I adored Rochelle Bilow's sophomore novel - rich with delectable food descriptions and the sexy intrigue of a restaurant kitchen (hello, Chef - anyone?!?) ... I also appreciated the dynamics of being a strong female in a male dominated industry and kitchen.

My one qualm with this romance was the love interest, Ernie - I just couldn't get behind the name!! Silly, I know, but this was a bit of a distraction during the spicy scenes for me.

All else aside, I recommend this one!

Happy Pub Day to Effie Olsen's Summer Special! Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy via @netgalley. I just adored this book!!

I loved Ruby Spencer's Whisky Year and was very excited to read this summer romance set on a Maine island.

Effie never thought she'd return to the small Maine island where she grew up but after 16 years of working in restaurants all over the world, she's home for the summer. She gets a job as a sous chef at one of the top restaurants in the US and starts reconnecting with her childhood best friend Ernie. When things in the kitchen start to get dicey she needs to decide what to do, especially as she's falling for Ernie.

Rochelle writes such great settings. I felt like I was on Alder Isle and I wanted to be in coastal Maine while reading this book. The food and cooking descriptions were wonderful too! I liked seeing Effie and Ernie reconnect.

This was such a fun book to read if you love romance around food and a wonderful place you'll enjoy Effie Olsen's Summer Special! Definitely recommend checking this one out since it's out today!

The setting is so vivid. This small town is sweet and stifling and has that balance of not just being solely charming but can be invasive or Effie moving back feeling even more like a failure after she's been gone for 10 years. There's also a bit of a romantic suspense plot (not that serious but overarching hints and something going on at the bougie restaurant where Effie gets a job that is secretly just for the summer).

I loved the childhood friends to lovers angst. Effie running back into Ernie and their awkwardness but also banter like no time had passed really guts you at times. And the way the talk it out and care for each other you just want to yell at them YOU ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. Any moment with the palpable tension between them I loved.

Unfortunately, there were just some loose threads and plot choices that left me a bit unsatisfied. We are introduced to a side character that seems like they are going to be important or at least just a new friend to Effie but basically disappears and is just at the end with more of the ensemble cast so I just wonder why even have to read some of those duller scenes. There was some telling not showing with how close Effie says she came to her new staff. And additionally Effie just gets her friendship back with Ernie resolving their conflict with when they fell apart at 18 so I understand it's precious to her. But at one point there is a huge 180 back and then back again and there's really no explanation as to why just that she "realizes" so it was hard to buy into.

Overall, if you love badass females in male dominated industries like the culinary field and want to escape to an island in Maine, I would recommend this. There's a couple open door spice scenes that were absolutely fire and good texting banter. So overall would recommend just not one I am screaming from the rooftops about but nowhere near bad.

Thank you to Berkley for the ARC!

A fun summer romance. I loved the setting in a fictional Maine island that felt a lot like the real islands off of the coast of Portland. I loved the bits of food/restauranteur life throughout, and the conflict was resolved very well. This cover is also one of the cutest I’ve seen - with perfect pieces of the story featured. This is so shallow but I couldn’t get past the characters names? Haha I just couldn’t find them relatable somehow. The whole book felt like a cool Maine summer breeze and was a cute and fun read.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC, and PRH audio for the ALC.

Thank you so much for letting me try this, but it just wasn't for me. I wanted to much to get hooked but it just didn't land.

This was an adorable read about Effie, a disgraced chef, going to the one place she never thought she would set foot again, home. The place her former best friend Ernie still resides after all these years. Ernie isn’t the same boy Effie left behind all those years, Ernie is, HOT.
Effie ends up with a sous chef position where Ernie also works. I really enjoyed this book. Would make a great vacation book.

4.5 Stars ⭐️

Rating: 4.25/5
Warnings: sexual harassment, parental abandonment
Steam: 2.5/5

Thank you to Berkley Romance and PRH audio for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

An absolute delight of a novel. I loved the bucket list dates. No third act breakup. I loved the second chance aspect of this childhood friends to lovers trope. The foodie moments of this book where so well done. I loved the little bit of mystery and intrigue while also tackling kitchen culture and the me too movement. Maine in the summer is such a great setting. I loved the character development.

The only thing I didn't love is the "we shouldn't but we want to" back and forth more than once.

Don't go into reading this one on an empty stomach!

I had to take a minute to myself after the week I had..

We had a sudden death in our family and quite honestly, it rocked our worlds.

