⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars and high praise for Love’s Recipe! There is so much to love about this romance novel that I’ll try not to gush.

Love’s Recipe starts out with Rosalie a single mother, newly divorced, and living with her Ma. She get a a job waitressing at Ady’s and in walks Nicholas Fontaine (WHAT A NAME RIGHT?!) A single dad who gave up on his mama’s restaurant and is just trying to get by in life. I love how their love story unfolds in this book. Everything about them being together is so sweet, I swooned on more than one occasion. Nicholas is so kind and gentle and honestly one of my favorite male leads I’ve read this year. Rosalie though? That’s where the plot is at. I sometimes forgot that she’s just 24 in this novel but when you’re a young mom you have to grow up a bit quicker. That shows in Rosalie, she’s level-headed but still has that feisty side. I’m a big fan of heroines that do not take crap for people.

The family dynamic of this book also makes it such a stand out and so special. There’s a lot of different relationships that are explored here. Not only between Rosalie and Nick but also their children. Remi and Maxie are two adorable little girls who become instant best friends. I adored how opposite they were and how much that worked so well for them. I also loved the contrast of how each of the main characters viewed their mothers so differently. There were many other relationships that were such an important part in this book. The author did a wonderful job of exploring each one and giving each relationship a genuine conclusion.

Overall I really loved Love’s Recipe and definitely plan on reading more from this author!

Thank you for my arc Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. You’ve once again helped me find a book I love.

Enjoyed the novel setting in this - I don't often get to read books set around the backdrop of the bayou, and the addition of the Creole cooking backdrop made it just that much more thrilling. The characters - took a while to warm up to them, and the mother-daughter conflicts rang so close to home sometimes I was tempted to give up just to not have to look those issues in the eye... But it was a lovely, heart-warming story, the kind that does the soul good at the end of the day.

This was a lovely small town, second chance story with a gorgeous happy ending.

There was some angst caused by lack of communication. But isn’t it nearly always?

This book was a romance at heart but it was also about watching Nick’s relationship with his restaurant grow and repair and also that of Rosalie and her mom.

I really enjoyed witnessing it all weave together. I recently read a book about chefs and a restaurant. Love’s Recipe was the perfect book to keep the momentum going.

In Love's Recipe we follow Rosalie who after leaving her home when she was 17, returns 7 years later with her 5 year old daughter. Rosalie does not have a great relationship with her mom but is left with no choice but to return home when her husband disappears on her. On her first night back in town Rosalie takes a job at Ady's, where she meets the owner Nick. The restaurant is a far cry from what it used to be when she lived there before but but with Nick's reluctant help they start to turn it back around. I found this to be a pretty straight forward contemporary, the love story was cute with two little 5 years old thrown in to the mix, things progress nicely until a miscommunication and the everything is solved. It was definitely a fun read but not one that really wowed me. At times I also found the language a bit jarring, curse words would randomly be thrown into the dialogue. I have no problem with this type of language but just felt like it was a little out of character. The book was also a bit steamy at times so be warned if you are not into that. Over all the book was a fun read and loved the parts that dealt with the cooking. Thank you Netgalley and KDP for my copy to review.

I really enjoyed this book and flew through it. The main character and the love interest had really great chemistry and the romance was well done.

So this one was a little slow for me. I did really enjoy the diversity and the setting but I kept putting it down to read other things. That could very well be just me being in a reading slump though. Overall the writing was good but nothing mind blowing and the romance between the two main characters was cute but I didn't connect with them all the way. I did like that the kids were involved in the story. Overall, I give this book a 3.5 stars. It was cute but not very memorable.

Love’s Recipe
by: Mika Nicks
⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I wanted to love this - the cover is so my style! It started slow... it took me foreverrrr to read the first half of this. However, I devoured (no pun intended) the second half!
I received an ARC of Love’s Recipe from @netgalley. The pub date for this was Cinco de Mayo, so you can grad it now!

Was such a cute romance story. Really enjoyed the writing style as well! With a small town romance usually you see the love interests have a past but this wasn’t the case with these Two and I have to say it was a nice change than your usual small town romances!

3.5 Stars
Thank you, NetGalley for the arc. I found the book to be a sweet, adorable read. It was perfect after a few heavier reads.

Because of issues with my reading device I was unable to read this, and because of the current state of things in unable to replace it. I'm sorry I was unable to get to it but i do plan on purchasing this title in three future.

Thanks for the ARC, Netgalley!

Wowww, okay, I loved this one!

It hit all the things I love in a romance, it was sweet & real, talking about life & grief & falling in love. This one had me falling all over myself with Rosalie and Nicholas falling in love and walking through what falling in love with someone and their children looks like. I enjoyed the family dynamic just as much as the romance, which is rare!

Overall this was a cute, easy but well-rounded read! Plus is KU which is always the best.

such a cute and fun food focused romance!

i loved the dynamic of having to single parents and then trying to figure out their life, job and romance around their kids instead of having the romance be the main and only focus of it all.

the writing was good and easy to read and the characters a joy to experience.

i personally think the mom was a bit over the top and could have been handled with a bit of a softer touch than it was in the book especially in the way it ended but that’s clearly a personal preference.

all in all this is super cute and i loved all the food talk and cooking moments!

if you want a fun romance that makes you want too get into the kitchen?? this is the book to read!

