Though it is my first book of Chandra blumberg , it was absolutely fun and enjoyable read. The chemistry between simone and finn is real good. The cherry on the topping would the food wars. It's time to read the first book in the series.

This book has it all! Small-town charm, easy romance, fun banter and very likeable characters. Wrap that all up with a shark tank inspired TV appearance and a road trip for the ages and you have yourself a hit! This was an easy and fast rom com read with some really touching moments.

While the characters and the premise were interesting, I wasn’t hooked into the story. It was missing that extra kick that usually keeps me hooked with romances. The book has a lot of potential but I was bored for quite a lot of it.

3.5 stars ☆ An enemies to lovers, forced proximity, set in a small town rom-com is just want I need for a summer read.

I loved Simone and Finn's chemistry in this book. Their banter was amazing and I felt like it's also a reverse grumpy x sunshine since Finn has this golden retriever energy makes this book perfect. The only problem that I have was the miscommunication conflict but other than that, this was still a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC !!

Stirring Up Love serves up a tasty blend of familiar tropes—enemies to lovers, fish out of water, small town romance, forced proximity—within the framework of two young entrepreneurs competing for social acceptance and business success. Simone is just neurotic enough to be likable and believable in her drive for success and desire to prove herself worthy of love and friendship. Meanwhile, Finn’s history of revolving foster care and desire for permanence and love while dreaming of creating opportunities for others in need just tugs at the heartstrings. Neither feel safe enough to ask for what they want, and their missteps land them into a professional quandary, unplanned cross country adventure, and eventual romantic conclusion with a few sexy hookups and funny misadventures along the way. It’s a fun read filled with colorful characters that works as a standalone despite being the second in a series.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this title in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely gorgeous romcom and a great sequel to Digging Up Love (which I adored). 5 glorious romantic stars!

Not quite the same magic as the first book in the series had for me. I still really did enjoy this reality tv show, road trip, enemies to lovers romance between two rival BBQ sauce makers fighting to win money to help fund their cooking dreams. The story had great banter and chemistry between the two main characters but this one is a closed-door romance so be warned if that's not your thing. Recommended for fans of stories like For butter or worse or The romance recipe. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

“Finn Rimes was the flip side to her coin. She hated that.”
— 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙐𝙥 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚, Chandra Blumberg

I recently listened to 𝘿𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙐𝙥 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 and was intrigued enough by Simone’s character to want to read this one as well. Unfortunately for me it fell a little flat.

I should be obsessed with this, as it was the recipe for the makings of my favorite types of books. Rivals to lovers? Forced proximity? Road trip? Small town romance? It should’ve been perfection, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

I didn’t connect with either of the two MCs. Simone willingly took her sister’s spot as owner of Honey and Hickory but when people offered to help her, she pushed them away. And Finn did the same exact thing. Finn’s backstory is a sympathetic one but instead of being strong in the face of all the adversity he faced, it seemed to me he just used it as an excuse to continue with his woe-is-me attitude.

All said, this just was not the book for me.

Simone and Finn own rival businesses that make barbecue sauce. After a tense meeting at the local farmers market, both win places on The Executives, a Dragon's Den-style reality show where they find themselves competing for funding, with an outcome neither one expected.

I found the start a little slow, but once it really got going I loved the enemies-to-lovers aspect of this story. The taping of The Executives was incendiary (if a teensy bit far-fetched) and I really enjoyed their (often) flirty banter throughout. I think my favourite part was the road trip (no spoilers). I really grew to love both characters, especially when they were in the cabin. Finn's story about his tattoos made me sob. And while trust and communication aren't either of their best attributes, I appreciated the way both characters began to understand how alike they actually were, and their growing admiration of one another was sweet.

Just like Finn's sauce, this story had layers of flavour, from tangy Simone to sweet Finn, and just a hint of fire (although I would have loved a tiny bit more spice, given the amount of flirting 😉). My first book by Chandra Blumberg, I would happily read more.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥 🔥
Emotional Rating: 💓🙈😬💔😢😍🥰

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

**UPDATED REVIEW**

Simone Blake wants nothing more than to see the family BBQ restaurant succeed now that she’s taken over for her grandfather. Finn Rimes sells his homemade BBQ sauce to fund his dream of teaching others to cook. Simone and Finn meet at the local farmer’s market and battle ensues. Six months later they find themselves needing to work together after they both compete for cash on a reality TV show.

This rivals to lovers romance is full of humor and great banter. Simone just wants to do right by her loved ones while proving herself. The author does a great job developing her character through her journey and her family members. Finn is willing to do anything to see his dream come true but has no problem stepping up when others need his help. I really loved how warm and welcoming Simone’s family was toward Finn even though he was her “enemy”.

While this is the second book in the Taste of Love series, it can be read as a stand alone. I did go back and read the 1st book, Digging Up Love, after reading book 2 and enjoyed it just as much. I look forward to seeing if the author expands this series into any more books.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake!

