So I really enjoy how this author writes, I started with Riding the Sugar High and then read this. So basically reading the series in reverse. The first chapter where they meet? Chef's kiss. I was squealing. I kept going because I needed to know what happens, but as it went on it became too messy, toxic, and drama filled for me. I was so done with Frank, and yet Amelie kept trying with him. All of the miscommunication and secrets had me getting mad. I can relate to Amelie, but after a while I was ready to strangle some sense into her. I wish we got to know more about her and why she is so obsessed with needing a wedding. Ian is amazing, but he was also manipulative and it's not great that he kept trying with an engaged woman. I like flawed characters, but for me there wasn't enough resolution and talking and growth to redeem them. I think it would have helped if this was dual POV, I needed Ian's thoughts.

The book is fantastic! I've kept hearing about it from my booksta friends and I'm grateful to have a chance to read ARC beforehand!

I loved this story so much! I think now I'm a fan of Letizia and planning to read all her works.
I adore the pace of the book and the story plot. Characters are amazing and their chemistry! Oh god, it was brilliant!
Ian is such a book boyfriend, definatly the top of the list!

The banter is the separate story! It was brilliant!

I've enjoyed the two timelines, it wasn't confusing or anything.

I would recommend this book to all of my friends and for sure will add it to my physical lybrary!

This is a delightful fit for readers who adore lighthearted, humorous, and emotional romance stories with a slow burn, rival-to-lovers trope, and a dash of culinary charm, making it a perfect pick for fans of feel-good, laugh-out-loud rom-coms.

This is my first book by Letizia Lorini and I really enjoyed her writing style. The Wedding Menu is a swoony, hilarious, and entertaining romance with a lot of heart (and butter). I fell in love with Amelie and Ian in a heartbeat. The past/present timeline made their dynamic feel more real, and it was a joy watching these two go from strangers to friends to almost-lovers to enemies to lovers.

I find myself relating to Amelie's character. She’s a hot mess, but reading about her relationship with her ex-fiance, ex-best friend, and family was heartbreaking. She struggles to put herself first before everyone else, which leads to her denying her own feelings and what she wants to do, and makes her very guarded when it comes to her feelings. Ian is the literal definition of a golden retriever. His unpopular opinions, questionable eating habits, and quick-witted personality is so charming. I loved how he was consistently there for Amelie and showed such genuine care. His unwavering patience and support helped Amelie see her value and worth, making it truly satisfying to witness her confidence flourish throughout the book.

I loved every moment of this book. The characters, the plot, text messaging banter, the butter scene, and the chaos in between.

A fun, engaging read.
The story is duel timeline.
I was laughing and getting teary eyed while reading The Wedding Menu.
I do have to say I wasn’t a fan of the FMC…..she pretty much made me annoyed with her behavior.
All in all, entertaining, emotional, humorous and…..hot are my endings thoughts.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This might be one of my favourite romance books of all time! Everything was perfection - the dual timelines, the characters, the pacing. I absolutely adore this read and believe everyone should give this book a try. Definitely don’t go into this book hungry though!

My rating: 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tropes:
- right person, wrong time
- second chance
- friends to lovers
- he falls first
- dual timeline

The book is full of moments that I could have hated, but it made me love it. The story made me laugh and cry.

The book tells the story of Amelie, who has everything: she was almost engaged to her high school sweetheart, had a close relationship with her childhood best friend, and worked in her father's restaurant. Her life was exactly as she wanted it to be, or so she thought.

That is, until she met Ian (my new book boyfriend 🤭), and everything started to change.

In my opinion, the dedication of the book should be mentioned that it is dedicated to those who have walked a difficult path to learn how to choose themselves. And those who are in the process.

Let’s be honest: not everyone can make decisions in a second, especially those that determine their fate.

This is the first book I've read by the author, and definitely not the last.

The book will definitely appeal to fans of Romeo and Juliet, Bride Wars, Letters to Juliet, and Little Italy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book from Lorini, and I’m excited to read more of her stuff. The Wedding Menu was emotional and intimate. I liked the dual timelines matching up, and kept wondering what it was that eventually kept them apart. There’s a good amount of spice in here to please the chili pepper girlies but not too much that an average reader wouldn’t enjoy the book. Well written and well balanced.

3.5/5 ⭐️
2.5/5 🌶️ Open door explicit scenes, but nothing too crazy. See content warnings below.

Thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Letizia Lorini for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Just assume that this is a bit spoiler-y, honestly.

.
..
…
..
.

Please see content warnings below because much of this book made me wildly uncomfortable. There is a HEA and the payoff makes all of the bad vibes feel worth it I guess? Maybe? I’m just not even sure how to recap this because Amelie is straight up not having a good time, dude. Like most of the book is terrible for her…even when things are supposedly going right for her it’s like…is it??

