This was a really sweet debut romance! I appreciated that their story was different than what we typically see and that Kieran wasn’t a towering 6’4 hulk man (this was truly refreshing)!

I know part of Ellie’s character was that she’d already grieved and was ready to move on but I would’ve loved to see her dig into the issues with Max more—we got a few cues but kind of just skated past them. Also would have loved more of her friendship with Nicole—did they go on the trip??

Very cute story overall!

✨MINI ARC REVIEW✨

Firstly I want to say thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book was such a palette cleanser and it’s a sweet and touching story. This romcom is filled with forced proximity, humor, tension and spice. A ghostwriter forced to work with a reality cooking show winner to write a cookbook, despite their differences. She is strict and likes order while he flies by the seat of his pants.

This story has depth as both sides of our couple have their own tragic backstories, one side filled with abandonment and the other with loss of a loved one. Watching the development of each of our characters and how they overcome their own hurdles separately and together was an amazing sight.

I will admit it was a bit slow to get into and our FMC does come off a bit … harsh at first, but as you get deeper into the book and start peeling back those layers, I didn’t want to put it down.

Neither of them wanted to be in a relationship, but as they were forced to get to know each other, they realized the other is exactly what they needed. Despite their rocky start, the couple brought out the best in each other.

A fun romantic comedy about a very type A ghostwriter and the rebel reality cooking show winner that she is paired with to write his cookbook. I appreciated that these two communicated - not always perfectly and not always directly but they usually got there in the end without annoying me too much (a long drawn-out misunderstanding is a pet peeve of mine in romances). I also appreciated these two helping each other discover their boundaries and how their dreams have changed over the course of the book. I felt it was a fun rom-com with some series side missions that made it a well-rounded novel.

This book was really sweet and touching. It’s a story about finding love after loss, grief, and food!
Kieran is so sweet and a major golden retriever which is my favorite! Ellie is navigating life after losing her husband. I loved these two characters together and reading their journey of falling in love.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this read. The main characters were lovable, relatable, and their chemistry was excellent. Sometimes, cuisine-focused novels feel excessively focused on the sensation of food, and this novel did a great job balancing the romanticism of cuisine with character development - it didn't rely on food descriptions to carry the sensuality and emotion of the story. Will be watching for more from this author!

4.5 stars

It took me a little bit to get into this book but it was so worth it! This was a really sweet book about love after loss, discovering yourself, and food.
Kieran is the sweetest golden retriever man. He’s still struggling to deal with some issues from his past and with his family but he is so positive and so sweet to Ellie.
Ellie is dealing with the loss of her husband and a very complicated relationship with her in laws.
I loved the dynamic between these two characters. Their initial dislike for each other that turned into a really great partnership and then a great relationship was so fun to watch develop. They were both struggling with a lot of things and neither of them felt like they were ready to be in a relationship which led to a lot of complicated feelings. Bit they so clearly cared for each other and I loved all their interactions.

This was a really great book and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!!

Mein Leseerlebnis

In dem Liebesroman verlaufen die ersten Treffen der beiden Hauptcharaktere alles andere als ideal. Gegensätze prallen aufeinander und zunächst finden Ellie und Kieran keine gemeinsame Ebene, auf der sie gut miteinander arbeiten können. Es war spannend zu sehen, wie sich die beiden zusammengerauft haben.

Die Szenen, in denen sie eine gegenseitige Wertschätzung füreinander entwickelt haben, fand ich zudem sehr berührend. Denn auch wenn beide aufgrund ihrer Geschichten und Persönlichkeiten das Leben ganz unterschiedlich angehen, so haben sie einander doch nach ein paar Startschwierigkeiten wunderbar unterstützen können. So was mag ich in Liebesromanen ja generell.

Die beiden Hauptcharkatere sind vielschichtig und faszinierend, zudem waren sie mir je sympathisch. Darauf aufbauend habe ich sehr gerne mit ihnen Zeit verbracht und ihnen alles Gute gewünscht.

Als Liebespaar haben die beiden für mich gut funktioniert, ich war beim Lesen emotional involviert und fand den Verlauf des Romans über Dreiviertel hinweg sehr ansprechend.

Gegen Ende des Romans kommt es zu einer für Liebesromane (leider!) so typischen kurzzeitigen Trennung der Hauptcharaktere, darauf hätte ich gut verzichten können. Besonders ein Streit zwischen beiden fühlte sich doch arg konstruiert an und sowohl Ellie als auch Kieran verhielten sich auf eine Art und Weise, die nicht so richtig zu ihnen passte.

Den Epilog fand ich nett, aber er hat mich nicht so tief ins Herz getroffen, wie erwartet. Einige große Entwicklungen werden in ihm kurz angesprochen, ich hätte sie teils gerne näher miterlebt.

Nehme ich das alles zusammen, dann ist mir der Liebesroman eine Buchempfehlung mit leichten Abstrichen wert.

🖤🖤🖤 3/4 - 🖤🖤🖤🖤

PS: Ich liebe das wunderschöne Cover des Liebesromans.

Für wen?

Wer romance Bücher mag, in denen das Paar erst nach einer gewissen Anlaufzeit zusammenkommt, für den könnte “The slowest burn” eine schöne Sache sein.

