Thank you St. Martins press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The cover of this novel was gorgeous and that is what sucked me in big time.. butt I felt I didn’t really like the dialogue to much.. the characters had way to much going on with themselves.. it was veryyy slow for me to get into at times.. but I will definitely keep an eye out for more books from Sarah!

“Love could be a recipe for disaster, or the best thing they ever cooked up…”

Kieran O'Neill just won a cooking reality TV show, is on track to open his own restaurant and even has a high-paying cookbook deal. But his ghostwriter is the most uptight, humorless woman he's ever met. Unfortunately to be seen as a serious chef like he's always wanted, he needs to finish this book...

Instead of working on her own cookbook, Ellie is ghostwriting one for the chaotic, impulsive Kieran. Or would be, if he'd ever answer her emails. But to own her own home like she's always dreamed of, she needs to finish this book...

As their deadline gets closer and the heat between them builds, can these two people let go of their past hurts and make something truly sweet together? Or will their fragile new love go up in smoke?

I am a huge fan of cooking shows and finding new recipes to love, so this book was right up my alley since we were following a fancy chef and cookbook ghostwriter as they worked together on the writing of a new cookbook.  I loved all the details about the recipes they were cooking together and perfecting as part of the process of putting together this cookbook.  Reading it was like its own version of comfort food.  Both characters were realistic in their emotional growth as they tried to heal from their own past traumas, making it easy to root for them and their HEA.  I loved that Ellie helped to boost his confidence and Kieran ensured she felt appreciated through his little acts of kindness.

This book had all the right ingrediets for a great romcom: Opposites attract, Forced proximity, Steamy encounters, Sweet heartfelt moments, and so much more.

I am looking forward to seeing what is next from Sarah after this wonderful debut!

The Slowest Burn is out September 24th

Thank you to Sarah Chamberlain, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this early copy of The Slowest Burn in exchange for my honest review.

We are in San Francisco, Ellie a cookbook ghostwriter, recently widowed, starts working for the grumpy Kieran. The story between the two is, as the title says, slow burn, and we see their relationship go from enemies-to-lovers. The spicy is very spicy, pardon my word pun. We have double pov, a beautiful city, a cooking romance, what else? But what distinguishes this story, in my opinion, it's their diversity, they are not the "usual" handsome protagonists of romances, but normal people, with some flaws, which never hurts.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

I'm starting to, dangerously, obsess over books set in San Francisco. As soon as I saw this beautiful cover, I fell in love.
The protagonist is Ellie, a cookbook ghostwriter, who finds herself working with Kieran, a very famous TV chef. The chemistry between the two is very palpable, and by working together the sparks fly, but as the title already tells us, the story is slow-burn.
Ellie and Kieran are very different people, but what they have in common is their love of cooking. The story is told with two PoVs, so we get to see the growth of both characters, and I especially love it when we get to read the love story from his point of view too! There are also some time jumps, a bit random though, perhaps this slowed down the reading a bit, but it certainly didn't make me like the book any less.
However, there is also another mini trope within the story, and it is fake dating, I would have preferred this aspect to be explored a little more. Last but not least, I loved the diversity of the characters, we don't have the usual perfect handsome man, and Ellie is not the usual tall, beautiful girl who doesn't know she is, but a normal girl, with a slightly curvier body.
This is a pretty good debut, Sarah Chamberlain is one to keep an eye on.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was a really cute read! Kieran is a chef who won a cooking competition show and Ellie is a ghostwriter tasked with helping him write his first cookbook. What a fun idea!

The Slowest Burn was definitely a slow burn and when things took off there was some mild spice. I enjoyed how Ellie and Kieran’s relationship unfolded. They helped each other grow and move forward in their lives both together and separately.

There were times when the story felt a bit disjointed. Like maybe I had skipped a page accidentally. There were times when it felt choppy.

