Anita Kelly has crafted a romance that made me both cry and laugh out loud. I found both leads deeply relatable, and that's one of the things that propels me through a romance, is the capacity to root for both people. The setting added a lot of great character tension, and the steamy scenes were well crafted and HOT while still being respectful. Kelly is masterful, and a name to watch in romance!

YES YES YES 100% YES! i adored this book! and to my knowledge anita kelly is a debut author and i’m insanely obsessed!!! instant buy for sure. loved the plot, setting, and characters in this book!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! My favorite things in the world are reality cooking shows and romances and this is both! With the addition zest of it being a queer romance which is even better! I felt a strong tie to Dhalia being from Maryland and ending a long term relationship. I enjoyed knowing the backstories to both Dahlia and London’s lives. This was a pure delight.

Thank you Read Forever and Netgalley for the early copy of this gem!

Love and Other Disasters was honestly, beautiful. It follows two contestants on a reality TV cooking competition, London & Dahlia. At first Dahlia (who’s a bit of a tornado) thinks pensive, quiet London doesn’t like her. When in reality, London practically stops breathing when Dahlia is near, they like her so much. And that right there is my jam. What follows is a new friendship and that turns to something more, with the backdrop of a cooking show. It’s funny, swoony, emotional and sexy. We get a lot of on-page together time for the MCs and I loved that.

Shenanigans & tropes you can expect:
-Bisexual female MC, Non-binary MC, white couple
-idiots in love
-opposites attract
-cooking as foreplay
-a disaster bi
-forced proximity

But did I swoon? You bet. Watching these two slowly fall for one another was honestly a real treat.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level: 🔥🔥🔥
Swoon factor: 💖💖💖💖💖

CW: love after divorce, transphobia (challenged), misgendering (challenged), on page explicit sex, alcohol consumption, strained parental relationship, financial instability/stress

a baking romance - seriously a perfect match! characters you root for and whom feel so real, witty banter, and depth of figuring yourself out and being exactly who you are. highly, highly recommend!

I fell into Love & Other Disasters and never looked back.

London and Dahlia are contents on a baking show and things end up really heating up. London takes a leap in the beginning of the show by announcing their pronouns on the show, which as expected wasn't 100% smooth. Dahlia gives them the most support both personally and professionally by demanding that their pronouns be respected.

Dahlia has some issues of her own, recently divorced and trying to make her own way. Dahlia was super fun and I really enjoyed how her relationship with London developed.

Highly recommend, wonderful LGBTQ+ representation, in showing the ups and downs of their lives and how others on the outside view them.

Thank you to @netgalley and @anitakellywrites for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a pick me up from my time change doldrums. I know that it’s been out for a little while, and I know I’m super behind in my reading, but I’m so pleased that I got around to this book this week when everything felt hard.

The premise is a cooking show, and Dahlia and London are contestants. Dahlia is a recently divorced, wild haired home cook from Maryland, where she went after her divorce to figure herself out. She’s been with one person her whole life, her ex David, and she’s recently come out as queer.

London is from Nashville, and they are non-binary. They come from money and have a huge family with a non accepting father.

When Dahlia and London meet, they don’t like each other much, but as the show progresses, each character separately realizes they like each other. A lot. And then they’re attached at the hip.

London’s POV is particularly emotional, as they respond and confront being an openly non-binary person on television, and also a person looking for love and acceptance. Dahlia’s trajectory is a little more recognizable as a more stereotypical romance heroine, as she’s a woman trying to rebuild her life after blowing it up without a clear picture of what she’s looking for in the end.

The cooking competition was kind of swirling around them as their romance developed, but I thought it was cool that they both couldn’t win it, thus a real problem was born.

Dahlia and London don’t always talk about expectations, which is a real problem, mostly because they’re wrapped up in the thrill of being together physically. My one gripe is that London does a lot physically to Dahlia, whereas they seem not into being pleasured themselves - now I know there is a lot of talk of body image issues as a non-binary afab person, but I didn’t know if they were connected in terms of sexual pleasure — but that aside, it was cute and hot and funny and the characters were super likable. The non-binary rep felt super authentic and true. I enjoyed this book and recommend it!

