Finding love on a cooking competition? Yes please. Recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy, Dahlia Woodson wants to change her life and finds herself on a popular reality cooking competition show called Chef’s Special. Too bad her first impression is falling face first and sending her fish tacos flying on the first episode, and the first person she bumps into is a super attractive person who might be the first person she actually might have a crush on ever since her divorce. Dahlia wants to win the prize money to help pay off her debts and possibly just be able to afford a living space in the future... but this competition might give her something she never even expected... or rather someone. London Parker has officially come out on national television and has laid out their pronouns, now all they have to worry about is winning the competition, the super cute klutzy girl who has stolen their attention, and getting their dad to accept their pronouns. Neither London or Dahlia expected to fall in love, but soon both of them can’t help but fall for the other... but what will their future hold as the competition draws closer and closer to the end. Do both of them have the right ingredients to make this relationship last or will they lose their happily ever after. This was a super great read! It’s sweet, romantic, relatable, and just an overall fun read! The chemistry between Dahlia and London was gorgeous and both of them had relatable struggles and I just adored them. The story is told from alternating POVs between Dahlia and London and it just works so well.

*Thanks Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I loved this female/nonbinary romance between two contestants on a cooking competition show! I am here for all the food-related books and I loved all the descriptions throughout, definitely had me craving everything!

Love & Other Disasters is a great love story, but I fell more for the character development throughout this book, which is just incredibly well-done. I appreciated that Dahlia's biggest obstacle is herself. I really got how lost she felt in the world and the crossroads she faces. I absolutely loved the scene with her mother, I think Anita Kelly really nailed the complexities of their mother/daughter dynamic, even if it wasn't a huge part of the plot.

I appreciated seeing the challenges London faces. They are sensitive but strong while navigating a world that is unkind, for no reason at all. The empathetic reader in me loved their journey most of all.

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars

This book follows Dahlia who is recently divorced and is competing on a reality show titled Chef’s Special. A competitor named London starts to become more than just a competitor. The banter between them made me laugh, and their love and relationship made me feel the feels. I really enjoyed this book and getting to know the characters along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

London and Dahlia fall for each other as they compete against each other in television’s Chef’s Special. It is an utterly delightful debut, complete with two queer individuals mooning over each other as they hope to make the finale of their cooking show.

Dahlia is a recent divorcee, trying to adjust to her new life of living alone in a city she doesn’t love and a job that doesn’t make her happy. Cooking, she finds, helps her feel calm and peaceful and she dives all in, learning enough that she ultimately lands a spot on Chef’s Special. her qualified enough to land a spot on the show.

London is out as nonbinary, and trying to figure out how to live a well-adjusted life, even as their dad is struggling to fully accept them and they’re not sure what life holds for them after the show. They fall head over heels for Dahlia, even as they’re not sure if Dahlia is all in or what it means to be in a relationship for the first time after coming out.

This steamy romance is fully grounded in real life; Dahlia is broke, has no real path forward, and is having to face some real consequences of the fallout of her marriage. London faces harassment, trolling, and apathy as they come out (both to their family and to the viewing audience), and the family dynamics are both heartbreaking and joyous. These are two extremely well drawn, well rounded characters who have an amazing adventure, both on screen and off. I would wholeheartedly recommend this novel!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: transphobia, misgendering (the actual events are mostly off-page, but they are discussed and challenged on-page)

I don't typically pick up adult romances, (nothing against the genre, it's just not what I gravitate towards) but I was very interested in this book when I saw that it featured a nonbinary character. I have not read a lot of books that feature nonbinary characters, and I am glad to see more are being published!

This was a very fun book and I enjoyed it a lot. Love & Other Disasters follows two contestants on a cooking reality show: London, the show's first nonbinary contestant, and Dahlia, one of their competitors. It's a fun premise and it delivered what I expected it too.