Ian really made me mad too. Like, he made me mad more than her useless fiancé did because how are you going to claim that your cheating ex traumatized you SO much that you can’t be in a real relationship and then take part in an emotional affair?? Excuse me, sir??? Very icky vibes from everyone. I also hate all the reviews blaming Amelie because the girl is surrounded by awful people, honestly. MCs had great chemistry, but I’m not sure if Ian deserved her by the end. This felt long, but was otherwise good.

Content warnings: absent parent, cheating, death of a parent (off page), emotional affair, mild exhibition kink

I received this as an arc for the republishing in 2025 from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. My honest review is…

Incredible. No notes.

I couldn’t put it down.

What a banging way to start my reading journey this year!
I’m not typically a fan of past/present timelines, but I made an exception. I devoured this book. Ate it up and left no crumbs. I am obsessed with Ian and I’m upset he doesn’t exist in real life. Gonna make my husband read it and take notes honestly.

This is without a doubt one of my absolute favorite romance books. Ian is my favorite but I love Amelie too (despite being real angsty with her at times for allowing Frank to treat her that way when she could have been with Ian). It’s sweet and spicy, funny and heartwarming. It’s my number one book recommendation and I hope everyone gets to meet Ian and Amelie someday.

Thanks to Gallery Books for my advance copy of The Wedding Menu. Holy forking shirtballs, Letizia Lorini knocked it out of the park with this dual-timeline, friends to lovers, second chance romance. I can’t even. I’m not going to give a summary because I don’t want to spoil anything, but here are my slightly unhinged thoughts.

Asfdfkjhaskjhfakjsfkasjfg. Literally, that’s my brain on this book.

The tension. The spice. The unpopular opinions. The FOOD. (And the butter. LMAO)

Amalie and Ian may have taken a winding, circuitous road to their happy ending, but the journey is what makes it so much sweeter when they finally and forever choose each other.

I was so grateful to get an ARC of this one, and I knew before I’d even finished I’d be buying a book trophy—I mean, paperback copy—because it’s JUST THAT GOOD, y’all. And I'm so excited (after having read it before it's indie pub) that it's getting a trad pub release. I can't wait for EVEN more people to fall in love with Amalie and Ian.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the advanced copy of this book! The Wedding Menu comes out on January 21, 2025!

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I’m in the minority of people who liked this book. It has a 4.16 rating here and I’m giving it three stars. I am not reading the reviews, I’m just going to say what I need to say.

I didn’t like it.

The steam was definitely four spicy peppers. But holy frick, everything else annoyed the absolute bejesus out of me.

Let’s start at the beginning. I loved the meet-cute-ish thing that happened at the beginning. It was adorable and I was full on rooting for our main characters. You could feel their chemistry. And then we find out that Amelie is engaged. To Frank. (Whyyyyyyy the name Frank?) Anyway, Frank wants an open relationship for six months while he’s traveling for work. And Amelie agrees to it. And it is at this point where I CAN’T DEAL WITH AMELIE. Okay, so she doesn’t whole-heartedly agree to it, but just the fact that it happens and she still wants to marry him just because she wants a wedding floors me. Are there women like this out in the world? Are they okay?

Then there is the constant texting with Ian. Which is cute, of course. He’s cute and he’s reliable and he wants to listen and be there for her, but it feels so one-sided and I hate that for him. But he is also pursuing a woman who is engaged (regardless of what is happening with that relationship). There are just so many red flags everywhere. Then there is this rivalry between their parents' restaurants and a long-time bestie who is just a bitch and takes FRANK’S side! And I just want to ring everyone’s neck. Except Barb. I liked her.

There was just too much going on.

I did think, besides my feelings toward the characters and all the red flags, that the story was written well. It was entertaining, if not maddening. I think the author is talented and obviously has a great band of fans. But even with a friends-to-lovers trope, I just didn’t like it as much as I wanted to like it and I am really bummed about that.

The Wedding Menu is book three in the Love & Other Recipes Series by Letizia Lorini.
These book can be read out of order.
The plot, the characters, the setting, everything was on point and I was feeling all sorts of feelings by the end.
I had the best time devouring this book. I loved the characters, the story, the humor, the food, and the overall story. I will definitely keep both eyes open for the next book.

The Wedding Menu will give readers all the feels. You want fun romcom? Done. You want dual timelines that tell a sweeping love story? Done. You want a steamy read with lots of intimacy? Done. Like this book is so perfectly written!

Ian will be everyone's new book boyfriend. He's so sweet & has golden retriever energy. He has so many lines that I highlighted because my gosh! Amelie is for the girls. She's under so much pressure and I just wanted to protect her. Ian and Amelie were truly the perfect pairing. Their romance is a slow burn so well done. It's filled with yearning and angst and love confessions! I'm can't gush enough about how wonderful the romance is.

The spice delivers too. I loved their chemistry and intimacy. It made the spicy scene even hotter.

A fantastic romance.

