I loved loved loved this book.

First, non-binary representation with a POV and consistent use of correct pronouns throughout - YES.

Second, a cooking competition. Loved it! Food itself played a prominent role in this book. From why the characters cooked, to how they cooked, to what they cooked and what they ate.

Third, for a debut novel, this is very well written. And well edited. The pacing was great. There were no distracting typos (I can't believe I even have to say this but I see it so often).

I have but two small quibbles,
1. I will not be able to share this NB representation with my family because of the sex scenes, sorry Aunt Sarah.
2. I do wish that the voices of each character were a bit more distinct in the alternating POV. I felt it at the beginning but as the story progressed they blended together a bit and sometimes I would forget which POV I was reading.

Highly recommended, will re-read, best part of 2021 (thanks ARC) so far.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a great debut queer love story between two contestants on a reality tv cooking competition in LA. Dahlia is fresh off a divorce and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life and London is nonbinary, still trying to find acceptance from their whole family. When the two meet on the show, sparks fly and I was totally there for this slow burn, open door romance.

I thought the author did such a great job with London's struggle to find acceptance and getting people to use their proper pronouns. This is the kind of romance we need more of - two queer characters, open about their sexuality and fully deserving of a HEA!! So glad Anita Kelly has written a contemporary romance I'm sure lots of people are going to fall in love with.

Also, the FOOD. I am always there for books about food and I loved that this story was about two budding chefs. Highly recommended for fans of The charm offensive, Chloe Liese or other romances about reality cooking shows like Recipe for persuasion, Rosaline Palmer takes the cake and Sadie on a plate. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!!

The cover of this book instantly made me want to read it and then seeing it had a nonbinary character and was about a cooking competition and I could not wait to start it! The representation in this book was amazing. Parts of this book felt a little slow to me and I wish there was more build up to London’s feelings for Dahlia because London was such a strong character for me and I wanted more for them.

I was blown away by this book. So much queer joy, so much swooning. London and Dahlia are beautifully drawn, the writing is impressive as heck for a debut. Kelly is a talent to watch.

Oh my god I have no words for how good this was. This is the contemporary romance of MY DREAMS. First of all, it's set on the set of a cooking competition reality show?!?!?!?!? Me and my obsession with Guy's Grocery Games are already on board. Second of all, queer romance, which I am always down for. AND Kelly's use of humor in their writing is impeccable. I was laughing, I was crying, I was flustered. I was pausing to yell to no one in my empty dorm about how good this was. I am floored.

Dahlia and London are everything to me. Their build up was incredible and of course the storytelling throughout their relationship was beautiful. I really enjoyed how both characters were entirely their own person outside of this relationship, but would come together and have this beautiful chemistry and banter, and I can't say I didn't enjoy the steamier parts of this book. I do also want to say that, although I am cisgender myself, I have a few nonbinary friends and have seen parts of London's journey in their lives. I won't make further comment on the way London's gender was written because I don't know about those experiences, but I saw nothing glaringly harmful and really enjoyed London's character.

I have been hyping this book up to everyone I know for the past week that I've been reading it, and you, reader of this review, are no exception. READ IT! It's perfect.

An entertaining, modern queer romance, Love and Other Disasters was a pure delight. However, I was old school when it came to understanding what it meant to be non binary. This is still an enjoyable rom-com and exciting to learn more about it.. There were excellent sexual scenes and a beautiful romance between the characters. There is nothing like a food competition to make my mouth water, The drama was intense and I wanted Dahlia and London to win. This was not just a queer romance but a learning experience.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley. This was a honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing the earc in exchange for my honest review!

Apparently, I'm a sucker for romcoms set in reality shows because this is the second one this year that I devoured and really enjoyed.

