I'm not naturally drawn to romance novels, but every time I read them I realize how much I really enjoy them and this was no exception.

Nikki and Callum are rival food truck chefs in the beautiful setting of Hawaii.  Callum stirs up the drama when he parks his food truck on her turf and starts to steal her customers. They decide to settle the spot based on who wins the Maui Food Truck Festival - and then the sparks fly!

I enjoyed all of the food descriptions and the fact that it was a quick and fun read.  I could have done without all of Nikki's insecurities and the amount of melodrama she stirred up - but I'm going to chalk that up to her maturity level.

This book has the perfect amount of chemistry, wittiness and food that make me fall in love with it. I loved the characters and the story was fast paced and had so many great laugh out loud moments.

Nikki DiMarco gave up her dream job to help her mother start a food truck offering Filipino dishes to local beach goers. There is a lot of competition, including Callum James, who, along with his brother, steals what Nikki and Tiva think of as “their spot.”
The feud becomes public, thanks to to internet, so they decide that the winner of the Maui Food Festival will get the prime spot.
As Nikki and Callum argue and steal each other’s customers, sparks of another kind fly.
This was a quick and delightful read.

When I first started reading this book, I thought I was going to put it down pretty and walk away. I thought the book had hit it’s peak too soon and I was really confused. I’m so happy I kept ready though because the book was still only building up to the peak. This book just kept getting better though and I ended up loving it.

Warring food trucks. Hawaiian setting with a whirlwind trip to England. Kittens. 
This diverse enemies to lovers story has lots to love. This was a fun and enjoyable read with a lot of heart.
There was also more depth than I was expecting with an exploration of grief and family dynamics. Callum is definitely swoon-worthy and a great match for Nikki.
Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advance copy.

You give me an enemies to lovers romance in a food truck water set in Hawaii. * grabby hands* 

Nikki quit her dream job and moving to Hawaii isn’t what she hoped for as she whipping up amazing food alongside her mom in her food truck k, ativa on the beaches of Hawaii. She didn’t know that the competition in the food truck prod would be a dog eat world in the form of the British lad, Callum James. With an attraction strong enough to flame 🔥 the sparks between. So in order to keep the coveted spot, they decide to battle it out in the upcoming Maui Food Festival. 

This was such a fun, sizzling (pun intended) enemies to lovers romance between Nikki and Callum. Nikki is having a hard time which is understandable and she was such a relatable character who you want to root for in every way. Callum, that British man was unraveling like an onion and it was beautiful to see how it was developed. Ahh, the banter, the chemistry, rom-com made such a quick contemporary read.

Nikki DiMarco’s life is not exactly going according to plan. She abruptly left her life in Portland when her dad got sick, and now is living with her widowed mother, helping her run her Filipino food truck. Despite it being a tough road, Nikki and her mom’s Tiva have made a name for themselves in Maui’s food truck scene, with devoted fans and a prime location; that is until Callum James and his brother park their British cuisine truck in the same spot. Nikki and Callum get off to a competitive start, and vow to let the winner of the up and coming Maui Food Festival keep the spot and the loser relocate. But when Nikki and Callum can’t stop bumping into each other  outside work, and can’t shake the feeling they have a connection, a lot more is on the line than a parking spot. 

Nikki and Callum were , realistic characters with great chemistry. There was a bit too much packed into this timeline for me to find it plausible: They just so happen to be at the same beach, vet, AND sit next to each other on the same flight to London? Plus the amount of times there was a miscommunication/assumption made and then resolved was a bit of a roller coaster! Not my favorite of the genre, but overall, I am happy to have another #ownvocies author on my radar, and will find this easy to recommend to those that enjoy steamy, contemporary romances.

Book 3 of 2021... I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was fun and light-hearted. This contemporary romance, or ROM-COM, is super steamy Thank you @booksparks for this copy for the Winter Reading Challenge. #WRC2021

This read is served as a nice escape that’s quick and fun. If you're looking for a swoon-worthy contemporary romance novel about food, this is a nice option. Trust me, if you're a foodie you will love this book. It’s fun, multicultural, sweet, and will have you craving Filipino food for sure. 

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From the first chapter Nikki and Callum’s interactions were fraught with sexual tension and great banter! I found myself devouring this book in just one day. It’s a perfect enemies-to-lovers read, hitting all the right notes for the trope. It’s sexy, it’s funny and it has just the perfect amount of emotional moments and angst. I LOVED it.
And I have to mention that I loved Maui as a setting. Sarah Smith really brought Hawaii to life.

