Love on the Menu
by Mimi Deb
Pub Date 13 Apr 2023
Avon Books UK, Avon
Romance | Women's Fiction

Mimi Deb's Love on the Menu revolves around Gia, an insecure woman who makes a personal inventory of things she would like to do to improve herself. However, she loses the list when it sticks to the bottom of a takeout container that is returned to the restaurant. Ben (the restaurant's employee) begins communicating with Gia via notes whenever she places a takeout order. Will it lead to love?

There are a lot of cute, heartwarming moments in Love on the Menu. Several of the scenes are funny and relatable. The large number of characters makes it a bit challenging to keep up with, but the book has wonderful potential and I look forward to reading more from Mimi Deb.

Thank you NetGalley, and Avon Books U.K., for sharing this book with me. Your kindness is appreciated.

Generic, spoiler free review:
2.5 stars but I want to give it 3 because I think it has potential. I wanted to start off that I think that this book had a really good turning point and I love the last page so very much. However, the beginning was really bad. It was too much information in one place, and it was very awkwardly written, in both Gia's and Ben's POV. Also, does Gia have a last name? I came to this realization after Gia called Ben by his whole name. Additionally, since Gia is an Indian immigrant, I was very surprised that the only reference to her background was cuisine (the Indian food from the takeout and the turmeric latte shots). I wanted to give up this book after reading the first two chapters but persisted because I realized the author was a south Asian immigrant and I wanted to give them a chance. Also, it was weird that although they were exchanging notes with each other, Gia was not really thinking about Ben in her POVs until maybe halfway through the book, but Ben was thinking about Gia. I would have expected a little bit of thought from gia about those notes, but it makes sense if she was not thinking that much because she had a lot of stuff to deal with.

More detailed review (includes spoilers!)
I did enjoy the middle part, but I find that the part about Matt really drags on the story when it felt like it should have ended after her race. The Matt backstory felt unnecessary, but I understand why it was there. I do wish it was delivered differently, like if Matt visited her at her race rather than her traveling to the wedding. Also, going back to her South Asian roots, I was really hoping she would wear a cultural piece but she wore a shorts suit.. even though her mother was wearing a kurtha... It made sense since she was the best man, but I would have loved it even more if it was a cultural piece and it kind of explained how her current style was influence by the bold colours and fashion choices that are present in south asian culture. Additionally, I do not like Ben. He did not really have redemption like I thought he would have, especially after his comment about Eric. I am a first-generation South Asian person and I would not have let that comment slide after hearing how nonchalantly Ben delivered it and did not seem to readdress it back to Gia.

This book definitely has potential. I was eating it up during the middle, but it is a shame that it just fell very flat near the end.

Loved the concept, not so much the actual book.

The characters are hard to hope for - Ben is a recovering alcoholic that has let one dumb, drunk event ruin his whole life and can't hold a job, except for the takeaway. Gia should be a recovering alcoholic, she hasn't gotten that far - but she also has one dumb, drunk event that effects her life. The story is way too drawn out, not as interesting as I wanted it to be and the secondary characters aren't very supportive either. And it's kind of creepy how in the end, most of them seemed connected and trying to run Gia's life behind her back.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I really liked the premise, but I did not completely like the way the story evolved. I liked its unconventional main characters, the notes exchange between Gia and Ben, and the brave way in which the author dealt with seriuous themes such as addiction and racism. What I did not like was the very slow pacing of the story, the lack of interaction between Gia and Ben (especially after their first problematic encounter), and the miscommunication between Gia and her boss. Finally, in my opinion, there were too many secondary characters and it wasn’t always easy for me to follow their stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This definitely has promise but it needs a little more help before being published! There were formatting issues that made it difficult to read.

Upon seeing the cover, I was immediately enticed to read this book, particularly since it's February and the subject matter of love is particularly fitting for the month. However, upon finishing it, I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. While I didn't dislike it, I didn't quite connect with the overall mood of the book.

A significant portion of the book (around 60%) is dedicated to office-related dialogues and gossip, which, unfortunately, isn't really my cup of tea. The remaining 15% consists of an ongoing exchange of letters between the two main characters, while the last 15% delves into the other aspects of their lives. I can envision this story being adapted into one of those sweet, feel-good movies, but in terms of reading, it was a bit slow and, to be honest, rather dull.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and provide my honest feedback about this book.

I enjoyed the book, it was cheesy, fun and cute. I read the bulk of it within 3 days, and read over 200 pages in one day - definitely an easy reader that kept me engaged and wanting to read more. I’m sucker for romance, and this hit me in all the right places.

It felt like there was a lot going on at times for the characters, but the fast pace of the book and writing style kept me on track and I was itching to see how it would turn out and for our main characters. I really liked the concept of this book and how they came to know each other through letters delivered with a takeaway delivery - it was sweet.

“Mood is nothing but a state of mind.”

The idea of a fantastic foodie and romance novel to read on Valentine’s Day was what initially had me excited to read this one! The premise of an Indian woman, an immigrant to London, trying to balance life, love and work and forging an unlikely bond with a restaurant manager over home deliveries sounded unique. I’m also a big supporter of debut authors.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.