I read the synopsis of this book and was excited, a barbeque war and a road trip…sign me up. Sadly, this book just didn’t work for me. I just could not connect with either character, I honestly didn’t find either one all the likeable and to me the “enemies” theme felt forced. In fact everything in this book felt forced. I struggled to read it, put it down several times, picked it up to try again, and put down again. Each time I tried to see the book and the characters with new and fresh eyes and I felt the same way every time. It pains me to rate a book this low especially one that sounded so good to me and I’m sure it will work for other readers, but for me it was a miss.

Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Stirring Up Love by Chandra Blumberg is a wonderful #ownvoices rom-com about entrepreneurship. The story revolves around Simone, who has come back to her hometown in Illinois to run her grandfather's barbecue restaurant. But Finn, a nearby chef has created his own barbecue sauce. Soon, it's the battle of the barbecue sauces, and it's playing out on TV. Both Simone and Finn are entering a Shark Tank-like reality competition!

Here is a hilarious excerpt from Chapter 1:

""Nautical blue? Nah." Her best friend, Chantal, used her fingertip to reveal the next set of colors. "Back in Chicago, with Lake Michigan nearby, maybe. But out here?" Her tone indicated just what she thought of the rural Illinois town. She tapped another hue on the swatch. "What you want here is cornflower blue."
Grinning, Simone shook her head. She'd missed joking around with Chantal. And nothing could dim her pride in the town's agriculture. Their corn fed the nation. Lake Michigan was picturesque but cold and forbidding half the time."

Overall, Stirring Up Love is an adorable rom-com that is like You've Got Mail meets Shark Tank. One highlight of this book is that it is an #ownvoices rom-com by a Black author. I think that there should be more rom-coms featuring People of Color, and I am so happy to support this author. Another highlight of this book is the intriguing premise. As a Shark Tank superfan, I was so interested to see a similar reality TV show premise incorporated into the plot. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of rom-coms, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in July!

The story revolves around culinary romance, close proximity (which I was not a fan of), and enemies-turned-lovers. There was something special about Finn Rimes as a character. As for Simone, I did not really care for her. She just felt no one believed in her and judged her as a result and it showed in how she treated Finn. As a result, I was unable to connect with her and the read wasn't as enjoyable.
As for their culinary dreams and taking part in a "Apprentice" type show, I really enjoyed them. In the end, I found the story to be redeeming.


Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for the ARC. This is an honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Stirring Up Love is the second book in Chandra Blumberg’ s Taste of Love series. It can be read as a stand-alone, although I do recommend the first one.
This one is just as fun as the first, really leaning into the food element with a lot of enticing descriptions of different dishes. It’s also quite fun and tropey, with a fairly well executed enemies-to-lovers dynamic.
Simone and Finn are both dedicated to the culinary field, and competition between them to build themselves in, locally initially and then on a bigger scale through a reality show, has them butting heads in a comical way. It could easily epically fail, but the simmering tension leads to them constantly crossing paths in ways they initially did not expect, like going on a cross-country road trip. I loved watching the two of them bond as they got to know each other, and reconsider whether their careers really were more important than each other.
There are some moments where the pacing feels a bit uneven, like the beginning takes a bit to get going and there were some moments where I felt it was a bit slow going in the middle. But given I had issues with the angst of the last book, I felt that there was a better balance of that here, with the characters having better reasoning for their concerns and higher stakes to challenge the relationship.
I enjoyed this one more than the first, and will continue reading Chandra Blumberg’s work to observe her growth as a writer. Whatever your thoughts on the first one, I recommend this to readers of food-centric contemporary romance.

I think this might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t love this one. I started it like five times and kept putting it down and then I just made myself push through it because I had an early reader copy.

I usually love an enemies to lovers romance! They are totally my jam. But I guess I really need to like both characters for it to work for me and this one fell flat. Simone and Finn were interesting characters, but I just couldn’t connect with them. They both pushed away help at every opportunity and even their sympathetic back stories didn’t sway me.

And, my least favorite form of conflict is miscommunication and it abounds in this book.

I didn’t love this one, but it could totally be a “me” thing.

A few of my favourite things, food, banter and sort of enemies to lovers trope make for an interesting read. 3 stars.

Thank you to the author, Montlake Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a classic enemies to lovers story, albeit with a few twists and - for me at least - one major drawback. The story is set in a small town, with the contrast to the big city, features a lot of food, two people each with their own vision, and an epic road trip. Not front and center, but an important part of the story are also family relationships - and the lack of them, as the case may be. I really wanted to like this, but felt put off by both main characters at every turn - they were both prickly AF and actively pushed away any offers of help or constructive criticism. The jump from local to the big-time was very abrupt, and the ending, while lovely, was too little too late for me.

Stirring Up Love is an enemies-to-lovers romance when main characters, Simone and Finn, compete over who has the best barbecue sauce at a farmer's market. They can't seem to get over their feud even when on a reality-show and are then forced to make the drive back home together.

I loved Simone as a main character and how determined she was to make her goals come true. Despite obstacles in the way, she was still determined to prove herself and achieve her dreams. I loved seeing Simone grow as a person. However, I was not a big fan of Finn. I found myself getting a bit annoyed by him, and I didn't really connect with him as a character. Still, I won't say their chemistry wasn't bad, per se. It was quite funny and entertaining in some scenes.

