DNF

Although I thought this would be syrupy sweet in a good way, just like those pancakes on the cover! I was bamboozled by a insta-love romance and those just never end well for me.

I liked that the MC was trying to keep a promise to her mother even if keeping it became frustrating. She had dedication. Other than that, I didn't care much for her or her friends. Their conversations were on the juvenile end and just didn't match with my sense of humor.

Still love the cover though! It makes me hungry for pancakes.

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy!

Till There Was You is the debut novel by Lindsay Hameroff. It's a story about Lexi who is attending Culinary School with the ultimate goal of being Executive Chef at a Michelin star restaurant. She meets Jake at a dive bar and their chemistry is off the charts from the start. Jake leaves for LA to record a demo and they don't keep in contact. Jake has an instantly popular single, Blueberry, which makes him famous practically overnight. A year later, he's back on Lexi's doorstep trying to get her back but the spotlight might be a risk to her career dreams.

This is a second chance instalove romance. I think it was sorely lacking in character depth. Lexi and her friends felt very immature. My husband is a chef with a pretty advanced career and her trajectory one year past culinary school had me rolling my eyes. I think this one just felt a little too "new adult" for me. It might be a case of wrong book for this reader as I'm certain many others will enjoy this one. It was a quick and easy read. I inhaled it in just one sitting.

I do want to gush on that cover though! It immediately suckered me in. So cute!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lindsay Hameroff, and St Martin's Press for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own. #netgalley #TillThereWasYou #StMartinsPress

TILL THERE WAS YOU was a cute romance that was filled with one of my favorite tropes: celebrity love interest plus sort of insta love. I thought this book was fun until the main couple actually got together. Then the FMC, Lexi, became almost insufferably immature and that truly ruined the experience of the novel for me.

I actually really enjoyed this novel up until about 60ish%. I thought that, while the writing was a bit clunky in places (you could tell this was her debut novel), the story was fun and the celebrity dating a “normal” individual was in full force, which I adore. And for the clunky bits of writing, there was funny banter in places that made me laugh and appreciate the writing style. These parts were the highlight and I thought they were cleverly done.

But THEN the couple actually got together and Lexi became THE WORST. Jake, the MMC, was pretty amazing almost throughout the whole novel (except in the beginning) and Lexi just ran so hot and cold, lacked proper communication, and basically changed her mind every 3 pages. This truly reduced my enjoyment of the novel because it felt juvenile at that point, even though she is supposed to be 24. I didn’t relate to Lexi, I just wanted her to decide what she wanted. Throw in some conflict that pitted two women against each other that felt high school and I was disenchanted.

Overall, I think this debut novel had a lot
of potential and the issues I had with it will go away once the author develops as a writer. If you like instalove, celebrity love interests, and cute romances, this might be right up your alley.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fantastic debut. Brimming with heart, sweet moments, and a reverence for food, there was much to love. Parts of it did read young, and there were some inconsistencies with timeline. I also had trouble reconciling how a 24 year-old had so many references that would be more appropriate for someone a good 15 years her senior.. All that aside, if you're looking for a celebrity, insta-love, second chance (ish) romance, definitely check this one out! I look forward to reading more from this new author.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.

This is an entertaining romance about a chef and a rock star, both trying to break out in their profession. When Jake finally hits the big time, it is confusing for both he and Lexi, as paparazzi, managers, and their own self-doubt get in the way of their feelings.

If you’re looking for a rock star/ normal girl New Adult than Till there was you is the book to read.
There’s a girl group of friends, texts, insta love and all the fun of being in your twenties and in love.

It’s interesting and if I were in my 20s I feel like I’d enjoy it more.

This book is published by St. Martin's Press. I am currently boycotting St. Martin's Press and its imprints for its lack of taking a stand against its employee who spoke racist, harmful things against Palestinians being murdered by Israel. Therefore, I will not be posting a review at this time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Press Griffin for giving me advanced reader access. This title published February 20, 2024.

