4.5/5 (rounded up)

I really have no idea why Hot Mess by Emily Belden has such a low average on Goodreads because I LOVED this book! Allie is naive sure, but I could relate to her because I had a boyfriend who in many ways was like Benji, and I know firsthand that it can take a lot to keep yourself from going back to someone. In this way, she was a really relatable character for me, and I was proud of her growth as a person by the end of the book. I loved getting lost in the restaurant world as well and found so many of the process elements of the story fascinating. Although there is a love aspect, the bulk of the book is really Allie figuring out what she really wants and learning how to get over her bad ex.

I also loved the audiobook which is narrated by Amanda Ronconi. She was 100% believable as the voice of Allie and I loved listening to her. This is on the chunkier side and the audio is just over 13 hours long, but it didn't feel like it to me at all. I was so incredibly invested in the characters and what would happen, and I didn't want to put it down. It didn't feel like there was any extra filler either, and I was perfectly happy with the length. So, who should read this? If you can relate to holding onto a guy when you should be letting go and want a touch of the restaurant life, Hot Mess is for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#HotMess #NetGalley


The title really fits the story.

I really hated the boyfriend so it made finishing the book a challenge.

Allie made wise decisions in life until she met Benji. Then her life unravels a bit and we all wait and see if he changes or what will happen to him.

If we care, which I really did not sad to say.

I did like seeing how Allie changed from the start of the story.

Overall I would say this is a beach read.

Thanks for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review Netgalley

Dating in my 20's was fun. It feels so cliche to say it, but it was a time to discover your limits: who are you? Who do you enjoy dating? What will you put up with? Time and time again, I watched friends of mine try to date the "bad boy." Ok, ok - I did too. We all thought the same thing: "if he loves me enough, he will change." Spoiler alert! HE NEVER CHANGES! And girls don't either. Reading the story Hot Mess brought back a few memories from that time.

This time around we meet Allie Simon. Allie is the girlfriend of the hottest chef in town, Benji Zane. They live together. They have hot sex. They are popular on social media for working together on Benji's exclusive pop-up restaurants. And Allie believes she did it - she reformed a bad boy! Benji was, at one-time, a drug addict. But Allie loved him enough to help him get clean and start a career.

It sounds so perfect - who wouldn't want to be famous, end up with the bad boy and have a successful career while helping their boyfriend do the same. But Allie's perfect life isn't so perfect under the microscope. Allie worries constantly about where Benji is, what he is doing, what he is spending his money on. And her friends don't know even half of what is really happening - it's just easier that way.

Benji is offered a chance at becoming a part owner and head chef of a brand new restaurant that is in the hottest Chicago neighborhood, and decides to hold one last round of pop-ups, but it's where Allie can't attend. Imagine our surprise, when Benji disappears (who didn't see that coming?) and relapses. Oh, did I mention? In order for Benji to become part owner of the restaurant, he had to invest his own money. Well, he didn't have any, so Allie invested her life savings for him. When he disappears, he walked away from the restaurant as well.

Finding her life savings gone, her boyfriend gone, and her life as she once knew it gone, we join Allie on her journey of how far "love" will push her, and how far she will go to survive.

This story had me feeling "all the feels." Do the cool kids still say that? I have to ask, as this was written for generations younger than myself. I did feel my age a bit hearing some of the sayings that I wasn't sure of the meaning. But the bad-boy dating story still rings true through all these years. Back in my 20's I dated, not only a user, but a dealer. I really liked the guy, and didn't know how to handle it, so I made a rule: you can use as long as you tell me what you have taken, and you don't do it in front of me. Oh yeah. Looking back now , I just shake my head, but at the time I thought it was smart of me. I knew he cared about me - he was always looking out for me and making sure I was ok. But unlike Allie, I knew it wasn't enough. It didn't last. But it was fun while it did. While reading about Allie's time together with Benji, all I could do was shake my head. Been there sister. It's not going to end well for you.

While reading the parts about Allie coming to terms with Benji falling off the wagon, and how she thought she could just walk away from the restaurant deal, I could not stop rolling my eyes. Youngsters. When will they learn that contracts are serious and actions have consequences? These young whipper-snappers will never learn.

While this one was a good read, I must caution those that are looking for a light read - this may not be for you. If you feel you can reform your bad boy, this may not be for you either. But if you are looking for a "pick yourself up by the bootstraps when all hope is lost" type of book, then this one is for you!

I tried getting into this book 10 times and was struggling with it a lot. I am not sure if this was caused by my reading taste having changed within the last 12 months and this just being a genre that I do not care for much, or because the main characters were Just. So. Annoying.
The story progressed at such a slow rate that I was getting too impatient, allowing for the annoyance about the characters to take over.

I DNFed at 60% because by this time, I had pushed it for a year and it did not bring me joy to consider picking it up again. The decision to DNF left me feeling relieved. I am still giving 3 stars as I believe that the decision to DNF is not because the book hat flaws but because it is not my reading taste at this point.

Unexpected, complicated, addictive... I definitely enjoyed this story. I really liked the characters and the romance. All in all, a solid read. Really enjoyed the voice of this new to me author and Im looking forward to Husband Material.

The title of this book is quite accurate for the main character and for this book. I felt like main character Allie was clearly a hot mess and kind of a moron. There wasn't much endearing about her and I found her to be so annoying that I didn't actually finish the book.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

While I am always happy to see wishes come true, I wish this one had just been a little bit better. Instead, all the chick-lit cliches… I didn’t expect much more than just entertainment, but I wasn’t entertained. Not really. There were a few chuckles but I just wasn’t rooting for her.

An important book that never feels important... a up-close-and-personal look at one of the biggest issues of our times.