Secondly, I was not a fan of how much of the arguments in the book were due to miscommunication. It can be very irritating when it's a repeated trend and takes away from the reader experience.

In the end, it was an interesting premise, and it was great seeing the characters grow along the way.

This book was so wonderful! I might have struggled a little with Digging Up Love , but everything about this book won me over. There were so many great things and tropes and just the most amazing characters, it made me feel so much by the end. I can’t wait to see what else Chandra Blumberg has up her sleeve!

In Stirring Up Love you’ll find:
✨ an epic road trip
✨ rivals to lovers
✨ closed door romance
✨ but steamy kisses!
✨ forced proximity
✨ she takes care of him when he’s sick
✨ a whole lot of food
✨ a stubborn, passionate woman
✨ a charming, food obsessed man
✨ one hell of a romance

Simone and Finn were the perfectly matched opposites in this book. I loved their rivals to lovers relationship so much I almost never wanted that to end. Between the banter, the flirting and all of that sexual tension building, it was impossile not to love them together. I found myself laughing and tearing up and snorting at everything that they did and went through. While at times I felt like things were dragging, I found myself enjoying the book anyway. There was just so much ground to cover, so much to build up and such a great story to tell, it was all worth it.

“His real complaint was why the universe kept throwing him together with this sexy thunderstorm of a woman.”

These characters were also so well crafted, with depth and deeper personalities than I expected. By the end of the book, it felt like I knew Simone and Finn personally and were so deeply invested in their lives. Simone’s always out to prove something, because she feels like by leaving her hometown of Hawksburg, everyone forgot about her and moved on. Now that she’s back and is running her grandfather’s barbecue joint, she’s trying to make her mark in the town. I loved how determined she was and even when she was being difficult, I respected her for the choices she made and the reasons behind those choices. Simone wants to be more than just Wayne Blake’s granddaughter, she wants to be known for her job and taking over the barbecue restaurant, she wants to make a mark and she’ll do anything to get there. Unlike Simone, Finn doesn’t have a lot. He has his two friends—Darius and Bella—and he’s always on the move, with no steady roof over his head. Finn’s created a brand of delicious barbecue sauces that could make him a lot of money to pursue the one dream that he has. Finn was such a soft cinnamon roll hero. His heart, his soul and his humour totally won me over. I loved how he just said whatever was on his mind and didn’t hide the way he felt about Simone. Much like her, he also wants to make a mark after not having done much growing up. But it’s harder than he realised and Finn’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

When they end up on the same Shark Tank-esque show to find investors, the last thing they expect is to be put together on a life altering deal. They both have big dreams and by sharing the profits, they’re not really going to get where they want to go. Toss in a road trip from California to Illinois and you have the entire course of their relationship. I admired how insistent Simone was that she would not like Finn or even care for him or even give him any bit of the money, because she’s got to follow her dreams and be more. I loved that Finn didn’t care what Simone’s plans were, he derailed them unintentionally anyway. Their banter was so brilliant and Chandra did such a good job building that tension and frustration in both of them. I really enjoyed seeing Simone unravelled, because she was definitely the harder one to crack. Their connection and bond was palpable through the entire book and I found myself giggling quite a few times because it was so enjoyable.

But on the other side, their romance was so beautifully written too! I loved the way their kisses were described, how the desire and need they have for each other was presented. I loved how Finn saw Simone and vice versa and I admired their restraint even though every minute alone together seemed to almost tip them both into dangerous territories. There’s so many cute moments in this book that just made it so great and I can’t wait for more people to read and enjoy this story!

This was very cute, and a sweet enemies to lovers romance! I read Digging Up Love, the first in the series, just a few months ago, so I got the background on the family and Simone's sister Alisha, and the family restaurant. This book is about Simone as she takes over the family BBQ restaurant and starts to make it her own, as well as her helping to plan Alisha's wedding and bachelorette party.

One of Simone's big plans to make the restaurant her own is to start selling some of the restaurant's offerings at the local farmer's market, which is where she first meets Finn, who's friend has snagged him a last-minute booth to be able to sell his BBQ sauce. Finn is a chef hoping to start selling his sauce and get it into stores, but needs to find a market to begin to grow. His friend has also so helpfully signed him up for a reality TV show, The Executives (think Shark Tank or Dragon's Den), where he has a chance of getting a huge boost from a financial backer for his intended BBQ sauce business as well as a culinary school he hopes to open.

The moment that Simone discovers an out-of-towner infringing on her farmer's market to sell the same exact item, she and Finn clash ... and suddenly, the great idea she had to sign up for The Executives to get a big financial boost and expand the family BBQ restaurant? Suddenly Finn is there, too! She just can't get away from this guy that seems to be everywhere, trying to take away her business.

This is a laugh-out-loud enemies to lovers, very food focused, road trip, and a great time romance that I think absolutely everybody will enjoy, so I recommend it for everyone - especially anyone who read the first book and loved it (not necessary to read it first). It's a great mixed race couple story, who have a lot of misunderstandings but with a road trip across the country, get a lot of time to discuss their lives and learn a lot about each other and why they do what they do, and why they want to get The Executives financial backing.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Montlake, and this is my honest feedback