This story starts with our girl, Lexi, in culinary school in NY. She has no time for a relationship because she’s too busy trying to make her dream of being a chef come true. Then she meets Jake Taylor singing in a dive bar. It’s insta-love and they spend an amazing weekend together. Jake goes to LA and gets signed very quickly and ghosts our girl. The story then picks up a little over a year later when Jake shows up at her door again.
Whew. This book felt longer than it was. Not necessarily in a bad way but a lot happens. I enjoyed it though! Lexi and Jake were really sweet together. Having a famous singer write hit songs about you is a dream, right? How swoon worthy! I liked the portrayal of all the pitfalls of being in a relationship with a young famous person. It felt mostly believable. I loved the cute broadway and golden girls references.
I did feel like Lexi was a bit immature. The whole thing with her dad was a bit much. And a lot of times when she acted immature the other person just walked away too. Everyone had some communication issues. I think the girl really would have benefited from going to therapy after her mom died. I didn’t love how this book kind of makes it out that you (especially a female) has to choose between a career and a healthy relationship. I get it and Lexi wasn’t happy with what she thought was her dream but she did go from 100% committed to being a chef to barely doing her job when Jake came back around.
I mostly enjoyed this book though! I highly recommend if you enjoy a famous MMC and how he and the FMC navigate through fame while being in a relationship.

4.5/5 stars

This is a contemporary romance that takes place in NYC.

The narrator is Alexa/Lexi (1st person POV). She is in her early twenties. She is a chef, which is one of my favorite jobs in books.

The book is a lot about her thinking about her dead mom, which I found hard to read. However her mom, and everything that happened with her dad after her mom died, was important to the story.

Lexi is Jewish. There are a few mentions about her family being Jewish, sitting shiva, her making matzah ball soup…but not a ton of Jewish rep.

The romance was good. I liked that he was a rockstar. And the whole celebrity aspect was very interesting.

The last few chapters were really good. There was a lot happening and I really liked that. I did like the ending. Although I would definitely like to know what happened next. But overall I definitely enjoyed this read.

This just didn't hit as much as I hoped it would. It's dreary and cold here in Texas and I wanted something light and cute and fluffy to escape from it. Sadly, this just missed the mark.

Jake and Lexi are very cute. I will concede that. They have an adorable meet-cute in a dive bar and that Jake's song he wrote for Lexi is what propels him to stardom - be still my beating heart. And I love Lexi's ride-or-die friends, especially Chloe and Mia. I really wish we'd seen their relationship develop more.

On the other hand, I couldn't stand Lexi's possessiveness of Jake. I'm sure I'd also be annoyed if girls were hanging all over my boyfriend right in front of me, but she so rampantly and pointedly squashed other women. You could feel her nails digging into Jake. I didn't appreciate that at all. Nor how she refuses to give her father a chance or even talk to him until she has nowhere else to go.

First, thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC. All thoughts are my own.

What a cute rom com! There were a few times I laughed out loud (thank you, side character who should get their own spin-off, Ali) and I absolutely felt the love shine through the pages with Jake and Lexi. I was drawn in right away by the writing and even though it started with one of my least favorite tropes (insta-love), it still felt natural and not childish/YA.

I also enjoyed the timeline of this book. Without giving away any spoilers, I felt that the choices of start and finish dates added to the story and relationship, which helped with the insta-love factor. Elongating the relationship elevated it and made their progression realistic.

Other bits worth mentioning that I enjoyed:
-it was FUNNY … at one point the best friend snaps “Oh fuck a tree, John” as a random throwaway line and it was hilarious and I will be using it
-interesting jobs! Finally a rom com that is not a marketing manager with a book rep… I know the advice is typically “write what you know” which is why we always get so many publishing romance stories, but this was a rock star and a chef with Ratatouille-level food descriptions that had me craving whatever Lexi was cooking up
-the pop culture references. They were well-timed and relevant. The Chad Bachelor stuff with Chloe was really funny and I liked their side character antics

The one thing that took it down for me was the conflict. It felt really forced to get Lexi to her breaking point and that read more YA than anything. They had already had discussions on their goals and possible insecurities, so when those exact things played out and they were surprised by them, I was like “were you not just here 40 pages ago when we already addressed this?” The arguments they had, her jealous whining, and her lack of understanding on how PTO works were annoying and read very teenager-esque. At 16, I also did not know how to dress for a job interview or how PTO accrues, but at 24, I had a full understanding of my employee benefits.

My personal opinion – I’m always going to opt for more spice than less, or at least open-door scenes, so I would’ve preferred a bit more. It’s like the author almost shied away from it and while we were saved from cringeworthy dialogue if the author wasn’t comfortable with it, it could’ve given the audience a little something of rockstar Jake Taylor. However, if you want romance without a lot of smut, then this is perfect for you. Again, this didn’t affect the plot or storytelling of the book so it doesn’t factor into my rating and recommendations, but just a note that if you’re a spicy, spicy romance reader, this doesn’t really give it all. I would compare this most to Abby Jimenez.