Overall this was a cute and fluffy romance with sweet interactions between the main characters and a cool cat named Floyd.

what an enjoyable book that absolutely made me hungry lol i thought this was a fun, trope-filled book that hit every cliche perfectly. it had a little bit of everything and chamberlain spun her own unique twist on it that was super enjoyable. there were some parts that i found to be a bit slow, but it picked up and the characters were relatable, wholesome, and made my heart squeeze. a wonderful debut with such a sweet and steamy romance and the best message. excited for its release!

So relatable. I really enjoyed this story and felt a kinship with the lead character. Highly recommend this story.

The gorgeous cover of this book drew me in, but the slow burn style of this particular piece made it hard to get hooked on the storyline. The plot premise is good and sets the story up well, but I found the characters to be a little too caught up in their own minds and the inner dialogue didn’t translate to intrigue for me. Thanks to NetGalley and St, Martin’s Griffins for the ARC.

When Ellie (book ghostwriter) and Kieren (celebrity chef) are put together to co-write a cookbook, it's like oil and water. As you get to know their backstories and they spend time together in the kitchen collaborating, the kitchen gets a bit steamy. I found myself rooting for them both and thoroughly enjoying the cooking aspect of the book. It's a perfect romance read - I laughed, I cried and I enjoyed the steamy scenes.

The Slowest Burn is definitely a sweet and fluffy slow burn romance. I loved that they both had issues to work through and found each other throughout it all. It is a feel good romance and will give you the perfect escape.

First off thank you NetGalley for the arc of this!

The slowest burn was the cutest sweetest romance I’ve read in a long time!

This book follows dual POV Ellie (cookbook ghost writer) and Kieran (tv famous chef) in a opposites attract slow burn fluffy romance and even with this being a sweet fluffy romance breaks some of the “romance norms”! I’ll elaborate below.

A few of the things I absolutely loved about this book is that broke some of the romance stereotypes

-neurodiversity inclusive (ADHD specifically) as someone with ADHD I felt the author really captured one type of adhd and how the right support system vs the wrong support system can really effect this.

“I was getting annoyed with myself for being stuck, which made the paralysis worse.” <<very relatable!

-body inclusivity. Main character is mid size/plus size female but it’s not a focal point. It’s not about that it’s just how her body is she’s not self conscious! I love that so much that they both have a “non stereotypical romance book body”. The other main character is not a 6’4 dark haired male, he’s shorter with fire red hair love love love the inclusion of all different bodies and hair types.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin, and Sarah Chamberlain for the early access copy of The Slowest Burn.

The Slowest Burn is a dual point-of-view story that follows Ellie and Kieran. Ellie is a celebrity ghostwriter, exceptionally organized, relatively recently widowed, and has no interest in deviating from the comfort of her routine of caring for those around her. That is until she meets her new client Kieran.

Kieran is far from a perfectionist, unless it is in the kitchen. After winning a reality tv cooking show, Kieran is asked to write a book with his creative recipes. He is known for his joking demeanor, but underneath it lies insecurities. When Ellie and Kieran are forced to work together, it starts out as a recipe for disaster.

This enemies-to-lovers story has neurodiverse representation, deals with finding yourself after loss, and finding your voice.

A cute debut rom com with a lot of depth. This one started off slow but then it picked up about half way through. I liked that they both had issues they had to work through. I liked how Kierens adhd was represented and his struggles with that. Overall it was a good read and I look forward to future works from this author.

Excellent romcom! Definitely a slow burn but such a sweet love. Ellie and Kieran are both lovable characters and them together is amazing!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

this is a sweet friends to lovers romance. It is a quick read, I read it in two afternoons. I really enjoyed the story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨{3.75}
🌶️🌶️🫑{2.5}

This one follows the story of a chef and a cookbook ghostwriter. Kieran just won a cooking show and is known for being a whirlwind, non-committal, ADHD mess. Whereas, Ellie is a type A perfectionist who never puts herself first. Everyone in her life is just content to let her do everything for them, until Kieran comes along that is. Their chemistry was honestly amazing and I loved seeing them grow together! I also feel like Chamberlain did an excellent job portraying neurodivergence through Kieran and his ADHD and the struggles he has gone through because of it.

