I really enjoyed the Armenian representation in LAVASH AT FIRST SIGHT, and realized I haven't seen much Armenian rep in the books that I read -- definitely something I'd like to change! I found the family endearing and the food description mouth-watering. Some of the marketing talks a bit about the rivalry between the two MCs, but really it's the families that take issue with one another. I did NOT like the third-act break up and it brought the book down by a whole star, unfortunately...

This was such an interesting book with the situations our fmcs were in. They are at a food conference showing their families foods that are both Armenian. One of them still is expected ft work output even on PTO. I'm getting PTSD lol.

Nazeli who is bi and just getting out of a hookup situation she thought was more but the guy was a dbag. And don't get me started on her boss. My work does not bother me when I'm on a trip; they don't even message me when I have cpe.
I loved the two families and the Romeo and Juliet feel but gender bent, forbidden romance, families fighting for decades etc. She meets Vanya and she's entranced but then it quickly becomes more difficult than she realized.

The competition segments were fun and I always love listening to anything about food. They were talking about the SF Bay Area which in this instance was Saratoga to SF, so pretty big area. I have lived in or have family in both of those areas so i love that I can picture it all. Though the competition takes place in Chicago which I've also been. So had a fun time traveling.

This was an insta attraction and dating situation since it was a week of them knowing each other even less really. But it helped for Nazeli to realize what she had before was severely lacking and her work situation was very toxic. Just because it's the “culture” doesn't mean it's ok. And mistakes were made so be ready for some drama cause it was like a televised show in a way.

Thank you berkleyromance for this #gifted copy!

Another delightful queer enemies to lovers romcom featuring two Armenian American women whose families are bitter rivals. I loved the cultural references, the meet-cute, the competition aspect, ALL the food and the two female leads. I could have done with a little more steam and more on page romance between the women but overall it was still entertaining and good on audio. Recommended for fans of authors like Ashley H Blake or Uzma Jalaluddin. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: closed door/kissing only

I really love this book. Vanya and Elli are great matches. This had the most relatable chemistry and the family drama was executed perfectly. I had never read a book with Armenian characters. Let alone with a sapphic romance. I would highly recommend.

I didn’t “warm” to this cooking-themed romance as much as I’d hoped to. The romance felt much too easy and there wasn’t a lot of internal growth for each character, aside from making some career decisions.

I did enjoy the setting of the novel, which was a food-vendor conference in Chicago. Ellie is helping her parents with their Armenian-American food company, when she meets Vanya, who is working with her family’s Armenian-American food line. The two hit it off immediately, until they learn their parents hate each other. Both families’ livelihoods are on the line when they enter a reality show cooking competition at the conference. The warring families make great TV coverage as the producers manipulate events to pit them against each other. At the same time, Ellie is struggling with a project that will make or break her career in tech marketing, and she has to balance helping her family and staying on top of her demanding job.

I liked that Ellie had to struggle with how to work with her parents, and how to balance her career ambitions and her love of her family and their business (Natalie Cana’s A Proposal They Can’t Refuse was similar). Another aspect I found interesting was Ellie’s ambivalence about San Francisco, her home, as she’s exploring Chicago. This isn’t a big part of the story, just something I connected with, as I felt similar ambivalence when I lived in SF, and moved to DC (SF a city you’re expected to LOVE, but what if it doesn’t love you back?).

Unfortunately, I felt like the connection between the two main characters was largely superficial. Ellie is dishonest about a lot of things – she lies to her parents, she lies to Vanya about how she feels about her family’s food, and she doesn’t even mention the boyfriend who broke up with her days ago. It never feels like they really get to know each other. Vanya is lovely but didn’t feel fully developed. This might be me, though, as I prefer much angstier romances, where the characters are dealing with serious emotional issues (a good example is the Bright Falls series by Ashley Herring Blake). Although, considering that the book begins with Ellie completely in love with a boyfriend who doesn’t even want to tell people they’re dating, it seemed like she had some issues that needed to be resolved.

One thing I noticed as I was comparing this book to Voskuni’s first book, Sorry Bro, is that she writes fairly unlikeable main characters. Most romances try to balance the flaws and strengths of each main character, but in both of Voskuni’s books, it’s the narrator who has the flaws (including dishonesty, poor decision-making, lack of self-confidence). That’s not a pro or con, just an interesting difference.