The writing style, pacing, and character development were the biggest disappointment and ultimately caused me to lose interest. To a lesser extent the extensive supporting cast, the need for editing, the lack of transition cues, and the lengthy epistolary pieces added to my frustration. I wanted to see more of Gia’s background and Indian family dynamics, less of their sexual escapades. I wanted more from Ben and Gia; give me a reason to root for them. I wanted a rom-com, not a depressed girl who ruins everything by getting drunk.

I applaud the author for the multiple POVs, Ben’s character, and a unique protagonist. I enjoyed the theme of dealing with the past in order to move on with the present, and I was curious to see how it all ended.

Unfortunately, these positives weren’t enough to make this a book I’d recommend to others.

Please familiarize yourself with other reviews before using my opinion to decide if you want to read this book. This author won an award for this story.

I was gifted this copy by Avon Books UK and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

This one was just ok for me. The story line was pretty basic and generic and not really memorable. The front cover was very pretty though.

This was a book that had a great premise but sadly the execution was just average. I liked the new year's resolution idea. The characters were unlikeable but I could handle that. The story pacing was off and the romance in general didn't feel natural to me so it ended up being an okay read for me.

I found Love on the Menu difficult to get into. It was past the halfway mark before I began to enjoy it and feel invested in the characters.

An enjoyable, easy to read book. Thanks for the opportunity to read & review this book. Will look out for more by this author.

Nope nope nope and definitely nope. I'm done. None of the characters are neither good or interesting. The writing style, characters, and world-building were not interesting or promising, or engaging. The cover was nice. I'm really disappointed. Because the synopsis was really intriguing. I wonder why this book has so many pages. Oh, well, I'm definitely not gonna force myself to read books I know I'm not going to enjoy.

⫷ The ARC copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Avon Books UK in exchange for an honest review ⫸

After a disastrous holiday party for work, Gia creates a resolution list. However, after receiving takeout, it gets stuck to the delivery bag and ends up back at the restaurant. Ben finds it and begins writing to Gia, which begins their correspondences. They use these notes to get to know each other, falling in love one note at a time.

Initially, I looked forward to reading this book. I really liked the basic premise of the plot. The epistolary elements of the story is where the book shined. I also surprisingly enjoyed Ben’s soccer team, especially all his motivational speeches to the boys. Also the SO-BAR was a cool concept that I could definitely see opening in real life.

However, the writing was difficult for me to get through. The pacing was off throughout the story, with events that felt kind of thrown in there for virtually no reason at all. I struggled to keep up with what was going on at times. Transitions between chapters felt weak at best. The story dragged a lot of the time. I feel like so much of it could have been cut and it would have helped with the pacing issues. Frustratingly, some characters weren’t properly introduced so I kept trying to figure out who they were. In particular, I couldn’t keep Gia’s coworkers or Ben’s siblings straight. I also did not quite understand what Gia even did for work. Her whole job really confused me. Further, the boss storyline with Gia and Juliet felt odd and confusing. I still don’t quite know what to make of it. Finally, the family and friend dynamics felt stilted. At times, Gia’s mom was too much, and Jay really did not feel like an actual friend. I also did not quite understand Ben’s family relationships, specifically sibling to parent. It just felt all over the map. This book simply was not for me.

Thank you Avon Books UK for the advanced reader copy!

The story had a great premises. But unfortunately, it fell short when it came to pacing. I initially DNF'd around the 55% mark. And then I picked it back up to skim the rest of the book. I did like the main FMC, Gia. And I appreciate the dual POV. But it was incredibly hard for me to keep track of the other characters.

This was cute and I was intrigued at the beginning, but I found it hard to follow at times. The Kindle formatting was off in places, which maybe why I found it harder to read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks to netgalley for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, it was a DNF for me after 40%. I tried and tried and I just couldn't get in to the book. The flitting between 2 people is usually OK for me, but the way the story was written made it really hard to follow. The way the writer skipped between people talking in each section without stating who was talking made for difficult reading. Sometimes a conversation was going on with 3 people and you couldn't make out who was saying what. There was also a huge amount of characters in the story who just didn't need to be there.
The description made me want to read this story, but unfortunately it just wasn't as good as I thought it would be.
Also, and not sure if this was just my kindle copy, but there was a lot of text with spelling mistakes, grammar issues and no spaces between several words which didn't help at all.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Gia decided to live in London for a job. While in London, she orders from the restaurant where she learns more about Ben. This book lagged at times.

This is one of those books with a fun premise that draws you in but unfortunately the actual story is not worth the read. I liked the opening where we find Gia comically hiding from her snobby co workers but then she very quickly gets drunk and is rude to her only friend. For reasons unknown the author keeps talking about the sex lives of both Gia and Sam’s parents which is just unnecessary. The author went off on far too many tangents to hold my interest. We first meet Sam’s siblings all at once so I had no idea who was who and later we follow him to a youth soccer practice he coaches and it went on in far too much detail. It was chore to keep reading in hopes it would get better so I’m giving up a little more than a third of the way in. This reads like a draft in need of a lot of editing. Sam seems like the more likeable of the characters but there was not enough focusing on why we should care about either of them. If there’s romance here I never saw it. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Another great romance book! I really enjoyed reading this and I hope to many more Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this title.