Julie Zimmerman loves to explore NYC's culinary landscape and reviews meals and restaurants exclusively on social media, but she'd really love to ditch her office assistant job for a formal reviewing position with a local new source in order to feel validated in her work. Unfortunately, her application for the reviewer spot at the New York Scroll has gone to probably yet another old connected white guy, someone by the name of Bennett Wright. She finds out from her boss's daughter that Bennett is actually closer to her own age, and when she runs across him at the Central Park Food Festival, she pranks him into giving up his place in a food truck line -- then has to deal with him calling her out later, letting her feelings about him descend into criticism and provoking him into return fire.

When a video of their exchange goes viral, Bennett's boss decides the two should team up for reviews in order to compare their reactions and to build up the Scroll's social media presence. Will proximity lead these rivals into a more congenial relationship?

Of course, it will, and while I enjoyed the idea of competing reviewers from different perspectives (traditional media vs. social media, wealthy vs. working class, accustomed to fine cuisine vs. used to street food and diners), ultimately this romance didn't quite work for me. Bennett struck me as a reserved character who slowly reveals himself and who is willing to listen and learn, and it's obvious from the beginning that he's very attracted to Julie. But Julie displays petty, thoughtless, impulsive behavior from the start and only partly overcomes that by book's end, so I just have a hard time believing that she's mature enough to make this relationship work.

Side characters add to the book: the seemingly flighty Emerson Leigh turns out to have a few surprises up her designer sleeve, Julie's bestie Alice is a wonderful character with her own side quest, and fellow social media influencer Jada is a fun and supportive character. My only quibble is that, while I appreciate having characters of color in the book (Alice is Asian, Jada is Black), they feel a little too close to being supportive props for the white main character and not truly fully developed characters on their own. (I would love to see Jada be the heroine of her story, but I don't see it happening.)

The author's descriptions of food and meals are wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed that, but a core part of the story just didn't quite bring the book up to a higher rating from me. 3 stars.

Read this if you love: rivals to lovers, luscious food descriptions, foodie fights, a little class warfare, debating the merits of traditional vs social media, soaking up your sorrows with donuts

Thank you, Berkley Romance and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Given the conversation around anti-semitism as of late, I really wanted to read a book by a Jewish author with Jewish representation - who better than Amanda Elliot?! I loved Amanda’s adult debut, Sadie on a Plate and had eagerly been awaiting #BestServedHot since it was teased at the end of Sadie.

A food influencer (@JulieZeeEatsNYC) and a professional critic - what could go wrong? I loved the NYC setting, I loved Julie & every minute of this book - including some amazing cameos! This was slightly heavier on the romance than Sadie, which of course is a win for me!

Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ winner from Elliot!!

This one releases in February so be sure to get it on your radar. If you’ve yet to read Sadie on a Plate - read that now to hold you over!

A gentle reminder that it’s always cool to condemn antisemitism, to amplify Jewish authors and creators & to support their work - not just when it’s a media hot topic.

Warning: do not read this book hungry. Amanda Elliot returns with another love letter to restaurants, creative cooking, and good food. Influencer and aspiring critic Julie is disappointed when she doesn't get her dream job as a restaurant reviewer for a prominent newspaper. The job instead goes to Bennett, who possesses three names and the kind of connections Julie could only dream of. When the two meet and face off at a food fair, the video goes viral and they recognize that their animosity could actually help both of their careers.

I couldn't always get behind Julie's behavior in pursuit of her dream. She makes some very questionable decisions at her day job, and she strikes out in a kind of extreme way at Bennett the first time they meet. She mostly redeems herself, but I'm not sure I could've gotten past some of her behavior if I were Bennett or another person in her life.

The food descriptions are once again the best part of this book. Not that I didn't enjoy the plot or the characters--they're just that good. Elliot clearly has a breadth of knowledge about the subject matter, and a real knack for making words come to life with dishes you will swear you can smell and taste.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Foodie Romance (mains are a food critic and blogger)
• Enemies To Lovers

I was very excited to give this one a try, especially after reading the author's debut Sadie On A Plate. While Sadie still has the edge for me comparatively (I’m a sucker for a food competition read), I still enjoyed Best Served Hot and found it to be a quick, easy, and enjoyable read.

Best Served Hot once again returns to the foodie scene, however it tackles it from another angle – in this case our hero and heroine are a food critic and food blogger respectively. The two start off as enemies / in competition with what appears to be a mutual disdain for the others work (she thinks he doesn’t deserve the job and is old school / pretentious, he thinks hers is without nuance and superficial – all about the pictures). They have a run in that eventually leads to a collaborative effort on their parts.

