Take a photo of a barcode or cover
stephsbooktalk 's review for:
Love & Other Disasters
by Anita Kelly
4.5 - Thank you so much to NetGalley, Anita Kelly and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this book!
This book will be published on January 18, 2022.
This book starts off right away at the beginning for a food competition called "Chef's Special" where amateur cooks compete against one another for $100k. Dahlia is at a crossroads in her life. She is newly divorced from the only relationship she has ever had, she just quit her job and just doesn't know what she wants. We also meet London, who is from Nashville, and the competition's first non-binary contestant. Instantly they are both drawn to each other. What I love about their relationship is that it didn't start with instant kissing or dating, but that they built a friendship during their time on the show and then after hours. Naturally you would think an item that would be discussed is what would happen when one of them gets kicked off the show? Is the relationship going to continue? Is this just a fling? Neither are prepared when this does eventually happen.
This is my first book where a main character is a non-binary so that made me super excited and actually drew me into reading it more. I also love the idea of two individuals falling in love on a food competition show. I thought this was a fresh take on a "meet cute".
I had gotten into food competition shows myself when I met my now husband. I never had watched the Food Network until I met him. Now we are a fan of several of the shows on the various networks. So I kept thinking back to those shows and contestants and think hmmmmmmmm.
I also love the HEA and how we see how each Dahlia and London find themselves by the end of the book. We all have times where we are just trying to figure out what we want in life and who we want to be. And only sometimes we actually go after that. I am also happy that this book stresses the importance of using the correct pronouns. Even for myself, I try to be as considerate and make a conscious effort to use the correct ones when needed.
Congrats to Anita on publishing their first book!
This book will be published on January 18, 2022.
This book starts off right away at the beginning for a food competition called "Chef's Special" where amateur cooks compete against one another for $100k. Dahlia is at a crossroads in her life. She is newly divorced from the only relationship she has ever had, she just quit her job and just doesn't know what she wants. We also meet London, who is from Nashville, and the competition's first non-binary contestant. Instantly they are both drawn to each other. What I love about their relationship is that it didn't start with instant kissing or dating, but that they built a friendship during their time on the show and then after hours. Naturally you would think an item that would be discussed is what would happen when one of them gets kicked off the show? Is the relationship going to continue? Is this just a fling? Neither are prepared when this does eventually happen.
This is my first book where a main character is a non-binary so that made me super excited and actually drew me into reading it more. I also love the idea of two individuals falling in love on a food competition show. I thought this was a fresh take on a "meet cute".
I had gotten into food competition shows myself when I met my now husband. I never had watched the Food Network until I met him. Now we are a fan of several of the shows on the various networks. So I kept thinking back to those shows and contestants and think hmmmmmmmm.
I also love the HEA and how we see how each Dahlia and London find themselves by the end of the book. We all have times where we are just trying to figure out what we want in life and who we want to be. And only sometimes we actually go after that. I am also happy that this book stresses the importance of using the correct pronouns. Even for myself, I try to be as considerate and make a conscious effort to use the correct ones when needed.
Congrats to Anita on publishing their first book!