This book will appeal to those who are looking for diverse romances, especially readers who are Armenian-American. It will also appeal to those looking for romances about cooking or about reality show competitions, and I know that’s a huge trend right now. I enjoyed those elements of the book, but felt like too much time was spent on the cooking competition and the parents’ rivalry, at the expense of building a deep relationship between the two main characters. It’s got a beautiful cover and a much better title than Voskuni’s first novel.

Note: I received an advance review copy of this novel from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group. It published May 7, 2024.

Thank you netgalley and Berkley for the e-arc. My opinoons are bwing left voluntarily. I was so intruiged by this authors 2nd romance book with Armenian leada and the cover immediately got me. Although i loved all the food references and family dynamic it left me wanting more romance, connection, nust more romance. I feel if tnis would have been marketed as a fiction book rather then romance would have adjusted my expectations and wpuld have read differently.

#Berkleybuddyreads #berkleywritesstrongwomen

3.5/5

Lavash at First Sight is a quick, easy, and engrossing read from the first page. Told entirely from the perspective of Ellie (Nazeli), it follows her from a demanding tech job in San Francisco to a 4-day food packaging conference in Chicago. Though she doesn’t work for her parents’ Armenian foods company, she secretly wants to and is willing to at least help them do well at PakCon. The conference is even hosting a reality-TV styled competition, one that could drastically help her parents’ business. But Ellie has also just met another woman at the conference, Vanya, and the two hit it off immediately. That is, until they found out about their parents’ decades-long feud.

There’s a bit of a Romeo and Juliet vibe here. Not only are Ellie and Vanya’s parents competing against each other in this PakCon contest, they have long-held beef with each other, and they ask their daughters not to pursue a relationship with each other. Ellie agrees to her mom’s request… but she has no intention of keeping her promise. She and Vanya could really have something.

Although Lavash at First Sight is primarily marketed as a romance, I have to warn you, the love story isn’t the (only) focal point of the book. It feels like the animosity between the two sets of parents is a bigger part of everything, and each individual contest of the competition gets plenty of on-page time. I found these parts to be a lot of fun; it’s fast-paced and exciting to see how the contestants will do, especially when enemies have to team up. But does all of this take up more time than the romance?

There’s also Ellie’s tech job back in San Francisco. Despite her taking PTO to attend this conference, Ellie is essentially working full-time hours to complete a project before its Monday deadline. While I can admire her ambition and hard work, Ellie is in serious need of some boundaries. Her boss is way too demanding (of deliverables and of her time) and Ellie could use with some actual work-life-balance. Her career arc is an important component to the book’s overall narrative.

All of that said, Lavash at First Sight may be better categorized as women’s fiction with a healthy dose of romance to go with it. I loved getting to see Ellie and Vanya connect and develop a tentative relationship, but it does sometimes feel secondary to the other plot points.

However, I did love the infusion of Armenian culture throughout the book. From the language to the food to the way families interact, I enjoyed getting to know more about this culture and their history. This is the only book I’ve read with Armenian characters, and I only have one other on my shelf (by the same author, no less!). I’m interested in reading more books highlighting Armenians and Armenian immigrants.

All in all, Lavash at First Sight is a lot of fun, fast-paced, and easy to read. I enjoyed the romance between Ellie and Vanya, even if it often feels secondary to the other themes and plot points. This may be a book where expectation and reality don’t quite align, but if you don’t mind the romance being on the back burner a bit, this is a diverting read.

Ellie works a tech marketing job and is currently about to present her pitch — Operation Wolf — in the hopes of landing a promotion. She has a good team, a demanding boss, and Kyle, her boyfriend, who … really doesn’t seem to want to spend time with her. His excuse is because they both work for the same company, even though they both work on different teams and there’s nothing against lateral relationships. Today, on the day of Ellie’s big presentation, Kyle dumps her.

This at least gives Ellie a good reason to go with her parents to PakCon. Ellie’s mom and dad run a modest food company, Hagop’s Fine Armenian Foods, and are hoping to use PakCon as an opportunity to extend their reach into a few more stores. It’s there Ellie meets Vanya, a beautiful woman with a charming smile whose company and attention are disarming and comfortable. They’re both Armenian and both of their parents make Armenian food — though Vanya’s are more about modernization, while Ellie’s family are more traditional. Unfortunately, both of their families hate one another.

