This was certainly not the most delectable culinary romance I've read recently, but it was definitely a fun one. Second round purchase for most libraries.

This book was delightful! I felt drawn in from the first chapter, and I finished it in a day. I really enjoyed how well rounded most characters were, and Julie felt quite relatable and funny. Bennett seemed pretty shy or reserved, and as such I actually don't feel like I know a lot about his personality, and he fell a little flat near the end for me. Their fiery banter at the beginning was so engaging, I feel like that could have transferred better during their work date things, instead of just closing their eyes and talking about the food, haha!

That being said, the book was very enjoyable and I'll definitely be recommending it to friends - just not on an empty stomach, the food is described so well in this book you'll be hungry!

Thanks NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this arc!

Gosh, i really enjoyed this one. But be prepared to want to eat ALL the food when reading it. There is so much talk about food, which makes sense since both characters are food reviewers.

I liked the interactions between Julie and Bennett. I liked seeing them go from confrontational to more. Seeing them gain respect for each other and their way of reviewing food was fun.

I also enjoyed the interactions between Julie and Emerson Leigh. It was funny to see the the pet yoga business develop and how out of touch Emerson Leigh was compared to Julie.

I liked the little nod to the previous book, Sadie On a Plate, with the characters visiting her restaurant.

Overall a really enjoyable book and I definitely recommend.

I loved the little Easter eggs for Sadie on a Plate, but this book definitely stands on its own. As an "influencer" myself, I really enjoyed seeing Julie's process for her food blog and various platforms as well as the debates with Bennett over the value of it. Also the FOOD - I was drooling the entire time. Like yes please let's go to tapas. They have such a fabulous rivals to lovers story, though I wish we got to see some of the steam, with the classic 3rd act break-up. I also enjoyed Emerson Leigh, Alice, and Kelsey throughout. Any one of them could get a book of their own and I'd happily read it.

*Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This is my first book by the author, and she definitely has a unique writing style. You can tell she has a love for food and social media by reading this book!

I think my biggest problem with it was how heavily it focused on food, and not the characters or plot. By 15%, I knew all about her love for unique food and her Instagram page, but nothing about her or who the love interest was going to be. I don’t think I’d say it’s a full blown rom-com either.

It’s unique and the setting was fun, but it too heavy on the “food influencer” scene and not the fun romcom scene.

I will definitely try other books by her, and have heard amazing things about Sadie On A Plate and hope to try that one soon!

Best Served Hot is a slow burn rom com perfect for all foodies or aspiring influencers! Julie is a member of corporate America by day and runs an NYC food blogging account on the side. When she meets the guy who got her dream job as a food reviewer at the Scroll, she can't help giving him a piece of her mind. One viral video later and they're collaborating on food reviews all across NYC. This was a super fun and even at times educational read! I enjoyed hearing Julie's perspective on social media as an industry as well as a variety of different foods. This is definitely a slow burn story, almost to the point where the romance plot line seems to feel secondary to everything else in Julie's life, which I wasn't expecting. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more by Amanda Elliot. Thanks so much to Berkley romance and NetGalley for the advanced copy. This book releases on Feb 21, 2023. 3.5/5

By day, Julie Zimmerman works as an executive assistant, but after hours she is @JulieZeeEatsNYC, a popular social media restaurant reviewer with over fifty thousand followers. Despite her success, Julie yearns to become a critic at a major newspaper such as the New York Scroll. Unfortunately, the Scroll rejected her application and instead hired smarmy, social-media-averse society boy Bennett Richard Macalester Wright.

At the Central Park Food Festival, Julie confronts Bennett about his outdated opinions on social media and posts the resulting video footage. Her follower count jumps, and so does the Scroll's. Julie and Bennett reluctantly agree to partner up for a few reviews to capitalize on the buzz. As they explore different restaurants and dishes, Julie and Bennett begin to develop a connection based on their mutual love of food. However, when the competitive edge between them intensifies, they must decide how much of the heat their relationship can take.

In Amanda Elliot's follow-up to Sadie on a Plate, the heat gets turned up when two restaurant critics team up.⁣

⁣ Julie loves being a restaurant reviewer on social media. She works as an executive assistant in order to support her side gig as @JulieZeeEatsNYC, and her more than 50,000 followers love her food photos and videos.

⁣ ⁣ What Julie wants more than anything is an actual job as a restaurant reviewer for a newspaper, and her dream job is to work at the New York Scroll. But when the Scroll doesn’t even contact her after receiving her application, and they hire Bennett Wright (whose mom is friends with the paper’s CEO) instead, she’s angry and hurt.⁣

⁣ While at a food festival in Central Park, Julie runs into Bennett, and their encounter devolves into Julie confronting him for his snobby attitude toward social media and those who use it for restaurant/food reviews. Her video footage of their confrontation sees her follower count jump dramatically—and it brings more traffic to the Scroll's social media, too.⁣

⁣ Seeing benefit for both of them, Bennett proposes that they collaborate. They’ll both visit the same restaurants at the same time and contrast their approaches and opinions. And after some initial hijinks, they start to enjoy each other’s company, and they learn from each other.⁣ Of course, the more they collaborate, the more the chemistry intensifies. Is this a reservation for love or disaster?⁣

⁣ I love books about food and restaurants, so this was right up my alley. I loved Sadie on a Plate (and Sadie makes a cameo in this book), and this is fun, steamy, and romantic. I enjoyed the discussion about social media and the battle of print vs. internet, too.

⁣ Thanks so much to NetGalley and Berkley for the advance copy! The book publishes 2/21/2023!

This was a quick angsty, rivals to romance narrative. It developed as expected and I did enjoy the food critic aspect of the plot.

