Love & Other Disasters is a wonderful, feel good romance about 2 contestants who meet on a cooking show. Dahlia is recently divorced and looking for a fresh start, and is gifted at finding unique food combinations. London is a non-binary chef trying to start a non-profit to help LBGTQIA2S+ youth. The food descriptions in this story were delicious and so were the characters and their budding attraction. I think this is the first book I have read where one of the main points of view uses they/them pronouns and I found it empowering and educational, I have a lot to learn about gender identities and this was such a sweet way to become more familiar with them!

Lindsey Dorcus did a great job of narrating the audiobook, she really brought out the fun and romance in the story.

This was a really cute little romance. I have never read a book where one of the main characters is non binary and I was really curious about how Kelly would handle it. It was handled amazingly. It wasn't even treated as that big of a deal. This book definitely dealt with some heavy stuff but it was definitely a great book. Plus it has a cooking element! This book has a sort of Great British Bake Off secondary plot line and I loved it! I love baking so when books add it as a subplot. This whole book was overall adorable and definitely worth the read.

This was a lot of fun! Sometimes reviewing books on Netgalley feels like a chore, so I love when a book like this one can make it feel fun! The writing quality was great as far as flow and fun dialogue, and the backdrop of a cooking show was so fun to envision!

I had a fun time reading about the hijinks of the main characters, although as I read the book I felt there weren't many distinct differences between the two leads beyond their gender identities. Often I felt I had to check who's POV the chapter was from. Regardless, this was a fun read that was an overall enjoyable experience!

I really liked the audiobook--the narrator was great! As somebody who pretty much only consumes books by wya of audiobooks, narrators can often be a hit or miss, and this was a hit.

I loved this book so, so much! I was expecting a cheesy romcom story, but this book was so much more than that. I was hooked from the first page. Thanks to Netgalley for providing an arc of the audiobook!

It was nice book just I should know more about this queer an non binar prononses. I was confused at first but I also wanted listen more to see what happened on the show. But again there was not much about the show. The side characters were almost non there.
I liked these persons that I am really sorry that I do not know anything about. But I think is important to know more. At some points I felt a little bored about all complaing. On the other hand I also loved the main characters and was glad it ends like it ends.

Thank you Hachette Audio, Forever and Netgalley for this audio.

This novel is perfection! Cute, real, unique, and feel good! I love the characters, loved the setting, and loved the character development. It felt like the behind the scenes to master chef but with steam and I could not love it anymore. It was great to have characters that we don’t see nearly enough in romance novels. I hope more novels follow with characters like these. It was great to watch both London and Dahlia step into themselves and their confidence. The side stories with each MCs family was a nice addition so that it wasn’t all about romance/potential heartbreak. Funny, emotional, raw, real, and moving. Truly, an excellent romance that I was not ready to be done with! Cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

The narrator did an excellent job and made me want to keep listening.


Recently divorced and unsure of what path to take, Dahlia has been selected to be a contestant on the hit reality cooking show, Chef’s Special to compete for a chance at $100,000. She’s determined to win, even if she’s not the most confident in herself. One of her fellow contestants is London, the first non-binary character in the shows history. Both seem to be drawn to each other but unsure of what to do. After all, they could go home at any time and they’re from two completely different worlds. As things heat up, “they must figure out if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.”

NF at 15%

I'm really getting tired of white queer stories being hyped for diversity and representation when the book is literally just white characters. Here we have a book that features cooking, which is so incredibly rich and diverse when thinking about different cultures, and guess what, all white chefs cooking standard American food. Huge wasted opportunity.

Now, onto this scene that I need to rant about.

Dahlia and London (non-binary) are two of the contestants on the show. After their first day, they both end up at the same bar to relax after a clearly stressful time. Mind you, these two don't know each other at this point minus a small meet cute that didn't go well.

Dahlia word vomits all of her emotional baggage onto London who is not really engaged in the conversation. At this point, I can't tell if London is autistic coded based on the descriptions given by the author but that's how it comes across. Dahlia gets annoyed that London isn't responding to her rapid fire, so she asks London what they are drinking and then proceeds to reach across and take a swig of London's bourbon without any sort of permission and without knowing this stranger.

Who in the hell just takes a swig of a complete stranger's drink at a bar?! And this book is releasing while we are in the fourth wave of a pandemic?! What in the caucasity?! Hell no. HELL NO. Red flags all around.

Needless to say, I'm not continuing with this mess. I'm done.

Thank you to Forever Pub and Hachette Audio for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

This was such a great story right from the start! The alternating narration between London and Dahlia was perfect. I adored both of their voices, and I connected to their stories. Having their story take place in the middle of a cooking reality competition show was so fun. It created a ton of situations laughter and also emotional moments. This is a great one!