Overall, this was a great romance debut and I very much enjoyed it! I would read a spin-off if the author wanted to use some characters *cough cough* Ali for a future spinoff!

I wanted so much to Ike this and it fell short for me. I generally love a good fame romance, but this was poorly paced. Their initial meeting was so rushed it was hard to see why they had chemistry. They also fought over the dumbest reasons and there were just too many stupid speed bumps and they seemed to snag on every one.

This book was a good read. It had some of my favorite tropes. The characters were cute together, and they went through the struggles of a high profile relationship, but I thought that some of it was necessary and some of it wasn't. Like I get Jake's immediate rise to freedom, but he couldn't find the time to make one call to Lexi? for everyone, it's different, so I understand. I think the small miscommunications in this book were what got me. it was a cute story, though with the meet cute at the beginning

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher St. Martin's Griffin, and author Lindsay Hameroff for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.
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Let me start by saying this was a cute read. It was mostly enjoyable, with a few laugh-out-loud parts, and a diverse supporting cast. There's a fine line of whether some of the content is relatable or cringe, and at times it could be both. There was lots of wine drinking, "lol we're so broke (but we live in NYC)", and (at least) two Twilight references are a few examples of cringey-but-relatable moments.

“Till There Was You” fulfills a lot of tropes: second chance romance, friends to lovers, forced proximity, celebrity romance, meet-cute, found family. The ruthless demand of New York, New York’s cutthroat restaurant scene paired with the glamour of dating a chart-topping country singer does make a recipe (see what I did there?) for plenty of drama and intrigue, and much of the book focuses on the Romeo and Juliet aspect of meshing two conflicting worlds together. The will-they-won’t-they-and-if-they-do-then-HOW was enough to keep me reading and wondering what would happen and how it would all work out, but it wasn’t the smoothest ride to the end.

In the past, I’ve seen reviewers state a book feels like a debut novel, and I never really understood what that meant until I read “Till There Was You”. It’s cute (I know I already said that) but it feels unpolished. If I ignore the grammar and punctuation and focus solely on plot, then there feels like there’s fluff that could have been cut out with little to no impact to the story, such as [the dating arc with Ethan the pastry chef. It served only to hurt Ethan’s feelings, and make Jake show up at Lexi’s work, but something else, really anything else, could have also made Jake visit Lexi at the restaurant. Ethan wasn’t a character, he was a plot device, and he deserved better (hide spoiler)]. A similar thing happens to another character, but it was actually hilarious, so I’m more okay with that. [Chad, who is a walking meme with the intelligence of avocado toast, is mostly an off-page character who is referenced by other characters as being insufferable a few times, and when he does show up on page to save the day because he has a car, Lexi et al jump in the car, drive a few blocks, then realize, oh yeah, this is NYC and its dumb as hell to try to drive anywhere, and then they get out and start walking. Chad and his Hummer H2 were also just a plot device, but given the fact Chad as a character exists for the purpose of hating him, it’s okay. But because Lexi-and-friends ended up walking anyways, his superhero moment with his H2 could have been entirely omitted from the story, and all that would have changed is I wouldn’t have snort-laughed when he said, while referring to being unable to navigate his oversized vehicle down the narrow street, “It’s too tight for me to fit. Ha! That’s the second time I’ve said that to a woman tonight”. Yes, I laugh at dick jokes. Sue me. (hide spoiler)]

Conversely, it feels like plenty of plot points could have benefitted from being more fleshed out, such as the grieving process that Lexi is stuck in, since her mom passed away ten-ish years ago, or her relationship with her father, or Lexi and Jake’s friendship. Instead, Lexi’s grief is [used as ammunition against her in a fight between her and Jake (low blow, Jake…) and then she suddenly is like “I’m gonna fly to Florida to see my dad”, who she doesn’t really have a relationship with and holds a grudge against and actively avoids his phone calls (hide spoiler)] which also felt a little Twilight-y, similar to how Bella feels about her mom in Arizona. I was also really unsatisfied with the visit to Georgia arc. That could have easily happened in New York, there was no real benefit from having it take place in Georgia, other than [making Lexi miss a day of work. But meeting Jake’s family had zero impact on the story. I wish it had. (hide spoiler)]

As far as spice goes, this book is half of a chili pepper, possibly a bell pepper depending on your personal taste. This book is safe to recommend to your mom, or your grandma, provided they’re not nuns (but then, how would you be here?).