I absolutely adored The Wedding Menu! I will forever be the biggest fan of Ian and Amelie, and their story. This is one of my favorite rom-coms to date. The Wedding Menu, while light-hearted in nature, hits on some very heavy topics for both Ian and Amelie but they are all handled with such care- think grief, abandonment, insane expectations, risking futures! I will say it did take a bit of time to really get into this one but the second that the plot started to really develop I was absolutely hooked and could not put this book down.

Amelie is a newly engaged chef but her engagement isn’t all it seems. Ian is determined to remain single. These two meet at a wedding without a clue how that wedding will forever change their lives. What starts as a friendly text conversation between them turns into more and becomes a necessity to both of them. Their banter and chemistry just through texting is off the charts and you almost want to scream at them to just get together! But as life has it there are many obstacles and forces at work keeping them apart and making them an unlikely pairing.

This is a dual timeline story and while at times it can be a bit hard to follow, seeing the past and present makes the story that much better. You see how things have been built up and developed, and how they get to where they are in the present time. While Amelie seems to have it all in the past- engaged to her high school sweetheart, an amazing friendship, and the head chef job at her dad’s restaurant she realizes maybe it isn’t all she really wanted and Ian is the one to help her along but as fate has it those two part ways. Amelie goes as far as to say “ he demolished and dismantled it all. He destroyed my life. And by doing that, he saved me.” When they are put back into each other’s lives in an unusual way, hello forced proximity, Ian is no longer interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with Amelie while all she wants is him. In the week they have together Amelie will try to change his mind and take back her life.

As I said before the dual timeline, banter, chemistry are all perfection but then there is that SPICY scene and my gosh do you realize these two are made for each other. Full stop, Ian and Amelie literally can’t be with anyone else. This is an absolute must read and something I know I will reread many times as I loved the characters, the storyline and everything that came along with it! You will find yourself laughing, kicking your feet, maybe crying or screaming (at times) but overall smiling at the way the universe is at play with these two!

The Wedding Menu is for you if you like:
- Dual timeline
- Strangers to friends to enemies to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Second chance, maybe?
- Mutual pining
- Slowwww burn
- He falls first and HARD
- Golden retriever vibes
- Text messages and cheesy pick up lines

Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for this eARC in return for my honest opinion!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ x ♾️
I’m not even really sure how to express to you all just how phenomenal this book is. Like, this is in my very top reads of 2023. I’d give my soul to read this book again for the first time. I usually don’t care for dual timelines (only because I’m impatient) and this was fantastic. The flashbacks and forwards all flowed together in their own timelines AND each others perfectly. I felt all the emotions. I cried out of frustration, sadness, and the sweetest happiness. Ian is such an iconic book boyfriend. Thank you Letizia for not judging me when I sent the most unhinged snaps of me crying. 😅 I’m so glad we connected! You did it. This book is EVERYTHING. Thank you so much for this. 🖤

This story unsurprisingly begins at a wedding where Amelie and Ian meet. Amelie is a lover of all things weddings while Ian has no plans to get married. Immediately, the two click but reality comes rushing back when Amelie shares that she has a boyfriend, a long-term boyfriend. However, things quickly start to crumble. Amelie's boyfriend, Frank shares that he's gotten a new long-distance job and must be apart. Frank uses this opportunity to suggest an open relationship and the two start that but with the condition that they'll get married once his position ends. If that sounds messy, it's because it is and because Amelie formed a friendship with Ian around that time.

As you might imagine, Amelie and Ian get closer when Frank's not there and it's clear they're falling for each other. Throughout this story, the lines are blurred so many times but one thing I enjoyed was that the romance wasn't easy. Sometimes after reading so many romances, things can feel a bit stale but Letizia Lorini did something different with Amelie and Ian. While it did feel like a true slow burn in that way, it was incredibly enjoyable.

Ultimately while the romance was central to the story, it also felt like Amelie's story. She went through so much during the course of the book and seeing her come out the other side was beautiful. The way she was treated especially by the older characters in the book was appalling. That's not even including her best friend and her absolutely abhorrent behavior. Even so, all of it felt like watching a soap opera and there's something so cathartic about that.

A decently enjoyable story with an emphasis on personal growth and friendship. I liked the dual timeline that kept me jumping back and forth between the present and past as details about Amelie and Ian's relationship following their meet cute were slowly filled in, and it was nice to see them become such close friends as well as confidants through their various text exchanges and phone calls, even if Ian helping her make decisions about her wedding to another man is a bit weird. Although Amelie's strength and ability to stand up for herself is fantastic for her present-day self, she is far too much of a doormat in the past, having little to no backbone while letting her boyfriend and best friend repeatedly walk all over her, and this was extremely frustrating to read. There is a mystery dangled throughout much of the book involving both Ian's father and Amelie's restaurant that failed to become interesting, and the long length felt unnecessary. However, I really liked the way everything wrapped up and the epilogue teased the series' previous couple as potentially fun to read about.