I had to take a break from my usual thriller genre and I was looking for something a bit more tender. Effie Olsen's Summer Special, sounded like the perfect book for me in this moment.

I love Summer, everything about Summer, especially Summer love.

I fell in love with Effie and then I fell in love with Ernie, and then, I was basically just exploding with love, butterflies and biscuits.

The restaurant backdrop added so much realism to the book. This isn't your billionaire love story, or enemies to lovers. It's incredibly real and sincere. Effie and Ernie, jumped from the pages and their story took place before my eyes.

I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. I felt all the "feels"

This book is sure to be a bestseller and it was an honor to read and review early in exchange for an honest review. Big thank you to Berkley, Netgalley and Rochelle Billow for allowing me such an honor.

This book is out April 30th, 2024 and need to be on everyones list!

Easy 5 stars!

Check out this teaser :

These childhood best friends swore they’d never speak again. But a surprise summer reunion changes everything when it gives them the chance to turn up the heat.

Effie Olsen thought she’d never live on the tiny Maine island where she grew up, but she’s returning from sixteen years as a professional chef in far-flung countries for one summer and one summer only. Her hometown boasts one of the best restaurants in the US, and lucky for her, Brown Butter needs a sous chef. Effie's eager for a chance at redemption after her last job went up in flames, but reluctant to set down roots in a place that reminds her of the ghosts of her past.

Until, that is, she runs into Ernie Callahan, her onetime best friend who now works in the very same restaurant. Early morning swims and late-night games of truth or dare with Ernie remind her of what she’s been missing while traveling the world. He knows her better than anyone, and it doesn’t hurt that his smile lights her up brighter than the lighthouses dotting the craggy coastline.

But their restaurant has a secret that’s bursting at the seams, and if Effie doesn’t keep it, her job will vanish into the foggy Maine air. As summer draws to a close, her dream job and the perfect guy are both within reach. Her salty seaside hometown might be the key to Effie’s sweet ending...if she can learn to let her heart lead the way in time.

This was a cute friends-to-lovers and really a second chance at being good friends once again.
I'm not going to lie, I wasn't a big fan of the MC. She was in ways full of herself and didn't really think about others feelings. She does go through some growth and there are also cute moments between her and Ernie. I do think that they easily moved back into being friends even after how their friendship ended. I don't think I would have made it that easy, but who knows ha.

Overall, it was a good romance and would be perfect for this summer to read by the water.

Sophomore slump does NOT apply to @RochelleBilow and EOSS! So far this is my favorite romance novel of the year and a worthy follow up to Ruby Spenser’s Whisky Year! I recommend Bilow’s novels to any foodies, but I especially recommend EOSS to anyone who wants a peek into the restaurant/ fine dining industry. In addition to second chance romance, this is also an excellent friends to lovers romance. I especially loved the sense of place cultivated by the author as it feeds my longing to experience coastal Maine IRL.

A hilarious friends to lovers romcom, perfect to get lost in this summer! Effie Olsen’s Summer Special was an adorable escape of a novel full of good food, friendship, and small town scandal.

I am a sucker for any book set on the East Coast during summer - having spent many of my warmer months in Maine - and I absolutely adored the Alder Isle setting. There was so much quintessential hometown goodness from the nosy neighbors to the nostalgic hangout spots. The island felt like the perfect place for two childhood friends who hadn’t spoken in over fifteen years to rekindle something magical that once sparked between them.

Effie and Ernie were too adorable for words. The way they drifted back into their old ways was refreshing and I could feel the casual intimacy that permeated between them. It made the will they or won’t they that much more satisfying because there were always solid reasons for them to want to prioritize their friendship.

The behind the scenes restaurant aspects of this book reminded me of Elin Hilderbrand’s The Blue Bistro. I really enjoyed hearing about the ins and outs of working in a Michelin star restaurant and the process in which Effie took to become a successful chef. I love hearing about all the fresh seafood dishes and local produce and found that the focus on sustainable and authentic representation of ones food made for delightful drama. The scandal at the heart of the story had me on the edge of my seat and I was unsure of how it was going to play out.

This was a truly delightful novel that made me long for Maine getaways and lobster rolls. It will make a lovely addition on people’s summer reading lists!

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

In Effie Olsen’s Summer Special, Effie returns to the small island in Maine where she grew up to work at a Michelin star restaurant. Obviously she became reacquainted with her former best friend, Ernie, and you can see where this is going. This was the sweetest book ever. No annoying miscommunication trope. Just a sweet, fun second chance romance with some endearing supporting characters and heartwarming family moments. And the food descriptions made me so hungry. Really a fun, frothy summer read.