Love & Other Disasters is easily my favorite romance of the year so far! Dahlia and London are so vividly written that it seems impossible that they're not real. I absolutely adored seeing the two characters fall for each other. I'm so happy to have such a fantastic romance with a nonbinary main character. The author allows the characters to have such vulnerable and honest conversations that it feels completely real that they would make such a strong connection during a short reality show taping. Anita Kelly is definitely an author to watch!

Overall a very sweet and easy read! I enjoyed the representation and how characters were written, though I didn’t feel an exceptional connection to any of them, they all did feel a bit shallow. The romance itself though, plus the premise was cute. I didn’t mind it overall but I probably won’t read again.

This book was wonderfully sweet! I loved the overall message and themes! It's been so long since I read a book about baking and this was the perfect one to pick up!

Thank you Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

First off let me just say that I -absolutely- loved this book. While I originally picked up the book because of the nonbinary representation in it, I wasn't sure I would enjoy a cooking themed story. Yet here I was enraptured from page one.

London and Dahlia's relationship was so well done, and I loved each of their sequences in the story. Usually, I worry about authors inserting transphobia and homophobia into stories for the big 'conflict' factor, but the author did so well with making sure it wasn't completely in your face. We never actually see much of the 'antagonists' phrases, we get the mention of a dead name without the dead name actually being used, and most of the conflict was hiding behinds scenes till the last few chapters when we see London actually stand up for themself.

Overall I enjoyed this so much, and am buying a physical copy a.s.a.p.

Dahlia and London came to compete on the reality cooking show Chef's Special with different goals. Dahlia is reeling from a recent divorce and trying to figure out how to get her life and finances back on track. London wants to come out on screen as nonbinary and start a nonprofit for nonbinary kids. But when they arrive, Dahlia and London quickly fall for each other and realize they're in for more than they expected.

A queer romance set around a cooking competition is EXTREMELY my shit, and I thoroughly enjoyed this charming book! It's got steam in the cooking scenes, but even more in the sexy scenes. Both of the characters were so sweet and realistically flawed, and I was rooting for them the whole time. What a fun ride!

When recently divorced Dahlia meets London, who has recently come out as non-binary on a cooking competition, the heat is turned up and not only in the kitchen. Will this turn into something beautiful or recipe for disaster?
Thank you to Netgalley, Anita Kelly and Forever for the opportunity to read and review this book. I love cooking shows and I also love romantic comedies. Put them together and of course this is the perfect match! This was a cute and entertaining story of two amazingly strong people going through some uncharted waters. I loved the main characters London and Dahlia and watching them grow both together as well a individually. I appreciate the fact that it's a rom-com yet it touched on some very deep and serious issues. Side note: there is mention of rejection from a family member, misgendering, transphobia, and also some descriptive bedroom scenes. I really enjoyed this book! In my opinion, this is a must read! I rate this ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved the way this story gives Dahlia and London time to get to know each other and gradually fall in love. It's a slow simmer, but once it hits that flashpoint, it's hot hot hot!

DNF 45%. The writing style did not make up for lack of plot. Sometimes you can get away with a very slow pace if you have some sort of factor like it's easy to visualize or the characters are compelling but this book didn't have that for me.

This is the best romance I've read in a long while. I am normally very picky about my romances, but I loved both of the characters. The setting was really cute, and I loved being able to see a protagonist with my pronouns in a romance book. I absolutely recommend this if you love cute queer romances, cooking or cooking shows and quirky protagonists.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in return for honest feedback.

LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS was a sheer delight! This story had hilarious moments but was still full of heart, and Dahlia and London are perfect for each other. Their love story was told so beautifully. Anita Kelly is my newest must-recommend author!

Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly - READ THIS BOOK! Another sweet rom-com, featuring a non-binary MC who meets a cute divorcée on set at a cooking show. Literally had me in tears a few times. Thank you @readforeverpub for the e-galley and audio.

OMFG this book was everything!! i reread it straight after reading it and i loved it sm. go pick this book up rn

This is a classic romcom with representation we deserve! I loved the non binary love interest and just this book as a whole. I loved that it focused around a cooking show and had that shenanigans while also just being such a joy to read. I can’t wait to read more books by this author.