Grateful for the opportunity to read an ARC of "The Slowest Burn" through Kindle, courtesy of NetGalley, the author, and St Martin's Press. This charming tale follows Ellie, a recent widow and ghostwriter for cookbooks, as she collaborates with chef Kieran amidst their respective personal struggles. Despite its lighthearted rom-com vibe, the story delves into poignant themes such as loss, alcoholism, and childhood trauma with a delicate touch. The characters are authentic, and the blend of heavy topics with light-hearted moments gives the narrative a unique and engaging quality. The focus on food and cooking adds a delightful layer to the story, reminiscent of works by Lucy Score and Tessa Bailey but with a milder tone. Overall, "The Slowest Burn" offers a heartwarming happily-ever-after, making it a refreshing and enjoyable read for those seeking a feel-good romance.

Our story follows our MMC Kieran, who is determined to write a cookbook after his successful win on a popular cooking show. However, he knows nothing about writing. Enters our FMC, Ellie, who will be the ghostwriter on his book. Problem is, they don't exactly start off on the right foot. Ellie is uptight, organized, and meticulous,. The complete opposite of Kieran. Them working together proves to be difficult until they can learn to accept each other's personalities and pasts.

There honestly isn't anything I would change about this book! The pacing was wonderful, the characters were relatable and lovable, and I found myself rooting for everyone. As someone who has lost someone close to them, the representation of grief was incredible. I really found that Ellie's self discovery journey to be accurate. I also appreciated that her weight was not a major defining factor of her personality and that it was only mentioned once. I also loved how Kieran was portrayed. His learning disabilities felt realistic and we love a short king. Overall, I couldn't have asked for better main characters.

As always, thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for an ARC copy of this book!

I just loved this story. There were so many different aspects and relationships that developed throughout the book. I found myself up very late reading in hopes of being able to finish.

I struggled to get into this book for around the first 20%, but once it captured me I couldn't put it down! Until around 80%, by which time I was getting bored again. But that sweet spot in between? Oh, so good.

The romane is cute and wholesome, and - really - the slowest, most delicious burn.

Chamberlain has managed to write really great main characters, encompassing their passions, flaws, and traumas. But she truly mastered writing "bad" characters who make you want to tear out your hair in frustration, and really resonate with the emotional rollercoaster Ellie and Kieran are forced to experience.

The slowest burn is a very sweet book that you can read in a weekend and leave with a good taste in your mouth.
I love cooking reality shows and it made for something fresh different from my usual type of reading, it was fun to see these two cooking lovers on the scene.

I would have liked to see a little more development of the couple's grieving theme, but overall the book is beautiful.

Thank you Sarah, your debut book left a good taste in my mouth, I look forward to reading more from you.

I LOVED this book and am so glad I got an arc from NetGalley for it!

The slowest burn is such a fun concept, and though there’s a bit of fake dating, overall, I’d say it’s very titular — it really is a slow burn between Ellie and Kieran, while dealing with neurodivergence, grief, and childhood trauma. The characters are so well thought out, and because it wasn’t an insta-love story, I was rooting so hard for them by the end — I genuinely wanted to see them happy. This book felt refreshing and different to me, and I’m going to be recommending it.

The author continuously references how small/short the MMC Kieran is, and mixed with the immaturity of his actions it was a struggle to see him as an adult and a good counterpart to the FMC. I wanted him to be less annoying, to be blunt!

I really, really enjoyed the FMC Ellie and wish that she was given a different character to play off of. Her experience was described beautifully and the process of coming out of grief and the hard road of starting from scratch when the dreams and plans you had for yourself ended with the loss of your spouse.

The Slowest Burn is a cute and food-filled, enemies-to-lovers story. Ellie is a ghost writer for cookbooks and Kieran is the celebrity chef she's working with. Things don't start out great between the, but ultimately they find their HEA.

~~What I liked~~
-The writing was easy to read and the story was interesting. I binged this in basically one day, it was well done.
-The characters for the most part were pretty good. Kieran has ADHD and it was interesting to see how that played out on paper. The supporting friends were great, I would have loved for them to play a larger role in the book.
-The food had a pretty big part in the story, obvs, but it wasn't so much that I was like "Enough food talk already!"
-The FMC is a curvy girl and it is subtlety hinted at in the book. I like body positivity, but I don't like having to read about it every third page and the author did a great job with that aspect of the character.
-In addition to a curvy (read: realistic sized) FMC, the MMC wasn't a stereotypical Greek god. He was short (and a redhead), but he was toned and worked out.
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~~What I didn't like~~
-It was a bit slower than I would have liked and time in the book seemed a bit wonky. Some parts seemed perfect with pacing, other times I felt dragged, and then two weeks would pass I felt like there was too much happening to jump that much.

-The romance seemed off to me. I loved that they started as enemies, and it did take a while for them to become friends, but I wanted more to the romance. They worked together for 9 months, but I never really got the impression that they were 'deep' into each other, more just a surface level stuff.

-I had trouble vibing with Ellie. One chapter she was put together and strong , the next she would be really meek and almost seemed to let people walk over her. I know part of the story is she isn't like that in the end, but I struggled to see how someone who always looked out for others would suddenly change to put herself first with not much support other than her BFF.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and would recommend. This was a great debut novel and I look forward to more books by Sarah Chamberlain.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC for my honest review.

4.75 stars 💚

Releases: September 24, 2024

Ok yes this book is a slow burn but in the best way.

What I loved:

-the ADHD representation and I loved that we had Kieran's POV so we can hear the inner turmoil that he deals with, which his ADHD.

-the dual POV. I am just a sucker for dual POVs and I don't think I've ever read a book where I was like "oh that dual POV was not good". I thoroughly love hearing both sides of the story and it was done well.