Love & Other Disasters follows amateur chefs Dhalia and London throughout their stints on a reality tv cooking competition. Dahlia is a bit of a mess, and completely perfect at the same time. Recently divorced, and feeling a lot of guilt over it, Dhalia took up cooking to cope. London is the first openly non-binary contestant on the show, and while dealing with that, they're also dealing with a dad that's less than supportive. When the pressure on the show gets cookin' (see what I did there?), Dahlia and London grow closer and feelings start to develop. But with the threat of weekly eliminations looming, the pressure to perform, and tension from some pretty horrible fellow contestants, will Dahlia and London boil over?

Terrible food puns aside- this book is a lot of fun to read. It's not too angsty, super hopeful and Dahlia and London are both fabulous characters that I rooted for from the beginning. I particularly related to Dahlia's arc of finding themselves after thinking they'd already had their life figured out. I loved London and their determination to be themselves, even on national television. I found myself getting emotional over both of their journey's a few different times.

Everything about this just works and I had to keep pacing myself because I wasn't ready for the story to end.

I definitely recommend picking this one up!

A must read for fans of Master Chef and romance novels!

Dahlia turned to cooking in an effort to reclaim herself after divorcing her high school sweetheart and somehow found herself competing with other home cooks on the set of Chefs Special. Feeling lost but with a burning desire to do something big Dahlia is determined to prove that she’s not a disappointment to her family, that is until she runs into (literally) London Parker who changes the stakes completely.

London is well aware of what being on Chefs Special means for them and for other non-binary viewers. They have big dreams for the one hundred thousand dollar prize too, to open a camp fro LGBTQ+ children to come to to escape the pressures of society. They are comfortable being themselves on TV especially when they’re behind their station. They are not as comfortable with themselves off camera. London hasn’t dated since coming out as non-binary three years ago, hasn’t even considered it, until a mass of unruly hair comes crashing into their world.

I adored watching Dahlia and London fall I love. The added bonus of being during a chefs competition was the icing on the proverbial cake. A beautiful story that will have you laughing along with Dahlias antics and sighing over the romantic moments.

5/5 stars

Content Warning: non-binary phobia

If you love queer and nonbinary chefs falling in love on set, then Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly is for you!

Recently divorced Dahlia Woodson attempted to reinvent herself by joining the cast of the infamous reality competition show Chef’s Special. However, the first thing flying is her dish when she trips on the first episode. Nevertheless, Dahlia is determined to win until she meets someone who makes her question if there is more to life.

Meanwhile, London Parker has more important things to worry about than a clumsy opponent like how they just announced their pronouns on national television. Or how a fellow contestant and their father refuses to accept their identity. Falling in love was never a part of the plan, but sometimes you can’t help who you fall for.

This was my first book I read of Kelly’s, and it will not be my last. I found myself in tears watching how London redefined their boundaries and crafted dreams of helping more LGBTQIA+ kids and teens if they won. I also related a bit to Dahlia’s guilt of the aftermath of her marriage and her mother’s disappointment regarding her divorce. My heart warmed reading the messages from London’s fans and the important yet vulnerable moments between Dahlia and London (can we talk about that intimacy scene?!).

I truly can’t find any fault in this novel. It was excellently written, and the message was endearing. This is one of my favorite reads of the year. I am so excited for everyone to get their hands on this masterpiece.

Thank you NetGallery and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an advance copy in return for a honest review.

Aside from the <spoiler> toe licking </spoiler> I really enjoyed this. Also that cover is absolutely perfect. When I got to Dahlia wearing that shirt, I was like !!!! Yes.

Love & Other disasters is warm fuzzy romance set under the bright lights of a cooking competition. This starts as a classic enemies to lovers trope but Anita Kelly quickly evolves the story into something much more meaningful.

Underlying the narrative Kelly weaves in a myriad of emotions with the characters each struggling with confidence, being recognized for who they are, imposter syndrome and a longing to prove themselves. And if that isn’t enough a very sweet romance in the midst of all of cooking hoopla. Kelly does a fantastic job building out the emotional depth of the characters emphasizing the difficulties non-cisgender people face when interacting with society and their reactions to them.

