The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain is a delectable five-course meal of yearning, witty banter, exquisite gourmet cooking, a generous helping of spice, and a satisfying happily ever after. I thoroughly enjoyed indulging in this captivating romance novel, which expertly weaves together the themes of fake dating and the glamorous world of celebrity chefs.

The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

5/5 stars

This book was SO GOOD. You guys must read this. It features some heavy topics - the main character, Ellie, has issues with her brother and is a widow. She’s also the ghostwriter for new celebrity chef, Kieran. Kieran has ADHD and some major family issues.

The author writes these characters so beautifully flawed that they are so relatable. I can absolutely see myself in both of them.

I don’t want to give anything else away but please read this book 💙

What truly stood out to me about this book is its uniqueness! I've never encountered a plot like this before, and it made the experience even more enjoyable.

The tropes in this story? Absolutely squeal-worthy! Ellie and Kieran perfectly embodied the workplace enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and I was here for every moment of it. Watching them collaborate and gradually open up to each other made me swoon. Kieran is an incredible male main character—sweet, funny, and endearing. He had me laughing out loud countless times. I felt a deep connection with Ellie as well; she’s a strong and inspiring female lead. Together, they were unstoppable.

Another aspect I adored was the realistic portrayal of mental health struggles. I appreciate when an author can weave real-life challenges into a story and make readers feel understood. Sarah did just that with this book, and it resonated deeply with me.

This is such a delightful story! I'm obsessed with Ellie and Kieran’s chemistry, especially during the cooking scenes—they were electric together!

The slow burn was real (wink, wink), but it was definitely worth the wait

"The Slowest Burn" truly lives up to its name, and I loved every moment! This is Sarah Chamberlain’s debut novel, and I can't wait to see more from her in the future. It's the sweetest love story, featuring a dual POV and an opposites-attract dynamic. With the writing of a cookbook, a chef, and all the perfect ingredients, it's an easy 4-star read. Pick this one up—you’ll be so glad you did!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for the ARC copy of this book.

Slow burn has a great plot; that truly is a slow burn. But the character development in this book is *chefs kiss*. I would recommend this to anyone that loves a lot of romance with a plot that is great just a little slow

A debut novel being this good???? Unreal.
I absolutely loved this story and loved the FMC and MMC. Loved that she was curvy and that he was a short king. They did portray it well in terms of stereotype perception of the physical characteristics. He’s the Happy Pirate Leprechaun (he’s also got red hair), but really in Ellie’s eyes she just sees his veiny forearms and his sculpted stomach. SHITTY people in Ellie’s life describe her as “rubenesque” and will have health problems in the future because of her size. NEWS FLASH you’re not unhealthy if you’re curvy, but I also hated how SHE referred to herself as fat. But it’s just a word, she didn’t necessarily talk down about herself and her body. BUT Kieran only had positive things to say about her, and was always sticking up for her. I love his little daydreams when he looks at her. Remarking on her brown beauty spots “what would they taste like?”
She is so intuitive with everything in this story. She realizes he has addiction issues, notices his anxious tick, realizes he’s dyslexic. Never has an issue with any of these things, just will approach their project differently as a result. And she’s SO understanding.
I love the depth of the story. That the author didn’t explain everything a bunch of times so the reader would pay attention. Ideas and history was always just sprinkled in. We find out more about Max, and then see the layers to her and the in-laws relationship. It’s so REAL.
Ellie is such a caretaker and in the beginning of the story I was getting prepared to be annoyed by how much she’d be trying to make everyone happy but it was woven in SO WELL. You see her struggle, you see her perception. You understand it and it doesn’t get “old”. I love that she called out her agent at first when they were asking her to keep Kieran on track. “Why aren’t you telling him to be responsible for his own behaviour? He’s a grown man”. I don’t love that she essentially has to make him a functional adult, but I at least appreciate them being aware of it.
And Kieran calling her out for her vocabulary?? “You like your five dollar words, don’t you” I’m glad he calls her out. Because, again, I noticed it at the beginning mostly when she was talking to Ben and Diane. And then it becomes almost an inside joke and sort of making fun of her. Honestly this was so well done. There were so many fun elements and the author was just so seamless at explaining things and building relationships and tying things together without needing to come up with another plot line or cliche. MAN this was refreshing. Beautiful story.
The grief of losing a son and losing a husband was done so well as well. The way they explain Diane’s grief as metastasizing into something viscous. I loved that line because it just summed it up so well.
And no one believing in Kieran as much as they should. Dude is TALENTED. Ugh he was so perfect.