Ellie didn’t know she’d be playing Romeo to Vanya’s Juliet! Things are made even more interesting by PakCon’s big sponsored event where the winner has a chance to have their product featured in a Super Bowl commercial. Both families enter, but only one of them can win, which means the pair have to hide their burgeoning romance, while each doing their best to prove their family’s food is the best.

Ellie is the narrator of this story and, to be honest, isn’t the most likable character. She wants to be more involved with her parent’s business, but her interest seems to be in changing what they have to something she thinks is better. While she may be right, her parents are less interested in changing things than they are having their daughter be a part of their lives. Ellie loves her parents, which is evident in every moment the three of them are on page, and looks on with approval and pleasure as she sees that Vanya is just as devoted and loving to her own parents.

As the food contest goes on, Ellie is shirking her actual work more and more, caught up in the excitement of a new romance, a challenge, and being a valued part of her parents’ world — as well as trying to figure out why her mom and dad so dislike Vanya’s parents. Ellie only seems to really put effort into her work when she has to, leading to late nights stressing over Operation Wolf, and putting at risk an important meeting with a possible client of her parents.

Both sets of parents in this book are wonderful. Devoted partners and loving parents, all four have such great personalities and chemistry together. Unfortunately, that chemistry isn’t always apparent between Ellie and Vanya. Vanya seems to be custom made for Ellie, and when the third act conflict happens, I was firmly on Vanya’s side. What happened may not have been intentional, but it happened and it was hurtful. Ellie made all the right motions, apologizing where she needed to, but she — like her parents — shows her love more through action than through words.

When the resolution happens, I found it to be disingenuous and didn’t think it was entirely earned. It felt as though the romance, while the initial driving force, was the secondary plot, with the contest and the family rivalry taking center stage. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing, but it did leave Vanya feeling like an afterthought, sometimes. Still, the writing was good, the dialogue was snappy, the parents were a highlight, and I had a fun time reading this book. If you’re looking for loud families, food, and something bright and cheerful to read, give this a try!

Equal parts dazzling, heart warming, and delicious!
This is the second book by Taleen that I have read. I truly love that she puts equal parts community or family oriented focus, along with the romantic plot.
Lots of great banter.
And with this specific book I was so hungry after reading all the delicious food descriptions.
I truly admire the sapphic rep in Armenian culture. It is surely something needed.

This one didn’t wow me. I found that all of the time spent focusing on the family aspect, particularly in the beginning, made it hard for me to really care about the romance. The “rivals” part is a little misleading because Nazeli and Vanya aren’t rivals—their families are. So I felt like that really took away some of the tension for me. Nazeli’s obsession with her job in the beginning also gave me a headache. Can you try to have some interests and personality traits outside of work pls?

When we got to the romance part, it was cute. (It’s closed door btw, which I wasn’t expecting.) The two of them do balance each other out.

thank you berkley romance and netgalley for an arc. It’s out now!

This was such a fun read! Queer Armenian Romeo and Juliet but food companies. Yes please! Food competitions, family obligation, toxic work environment plus cute dates. It’d a fun light read

“𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥’𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕕, 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥’𝕤 𝕒 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥. 𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕦𝕝𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤.“

Lavash at First Sight was an absolutely adorable sapphic romance! This was my first book with an Armenian main character and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nazeli was a fabulous main character. She was typical eldest daughter and so strong and funny! I loved her relationship with her sometimes overbearing and dismissive parents. It felt authentic and at the same time filled with so much love!

Vanya was equally adorable and I loved her free spirit and the way she drew Ellie out. I do wish we could have gotten a chapter or two from her POV but that is such a minor request.

Totally for fans of sapphic romance, meet cutes, and rivalry. While Ellie and Vanya don’t get into the rivalry too much, their parents do and it was hilarious! (That hotdog eating contest 💀💀💀)

Thank you to @taleenauthor and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni

Mouth-watering foodie romance! This book made me hungry! I'd love to try all of the Armenian dishes the FMCs are making in this book! Ellie and Vanya meet at a food conference where their family businesses are competing! Turns out their parents have a long-standing rivalry and they get a little bit caught up in the middle of it.