This is a really well written / paced novel and keeps you interested and rooting for the main characters. The side characters provide plenty of humor and its filled with the requisite angst with a HEA at the end. As a debut this is a fantastic read - Kudos Anita Kelly - looking forward to more.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This ain't your average cooking show.

Dahlia Woodson and London Parker are two contestants on Chef’s Special, a reality TV competition featuring amateur chefs and a $100,000 prize. Dahlia — queer, recently divorced, and almost bankrupt — is competing because she hopes to find a new direction for her life to take. London — the first openly nonbinary contestant in Chef’s Special history — wants to prove the trolls, including their own father, wrong and win so they can help trans and nonbinary youth.

After Dahlia trips and falls on the first day of filming, she becomes determined to make the other contestants and the show’s producers take her seriously. London writes her off as just another klutzy competitor, but they can’t deny the heat the two of them seem to cook up both on and off the camera. As real life takes a backseat and the two become closer, the competition gets fiercer as more and more of their showmates are sent home. But when real life rears its ugly head, both Dahlia and London have to decide if what they have is something worth fighting for.

I adored this book. I was constantly hungry while reading it, and it made me laugh and cry — sometimes at the same time! As I’m approaching my late twenties and spending time evaluating where I want my life to go from here, I could really appreciate the places both Dahlia and London found themselves, as well as the decisions they made and the struggles they had to overcome.

I loved reading about these two characters who are both members of the LGBTQ+ community, and I especially loved reading London’s perspective! I’ve read books starring trans characters before, but London was my first nonbinary MC (they/theirs) and they will not be my last. This book did touch on some heavy topics, including transphobia, but they’re handled sensitively and with great respect.

The steamy scenes were steamy, the tender scenes were touching, and the heartbreaking scenes shattered me. I can’t wait for this book to be released so I can add a physical copy to my queer romance collection. Read if you like LGBTQIA romance and/or Chopped marathons (but pack snacks. You’ll need them.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC.

Tw: transphobia, misgendering

Very cute and easy to read. If you’re thinking about picking this one up I suggest giving it a shot!

A super voice-y and cute debut romance with a very relatable mc. Anita Kelly may be my new favorite romance author!

Beautiful, breathtaking, never been done before. I loved this book so much, they got together fairly fast but I loved it. The relationship between London and Dahlia was done so well, having both povs was excellent.

i received an arc from netgalley.

Love & Other Disasters is a Bake Off meetcute queer romance between a woman giving a shot at a cooking show straight out of divorce and a non binary fellow contestant. I was interested in it right away (how could I not be?!) and it is, indeed, a lovely plot but it's rather difficult to actually get into the book.
I found the first couple chapters to be very lukewarm and overall didn't do much to properly introduce the characters and captivate the reader. I'm the kind of reader that needs to get fully wrapped up in a story and Love & Other Disasters hardly did that to me.
The entire time, this book felt like it didn't want to be too loud, to take up space and instead chose to play as safe as a book with a non binary protagonist can.
It might be because I just came out of much stronger also queer oriented books, not to mention how high my expectations were after it was recommended to me by SEVERAL (!!) people, and I do plan on giving this another shot after its official release, but Love & Other Disasters was simply not my piece of cake this time around.
But I have no doubts other people, especially non binary folk who are so under represented, will find great contentment in this book and for what it stands for. With the thought of how many of those people this book can touch, and others it can bring awareness to, I'm ever so grateful for Anita Kelly. Power to you, you beautiful soul.

<i> i received an eARC of this book via NetGalley.</i>

i love cooking shows. i love dahlia. i love london. i love idiots falling in love and being straight up idiots. this was incredibly enjoyable and that’s all i have to say.

p.s. continue giving characters personality flaws (great example: dahlia)
p.p.s. continue making characters work through familial issues by expressing their needs for boundaries and establishing said boundaries (example: london)
p.p.p.s. make apologizing cool again!!!!

