Calling all foodies! This is the perfect romance for any food loving readers!

Julie Zimmerman is an executive assistant by day and an up-and-coming social media foodie influencer by night. When she misses out on a dream job, Julie is crushed. She's even more upset about losing the job to Bennett, who's mom is friends with the editor. Convinced that Bennett got the job not based on merit, Julie gives him a piece of her mind when she runs into him at a food festival. When the video of Julie telling Bennett off goes viral, the two decide to take advantage of the attention and team up to do food reviews together.

While I enjoyed Bennett and Julie together, their romance was a slow burn and not one of my favorites. There was some great humor between the two and the plot of them being rival food editors was fun. However, the romance wasn't very memorable, and Julie's character seemed a bit immature for me. The food though in this book! It's the food depictions that really shone for me and had my mouth watering. Elliot makes you feel that you're at every restaurant with our main characters, and while I came for a romance book, I stayed for the food. Too bad I couldn't eat along with them.

Overall, Best Served Hot is a cute and easy read that is guaranteed to make you hungry. Rom-com wise it's fine. I don't regret reading the book, but it won't be one that sticks with me.


Best Served Hot is out now. Huge thank you to Berkley Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.  If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was well paced and the characters felt fully developed. I would recommend this book to others and am looking forward to other works by this author.

Unfortunately, Best Served Hot did not appease my appetite for a fun, romantic comedy. It’s me. I’ll admit it. But, it just may be the book for you. I just could not get into the premise of the story. I’m not a foodie and just don’t buy into how one person’s opinion could influence so many people.

Please don’t get me wrong. The book was very well written if not overly descriptive. And, I think that may have been part of my problem with the story. The descriptions of the food were very detailed to the point where I felt the book read like a cookbook instead of a romance. And, that’s a foodie thing but not a romance reader thing. I know, my opinion.

But, Amanda Elliot built her characters so you understood why they were in the Food Reviewing business. You understood their love for all things food and their quirks. The story also flowed … from one restaurant to another … and from the Central Park Food Festival to online praises. The characters were all interesting and the banter between all of them was entertaining.

The narrator, Anna Caputo, did a fabulous job narrating the story. She captured the tone and characters perfectly. I definitely recommend the audio!!

The food descriptions are absolutely amazing. Don't read hungry! 😋

This is a rivals to lovers story of two good critics. Bennett is from the upper class and lands a job as a food critic for an established paper. Julie is not from the upper class and is a food blogger. She also has a day job to pay for her meals. Julie and Bennett come at food and restaurant reviews form different angles. What could they possibly have in common? Maybe their passionate love of food?

They have a run in that is filmed and goes viral leading to a collaboration of sorts. I enjoyed being on the journey as they get to know each other. There is some commentary on classism as well as some derogatory attitudes towards women on the tech industry. All is handled realistically and well. Julie's best friend is wonderful as are the rest of the characters (some you might love to hate). I appreciated Julie working through some miscommunication- it was there and she tried to be aware of it and question what was going on. It felt real.

This was a fun foodie romance!

A romantic delicacy: this slow-burn enemies to lovers rom-com serves an entertaining tale of two food critics crossing paths as tension boils, spice rises, and chemistry cooks between them. Despite the predictability, delicious descriptions and a constant tensity makes it a quick read that holds attention. Also, the exploration of social media impact as well as passion-driven careers is a strong aspect.

Thank you Berkley, Netgalley, PRHAudio for the complimentary copies of Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot.

In the foodie romance Best Served Hot, social media influencer/ restaurant reviewer, Julie Zimmerman applies for her dream career as a food critic at a well-known newspaper in New York but is sadly rejected. Devastated that she doesn’t get the opportunity to interview for the job, Julie decides to meet the new newspaper food critic Bennett Wright at a local food festival. She takes her best friend Alice and her 50K followers along for the impromptu meeting. An intense competition between Julie and Bennett begins.

Bennett is Julie’s opposite in the food world. He thinks very little of social media and has no problem telling Julie how he feels about it. While they don’t have much in common, they both share a passion for food!

If you are a foodie, you need to check out Best Served Hot! This is such a fun book! 😍

I recommend listening to the audiobook while cooking, because the dishes described in this book are absolutely mouthwatering 🤤 I was so hungry! 🧑‍🍳

Read if you like:
Enemies to lovers
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Slow Burn 🔥

Enjoyable but not nearly as much as her first book. I just wasn't nearly as invested in the characters this time around.

Still a fun read, but nothing memorable.

This was such a cute romcom! I loved that it had so much food chatter, and especially mimicked places in NYC. I also loved the Jewish MC and am really happy to continue to read more Jewish rep in romances!

Best Served Hot pits a digital food reviewer against a traditional print media reviewer. Add in the fact that they're rivals who have to work together and are both super hot, and you have fireworks.

My only warning is to not read this book when you're hungry.

Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot tells the story of Julie Zimmerman, a foodie social media influencer who goes to restaurants all over New York City and reviews them for her thousands of followers. Unfortunately, she also has to work a day job where she is the assistant to the very rich Mr. Decker. She wishes she could be a food reviewer full-time.