✨ When she smiled at me, it was like she’d taken the jumble of puzzle pieces inside me and laid them out in a clear picture. Everything was rearranged now✨

Tropes: fake dating / forced proximity / he falls first / enemies to lovers (sort of) / third act breakup (no miscommunication)
5⭐️ 3🌶️
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

As a Food Network fan, the premise of this sounded amazing, but the execution just didn’t work for me. I feel like I missed out on the cooking competition and also didn’t get the “slow burn” of this at all. The difference between these two characters was jarring, and the MMC reminded me of an immature teenager, so overall this was painful to get through

PS I know this is an ARC and therefore unedited, but “midcentury avocado” around the halfway point really got me 😂

This was definitely a slow burn. I love slow burn and the feelings of anticipation and angst that come with it. Ellie and Kieran were so sweet and I loved the story plot. There was much more than just romance as it included topics of loss and emotional abuse. Overall a sweet story for lovers of opposites attract, and forced proximity.

A hot chef and a badass ghostwriter work together to create steam and spice both in and out of the kitchen. What starts as sort of an enemies-to-lovers plot, quickly dives into a "he falls first" situation and I gobbled it up (pun intended).

The grief that Ellie went through after her (supposed) soulmate died in his sleep was gut-wrenching and you could feel it on the page. It got a bit much with Ellie's mother-in-law who just could not get over her son's death. I wanted to punch her in the face every time she was in a scene. Kieran was great to help get her out of this funk and start living her life. It was a really beautiful love story... love after loss.

Reminiscent of Katherine Center's books (which is a huge plus because I adore her). It's a reverse grumpy-sunshine romance with a little open door spice. Plus, there's a cat in it who breaks down the MMC's walls. We are here for it!

Thanks NeGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Slowest Burn” by Sarah Chamberlain
Two Tough Childhoods Meet and…
For me this story was a heart wrenching story of the trials faced to over come childhood learned coping mechanisms. But it was also a lovely story of finding unconditional love. I enjoyed my time within this story. This is a worth read. Happy Reading ! !

10* stars. I loved this slow burn romance. It had everything. It was heartbreaking to see what these two characters had to go through. The HEA made up for it big time and I loved the ending. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

A fun debut with rare short king representation!

The Slowest Burn tells the story of widow and cookbook ghost writer, Ellie, and recent reality show-winning chef, Kieran. The two are paired together to produce Kieran's newest cookbook and initially do not click. He struggles with ADHD and horrible parents, she struggles with grief and people-pleasing (with a side of terrible parents and complicated in-laws).

However, as the two spend more time together, they find how they fit together. Her strengths smooth out his weaknesses and vice versa. While Ellie has spent her life committed to keeping everyone else happy, Kieran just wants to be the one who looks out for her.

The tropes are expansive in this book, we have workplace romance, enemies to lovers (kinda), fake dating, forced proximity, and a meta fear of just one bed. At times, those competing tropes drag down the book, it feels like they are injected into the plot rather than being true to the storyline. The core struggles of both characters are plenty interesting and drama (not Drama) inducing!

Also, I know that the author doesn't always have control over the cover, but Ellie is self-described as fat in the book and there is plenty of talk about her curves. I'm a bit surprised to see a mid-sized depiction of her on the cover.

* Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

I literally read The Slowest Burn in one sitting, unable to get off the couch except to make more coffee this morning.