-the MMC. Ok I do agree with some of the other reviews that Kieran seemed to have a "younger voice". However, that man came through and stood by Ellie.

-the friends. I liked the side characters who were friends and honestly I liked some of the other non friend side character, but I won't say more on that to stay spoiler free.

I related to this story in more ways than one. As a person with ADHD myself I felt seen and validated by Kieran's experience. At the same time I struggle/struggled with similar things as Ellie too.

Overall, this book had me crying at a brewery, blushing, and squealing with joy.

Also, another debut novel I read this week that makes me excited for future work by this author.

The Slowest Burn was an absolutely adorable read! Kieran and Ellie are so relatable, I really loved how the author made them REAL. He has his own internal and diagnosed issues and I appreciated how the author made it the GUY who also had some. I love books who break stereotypes. Men can struggle too!!!! Ellie turned out to be patient and kind and together they are just lovely. For some reason I’ve been on a chef book kick, on accident? Loving it though.
I’m so glad I received an ARC of this romantic, sweet book. Thank you netgalley 😀🫶🏻

Ratings:
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5/5
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5/5
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5/5
Romance: 🌹🌹🌹 3/5
Spice Quantity: 🚒 🚒  2/5
Spice Quality: 🔥🔥🔥 3/5

What to Expect:
✓ Dual POV romance
✓ A grieving widow and ghostwriter FMC
✓ A handsome Irish chef MMC with a big case of ADHD
✓ Big foodie vibes
✓ Workplace enemies to lovers
✓ Forced proximity

My Thoughts:
This was a very cute and easy contemporary romance. I’m tempted to just give this book 3 stars, but I flew threw it and did enjoy it as a nice palette cleanser so I kick it up to 3.5. This is definitely a book for foodies, and one that you shouldn’t read while hungry. Ellie (the writer) and Kieran (the chef) are writing a cookbook and so there is a lot of discussion about food and restaurants throughout. Their romance was super sweet, and I love anything involving forced proximity enemies to lovers, so that’s a big bonus for me. While I wasn’t blown away, I do think this is a great story of healing, love, and food.

A few side notes just for feedback:
- I really don't love when there is so much focus on body types in a book. Whether they are plus sized or rail thin or jacked or something in between, when it's constantly brought up or mentioned it really irks me. I appreciate getting a clear picture of a character, but the focus on body and repetitiveness seemed a bit much? I don't know, maybe this is just a me thing?
- The Happy Pirate Leprechaun nickname seems so unrealistic and insane? I get why the MMC wouldn't like it. It just feels like such a stretch that anyone would use that name for someone? I don't know.

Gosh, this book is just allllmost there. I was barely rooting for the two MCs to get together, because the slow burn wasn’t burning hot enough. If you’re going to advertise the trope right there in the title, I should be panting by the time they get naked.

When I’m into a book, I can gobble down a 400 page book in an afternoon. It took me 12 days to get 10% of the way through this book and I just can’t do it anymore.

The dialogue in this book is PAINFUL. Like it just felt so clunky and awkward. There was no natural flow to it at all. It also felt like I was thrown into the middle of a story without an adequate explanation as to what was going on.

I was excited for this book, the cover is GORGEOUS, but I’m officially giving myself permission to DNF it.

I love the heavy subjects this book talks about- I love when books do that because not everything is fairy tale!

I'm rounding up, but this was 3.5 stars for me. I thought it was a good debut from this author and overall a cute, easy read even though it touched on some tougher subjects, with a good story and nice message about family. I also enjoyed the dual POV. When reading romcoms or romance, I want to visualize the MMC as being good looking and that was kind of hard when he was continuously described as being short and redheaded like a leprechaun and written in more of a childish goofy way.
I am getting a little tired of the gay/black best friend thing, I know everyones trying to add more diversity but that is just so overdone, I think there would be a better way. Both of them had gay best friends?!
Overall though I enjoyed this and would recommend.

I loved Ellie and Kieran's love story. Love a slow burn and loved the combination of a romance with heavier topics weaved in. Especially loved the setting and felt the culinary scene was appropriate for it! Definite must read!! Great debut for Debut! Thanks St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Copy!

This one gets a solid 3.5 stars from me. The blurb was cute and the story itself was a fun idea, but I just didn’t find myself enjoying it until the last 30%. The characters felt so much more dynamic by the end and I finally found myself rooting for them!

Before that point I didn’t find either lead very likable despite Ellie being so relatable. We’re told Kieran has ADHD, but I don’t feel like that was represented well. His character felt childish and the dialogue between them didn’t feel natural.

This book may not have been my favorite, but I think it was a good debut from this author. The book got better as it went along and I’m sure her next book will be better than the first!

Advanced digital copy provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to read this debut novel for its interesting, fresh concept and its diversity. I enjoyed the mental health, neurodivergence, and plus size representation. The romance fell flat for me as I felt that the two main characters didn’t have much chemistry and contrary to the title, they felt very insta-lusty. It took me a little bit to get into the story, and from there the plot never really picked up for me and it was definitely a slow read because of that.

A strong 4.25 star read for me!!! I was so blown away by the beauty of this book in the way that it combined heavier topics and dealing with healing after loss with a light rom com feel. It was SO well done and was such a fun read.

One of my favorite things about this book was the chemistry and growth in Ellie and Kieran's relationship. It didn't feel forced, and it truly felt like a build over a long time that lead to them falling for each other. I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers, and their banter in the beginning of this book sold me right away. But then having it written with such a strong build vs more insta love was absolutely perfect. I felt their relationship grow, I felt and understood their need to be with each other, and I felt all of their emotions through the entire story. It was just incredible.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

I love this cover! This was a cute story and I love chef stories for some reason. I hope to read more from this author