well, if you catch my drift. I loved how the characters maintain their independence and resist the urge to completely subsume themselves in each other - it’s just so goddamned healthy! This queer romance is an utter blessing and I can’t wait for it to be out in the world next year. Thank you so much Forever Books for sending this queer an ARC!

“Do your worst, Woodson. Let’s be scared together.”

Content warnings: misgendering, lack of family acceptance, transphobia