This book is first and foremost a beautiful queer love story. I absolutely adored this book and both London & Dahlia with my whole heart ♥️ From the moment I read the premise of Love & Other Disasters, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it so thank you to NetGalley for the early review copy! This book lived up to all my expectations and greatly exceeded them as well. It was funny and cute and emotional and spicy and just such a joy to read!
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I love reading stories about people that are different than me, it’s always helped me understand the world a little better. I’ve only read a few books with non binary main characters and I can’t wait to read more in the future and I hope so many more get published in the next few years! I loved getting to be in both London and Dahlia’s heads throughout the book and being able to get to know both of them, their struggles and their joys!
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Also, as a 27 year old that has no idea what I’m doing with my life and with no clue of what the future holds, Dahlia’s struggle with anxiety about the future was so relevant to me. While Dahlia is very different than me in almost every other way, this part of her story and her journey of finding herself throughout the book really spoke to me. Anyway, I really loved this book and I hope everyone picks up it up when it’s released next year! ♥️

This book is like top chef for rom-coms. It is a cute book even if it has a similar plot to most romances. I like that it is set on a cooking show and deals with the topic of divorce. It approaches divorce and finding yourself after a divorce. It was cute but reminded me of One Last Stop.

I went in to this book excited for a nonbinary romance lead and some delicious bakes. This book delivered that and more - Dahlia and London's romance was full of heart, vulnerability, and most delightful of all- earnest and playful silliness, with a setting and background characters that felt just as real as London's fascination with Dahlia's hair.

love & other disasters started off wonderfully. it seemed like all my cooking show loving self could hope for in a romcom. it all went downhill after one mc sucked on the toes of the other mc. i think i might be scarred for life.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4308537548

I loved this book. Romances featuring nonbinary characters are all-too-rare but Anita Kelly’s work would stand out even in a more crowded field. Dahlia and Lomdon are both a delight and I look forward to recommending this to fans of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun.

this one was just very sweet. i’m warm and soft and giving it a 4.5! I loved it!

Dahlia’s life hasn’t been going the way she thought it would. She’s recently divorced at a job she hates but she’s hoping to win $100,000 while competing on Chef’s Special. There, she meets London. London is also competing and will be announcing that they use they/them pronouns on national TV. Through it all, Dahlia and London find they can lean on each other and try to figure out if love is worth it even with the chances of being sent home.

I was actually pretty nervous just because sometimes authors don’t diverse characters justice. I’ve read plenty of books where it hurt the character /community more than did them good so I was nervous not knowing if London would be painted in some backhanded way but they weren’t. Dahlia and London’s characters were lovable and they were just very sweet. There’s just something about lgbt pining that makes it all feel so personal and it had me yearning so much throughout the book.

I’m excited to see the author will write in the future! Thanks to netgalley and the oublisher for sending me an ARC!

Love and Other Disasters is a perfectly sweet book for people who love watching cooking shows and enjoy their romance novels on the healthy, adorable, and supportive end of the spectrum.

Dahlia is a young divorcee who found her happy place in cooking. London is an anxious perfectionist who wants to use their platform for good. They both meet as contestants on a cooking competition show and sparks- as well as some baked goods- fly.

On the surface, this is nice, competently crafted romance, but what made this book extra special for me was the inclusion of a non-binary protagonist. I didn’t realize how much I needed to read about someone like London until I saw some of my own worries about intimacy related to my gender identity reflected back on the page. It was so affirming and wonderful to see Dahlia and London navigate past these worries and into a very lovely relationship.

Some of the details about how the reality show worked (especially the degree of freedom allowed to the contestants) didn’t match up with what I’ve heard from ex-contestants of certain programs, but my idea of what is ‘accurate’ may be totally faulty. It wasn’t hard to ignore my slight internal eyebrow raise in a few moments.

I keep calling this book sweet, but that really is the perfect word. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a little steamy, a lot of adorable story about queer people falling in love and making each other better (while also making cupcakes).