A good feel good romance, centered around a enemies to lovers trope and competition. I loved the chemistry of the characters. I would give this book 3 stars

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫
What I loved about this book:

1. Enemies to lovers will always be my favorite trope, seriously sign me up for any and all future romances with this trope. Nikki and Callum's rivalry was filled with all the tension you would expect with this trope. While it seemed fate kept pushing them together, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for them to give into temptation.

2. I love food so naturally I love books that have food woven into the story line. I loved reading about the different food creations and how the food related to their families/heritage. Smith wrote an entertaining and unique story.

3. The sex scenes were as steamy as I hoped for and I liked how you got to slowly get to learn a bit more about each character as you read along. While Nikki was fiercely loyal heroine, she could be a bit dramatic at times. I admired her dedication to her Mom and felt the pain of her loss. Callum was a swoony British hunk that had hidden depths and was such a sweet guy. Honestly I'm not sure who wouldn't crush a bit on him after the nudist beach scene.

While I found the first half of this book to be amazing, it sizzles a little towards the end with a little unnecessary drama and immature overreactions. Overall I found this to be a sweet, but steamy fun read. I'll definitely read whatever the author writes next.

Simmer Down
BY Sarah Smith

Simmer down by Sarah Smith is a delectable and delightful read about competing food trucks in Maui between spicy Nikki Di Marco serving up Filipino dishes up against the enticing Callum James serving up British food in this fun and feud filled rom com. I just adore Smith’s writing style and she completely whisked me away to my mother’s kitchen and the beautiful beach side of Maui. This was the perfect read to start my year off right. An immersive read, a mother’s delicious home cooking, an appetizing rivalry only to see sparks fly in this amazingly hilarious read I thoroughly enjoyed.

Okay...a lot of tropes were put into play here but not actually executed well. I HATE miscommunication tropes and that’s literally the entirety of this plot. Also, I’m usually frustrated with the male behavior in romance books but instead I kinda wanna slap the leading lady. It is what it is.

Not gonna lie, I wasn't a huge fan of Sarah Smith's "Faker," so I was a little leery of taking this one on. However, if you want to make me drool over a book, set it up surrounding food and add in some rivals to lovers. Ugh, I loved this read so much and it made me SO HUNGRY.

I really tried to get into this one—LOVE the premise but I found myself having a hard time with the writing and the main character. I’m putting this one down for now but perhaps my try again down the road.

Hate to lovers is such a hard trope to get 'right', and this one was all wrong. I thought some of this story was catchy, and fun. But, it fell very flat for me by the end. The characters were more immature than I would of liked, and the angst was just miscommunication - there was no true plot movement to keep me reading, or character development. I just didn't care what happened.

What a great romance title! Sarah Smith does it again. Having found her other book, Faker, on NetGalley and read it and enjoyed it, I was excited to see how her second book turned out. Some authors who I have loved their first book, I did not care for their second book but this was definitely not the case here. This book gives you all of the feels and if you enjoy the "enemies to lovers" trope you will definitely enjoy this book.

The only thing I disliked about the book was that it didn't come with a trip to Maui or the ability to eat the food deliciously described in the book.

This was absolutely adorable! I’m a huge fan of Sarah Smith and the way she writes enemies to lovers—she’s great at it!

Couldn’t get into this one. I had issues with the flow, the plot felt scattered, and couldn’t find the desire to pick it up. I can understand the appeal, but it just didn’t do it for me right now. DNF at 25%.

For my second read of the New Year, I wanted to read a romance with a little spice and feel-good moments after reading a rather intense thriller. So, I chose Simmer Down (published on October 13, 2020) to read. 

I loved the premise of the book - give me all the stories that incorporate cooking and a little (or a lot of) romance. But, there was no simmering down in this story as it was full of steamy moments that I could feel my cheeks turning red as I read through each interaction between Callum and Nikki. 

I loved that Simmer Down reflected the point of view of only Nikki DiMarco. Now, don't get me wrong, I love being privy to both sides of the story, but there was something nice about not knowing what Callum James was thinking. Did he have feelings for Nikki? Was he looking for a casual fling with his rival? Not knowing is what kept me more intrigued as I wanted to see when Callum would appear next. 

My only complaint about the book is that, towards the end, Nikki started to annoy me; she was constantly back-and-forth on what she wanted to do and what her feelings were for Callum. At times, I thought that a chapter would lead to one final wrap-up, but then the story kept going. In all honesty, it could’ve been 30-40 pages shorter, and I would’ve enjoyed it more. 

BUT, I did find Simmer Down to be an entertaining, steamy read, and I’m glad that I began my year with this romance. I will be looking forward to reading the next book that Sarah Smith cooks up.