The read served up some epic food descriptions that will leave you with a longing to partake – you can really picture the food and it definitely makes you wish you could smell and taste along with them. I also really enjoyed the exploration of the realities of print media vs social media – the good and the bad, as part of the story.

The romcom element was there – and I did find some amusement in the various mishaps that befell Julie throughout. The romance was cute, and I felt that Julie and Bennett did have a bit of a spark, but I wanted a bit more building of the romantic tension and relationship between them.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This book has truly mouth watering, incredibly tempting food recipes literally make your stomachs grumble a little louder ( don’t you try to read this book hiding under your PowerPoint files during your meeting! The sounds your stomach make may catch you off guard! Being there, done that! ) and entertaining enemies to lovers story between food blogger and food critic ( great conflict between social media’s influencing power versus old school newspaper reporting) !

This book is exceptional and it’s a dream come true for foodies who love NYC a lot like me!

Last year when I had a short business trip to NYC, I realized so many favorite local restaurants of mine were closed and people in the restaurant business financially struggled more than I imagined during dark pandemic era. Even my favorite Pret a manger chains were shut down! So I have to clap the author to show her respect to the business and her honest dedication by recommending so many ethnic tastes in this book. I also loved realistic approach to social media: pros and cons, growing business potentials, emphasizing the marketing the product you truly believe in!
Only bad thing about the book is the heroine hated wine! ( she’s missing a lot! )

I loved the creative plot line. The love story between Julie and Bennett Richard Macalester Wright ( wow! That long line is truly intimidating) is lighthearted. There was not much obstacle between them. Julie believes the power of social media, working so hard to stay alive in the middle of jungle as Bennett comes from wealthy family, hasn’t worked so hard to get his position at New York Scroll ( thanks to her mommy’s connections)! They are socially and financially coming from different backgrounds. The love for the food they have and their undeniable physical attraction unite them.

Bennett might be rich boy acting like pretentious douche in the beginning but he shows his true colors when two of them force you work together to attract more reviewers!
He’s comic books, quirky video games fan. And he’s also undeniably handsome.

But I think the food descriptions and honest approach to social media, mansplaining at the work place a little overshadowed the romance parts! So I cut one star from my final grading.

I still seriously enjoy this book! I even loved it more than Sadie on a plate ( she makes a cameo in this book)! I highly recommend this book to lighthearted, sweet, swoon romance lovers!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I am a big fan of Sadie on a Plate so I was OVERJOYED to get approved for an advanced reading copy of this book! Julie is a social media restaurant reviewer who ends up collaborating with Bennett, a food critic for a major newspaper. Despite their mutual disdain for each other’s method of food reviewing, their collaboration goes better than either expected.

I loved this book so much! I was almost sad to finish it because I didn’t want to stop reading.

Things I loved:
-enemies to lovers
-gloriously detailed food descriptions
-hilarious escapades (the burger cooking challenge had me laughing out loud)
-a little peek at where Sadie is now!
-discussion around class/privilege

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

Two restaurant critics go about their reviews in very different ways: Julie is a built from scratch go-getter with 50,000 followers on social media, pays for all her meals, and takes a photo of everything she eats, favoring ethnic food and hole in the wall spots. Bennett is an ivy-leaguer fan of fine dining who takes longhand notes at his expensed meals--and he's just landed a coveted column at the New York Scroll that Julie applied for and didn't get. When their competitive natures collide at a food festival and their argument goes viral, the newspaper's marketing team decides a little friendly competition is in order, and in hopes of boosting both their print subscribers and followers, offers to pair them together and send them to joint review a bunch of eateries. They agree, with reservations, and develop a grudging respect for one another as they break bread at a number of establishments. A particular fine and funny moment is when they challenge one another to a cook-off, decide to make burgers, and the comedy of errors ends at ShackBurgers.

Far from a superficial book about food, Best Served Hot explores themes of class, wealth and privilege, social media and image, job satisfaction. I also felt a little thrill when Bennett references Thomas Keller's Per Se loss of a michelin star and review downgrade from 2 to 4 stars--and I knew when it occurred, and why; and I chuckled when I realized I had read Pete Well's scathing takedown of Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. There is an art to timely allusions that make the reader feel smart when they get them (as opposed to alienated or worse, stupid, when they don't), and Elliot hits the right note.