I am floored that this is a debut book from Sarah Chamberlain--it was a nearly pitch-perfect romance with so much heart and depth. I loved the chemistry and the spark between Kieran and Ellie, that Chamberlain allows to grow slowly and naturally, to show how they complement each other's lives and needs. I loved that in a book about a chef and a cookbook writer, they actually, you know, COOK. Chamberlain spends time describing fabulous flavours and food, adding to the loveliness of this book.

A few stumbles with pacing keep it from being five stars for me, and while Chamberlain talks big talk throughout the book about dirty talk and sex, but when it comes to the actual "spice" in the book, it was, at best vaguely blurry; on page, yes, but not spice, per se. It's not a deal-breaker, but the book needs to decide if it's going to be "spicy" or not.

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this and will absolutely be on the lookout for more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

The cover of this book is what initially drew me in, and what a cute debut it turned out to be! It is a dual POV, dislike-to-lovers, forced proximity romance that follows Kieran (a young, up- and coming-chef) and Ellie (a recently widowed writer whose job is to help Kieran compose a cookbook).

It’s clear upon their first meeting that these two are total opposites; but beneath the surface they’re quite similar, in the sense that they are so complex. I was actually surprised with their backstories, and how the lighter moments came with heavier ones (i.e., discussions of loss, grief, abandonment, and mental health).

My only complaints have to do with: ONE, the pacing—at times the storyline seemed to move super slow, and it actually took me awhile to get hooked/stay hooked. TWO, the addition of unnecessary tropes—Ellie & Kieran fake dated for less than 24 hours, which was pointless cause it didn’t add anything to the story. And THREE, Ellie & Kieran’s development. I enjoyed the buildup of their relationship, but was slightly disappointed when they finally got together. Once things got physical, they kind of plateaued… Not to mention, I couldn’t feel Ellie’s love for Kieran. The portrayal of his attraction to her was written well, but I couldn’t pinpoint the moment Ellie started to fall in love with him.

Overall, this book felt (at times) like more of a slow story than a slow burn, but it was a cute read. Like a hallmark movie in the summertime✨ (PS, this is kinda irrelevant but I hated Ellie’s brother Hank. He was a selfish, irresponsible, inconsiderate jerk, not to mention… HANK?! Why was that his name? I just found it to be such an odd name choice for a 25 y/o in the 21st century😭)

“The reason no one has put me in charge of America’s nuclear secrets is that I’d give them all away for a basket of French fries” 🍟

Thank you to the author + NetGalley.com for this Advanced Readers Copy

This was exactly what the title says — slowest burn. BUT that lends so much space for growth and deep communication. I’ll be honest, I noted in chapter 4 that if Kieran (the MMC) hadn’t been as self-aware as he was.. I probably would have DNF’d at that point due to what I considered outward awkwardness, immaturity and cringe. I grew to absolutely love him, even more than Ellie our FMC. Ellie who was widowed young is relatable in the sense that during such a tragic time you want to cling to anything that feels safe/normal. She struggled with creating boundaries and as a reader it was hard to endure how Ellie felt about herself. This felt like a solid 4 star read, and I did cry at least once.

3.5⭐️. This was a very solid debut romance about a cookbook ghostwriter, Ellie, who has to work on writing a book with Kieran, a hotshot young chef fresh off of winning a reality TV cooking show. Their working relationship does not have a strong start but over months of working together they begin to care deeply for each other.

I do think others will really enjoy this book, I just hate the word “lick” in sex scenes and it was used pretty gratuitously in this book.

This was cute and fun, but boy was it a sloooooow burn indeed. I enjoyed the aspects of mental health in this book.

I think the main characters chemistry fell a little flat for me at some points, but overall this was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange of my honest review.

This was so fun and definitely a slow burn but very worth the wait!! I loved the mental health elements and the depth with which they understood each other.

I loved this book! When Ellie is paired up as the cookbook ghostwriter to the latest hot shot chef Keiran, they don't immediately hit it off. There is such great character development, as the title implies, a slow burn, and real storyline drive. You won't regret picking this one up, but content warning for spouse loss and childhood neglect.

I DNF this book half way through. The it was cute but I felt the characters lacked chemistry. It took way too long for anything to happen. The cooking stuff honestly just bored me.