I’m struggling not to end this review by reiterating for a third time “Till There Was You” was cute. It was, really! There’s plenty of market for quick, fluffy blueberry pancakes rom-coms. It’s not deep or emotionally ravaging, but as long as you’re not looking for something to rip your heart out, then it’s a good and entertaining experience, just like an episode of Golden Girls that our main characters loved so much.

Till There Was You was so sweet!! What a great debut book from Lindsay Hameroff.

I loved the premise, all of the food and Jewish FMC representation. Jake is so sweet and as a single lady I found myself dreaming of my own chance meeting with a Jake of my own haha. Both Lexi and Jake were so down to earth and likeable MCs and their journeys were so pivotal to growing up and figuring out what you want in life and who you want to be. Some of the pacing of the book wasn’t my favourite in the middle and I couldn’t possibly imagine how there would be a HEA, but Lindsay came through and I loved the end. What a fantastic debut. Can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I loved it and you will too:
- chef representation
- all the FOOD
- celebrity / rockstar romance
- working through death of a parent
- Jewish FMC
- New York City!
- NYE ball drop in NYC!

Thanks to NetGalley, Lindsay Hameroff, and St Martin’s Press for the arc copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

“𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰,” 𝓘 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷. “𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂’𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻.”

𝕋𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕔 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 ✨

𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: Lindsay Hameroff
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Rom-Com
𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼: Rock Star/Celebrity, Insta Love, Ghosted, “We’re Just From Two Different Worlds,” One Night Stand

🗡️𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰: 2/5 ✨

🗡️𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬: I am super thankful to have gotten to read this from NetGalley! The cover reeled me in originally & even though I ended up not enjoying this read, there were some good moments, I loved the beginning & the world of the FMC Lexi as a cook. The cooking scenes & descriptions felt so cozy & sounded delicious! When the main characters met, the flirting was fun & light & I didn’t mind (yet) some of the pop culture references they made. I was all about the Broadway references & the title even being a show tune! I was invested through the weekend the characters spend together but after the MMC ghosts her & shows up years later I started to fall out of this story quickly…

🗡️𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓮: I am so bummed to say this fell so flat for me, about 20-30% in I started to get bored & wondered what needed to take up 320 pages. Unfortunately the rest of the book continued to drag more & more for me & I lost most of my interest. The characters started off so great but they & everything they were going through started to feel more & more juvenile & petty. The time jumps & pacing felt odd & made it hard to stay in it for me & it became very repetitive. The pop culture references as I mentioned earlier went from cute & funny to over done very fast, I felt like they were trying too hard.


Honestly, I think this would have been much better suited as a YA novel with less to no spice.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff. All opinions are my own.

This book was an enjoyable and easy read.

I liked Jake Taylor a lot as a character; although, he did seem a bit too perfect at times. Lexi was an okay protagonist, but I found some of her decisions frustrating and immature.

I enjoyed some of the movie references such as Twilight and Ten Things I Hate About You.

While this is a sweet romance, I do feel like I have read several books that have been similar to this as far as plots go. I also felt that so much of this book was predictable, and that certain aspects were very stereotypical such as the snobby girl that always seemed to be in pictures with Jake and Jake’s manipulating manager.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book but also not very memorable or unique. I did enjoy myself most of the time while reading it, and would recommend it to people who like romance books with a lot of cliches.

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0

This was a really sweet book — not your typical celebrity romance but I think I loved it more because of it.

The story was so organic and I could read that first weekend they spent together over and over again. Simply magic.

Not having an epilogue really brought this down for me. I wanted the moment after the moment. The final bow after the 12-week Les Mis run. The updates about the A La Heart boxes. MIA AND CHLOE HELLO??

I guess I just wanted more of these characters. Jake was so smart but SO stupid to see how everyone was playing him except Lexi and then did the typical guy thing of not seeing all of the behind the scenes nonsense. Ugh. So glad he eventually listened and got that all sorted.

Jake also was the most thoughtful and romantic person — from all of the details he picked up about Lexi and kept them center in his life even when they weren’t together?! Incredible. So sweet.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

Till There Was You was as cute as its cover promises it to be! While this felt a little more on the YA-side (especially with the insta-love), I still really enjoyed seeing their dynamic/relationship flourish. Also, lots of food peppered throughout this one (see what I did there?), which is always a plus!! 4/5 stars - pick this one up if you're looking for a quick, heartfelt read this spring :)

Celebrity romance + NYC vibes + chefs + Jewish rep + side characters

I came for the cover and stayed for the cute story of Lexi & Jake.

Lexi is determined to become an executive chef at a Michelin starred restaurant and is on her way to achieving when her old friend Jake shows up.