And she has a potential job in the works to be a full-time reviewer for Scroll but when they announce the new hire, it’s not her. It’s some guy named Bennett Richard Macalester Wright. He’s a rich, privileged dude and she immediately hates him.

That hate quickly shows itself when she sees him at the Central Park Food Festival. The two of them get into a huge shouting match. Julie’s friend Alice gets a video of it and Julie ends up posting it on her account. To say it becomes viral would be an understatement.

It becomes so popular that Bennett’s employer wants the two of them to review restaurants together and get both of their points of view. And the views that Julie brings in don’t hurt them either...

I enjoyed reading Amanda Elliot's sophomore novel, Best Served Hot.

Julie is an assistant by day and food critic by night. Totaling over fifty thousand viewers, she gives humorous criticism to restaurants and food festivals. But what she really wants is to be a food critic with The New York Scroll. Julie is turned down and job given to her enemy: well known Bennett Richard Macalester Wright.

Quickly, Julie tries to our best Bennett in food reviews and viewer counts. But with food that is best served hot, anything can happen.

Amanda Elliot's Best Served Hot is a novel for those that love food. With multiple meal descriptions, this is a book you will NOT want to read when hungry! While I enjoyed the enemies to lovers setup, I was more invested in the side characters and the way their storylines would play out. I wouldn't be opposed to getting an Alice novel next.

Thank you Berkley Romance for my earc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Food! Food! I really recommend having something you love eating whole reading this because you have some mouth watering descriptions coming up (specially if you are non vegetarian).

Julie is an assistant and a food blogger, social media influencer in her free time. She is good and I liked her except time or two where she makes stupid decisions.

Benett is a food/restaurant critic at a major newspaper. Julie also applied for this role but lost to him and they start at a wrong foot at the good festival. They were kiddish, fighting and arguing. Here we get our enemies to lovers with a slow burn.

Again the food descriptions are irresistible. I liked how the author has included various topics like sexism, class etc. The secondary characters were amazing specially Emerson Leigh. The writing and story was creative. The humour was good.

I would recommend this book to all the romcom and food lovers.

THIS BOOOK! It was so cozy and cute. I loved their relationship from the beginning, and the concept was so different and yet so well done. Seeing them fall in love was the sweetest - I loved this so much!

This seems to be the month for foodie romance for me, and I can't seem to get enough! I got my fill of delicious, mouth watering food descriptions, and was living it up vicariously in the NYC backdrop, which I loved.

BEST SERVED HOT features a slow burn enemies to lovers trope, as Julie, a popular food influencer, dreams of working as a food critic at a newspaper. Tension boils over as Julie crosses paths with Bennett, the rival who has filled the position of her dream job, and I adored their chemistry.

There were also a diverse cast of characters that I enjoyed even as much as the MCs, and loved their interactions. I guarantee that you will want to have reading snacks handy while reading because of the yummy foods mentioned.

*many thanks to Berkley Romance/netgalley for the gifted copy for review

as a food lover and romcom connoisseur, i was really wanting to love this book but i felt that it fell short in creating characters that were engaging. I will be giving this book a reread before posting a review on goodreads later in the year.

Get ready for this cute Rom-Com that I think will definitely hit home with influencers and foodies. Julie and Bennett’s enemies to lovers, workplace romance is sure to have you turning the pages for more of their witty banter. It’s a fun read and definitely had me wanting all the food! 🤤

Best Served Hot features the enemies-to-lovers trope so if you’re a fan of that and food, this book is for you. I liked that this book was more than just romance. Julie faces a lot of challenges with her job and boss, which is relatable to a lot of people. The romance seemed secondary to her figuring her stuff out, so I appreciated that aspect.

However, I didn’t really like the main character, Julie. I found her to be a bit immature and judgemental so I had a hard time rooting for her. Though, I did like the secondary characters and kind of wish we saw more about them. All in all, it’s a cute romance to curl up with.

Ugh okay this seriously lacked character development for me. I feel like there was just not enough page time for the romance to be fully developed and I just wasn't super into it. I can see how it was meant to be an enemies to lovers type story, but with the lack of development, it just felt forced and childish to me. The second hand embarrassment was all too real with this one. Yeah idk. Overall it was pretty average for me I it did make me hungry though, thats for sure

This one left me perpetually hungry. A rom com about a food reviewer and a food blogger, well on Instagram. But I never forgot the moment where Julie makes ketchup fried rice and acts like that is a foodie thing. But all the rest of the food descriptions had me drooling and wondering what I could eat in my kitchen that would not be blah.

I really liked Julie’s friends and liked how they were always there for each other. I probably liked them more than I liked Julie. She wasn’t always shown in the best light, but I did root for her and Bennett to figure things out. And I loved how their enemies, or maybe rivals is a better description, to lovers developed. I liked the food angle and how Julie had to balance her paying job with her passion.

I enjoyed this delightful enemies-to-lovers story about two restaurant critics who find their happily ever after. I liked the foodie social media content and that there was some discussion about class issues. Plus, if you have read Sadie on a Plate, Chef Sadie gets a little mention in this book.

Read if you like:
*Enemies to lovers
*NYC setting
*Foodie content