This title is so appropriate for this book. This is a DUAL POV and the representation in it includes grief, people pleasing, ADHD, and addiction. So much angst, snark, and sweetness. There are also nods to rom-coms. This was a fantastic read.

this was super cute! i really enjoyed this one and the ending was perfect. i did find myself not enjoying ellie’s in laws, well mainly mother in law! but other than that i truly loved all these characters. watching the main characters fall for each other and trying to adjust to the feelings just hit home to me.

This book was super cute. I love stories about food and books and this one definitely delivers on both. I liked that the characters seemed believable and relatable. My only critique is that I thought the pacing was a bit off. It was a little too slow for me, but overall it's a great pick!

Thank you, NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest reviewl

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this e-ARC!
In full transparency I read several chapters of this book and DNF. The writing was choppy and the characters were a bit cheesy to me. It was hard to believe the two of them would have anything in common, and not just in an “enemies to lovers” tropey way. I just genuinely did not find them to have much chemistry, and the writing did not make up for it.

The Slowest Burn follows Kieran, a chef who recently won a major cooking competition, and Ellie, a writer who was hired ghostwrite Kieran’s first cookbook. With a looming deadline without any progress made, Kieran and Ellie are sent to a cottage to work on the cookbook and get to know each other in the process.

Ultimately, I was underwhelmed by the lack of chemistry between Kieran and Ellie. It really felt like they were friends who hooked up when one of them was at their lowest.

Thank you to Sarah Chamberlain, Saint Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The Slowest Burn comes out on 9/24/24.

Ellie and Kieran are a great examples of finding and making your own family. His family seen him as a disappointment and needing to be measured by his accomplisgments. Hers was MIA, causing her to grow up sooner than most and be responsible for others. Together they learn to make a family that makes them both happy and feel alive again. Great read!

I feel compelled to share how deeply this book resonated with me. Chamberlain has crafted an intimate exploration of healing and connection that manages to feel both deeply personal and universally relevant. The main characters in this narrative are developed with incredible care and complexity. Their gradual emotional journey, filled with vulnerability and tentative trust, really pulled me in. The way they grapple with their past traumas while tentatively building a future added a profound depth to their interactions, making each development feel significant and earned.

This book was just what I wanted. I love reading books about food. The romance was so cute and the plot was perfectly done. I would highly recommend this book!

This book is aptly named as this burn is definitely slow. It took me a bit to get into this book and while I did like it I didn't love it. It is a cute rom-com that many readers will enjoy and all of the descriptions of food were amazing. I had a hard time connecting with our two main characters, Kieran and Ellie and there was a lot of internal dialogue. The cover of this book is stunning and the description drew me in right away but the book as a whole left me feeling a bit underwhelmed.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin and Sarah Chamberlain for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! THE SLOWEST BURN is one of the best romcoms I've read in a while, and I already know it'll be one of my favorites of the year. I was intrigued by the gorgeous cover and the plot description, but luckily, what's inside was even better! The story follows Ellie and Kieran, two total opposites who are forced to work on a cookbook together (Ellie is a ghostwriter for celebrity cookbooks, Kieran has just signed a book deal for his debut). While they may start off on the wrong foot, their work partnership soon becomes something more. But with their own personal struggles to work through, and their own individual dreams to follow, can Ellie and Kieran's romance withstand the heat outside of the kitchen?

There were so many things I really enjoyed about the story—the Jewish rep (loved reading about Ellie's Shabbos dinners with her in-laws!), the mouthwatering descriptions of food, the writing style in general. But I particularly loved that Ellie and Kieran were just such real, relatable characters. Ellie was always the primary caregiver for her younger brother growing up, and although she and her late husband Max adored each other, theirs was also a relationship where she put her needs on the back burner to take care of him. Even three years after his sudden, tragic death, the pattern is now repeating with her in-laws. Kieran grew up in a chilly, distant household where his parents never truly understood him, and his ADHD and dyslexia made it even more difficult. Now, he's the winner of a hit reality TV cooking show, but still, no one will fully take him seriously. It was so sweet to see how Ellie and Kieran supported each other, helped each other heal, and pushed each other out of the boxes that people had put them in. Plus, they just complemented each other really well (love a Black Cat/Golden Retriever couple!). Kieran shows Ellie that she can put herself first and shine in her own spotlight, and Ellie shows Kieran that he can be taken seriously without losing his fun-loving, carefree nature.

Overall, THE SLOWEST BURN was a definite fave for me! Good pacing, unique plot (that still included some of the tropes everyone knows and loves), well-developed characters, swoon-worthy romance, what's not to like? If you love sweet romcoms that also have tons of depth and complexity, pick this one up this fall! I can't wait to see what Sarah Chamberlain writes next. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

The Slowest Burn is about Ellie who is a ghost writer. She is going to help Kieran write is cookbook. They butt heads right away. The characters had a heated disagreement at Kieran’s restaurant where he’s a chef. They are forced to go away for a few days so they can work on the cookbook. Ellie and Kieran get to know each other on this trip. I loved this book so much. I loved the writing style. The characters had both been through their own struggles. This book is more than a romance. I was able to connect with these characters. I am a big foodie. Food is a big part of how my family shows they care. I like how that was a piece in the book.

I received an advance copy of this book in ebook format in order to provide feedback. Now that I have that out of the way…. WOW!!! This book was so great! Starting out with Kieran and Ellie butting heads allowed the scene to be set and built upon. This book had amazing character development and really made me fall in love with the characters. I was rooting for everyone to get their happy endings. This was an amazing read and I would highly recommend it!

This was a great story! The characters were like able and the plot was great! I was really interested and would definitely recommend.