This book looked cute and it sounded right up my alley as a cute rom-com. Unfortunately, I did not finish. The writing style is not for me and it was really hard to follow along. I have it a fair start, but after several weeks of trying to get into, I had to put it down. I think the idea is cute, but the writing style could use a revamp. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the FMC and I was confused with who exactly Ben was.

I enjoyed the book's concept and how the story unfolded and the characters grew by themselves and together. A solid read and I recommend it. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book for my honest review.

What I liked about this story was that it wasn’t as cliched and predictable as the title implies. Hearing the story from the perspective of Gina and Ben, you get an insight into their lives and the people in them, as well as how things start to overlap.

I was really looking forward to reading this book! The cover was absolutely adorable, the title was charming, and who doesn't love a good romance.

I found that I struggled to connect with the main characters. There was not much that happened throughout the book, but the story continued and felt as though it dragged on unfortunately. I struggled to finish this book unfortunately.

Everything about this book was promising: cute cover, appealing title, romantic story.

But it's a huge disappointment... I liked how the story started with Gia and Ben getting to know each other through notes slipped in Gia's orders from Ben. This was totally cute and a change from every other romance stories.

And yet the story dragged on for too long. Nothing major was happening. Every time Gia and Ben were on the verge of meeting, something would happen. It was a great idea for the first couple of times but in the end it was boring. As I was reading, I kept wondering where the author wanted to take us or the two 'lovers'.

Instead, the story remained flat and, little by little, Gia and Ben started to tedious. I just wanted the story to end. I no longer cared about their romance or anything else. I would have loved some spice, or at least a cute meeting between the two of them.

Besides, I didn't get why the secondary plots were there. A mention of them would have been better, but they took up chapters which in my opinion was useless.

I wanted to love this story and I thought I would. I kept hoping towards the end of the book but this was a huge disappointment for me.

Sadly, like a lot of other readers it seems, I couldn't get on with this one. I failed to warm to the two central characters, Ben had too much family, and I didn't sign up for a novel about the intricacies of a job I didn't really care about. A shame as the blurb sounded great and I liked the cultural mix that was implied. Too slow-moving, too, and I read quickly so I can usually get past that.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but, sadly, it did not live up to expectations. I struggled to connect with the characters and found it slow going.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for a while but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I didn’t connect with the characters and the plot wasn’t my cup of tea either. It took way too long for anything to happen and honestly I was so disinterested I didn’t even care that much by the time it did.

I loved the idea of the notes when I read the book description but unfortunately they just weren’t enough to keep me invested. (I reckon the awful formatting on the kindle - which made it incredibly hard to read most of Gia's notes - made it worse but I'm sure this will be fixed by the time the book comes out).

I’m struggling to understand why this was in the romance section because it definitely didn’t feel like one.

Overall, I think my biggest issue with this book is that I feel like nothing really happened and it’s such a shame because it had so much potential.

★ 2.5/5 Stars ★

Thank you to Avon UK and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this, and it had potential but I just didn't really enjoy it. It started out so slow, and then when it got good it felt really rushed.

Oooff. This did things to my heart. Firstly, what an innovative and totally unique novel. I have never read anything remotely similar to this before and I loved every single second of it.

Ben. Ben has totally stole my heart. If my boyfriend wrote notes with my takeaway, I’d propose right there.
Gia was a fantastic protagonist. I loved everything about her and it just made the book even more enjoyable.

My heart is so full from this novel.

It was a sweet story but I found it quite hard going in the beginning. The 2 main characters, Gia and Ben, were both interesting but I did find the style and writing of the book difficult to read.

Gia thrives on risks. Ben has always been the person who never deviated from his daily timetable whilst Gia always took risks. Yet when Gia’s takeout is delivered, her embarrassing list of New Year’s resolutions accidentally makes its way to Ben’s restaurant, stuck to the bottom of a delivery backpack. Soon Ben decides to take a risk and slip his own notes into Gia’s delivery, awaiting her reply. When begins is a very unlikely love story.
Whilst a sweet romance with some good characters, I did find that the pace lagged. There were also many characters who were not explored, in great detail, so their reason for their presence was debatable. I felt that this detracted from the main characters, which were more interesting.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Disclaimer - I received a free digital download of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book caught me unawares for several reasons, but the main one is the fact that the protagonist comes from a rich and vibrant culture. A culture which is mentioned and built upon throughout the whole book and really brought something special to the experience of reading love on the menu.

I loved the originality of the romance in this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read or considered a plot quite like this and it made it such a joy to read and experience. It’s safe to say I got very much caught up in the love story (and the endless drama). I don’t feel like I was quite ready for the end of Gia’s story, I guess that is the way slow burning romance books tend to go.

This was definitely a fun and lighthearted read for me that I very much enjoyed

I enjoyed reading ’Love on the Menu’, it was a different take on a classic troupe. I liked the main characters and found them plausible and interesting. I wasn’t totally convinced about the list being transported between the two but it didn’t put me off reading further.. It’s more than just romance, touching on friendships, finding your place in the world and living up to other’s expectations.

I did get a little lost with the pov sometimes but a gentle read that bucked the stereotypical romances out there. A nice change from what’s already out there.

I liked the premise of the story, Gia has a disastrous work Christmas party so she writes a New Year resolution list which gets stuck to a food takeaway delivery bag, Ben finds the note he is intrigued and writes her a note back. This starts an exchange of notes and a friendship builds.

The characters of Gia and Ben were realistic, neither of them are perfect.

However I found the book hard to get into, there are a lot of characters to get your head around especially when meeting Ben's family, I got totally lost and had to go back and read over.

For me this was more a book of self-discovery and friendship rather than a traditional romance story, it's a slow burn and quite deep in parts.

It's not what I expected but still worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books

This is a nice read. Gia and Ben have both climbed the metaphorical mountain to get where they are today.
Unfortunately they both have things holding them back, neuroses that self sabotage them on a regular basis.
One particular bad day Gia writes herself a list of all the things she should do to improve her life. However, the list gets caught up i the takeaway delivery drivers insulated bag and ends up in front of Ben.
So begins a regular correspondence between them where they divulge secrets to each other. As in any good romance book, true love's course doesn't run easily and things happen that sabotage their budding romance.
They both use escape as a means of not facing up to the truth, will they both run away?
Enjoyable.

This was a DNF for me, for several reasons. The formatting was seriously bad in parts, and I am not prepared to waste my reading time on something which is so difficult to actually read.
The theme of notes passed to instigate and further a romance, is one I have read before. That book was much better written, and more convincing, with excellent characterisation. This book does not have that advantage..
The storyline is incredibly slow, with a main character that I just could not warm to.
Those are my reasons for not finishing this book.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Gia left India and came over to London to peruse her dreams. However now Gia is struggling at work, she desperately needs to keep her position but it’s rather a precarious situation which becomes even more so after a kiss with her boss. It was a cute little novel, with lots of different challenges in it for the two protagonists. The concept of the food and handwritten letters between them was also really delightful. Ben was a very thoughtful, charming, and encouraging person for Gia however he also has his own issues.

I definitely feel this could have been executed better, it wasn’t smooth reading for me personally. I also didn’t find it a good fit for Rom-Com, I would definitely say it’s more contemporary romance.

I was hoping to love this book as it sounded like my ideal read but I was left slightly on the fence with this one - it didn't immediately grasp my attention so it took me a while to get into it and it felt fairly slow to start.

It did move along faster once I'd passed the initial few chapters but I did find the overall tone/writing style hard to enjoy.

DNF @ 40%. The pacing was just off and I couldn’t get into the book. it was slow and I really couldn’t see myself getting through to enjoy the rest.