Thank you to #Negalley and the publisher. I received this for free in exchange for a honest review.

We are introduces to Allie that has always be proud of having a good head on her shoulders. She has made very wise choices in her life for the last 25 years. But her luck changes when she meets Benji. He finds him self making an investment with a company. The thing is, he doesn't have the money. Allie gives him the money have he goes to her but now he has disappeared and now where to be found and she is left trying to clean up bad choice by trying now to make the right choice.

Really like Hot Mess. It took me some time to get into it, but once I was I really wanted to know what would happen. At first I didn't like Allie much, but she grew on me. But the best part of this book was the food/restaurant aspect.

This book was an interesting read since I'm hooked on cooking shows and the food network. This book was a mixture of a Top Chef gone wrong and can have its own reality show on Bravo.

I LOVED this book about Allie and Benji. It's really a story about how Allie made lemonade when handed a huge bag of rotting lemons and it was well done!

You ask yourself why would someone get involved with an addict or even a barely reformed addict? Well, we don't always choose who we fall in love with and while many of us feel we'd walk away because it was the smart thing to do, that's not what Allie did.

Her life and where it leads her after meeting Benji made for an excellent read. If you haven't yet, pick this book up and block out time to read it. If you're like me, you will want to keep reading just to see where her life will end up.

Thanks very much to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an early copy.

I went into this expected a cliched romance and happy re-connection but I was wrong and I'm glad for it. I love a good bad boy, food descriptions and romance. Combine all of those things and add in a surprisingly strong leading lady, and you've got Hot Mess. While the book was about 50 pages too long, it was a delightful read!

4.5 stars? Got a chance to read this early and I really enjoyed it. It's like a more accessible, less pretentious, but still well done and entertaining Sweetbitter. I bought into the main character as a person and her situation. Sometimes it's rare to come across a good 20-something character and this one definitely makes the cut. It also does a great job at capturing this point in time in our society with social media and bloggers and obsession with food. It's also a great story of feminism. I loved all of the female relationships and girl power aspects of the story.

Two criticisms:
1. I thought the whole waiting for Benji to self destruct took a bit too long. You know it's going to happen, but it takes about 50% of the book for it to happen. I didn't have any real issues with the backstory, but I wanted to get to Allie's redemption.
2. There's mention of Allie's mom taking her somewhere in the 1980s. I think Allie is 25 years old. That would make her born (if the book takes place in 2018) in 1993. So it would be hard to say she was going places in the 1980s. And you could say the book takes place at a non-specific time, but with the social media and food culture it's very much of this moment (in a good way). This is something I see a lot in YA books. They have grandparents that are in their 80s when, in many cases, a 16 year old probably has a grandparent in their 60s. Tangent, but it drives me nuts.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review "Hot Mess"
by Emily Belden. This was a Dnf for me. I couldn't get into the story. Benji and Allie as characters did not interest me. As I continued to read the story, I realized I was not interested enough to continue reading. Not my cup of tea but this book may be great for someone else who enjoys fiction.

I loved every part of this book. The romance, the drama, the finding yourself, the FOOD, the female protagonists and heroes. Allie and Benji are the talk of the Chicago food world. Benji is a hot chef, known for his creative dishes at his pop up dinners and Allie handles the front of the house as a supportive girlfriend. When Benji is offered the head chef and investor position of a new restaurant on Randolph Street, which is the Chicago foodie hot spot, the drama begins both in their relationship and in the restaurant. For fans of Sweetbitter that wanted a bit more drama and for fans of the movie Burnt with Bradley Cooper. Such a quick and engaging read, I could not put it down!

I am a SUCKER for dysfunctional relationships, food fiction and a good comeback story. Is this the comeback of hot chef with a recovering cocaine addiction, Benji Zane? Or the comeback of his girlfriend, Allie Simon, who has put all her faith in her bad boy boyfriend - who despite being the hottest chef Chicago has seen, seems to have issue after issue that no amount of success can fix.

This book just resonated on so many levels as it seems there's an Allie in all of us, especially me, someone who wants to see the good in people despite all of the red flags telling her to SLOW DOWN.

This was so well written, engaging and enjoyable, hard to believe it is Belden's first foray into fiction. I will certainly be sticking around to see what she does next!

Thank you to Harlequin Books/Greydon House for an advance copy. All opinions are my own

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I got a little less than half way through and realized I wasn't enjoying the novel. I just thought the main character was sooooo dumb. It was clear that her boyfriend had a lot of issues and wasn't ready to be in a relationship but she blindly accepted anything he threw her way because he was such a hot chef. I mean, who cares? She wasn't someone I could root for and I found myself not caring if she kept the restaurant afloat or not.

This is my first book from this author and I really enjoyed it!It has a not so perfect romance and humor!The story line was a little bit heavier than the other books I have read, yet it was captivating and I couldn't put it down!This was so well written, engaging and enjoyable!There is so much character growth in this book and you will fall more in love with Allie as the book goes on.

Allie Simon prides herself on making sensible decisions and has maintained high standards for the first twenty- five years of her life. That streak of smart choices is about to end as she enters into a relationship with Benji Zane. Benji is an up and coming chef in Chicago with a long history of drug addiction.

Six months into their relationship, Benji is offered a job as the head chef at a new restaurant. For the project to get off the ground, he must make a $30,000 investment. With no savings or income, he turns to Allie for the money. The restaurant and her life become a mess when Benji relapses and disappears during the construction. Allie finds herself without a boyfriend or a chef and an ownership stake in a new restaurant. It's time for her to learn from her mistakes while returning to her life of prudent decisions.

I enjoyed reading Hot Mess by Emily Belden. This book reminded me of my own experiences from my twenties when life was much simpler. This is a fun read filled with romance, drama and plenty of food.