Review of Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
I’m just going to start by saying that this is probably my favorite book that I’ve read in 2021 so far. It’s funny and emotional and the romance is so wonderful.

Short Review
Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly is told in the points of view of Dhalia, a queer recently divorced woman who enters the cooking show Chef’s Special in the hopes of finding a new direction for her life, and London, a pansexual nonbinary person who enters Chef’s Special with the hope of winning and using the prize money to start a nonprofit to help queer kids in Nashville, Tennessee. Our protagonists have a bit of a meet-ugly, but once they actually start talking to each other, they hit it off and spend a lot of the competition cooking, ignoring their blossoming feelings for each other, and flirting. This romance novel is ideal for readers who enjoy humorous stories about characters who fall deeply in love with each other and have that sweet, sweet happy ending that is a guarantee in this genre.

5 out of 5 stars.

Additional Thoughts:
I don’t usually like point of view transitions that happen in the middle of chapters, but I think that Anita Kelly weaves the transitions together gracefully in this book, so I didn’t mind it for once.

London and Dhalia have siblings and readers don’t get to read about them much, but when London interacts with their twin sister and when Dhalia interacts with her brother, there is so much love there. It was so wonderful to read about.

This book has realistic conflicts between our two protagonists, and I appreciated the ways they get resolved.

I adore the way the romantic relationship in the story builds. The friendship they build as they get closer, and their feelings get stronger is so cute!

Trigger Warnings:
Kelly delves into transphobia that London experiences as a nonbinary person. Some of the people being transphobic include one of London’s family members and some of their competitors on the cooking show.

This book made my little queer heart sing (a Celine Dion song, obvi). Poignant and adorable at the same time, finishing this book gave me that warm, contented feeling you often experience after a happy cry. I’ll return to it on myriad cozy rainy days in the future.

I decided to check out Love & Other Disasters because it sounded like a heartwarming, fun read. Also: the main romance is f/nb, which is awesome because I think we can all agree there are not nearly enough books with non-binary main characters. Doubly also: the story takes place during a cooking competition (like Chopped or Sugar Rush), and I’ve never read another book with that kind of setting before. Needless to say, going in, I was very excited to see if Love & Other Disasters would live up to my high expectations.

And good news! It did! The baking scenes are fun and the romance is adorable. What I love about the romance especially is that Dahlia and Logan’s relationship is built on kindness and mutual respect—there’s none of the pressure or dubious consent that turns me off of romances so often.

I also love that the author, Anita Kelly, wrote so clearly and wonderfully about the struggles of being queer and mostly-but-not-entirely-out. I highlighted a lot of passages that made me want to point at the book and say, “Yes, that’s it! That’s exactly what it’s like!”

As I was reading, I had only a few frustrations and qualms. One of these qualms is that up until about the 50% mark, I struggled to connect with one of the main characters, Dahlia. She feels in some ways like a typical YA/NA protagonist: clumsy, bubbly, always referencing pop culture and never thinking before she speaks. She’s 26, but she’s not very emotionally mature and also pretty oblivious, so she reads more like 19 or 20 to me. But around the halfway point, she started to feel a lot more like a real person, and I hugely enjoyed her journey through the rest of the book.

And don’t get me wrong—I still had a great time reading the book’s first half. Logan, the other main character (and Dahlia’s love interest), felt immediately real to me. They’re a tad grumpier and more introverted than Dahlia, but a big softy underneath; and their more serious personality complements Dahlia’s bubbliness well. (I may be a bit biased here because I am also one of the most introverted introverts to walk the earth.) Again, once I hit that 50% mark, I was completely rooting for them and Dahlia to work out.

Love & Other Disasters is an engaging romance novel that I’d recommend to anyone who wants a comfort read with well-drawn LGBTQ characters.