This is a fun, gentle romance that will make you hungry. I found it to be low in conflict but highly enjoyable.

Full review at https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/loves-recipe-by-mila-nicks/

I received this from NetGalley. This was a short & cute read. Rosalie and Nick are the main characters who are going through their own issues when they meet. You can feel the chemistry between them.

This book addresses divorce, grief, single parenting. The author reached mulitple feelings as I was reading it.

It was heartbreaking at times, but a sweet book. I recommend it.

I found Love's Recipe to be a heartwarming read that touches on realistic familial topics, i.e., single parenthood, divorce, and grief. While I enjoyed the writing and the character's, this book didn't grab me and hold my attention. I found the overall story to be good, not great, but it is a quick and enjoyable read.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Rosalie Underwood is a hard-working, single mother, who has reluctantly moved back to her hometown after her marriage ended in disaster. Nicholas Fontaine is the grief-stricken, single father, and new owner of failing Ady’s Creole Café. When Rosalie walks into Ady’s and asks for a job, Nick hires her on the spot, not knowing that she was going to turn his life and the café around.

I found this book to be cute, cliché, and frustrating. I liked the two main characters, and I thought that they brought out the best in each other. I liked how hard-working and determined Rosalie was, and I loved her relationship with her daughter Remi. I liked Nick, and I felt bad for him because people were calling him lazy when in actuality, he was struggling to process his grief. I also loved Nick’s relationship with his daughter Maxie, and I loved the moments featuring just the two of them. I loved Remi and Maxie’s relationship, and I’m glad that these two little girls found each other and were able to balance each other out.

One thing that frustrated me about this book is that the timeline didn’t make sense. The entire book takes place over a span of a few months, and in my opinion, too much happened during those few months. I think it’s great that Nick and Rosalie were able to get Ady’s back on its feet again, but I couldn’t wrap my head around that much progress being made in such a short amount of time. I also had a difficult time believing that Rosalie went from making spaghetti from a jar to being able to work side by side with a professionally trained chef and churning out an award-winning menu in a matter of weeks.

This brings me to my favourite part of the book, which was all the food. I love food and books with descriptions of food usually make me hungry and happy. Some of the dishes like cheesy shrimp with grits, gumbo, and cheesy creole pasta sounded delicious, and I wish I could eat what they were making. I also loved the Autumn festival, because the thought of being surrounded by falling leaves, delicious smelling food, and autumn treats made me happy, especially since I’ve barely left the house in seven weeks.

There were a few other things that annoyed me about this book, including how quickly the conflict was resolved. This book features the classic characters fail to communicate, and then they have a fight scene, and then they talked, and everything was resolved shortly after that. I was also annoyed with some of the language used when the characters were getting intimate. I’m not a writer, and I have to imagine that writing sex scenes is incredibly difficult, but there must be better language choices than the ones that were used in this book. I was also slightly annoyed with how many clichés were in this book, I love clichés, but it felt like this book had too many of them.

Overall, I liked this book. I thought it was cute, and I liked the relationship between the main characters. I especially liked all the food featured in this book, and I enjoyed the relationship between Remi and Maxie. If you’re looking for something cute and quick to read, I recommend checking this book out.

Right from the start, I was captured by this book; I love a good book set over food and romance. First, you are drawn in by the characters - a young woman just trying to redirect her life and provide for her daughter, a critical mother, a grieving son struggling to find purpose after his mother's passing.

Mila Nicks brings us a wonderful story about resiliency, love, food, and all with a diverse cast.

The conclusion felt realistic, satisfying, and wrapped up in a way where the reader felt content - without it coming too easy.

I cannot wait to read more from Nick's and hope she continues to offer diverse characters in a genre overrun by white women.

ugh did i ever love this book. the recpies. the food talk. the love. the heart. the grit. the sexytimes. the everything about it. please go get it and read it right now .thanks bye.

This was an incredibly enjoyable read! I really liked the New Orleans setting as well as the restaurant being a main character on itself. Both of our main characters are really compelling from the get go. Rosalie ran away from home at the tender age of 17, with a man her mother did not approve of, only to come back to her childhood home years later with a divorce and a child. On the other hand, Nick is a grieving single father that has lost his motivation to keep his lost mother's restaurant afloat. The two meet when Rosalie asks a groggy Nick for a waitressing job, and so their story begins.
I really enjoyed Rosalie's character. She had a bit of an attitude to her, something I loved reading, but was just a young 24 year old woman trying to raise her child on her own. Nick was also a joy to read. His moments with Mackenzie were super endearing. Reading about food honestly made me hungry for half of the time but I can't say I didn't enjoy it.
Overall this was a great read, only point I cringed about was the ending. I know I should be well accustomed to the "and we lived happily ever after" epilogues but this one was just a tad too sickly sweet.

Thank you to KDP for the ARC.

A lovely read. This isn’t just a romance but a look at life, it deals with issues like divorce, single parenthood, grief, it’s a great read. It’s very slow burn but that feels absolutely right here. The characters are realistic and the kids are just so funny. I loved how strong Rosalie is, such an inspiring character. This is a great romantic read that is very real feeling. I loved it.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion