This Advance Readers Copy was sent to me for free through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review so all my opinions are my my own.
Taco Bout Love by Lily Kate is about Chloe Brown, who rolls into the small town of Fantasie, Maine after leaving NYC to open up a taco truck. She quickly meets Lucas Donovan after she parks in his CEO reserved parking space and right off the bat, there’s tension between the two.
Fantasie is a small town and Chloe meets what seems like the rest of Lucas’ extended family that night at dinner. Within the next day, Chloe is setting up repairs for her truck, picking tulips with the local florist and then getting herself into more trouble. All the while, Lucas is driving himself crazy finding any excuse to see her.
I wish I could tell you more about this book but I stopped reading about 40% of the way in. Everything up to that point had taken place in two days and the pacing was incredibly weird to me. Lucas was head over heels obsessed with Chloe and I wasn’t understanding why because not much between them was developed in those two days. Within tao days, Chloe knew everyone in town, was pretty much besties with one of the other characters, and had Lucas dying to touch her. It just felt like the plot wasn’t going anywhere and was also too dramatic for my liking so I DNF’d it. Some of the character in the town felt likable but the two main characters weren’t doing much for me either and theres something about when an author has to emphasize how tiny the woman is and how tall and fit the man is that just makes me disconnect from the narrative entirely. Not my cup of tea but i’m sure there are many people who would enjoy this more than me.

An interesting plot, but with many stretched scenes. My first impression was - cool! A food truck, small town and a cute Lovestory - but after the first chapters I recognized that these chapters are long. Sometimes I have to pause the reading, because the feeling of „I want to read this!“ was missing. Chloe and Lucas were a cute couple, but in my opinion, the way to their lovestory was long. The members of Fantasie were absolutely adorable, but also here I thought it was too cozy, too „good to be true“. The idea of her food truck should have been a main point of story, but in the way it got a little bit lost. The drama in the last chapters were a good point changer, but all in all - it was hard to stay focused, although the town and the characters were cute. But that was it.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lily Kate, and LK Publishing for providing me with an ARC of Taco Bout Love. I found this book comical, heartbreaking, touching, and an overall fantastic read. I would 100% recommend this book to my fellow book readers.

A book that references my most favourite food in the world?! I’m in! I absolutely devoured (pun intended) this book right from the get-go; the grumpy/sunshine/forced proximity trope is one of the best and just between you and me, Lucas may or may not have made his way up to the top of my book boyfriends list. I loved the dual POV from both Lucas and Chloe; I felt it gave great insight into the perspective of both characters, as Lucas was the first to fall, with Chloe taking a little longer too let herself. The characters personalities all warmed my heart, and the tight knit small town of Fantasie, Maine became a place that I wished I could visit. I adored this spicy romance and if you love a small town rom-com, then I think you will too.

This book sounded cute and the cover adorable: A former New York chef, Chloe Brown, leaving the big city and starting fresh in her beat up food truck. She ends up in a small town named Fantasie (seriously..?!) and meets the locals who take her in. She also meets Lucas Donovan, the grumpy but handsome lawyer of town. It's a grumpy-to sunshine trope. The book got off to a slow start and was so cringy with the conversation between them and his actions toward her. He 'growled' and told everyone to backoff as she was 'his', numerous hard to control 'hard ons' LOL. And she still questioned if he was attracted to her or not. Weird situations happened (she almost runs down a local psychic who was walking in the middle of the road, domestic violence couple) and everything felt forced. TBH I skimmed the latter half of the book. I wanted to see how it all ended; I'm glad I didn't spend the time to read it all. Meh. It was superspicy but just a 'no' from me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Taco Bout Love is a sweet, fun, and entertaining small town romance with plenty of charm.

Chloe is looking to start over and what better place than the small town of Fantasie. She only plans to stay long enough to get her food truck business up and running. What she doesn't count on is meeting Lucas. There is an instant connection between them, and Lucas is all in from their first meeting. I loved how supportive and thoughtful he was.

If you love your romance with a dash of humor, spice, and a town full of interesting characters, you need to read this book!

The following review was posted on my blog yesterday, on Thursday, February 16th, two days after publication. It will not be shared on Instagram as to not push out low-rating reviews, but has already been posted on Goodreads. The blog post includes links to order the books and to its Goodreads page, so readers can add it to their to-be-read books.





Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 3 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses unhealthy relationships, domestic abuse, miscarriages, death of parents, and emotional abuse. Contains explicit sexual content.

“Taco Bout Love” is told through two points of view: Chloe’s and Lucas’s. Chloe has just arrived to Fantasie, a small town in Maine, when her food truck lowkey dies on a parking spot. That parking spot is Lucas’s and for some reason it really bugged him. And so this story starts, with strangers turning to enemies and then, perhaps, turning into something more.

The male main character referred to the female main character as “petite and thin” the moment he saw her and that just isn’t my jam. I’m not for body shaming, but using those words to describe a complete stranger that you’re sexualizing just didn’t sit well with me.

In general the dialogue was a bit iffy and the spicy, sensual scenes just felt forced. This is an entertaining read if you’re looking for a fast-paced, steamy romance that takes place in a small-town setting, yet I can’t help but feel that everything about this book is simply forgettable.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and LK Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: February 14, 2023

Taco about Love was my first book by Lily Kate and I absolutely loved it. It was a fast paced, spicy, romantic comedy that caught my interest from the moment Chloe rolled into Fantasie in her purple hunk of junk. I thought both of the main characters were great. Chloe was messy, vulnerable, and honest about who she was and what she wanted as she was starting over in her life. Lucas was so emotionally in tune, a perfect mix of loving and possessive, in my opinion. Chloe and Lucas did end up a little too quickly in my opinion but everything else in the book made up for it, so it was easy to overlook. I also found the side characters interesting so I’m hoping that they get their own books that I’ll get to read in the future.

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

Overall this story was super cute.
I loved the idea of a town that really gets behind people and supports and loves in an unconditional way. It is towns that are depicted like this why people dream of living in a small town with quirky people.

Things I wish there was more of
I wanted more of Chloe's backstory. We got parts of it that explained why she was there and what happened but I found myself wanting a little more about her and her past.

Lucas.
He is a great guy but he annoyed me. He was weirdly possessive with Chloe that I found myself almost wanting her to end up with his brother. But I did love how much he looked out for everyone in the town.

Best parts.
LUCAS FAMILY!!! They are the best and I love them so much.
I want a Josie/Finn book so much!

Their relationship felt really fast and possessive at times but overall it was a cute book and a fast read

Rating: 3/5 ⭐️

Publication Date: February 14th 2023

Author: Lilly Kate

Review: To start, I am a sucker for books with covers like this I love they always pull me right in. This is a very very VERY slow burn and maybe I missed it but I was hoping it would be more intense but it wasn’t unless I missed something.. I was more wondering if we were going to have a brother thruple on our hands, but the town just small 😂. I always love hallmark movies when they have chefs in them so I knew I would like this one.

Just took a like while for me to really dive in but once you get your footing it’s great!

Reading 'Taco Bout Love' by Lily Kate was almost like watching a classic Christmas Hallmark movie, minus the Christmas aspect. It was warming, comforting & cute & felt like wrapping a cosy blanket around you (maybe one like Ruby would make in this book!).

But I also use the word 'almost' because it would have been a hella' spicy Hallmark film if so. It was saucy & sexy & downright dirty at points. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing!

This light-hearted story had me falling in love with the town of Fantasie & the people inhabiting it. Lily Kate does a great job at making you connect with the characters & want to give (most of) them a big hug. The only person I wasn't the biggest fan of (& please don't shoot me for this!) was Lucas himself; found some of his obsessive & possessive behaviours a little annoying & excessive. But hey, that's just me. The rest of the crew melted my heart though.

So if you’re into cheesy, but oh-so-charming, rom-coms that get the heart racing, 'Taco Bout Love' is definitely for you! & the dessert tacos sound ah-may-zing!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lily Kate & LK Publishing for allowing me to read & review the ARC of 'Taco Bout Love'; all views are honest & my own.

What a cute book! The story follows Chloe, a New Yorker into small town Maine. The story follows the enemies to lovers trope. All of the characters, story lines, and relationships really makes you feel like you’re in this small town, feeling the warmth and rooting for everyone. Can’t wait to hear more from Fantasie!

This was cute, funny, 3+star read. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would given the synopsis.

I won’t lie - I was a bit nervous when I immediately hated the writing style of the synopsis. It was all ellipses and cringey food similes that made me roll my eyes. However, neither the style nor the summary really translated to the book. Chloe wasn’t extra, Lucas wasn’t some manwhore with tons of past relationships with spicy women, and they weren’t really enemies-to-lovers/opposites attract. In fact, other than a few snarky comments, it was kind of a love at first sight thing if anything. It felt like they met and then all of the sudden it had been 3 weeks later and they were living together, eating together, hanging out every night and in love. But we didn’t get to see any of that, causing this to feel rushed. Even the spicy scenes were over in the blink of an eye and not really spicy at all (which is totally fine, if you don’t advertise your book as “spicy” on the cover).

However, despite not getting what I thought I was going to, I enjoyed this and would recommend to others. The town of Fantasie was giving me a Lucy Score Blue Moon vibe, which I loved! I hope to keep reading more from Lily Kate and finally find out what happened with Finn + Josie.

Thank you NetGalley, LK Publishing, and Lily Kate for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The synopsis of this book made it seem like this was going to be an enemies to lovers romance but I’d say it actually felt more like an instalove romance. Chloe leaves her life in New York with her food truck and ends up in the fictional, small town of Fantasie, Maine. The food truck isn’t in great shape and Chloe ends up parking it in Lucas’ designated spot which makes them temporary enemies. This book was on the longer side, especially for a contemporary romance and I think the pacing would have been better if it was about 75-100 pages shorter. There were some funny and cute moments throughout the story though!

Thank you to NetGalley and LK Publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Honestly I’m not really sure how I feel about this book, I’ve been trying to write this review for a week. Some parts I loved, like the whole small town community all coming together to help out a stranger and take her in as one of their own. But mostly I just didn’t really take to. I feel like the character developments really lacked… I honestly can’t remember if there was really a description of Chloe I can’t picture what she would look like. There was no real build up in their relationship was far too instalove for me especially when Lucas comes off very creepy in the first few chapters. I prefer more of a build up. And there was a plot in the story that just didn’t really add anything and felt like it was just added to bump up the page count.

I know a lot of people loved this so If you like lighthearted, cosy, fast paced rom-coms then this would be right up your street.

2.5 stars but rounded up to 3.

What a sweet treat of a book! Perfect rom-com to read at this lovey time of the year!

Chloe is a New York Chef who runs away from the restaurant she co-owns after a failed relationship. She sells everything in order to buy a (nearly)broken down truck with the hopes of starting a dessert taco food truck! Her truck stops at a small town called Fantasie, Maine – ending up in a private parking spot that belongs to the grumpy town attorney. Lucas is drawn to Chloe from the beginning and even though he comes across as a grouch, he is a big softy that does so much for his town. There is instant attraction but Chloe doesn't want to start anything new since she isn't sure how long she will be staying and Lucas doesn't want to start something that is only temporary. He does everything in his power to get her to stay.

I loved the small town feel and how everyone was so supportive of Chloe when she really needed it. I can see the DiMaggio family quickly becoming a favorite book family! I did feel like there were SO many characters to keep track of but I really did love most of them. I would be excited to read more books with these characters & town!

This book is FILLED with my favorite tropes
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Small Town Romance
Grumpy vs. Sunshine
Enemies to Lovers
Found Family

A few things that I didn’t like…
* Lucas was so possessive with Chloe in the beginning, to me that was a little cringy but after seeing what a good guy he really is, he quickly stole my heart.
* The way he had to call her “baby” in every conversation got under my skin.
* I always enjoy a good slow burn but once they crossed that line, it just seemed so rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley, LK Publishing and Lily Kate for the Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Chloe is wanting a new start. New town, new food truck business, she just wants to put the past behind her. Lucas has been living in the same town forever. When Chloe rolls in, he just knows his life is going to change. But things aren't easy. And Chloe is determined she is just passing through...

Valentine's Day always brings a lot of great romance releases. Taco Bout Love is one that I really enjoyed. Food and romcom's are my favourite mix! With a small town setting, great family and friends as supporting characters and the grumpy/sunshine trope in full force, this one was super cute.

The heroine arrives at Fantasie, Maine, in her dilapidated food truck and wanting a new start to her life. She meets the hero when she parks her food truck on his designated parking space. There is instant connection between them. As the heroine remains in the small town as her food truck is being fixed, she becomes immersed with the townspeople and the hero, who wants to have a relationship with her. And she has to make a decision about her future.

This is my first Lily Kate book that I've read. I liked the book cover, though I felt like it didn't reflect the couple quite correctly. I also enjoyed the small-town vibe and the townspeople, especially the hero's extended family. Also, the supportive secondary characters were enjoyable to read about, particularly the hero's sheriff cousin and the heroine's new best friend. For the most part, the whole story was entertaining, but around the middle there was an abruptness that felt out-of-place, and it would be better if there were more details to make the transition smoother. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable read.


** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **

3 ⭐️ This was a cute small town romance! I really enjoyed getting to see the whole town interact together and loved the Maine setting!

I give 3 stars because the ending felt like it came out of nowhere but the rest of the story was really cute.

Spice: 1-2 🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley and LK Publishing for this eARC!

Generally a bit cheesy and predictable but thatis exactly what readers want in a small town, food themed romance. Chloe is looking for a new start and all Lucas can do is look at Chloe. I was skeptical at first since Lucas' first impression for me was not so great. However, his character proved charming and redeemed himself.