This book is a must read. Not only was this a fantastic romance, but had so much more. Characters that found themselves, stood up for themselves, found acceptance, and found love.

“That each person could choose what brought them closest to belonging, the power in that. Knowing that one day, people might discover even better words for it. That there was only ever freedom in continuing to find new names for who we were, who we could be.”

Dahlia and London take the reader along their ride as cooking show competitors, and they easily fall for each other. This book does an amazing job of sharing their struggles of finding their partner under the microscope of reality tv. Dahlia is bi, and London is non-binary, and I loved how much I learned as I read this.

This book is so relevant and absolutely refreshing. I highly recommend it.

I love the premise of and representation in Love & Other Disasters, but, for some reason, I struggled with it a bit. Things seemed to move slowly, while the story was also a bit too much insta-love for me? Still, I had fun with this one overall!

Love & Other Disasters is a cozy rom com following two contestants, Dahlia and London, as they compete in a Top Chef-esque amateur cooking competition. While things start off in a slow burn, it's clear that these two will not be able to keep their hands off of each other for long. My favorite thing about this book was the main characters giving each other the grace to just be themselves. There was no judgment, just pure enjoyment of each other. I also loved the inclusion of the nonbinary, pansexual and queer communities in the main characters and not just as secondary support roles. Overall this was a cute, quick read and I'll definitely keep an eye out for more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

Thank you Forever, NetGalley and Author for this advance ebook copy in return for an honest review!

WoW! What can I say other than I absolutely loved this story!?!
And I loved every word of it. This was so fast-paced, hilarious and so realistic in the best way possible.
I literally devoured this book.
Anita's characters are real people with real struggles and deserve the happiness that she beautifully encapsulates.
The author did such a great job with London's struggle to find acceptance and love.
The romance between London and Dahlia was beautiful and something I couldn't get enough of.
The writing for this book was refreshing and there were plenty of times that I had that stupid smile on my face because of how lovey the characters were. Such an amazing story!
Loved everything about this outstanding novel!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks again NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Social media platforms closer to pub date!

A very fun romance!! I really enjoyed the setting and the exploration of conflict within romance in that setting! It's very lovers to reluctantly enemies in a way. Low stakes Hunger Games vibes (lol there's a cooking show joke in there somewhere) almost, where the situation has more influence over what their roles should be than they do. There were some moments that felt very "this is a teachable moment where I will briefly diverge to talk about what is Right" which, isn't my favorite thing, but old white men have been doing this in their books for a long time so it's all in the wash.

Felt absolute solidarity with London when they said brussel sprouts were their comfort food. Genuinely will be clinging to that affirmation for a good long time.

I also felt that the nonbinary representation was expressed well, and I'm a little surprised, but pleased that Anita Kelly didn't shy away from writing sex scenes with a nonbinary character.

The ending left me very satisfied! HEA but with both of the characters having done some personal growing to get them from their main clonflict to a spot where that HEA can last.

4 stars
Love & Other Disasters follows London, the first non-binary contestant on a cooking show, and Dahlia, their competitor as they fall in love on set. It's a super cute premise that I really enjoyed. Overall this book did a great job balancing light-hearted romantic moments with strong discussions about queer identity. I'm really glad I picked it up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love, love, love this book. If you've ever watched Hell's Kitchen or Master Chef and were like. This but in book form and a queer romance, well this the book for you. I love the nonbinary representation and the complicated relationships with parents and I cannot tell you how happy I was to see some Tennessee rep. Amazing.

I absolutely loved this book!! It threw me at first to read about London since I'm not used to seeing nonbinary pronouns used in books - something that clearly will be changing and so glad this book is part of that change! I loved London and Delilah's story and reading about their struggles together and separately. I laughed out loud multiple times and was so engrossed in the story i read most of the book in a single sitting. I really enjoyed the cooking show premise and how everything was tied back to food one way or another, right up my alley. Cannot wait to read Anita Kelly's next book!