• Totally flew by! I listened to this in a day.
• Bi + Pan FMCs! sapphic romance!
• This book was an unexpected love letter to Chicago. I love the way the characters fell in love with my city! Chicago really is so wonderful when you're young and in love. It's where I fell in love with my husband, too.
• I don't usually enjoy when the parents of the main characters are *this* involved in a romance novel, but it bothered me less than usual! It just sort of worked for the overall story, so I went with it.
• Felt like a very cinematic romcom: a meet-cute followed by a relationship forming over a short period of time, you can see the third act conflict coming from a mile away, and know to expect some kind of grand gesture. I think it worked well for this shorter book/audio.

Overall, I enjoyed this one!

This was a sweet romance between 2 women, each with their own family issues. I liked the theme of reconciliation and standing up for your self but the romance itself was blah.

I liked Lavash at First Sight slightly more than the authors first book, which I hated… but I still didn’t really like it very much. I always feel bad when I don’t like a debut and try to read an authors next book. I’m going to say not for me going forward.

My main complaint with this book other than being kinda bored the whole time, is that it was barely a romance. The book was much more about their families and the food and the competition than it was about the romance. And that’s fine, but this is a romance novel, so it should have had more balance.

Do not read this book on an empty stomach! The food descriptions alone had me salivating. Lavash at First Sight is a sapphic, family-centered romcom about two women who’s rival family food companies compete against each other for the chance to win a Super Bowl commercial slot.

The food conference and competition was a great backdrop for a book that focused on family and culture. The main characters Nazeli and Vanya come from vibrant Armenian households, and I learned a lot about traditional Armenian food and customs from these pages.

When it came to the rivals to lovers aspect of the novel, I was left a tad wanting. Nazeli and Vanya never really gave into their parents decades long feud so the tension between the two was never quite present. Because of this, their relationship didn’t have to overcome many obstacles before they were properly together and I wish we had spent more time with just the two of them to solidify their chemistry.

This was a fast-paced read that left me feeling light and I certainly will be craving many of the delectable Armenian dishes displayed throughout the novel!

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is an enjoyable rivals to lovers (but they don't know it) family based story. It was a little clunky in parts but overall the characters and family dynamics are really good. The romance is a little insta-love but it's sweet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

You need to be prepared to read Lavash At First Sight because it made me so hungry. It is the story of a woman, Ellie, who is in the middle of madness at work but heads to Chicago to join her parents at a food convention and competition for their brand of Armenian food. There is a rivalry with another Armenian family and of course a love interest with the daughter in that family. It was so entertaining. I loved Ellie’s parents, I loved the family dynamics, I loved the details of the competition and the romance was just so sweet. And I loved a strong female lead, working hard and not afraid to take risks. It was a quick fluffy and fun read.

Don't read this book hungry - there are so many delicious food references! I love the Armenian representation - I don't think I've read much by or about the Armenian community so I was really happy to pick this one up! And this was also close to my heart because it's about Bay Area families who are in Chicago for a big conference and I'm from Chicago and live in the Bay Area now so it was just a lot of fun to read about those two places that I'm familiar with. I love the families in the book and I got such a sense of love and community through these characters. And the romance between Nazeli and Vanya was also so realistic and believable and again, I think it's so important to show queer representation in various communities and the way we read about how their families responded to their coming out was very organic and not forced. It was such a fun read - it read very fast and the audio was wonderful - you get to hear some Armenian words and dialogue which I really enjoyed!

Thank you Berkley Romance for the free book and PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

Ellie agrees to join her parents at a food convention in Chicago to support them in growing their Armenian prepared food business. She quickly meets and starts flirting with Vanya, only to learn they are both bisexual Armenian women from the Bay Area. But their parents forbid a relationship because of a longstanding family feud.

Much of this book focuses on the amazing Armenian food Ellie and her parents make. There's a reality TV style competition as part of the food convention. I enjoyed the insight the food provided into both the Armenian culture and more specifically, the family dynamics in the book.

I especially enjoyed the multiple scenes of celebration for Ellie and Vonya's sapphic relationship. Random people on the street and in bars applauded them and were encouraging. It felt more aspirational than authentic, but in a lovely way.

Christine Mirzayan narrated Lavash at First Sight, just as she did Sorry, Bro. I am fast associating her voice with Taleen Voskuni's work. She does a great job voicing both female main characters distinctly.

I was pleased to read this. I quite preferred it to Voskuni's debut novel. I felt the pacing and tension were well done, and I liked how the book ended. Now I need to go buy a meze platter.