Best Served Hot is a fun rom-com with the enemies to lovers trope. I always love anything set in New York as well. While not my favorite rom-com, this was adorable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

Rating: 3.5, rounded up to 4

On paper, I should have REALLY loved this one as I always love enemies to lovers, NYC setting and anything involving food. However, I just didn't connect with this one as I should. It took me more than a few chapters to get into the story and then when I did, I couldn't make myself like Julie. This is probably what kept me from rating this book higher.

What I loved:
-Enemies to lovers
-Interesting plot
-Inclusion of social media, culinary background, NYC, etc

What I didn't:
-Julie. I was unable to connect with her and found her to be childish on more than one occasion. Some of her actions were cringey in the book.
-The romance wasn't fully developed for me.

All in all, this is a fun rom com with mouthwatering food descriptions. The plot is interesting and I enjoyed the book!

I absolutely loved Amanda Elliot's follow-up to Sadie on a Plate! She does such a great job of capturing NYC and as she did with the first book, it made me hungry for everything the characters ate. Nuanced characters and a swoony romance, can't recommend this one more!!

Best Served Hot is my first book by author Amanda Elliot, but now I want to go back and read more from her; especially Sadie on a Plate.

This book focuses on Julie, a foodie influencer trying to claim her space in a world that she thinks may not respect her as someone who knows her stuff when it comes to food.

This book made me want to cook and eat. I really enjoyed the story and character development.

Amanda Elliot's novel "Sadie on a Plate," set on a "Top Chef"-like TV show, was such a delight that I had high hopes for "Best Served Hot," but this one didn't quite do it for me -- mainly because of the heroine, Julie. She's a New York influencer with a small but loyal fan base who publishes her restaurant reviews on social media (presumably Instagram, though no specific platform is mentioned, a wise decision on the author's part considering the current Twitter implosion). Julie works as the executive assistant to a wealthy businessman, but longs to be a full-time reviewer with an actual salary.

When her dream job -- restaurant critic for the prestigious New York Scroll -- goes to Bennett, a wealthy and well-connected (but very handsome) guy close to her own age, Julie immediately assumes that he's a jerk, and behaves incredibly immaturely. I cringed at some of her actions in this book, particularly in one scene where she decides that Bennett sent a glass of wine to her restaurant table because he somehow knows that she hates wine and must have done it as a taunt. That whole scene just made me cringe.

The best parts of the book involve Julie's relationship with her boss's daughter, a spoiled rich girl; they really dug into the class conflicts in modern-day New York, where anyone who's not a multimillionaire has to really struggle to survive. The daughter turns out to be more than just a one-dimensional villain. As for the romance, I couldn't help but wonder why Bennett would put up with Julie's erratic behavior.

A bonus for "Sadie on the Plate" fans -- you do get a nice little cameo from Sadie in this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Pub for this earc

Unfortunately this book was not for me.

I’ll probably should start with the fact that Julie was one of the most ridiculous characters I’ve read in a while. She was incredibly prejudiced and simple judgmental to almost every other characters. The things she thought and said were just awful.

Second thing that made be absolutely annoyed, was the amount of time “all men are complete garbage” was mention. Between white men and rich men and every man in every business are sexist idiots, you may as well just close the book before you even started.

Next up is of course the fact that Julie is Jewish but that was never “part of her life” and the comment about how one of the things she baked “tasted like matza” and that was worse that even “fasting she had to do for Jewish holidays”. I don’t know about you but it sounded incredibly antisemitism to me. Another example how Jews are NEVER represented the right way.

And, considering, this is a romance book, I should mentioned that there was no romance. I didn’t feel any connection between Julie and Bennett. But the fact that she called their falling out a “break up” after one kiss and one night was just simply ridiculous. How can two people break up in their were not in a relationship?

Overall, this is exactly the kind of book I’m trying to avoid.

I loved this author's Sadie On a Plate and Elliot has done it again in this lively tale of twoo restaurant critics. Fun rom com!

After reading Amanda Elliot's delicious romance debut, SADIE ON A PLATE last year, I was tickled to win an eARC of her upcoming release with Berkley Romance BEST SERVED HOT that comes out 2/21 thanks to Shelf Awareness + NetGalley!

I am not a foodie, instead, I have a palette of a five-year-old but books like Elliot's make me want to go out and try ALL THE FOODS. I love how her books are centered around incredible food + eating, but both titles manage to be so incredibly unique.

This book focuses on Julie, a foodie influencer trying to claim her space in a world that she thinks may not respect her as someone who knows her stuff when it comes to food. While her job provides her the luxury of being able to do @JulieZeeEatsNYC she struggles with being seen seriously even though she's grown her following + community from scratch.

When she doesn't get the food critic job she wants, and it instead goes to Bennett, a privileged white male just like her boss it creates the dreamy set-up for an enemies-to-lovers romance when a viral instagram LIVE results in a collaboration for reviewing together.

Full of banter and hilarious escapades, take a seat, grab a snack and enjoy BEST SERVED HOT, it was a treat to read!

I eagerly anticipated Best Served Hot after loving the author’s debut last year! This enemies to lovers romance, set in the world of social media influencer vs. print food critic was deliciously fun. I felt like I was along for the ride for an ultimate NYC restaurant tour! The banter was very entertaining and there were some laugh out loud moments, as well as slow burn pining with a sexy payoff.

My one qualm was with the 3rd act break-up due to lack of communication which, for me, has become an overdone plot point in contemporary romances.

My god!!!!! This book was a perfect balance of amazing enemies to lovers story with solid plot line and amazing characters!! I definitely loved and enjoyed it

I was lucky enough to win a digital ARC of BEST SERVED HOT by Amanda Elliot in a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a spooky but safe Halloween!