Thanks to PRHAudio for the free audiobook, and to NetGalley and Berkley for an eARC.

Effie has travelled around and been a chef many places. She returns home, down on her luck, and gets a job at a local restaurant.

She and Ernie were childhood besties. Lots of history between them. Ernie also works at the restaurant.

They date-ish. The start having bucket list dates and they are just delightful.

Things are amiss at the restaurant, a bit of a mystery and investigation into what is going on.

This was a fun, hometown, childhood friends to lovers that was enjoyable. I found the audio to be a delight.

I really enjoyed Effie Olsen's Summer Special. A bit second chance romance blended with friends to lovers with the backdrop of working in a restaurant! It is especially interesting because my dream is to own my own restaurant.

This is a perfect summer romance and was completely atmospheric. I'm now itching to visit Maine.

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Adorable and heart warming second chance romance set against the backdrop of the cut throat restaurant world.

I read it in one sitting. This is the perfect read for a day at the beach.

This is the perfect summer read! It was easy to read and very enjoyable. I didn’t love Effie but I was definitely swooned by Ernie. He was just so cute and kind. The romance is definitely a slow burn. I usually love a slow burn but I was getting a little impatient. Not sure why but the pacing of the book just seemed a little off for me. I also would have liked to see more of the side characters, they were just so interesting. Overall, I would recommend this book.

Thanks Berkley Romance for the egalley!

I loved Rochelle Bilow's debut, Ruby Spencer's Whisky year and this latest friends to lovers, second chance summer romance set in a fancy restaurant on a small Maine island was another fabulous read!!

Effie returns home for what she plans will just be a temporary time working as a sous chef at a Michelin starred restaurant on the island she grew up on only to come face to face with her former best friend Ernie she hasn't seen or talked to for years.

Luckily Ernie is open to trying to be friends again and as the two spend more and more time together both at work at doing various bucket list fun activities, feelings start to get real and things heat up, forcing Ernie to decide if he's willing to try taking a risk on something more with Effie after the epic disaster of the last time he tried.

Apart from the great friends to lovers romance though, this book was an excellent look at the world of restaurant life, including the challenges of the job to the difficulties working for a terrible boss who takes advantage of staff and is lying to customers. When a reporter comes along Effie has to decide if she wants to stand up for her coworkers and fight for what's right or keep her head down and keep her job.

Great on audio narrated by Nikki Massoud, this was a fun, steamy and heartfelt read with a memorable cast of secondary characters. Highly recommended for fans of authors like Amanda Elliot or books like Summer reading by Jenn McKinlay. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

Steam level: open door

I unfortunately found this difficult to connect with and didn’t love the storyline.

Thank you for the arc!

Effie Olsen's Summer Special by Rochelle Bilow was a joy to read. This is my first book by Bilow and it gave me all the feels. There's something so nostalgic about the friends to lovers trope when it involves childhood friends. Great beach read, light and fun!

Effie’s back in her hometown of Alder Island, Maine after sixteen years roaming the globe as a chef. Effie’s there just for the summer to earn money and move on to her next assignment.

The small town holds a mix of good and bad memories for Effie. The good ones with her best friend, Ernie, until the night of their graduation, when he told her he didn’t want to speak to her again. Being on the island also brings back memories of her mother leaving. Effie had no choice but to tackle the feelings of abandonment caused by her mother’s actions. Her sister, Ingrid, was a great sounding board and source of wisdom for Effie.

I was thrilled that Ernie and Effie slipped back into friendship right away, and things weren’t super angsty. They just got each other. Their bucket list outings made it hard for Effie to ignore the love and attraction between them. It also highlighted some of the things she forgot she loved about Alder Island, which sounded so quaint and picturesque! Soon leaving Alder Island isn’t such an attractive prospect.

There’s drama at Brown Butter, the Michelin star restaurant they both work at. The head chef, Jared, is a jerk and there’s some shady practices gaining attention. I enjoyed how Effie bonded with all the other staff and made new friends along the way. Ms.Bilow's background as a chef comes through in her food descriptions and everything sounded delicious!

Effie Olsen’s Summer Special was such a wonderful story of healing, personal growth, and finding your niche in life. It was also a sweet, swoony, slow burn romance; the friends-to-lovers variety, that made my heart soar with joy!