I love Jewish rep in romcoms, and I love the interest in food and New York City, etc. But I struggled to care about the heroine and the romance and I couldn't make it through this one.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

Quick Thoughts:
- Mouthwatering descriptions of food.
- A romance that has no sizzle.
- Immature female protagonist.

Review:
I loved Amanda Elliott’s debut novel Sadie on a Plate and was excited to receive an ARC of her sophomore novel. However, I am sad to say the book fell far short of my expectations.

While I thought the novel had a solid premise, the execution left much to be desired. The romance (ostensibly what the entire book is about) seemed to pop out of nowhere. There was no build up and no tension in the plot nor the relationship. It is almost impossible to pinpoint the Best Served Hot’s climax, since so little rising action and falling action were included.

I would have been happy even if the romance left me wanting if the characters and the remaining plot impressed. However, readers are never really given the opportunity know the protagonists. Neither we were as much fully formed people as they were silhouettes. This made it hard to cheer for anyone or care about the story’s outcome.
Overall, I am hoping that Best Served Hot is a case of sophomore slumps, and Elliott will get her romance groove back.

Food, rom-com, enemies to lovers -- I mean, what else could you ask for? I loved every single bit of it!

This was a DNF for me. I couldn't get into it. I hated the characters. I really wanted to love it. Again, DNF.

Wow I read this book a WHILE ago, I just missed reviewing on here somehow. But this book was really adorable!

Food, food critics, enemies to lovers- all are a recipe for this fun romcom. It did make me hungry but worth it to see these two great characters get together and join forces and lives!

There's nothing particularly special about this story, but it's a sweet, fast read that delivers exactly what it promises: a cute love story in the rivals-to-lovers vein.

In this era of influencers, Julie Z is just trying to make people take her seriously as a food reviewer in social media. Too bad a misunderstanding with young newspaper caterer Bennet lands her on a very public blow up.

Forced to make amends with her enemy, Julie teams up with Bennet to review NYC tastiest plates. But of course two young people in romantic settings calls for the tik tok sound… *bound to fall in looooove*

Honestly guys, this should have gone a lot better for me. I am a sucker for enemies to lovers energy. But ugh, I just was so frustrated by our main characters, Julie specially since I found her to be unreasonable many times. I mean I am all up for strong heroines but she just kept being mean. And Bennet was just very blah. I think I only remember one thing about him and it was a super cute story about being a kid and realizing he had a calling in food tasting.

I also had a hard time finishing cause the story felt a little dragged on for me. It could have been shorter and to the point and I probably would have thought it was cute.

Anyway, I did end up finishing. And I liked the end, and the epilogue; cute and to the point. Also, all the food descriptions were also most excellent, but if I wanted some excellent food descriptions I would just read Anthony Bourdain (RIP).

While the descriptions of tasty meals are hot and steamy, the romance itself fell a little flat. The characters seemed to love the food they were eating, but if only it felt like they had that same passion for each other.

Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot is a contemporary enemies to lovers story that will leave you hungry for more. The characters are well-developed in this character-driven novel and the plot is witty and fun. If you enjoy a great contemporary that has lots of banter and mouth-watering food descriptions, then this is one to try. I highly recommend it!

This just didn't land for me. I really did not like the leading leading lady - she just irked me for some reason and I had to DNF.

What drew us to this book is the food setting. Who doesn’t want romance amid delicious food? FMC Julie is a social media food critic with dreams of becoming a big name in the food world. When a disastrous not-so-cute meet cute, crashes her world into that of MMC Bennett, the new food critic for The New York Scroll, a new vs old school fight ensues hoping to benefit both parties and their food critique modality. Of course, spending so much time together makes things complicated, especially when the hate facade starts fading for something much closer to love.

Here’s what we loved:
Food scene
Adorable grumpy MMC
Behind the scenes of a food critic

Here’s what we didn’t love:
Read kind of shallow
FMC had big blind spots
Classism

Overall, we recommend this read! It’s a foodie romcom and it’s a good time. Just don’t bump it up the TBR at the expense of anything you're dying to read.

BEST SERVED HOT
By Amanda Elliot

A foodies dream and delight

I love reading a book about Instagram influencers and in BEST SERVED HOT by Amanda Elliot, it’s about Julie who is a food influencer with a dream of one day becoming a food critic. I personally follow a lot of food influencers and the way they make food or a restaurant seem so appetizing, is a winner for me, and I jus enjoyed reading about that side of the gram. Julie and Bennett could not be more different from each other, from their backgrounds, financially and socially, but their love for food is one thing that unites them both, in this enemies to lovers story. I found this book so enjoyable to read, and I definitely will re-read this one on audio – hear amazing reviews on it.

This gorgeous cover 🤩🤩
Love the story!!!!

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

This romance is so full of descriptions of food that I felt like I was reading a love story to edible dishes rather than people. That is the basis of the book since the two main characters are both in the culinary world, but it seemed excessive and distracting to me. I like good food, but I'm not a foodie so perhaps this love letter to delicious cuisine is better suited to readers that enjoy that aspect.

Julie is a social media restaurant reviewer with goals of being a restaurant critic at a major newspaper. Learning that Bennett snagged her dream job, Julie confronts him…and goes viral. The two agree to team up to further grow their followings.

This was a fun read! I wouldn’t say I’m a foodie, but if you are, I think you’d really like this! (Also, I liked Sadie on a Plate slightly more - but there is a Sadie cameo in this!)

I really loved the concept of this rivals-to-lovers story, and there was a lot of potential here, but it ultimately fell short for me because of how immature, petty, and cringey the FMC was. Her hate for the MMC stems from her belief that he's judgemental and thinks he's better than everyone, but she has all of those same traits and behaves even worse than he does. Ultimately she just felt very unrelatable to me and was the most unlikeable character in her own story. All of the sassy girlboss moments we're supposed to be rooting for her fell flat because they just felt extremely immature and disproportionate response.

Best Served Hot is a new romance novel following two food critics, Julie - who is an up and coming food blogger capturing the more adventurous side of food reviews with her small businesses, diners, and exotic palette in comparison to Bennett, the "society boy" who (little known to him) snagged her dream job.

I think this book does a good job of building up the interest between the characters, I believed the tension between the two and the undeniable build up of feelings. However, I do feel at times that Julie's character was *too* focused on the Bennett being rich thing. This character holds a grudge like no other for something that wasn't really in her or his control in the first place.

The inevitable conflict between our two characters during their romance was a bit predictable. I'm getting slightly tired of the trope where people storm out of the relationship before even finding out the other person's side/hearing the other person out. (There is of course a time and place for that, but this time and place didn't feel as appropriate).


Overall, if you enjoy high stakes/comedy/romance and food - I think you'd enjoy this book!

This was just such a cute foodie romance book. I absolutely adore Amanda Elliots writing style, and love how she incorporates mouth watering food and recipes into her stories. I loved her first book, and I absolutely adored her second book. She just has a way of writing characters who I love individually but even more together. Overall, I absolutely adored this book and it definitely made me wish I could eat the food described.