As in Sadie on a Plate, the food is front and center, and it's the lush descriptions of what they eat that will make your heart pound and elicit your envy, admiration, and longing: "The bread was earthy and chewy, crunchy on the bottom and meltingly soft on top, and rather than rubbing the bread with tomato as in a traditional pan con tomate (yes, I'd done my research), the raw tomato had been shredded and mashed and spread on top, a cool, sweet, tangy contrast to the bread. A hint of garlic spoke up in the back of my throat; anchovies whispered somewhere underneath, the salt and the brine making everything else taste sweeter." If that isn't a metaphor for the individual features of their complex relationship Julie and Bennett have that creates a perfect whole, I don't know what is.

The sex was more descriptive that in Elliot's previous book (the single flaw I found was Julie's boasting about her anatomy's allowing for the capability of multiple orgasms and Bennett not pursuing that particular challenge).

I received an advance reader's review copy of #BestServedHot from #NetGalley.

I try not to compare an author's second book to the first one, but I couldn't help it while reading BEST SERVED HOT. I kept comparing and remembering Sadie on a Plate by Amanda Elliot.

There were amazing aspects of BEST SERVED HOT. Of course the food and restaurants are side characters in the book. The descriptions … oh, so, so good and tempting.

The romance between Julie and Bennett had it's moments with lots of ssssssizzzzle.

But I found myself having a hard time rooting for Julie. She was extremely judgmental of everyone around her while assuming people were judgmental of her when they actually weren't.

My main issue, that I tried to get over, were the negative blanket statements about men, white men, rich men, old men. There were at least a half dozen negative references.

Listen, there are some men out there that deserve what the author was trying to imply: these men are bad, bad, bad. But Julie and her friends could not see ANY of these male characters (cough, BENNETT, cough) as possibly being good people even though their actions showed otherwise because they were … men.

And this is when I kept remembering SADIE ON A PLATE. That story focused on the romance. I don't remember any male bashing.

I turn to romances for an escape from social, political and economic issues. All of these issues are important, sure, but if I wanted to read about those issues, I'd seek out a different genre.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me an e-copy of BEST SERVED HOT to review.

I rate BEST SERVED HOT three out of four stars.

This was a fun book. I loved all the descriptions of foods and the two characters had good chemistry. I thought parts of it were a little cliche, but overall it was fun.

Best Served Hot is perfect for fans of A Pho Story & A Taste for Love. I loved reading about Julie & Bennett.

Thank you NetGalley, Amanda Elliot, and Berkley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I requested this one because I really enjoyed Sadie on a Plate and, sadly, I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much, but it was still fun.

This book follows Julie, a social media influencer focused on food, and Bennett. They come from different backgrounds but both share a love of food. He writes for a newspaper and doesn’t quite understand social media, and she believes that newspapers are outdated.

I thought Julie acted really weird in this book and didn’t always enjoy her choices. She seemed to call out people a lot without thinking much about it, but I do understand her thought process. However, I never fully connected to her because of this.

The romance was cute but never fully stuck out to me. I enjoyed the friendships more and they were all unique.

Overall, this is still a really fun novel and I enjoyed reading it. I had my problems with it, but none of them were major and I still loved the descriptions of food, the friendships, and the enemies-to-lovers trope. I recommend this one for fans of Sadie on a Plate or romance fans in general.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me this ARC. The cover to this book is what first caught my attention, city back drop and food! I also love a competition that involves food! Just makes you hungry as you keep reading so have a snack ready. This book was funny, passionate, and steamy.

So what happens when your passed up for your dream writing job? You go confront the person who took the job and then go viral! 🤦‍♀️ So capitalizing on that you start working together only to realize maybe the heat in the kitchen might be to much. Is it worth it! I also Loved the supporting characters Alice she was great!

Reviewing for Library Journal and cannot replicate review here. Should be in the December 2022 issue.

Julie is trying to break into the influencer world as a food influencer. Best Served Hot offers some insight into the behind-the-scenes of being a foodstagrammer and if you are a foodie... this book is for you! I think there were more detailed descriptions of food than characters. Julie and Bennett both share a love of food, so it is a central theme throughout the book.

I didn't love Julie as I thought she was immature and acted childishly on more than one occasion. She was judgmental while simultaneously being mad at others for judging her. Bennett was nice, but nothing that stood out and chemistry between them just wasn't there for me.

There were some sweet moments and a few funny mishaps, but overall... I'm not mad I read it, but it wasn't a book I would re-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.