This one was super cute! Definitely a nice fluffy rom-com with some heavier topics woven throughout. Personally, I just found it a little too cheesy for me at times, and I found the MMC for the first half to be depicted a little too child-like and whiney (but by the end he was my favorite character! We love our short ginger king Kieran!!). I really loved the plot line though and appreciate what Chamberlain was trying to do to depict the growth in the characters, I just wonder if it could have been a little more subtly executed. I also feel like too many tropes were crammed into this one book, making some of them feel half-finished rather than truly being successful. However, all of this being said, I will definitely be reading further works by this author and think it was an excellent debut novel!

𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮:
🥐dual pov
🥐reverse grumpy x sunshine
🥐forced proximity
🥐dislike to lovers
🥐opposites attract
🥐fake dating
🥐he falls first
🥐plus sized FMC/ neurodivergent MMC

*𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼:

“𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯-𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘱.”

“𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.”

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵?”
“𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵.”
“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵.”

“𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐’𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘐𝘘 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴.”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳.” 𝘈 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦. “𝘐’𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.”

*𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨*

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝. 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗’𝚜 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝙰𝚁𝙲 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠! 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗.

The beginning and end felt slow, but I really enjoyed the middle. Ellie and Kieran had such a sweet friendship and that blossomed.

This was a fantastic debut novel, that hit the mark! Would make for a quick weekend read on the beach…..I absolutely fell into this book and connected with the characters, especially the FIL relationship in the book. Ellie, a widow is contracted to ghostwrite a cookbook for Kieran, a chef. They couldn’t be more opposite, but have good chemistry that evolves throughout the book. This was definitely a slow burn that dealt with hard topics in a thoughtful manner.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this debut novel from Sarah Chamberlain. It started a bit slow for me, but once I got more than several chapters in, I found myself more and more interested. The lead characters, Kieran and Ellie, were clearly at odds, or were they? Both brought lots of baggage with them, but neither really knew what the other's baggage was until they both started to notice, little by little, there were some interesting things happening between them.

I really enjoyed the "slow burn" between Kieran and Ellie, their simmering feelings on the back burner, so to speak, until they could no longer deny them. The way they each worked out in their heads how they truly felt about each other, but didn't come clean to each other about those feelings until it was almost too late made for a truly enjoyable read. I loved how these two sad, lonely characters developed throughout this interesting story. They not only grew as individuals, but they grew together as well. It was heartwarming and lovely to read as they overcame their "issues" and found their way towards each other. All-in-all, this was a beautiful love story, well-written, filled with emotion and so worth my time to read. I hope you'll give it a go and enjoy it as much as I have.

What I particularly liked is that once Ellie and Kieran opened up to each other, they liked and valued each other for who they actually were and were affirming to each other.

Ellie had grown up knowing her parents did not want her and had to essentially become a mother to her younger brother when she was still an adolescent herself. She then met and eventually married a great guy (Max) but the relationship, while loving, was somewhat one sided, with Ellie in the supporting role. Following his unexpected death, Ellie had essentially become a replacement and crutch for her in-laws, especially her mother-in-law. Ellie would do anything for the people she cared about, even to her own detriment.

Kieran was a troublemaker and rebel when he was younger, and a constant disappointment to his parents. Part of this was because he was dyslexic and had ADHD, undiagnosed, and so his parents, teachers, etc. were not providing the support and understanding necessary for him to thrive. However, in cooking, he had found a way to focus his talents and energy successfully.

And it was cooking that brought them together. Kieran won a reality cooking competition and was trying to leverage his fame into a cookbook and hopefully his own restaurant. Ellie was a ghostwriter who specialized in cookbooks. She also had the structure and routine to help keep him on track with the project. Of course, things do not start off well at all. But cooking together and bonding over food allows them to get to know each other better. The time together will also lead to something more, which will be both wonderful and potentially devastating.