This was a nice slow burn romance - Ellie's was an enjoyable perspective to read and I enjoyed learning more about the cookbook industry throughout the story. I can't say that I loved Kieran, and at times he gave me the ick but overall an enjoyable read.

3.25/5 stars! The cover of this book was cute and I was looking forward to a contemporary romance with depth and touching on the topic of healing from grief. I liked the chemistry between Ellie and Kieran but there were some moments that were super cringe. Sometimes it felt like they were teenagers instead of adults.

This book was sad and nice and heart warming but the Taylor swift references were too much for me and Kieran was not a lovable character in my books. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and reveiw

There were definitely two beds. Sarah Chamberlain's experience in the cookbook industry really shows - just the right level of detail on the process to really set the scene. I wouldn't have been quite as forgiving as Ellie of all these people reading my journals.

The sweetest slowest burn and I loved it! Such a great debut. The romance is so sweet, the characters are endearing and I loved the dual POV. I will say though some things bugged me slightly. It was a bit cringey when he just straight up randomly asked her to have sex and don't even get me started on the third act breakup, it's like it was thrown in there as some sort of filling out a checklist but it was so pointless
Easy and fun read overall

The Slowest Burn follows Ellie Wasserman a ghostwriter for cookbooks and is still dealing with the death of her husband from three years earlier and Kieran who has recently won a reality TV cooking show and has a high-paying cookbook deal but struggles with his complicated family dynamics and ADHD that means he struggles to plan ahead. When Ellie is asked to write for Kieran she happily agrees but when they first meet Ellie finds herself unimpressed with Kieran and Kieran finds Ellie bossy and uptight. However the more time they spend together they discover they are both more interested in each other than they should be.

I saw a couple of good reviews for this book that led to me picking this one up and seeing what I thought of it. It took me a while to be invested in the characters but once I was invested in the characters I wanted to keep reading and find out what was going to happen.

I found this to be a really interesting story that had some interesting discussions through the characters and their own journeys which I found myself quickly interested in.
The discussions surrounding Ellie’s grief and how she was still being impacted by losing her husband three years on, and how she was being held back from moving on based on the situation she was living in afterwards with her in-laws.
I also found the discussions around Kieran’s ADHD and how that impacted his life to be really interesting. It showed how much having a diagnosis has the potential to change someone’s life.

While our two key characters don’t get off on the right foot it was really nice to see them learn more about each other and why they came across in the way that led to them coming across how they did in that first impression. It was nice to see Ellie adapt to Kieran once she learned about his ADHD, the new approach while making me hungry was something I was really happy to read. I loved watching their romance develop because they were so good for each other and even the other out in ways that is so special to read in romance books.
The side characters were also really interesting, well-developed characters who I wanted to read about. I didn’t love all of the characters (for good reason) however there were some that I loved and others who I found interesting and behaved in the way that people normally do with flaws.

This isn’t a new favourite romance book but I really enjoyed my read of it and I do think I would read more Sarah Chamberlain in the future. I found the characters to be interesting and loved how Sarah Chamberlain developed the discussions around them so I look forward to seeing what else she can do with her characters in future books. I would definitely recommend this romance book to those who like reading diverse romances and books that have food at the center.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a few mixed reviews for this book and it was a little bit off putting however, the bookshelf raiders challenge this month was a book with food on the cover and this just fit the bill. I am so glad I picked this book up, I loved it! I adored Ellie and Kieran and all the banter at the start when they were thrown together and obviously I like a bit of enemies to lovers/fake dating so this was perfect. I loved hearing about their backgrounds and all the things they let hold them back instead of their own happiness. When the romance hit it wasn’t all spice but it was written so well. This book was a total comfort read that I binged in a couple of days. Thank you so much for the gifted copy in exchange for a review.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! Not in a negative way at all, I loved how he was there for her while she was there for everyone else.

Thank you for allowing me to read it

This was a cute debut - the middle fake dating bit and the ‘let’s just have sex’ threw me off a bit.

Thank you for a copy of the book for review

For me, the book’s biggest stumbling block was that I was just not attracted to Kieran. He was childish, often ignorant and he messed up frequently, particularly in the third act. Kieran came across as a big kid Ellie was forced to look after. I didn't feel the couple's 'slow burn' and their chemistry wasn’t the electric kind. I didn’t find their back and forth charming.

I appreciated the author's attempt at mining some pretty heavy topics. For example, Ellie had a complicated relationship with her deceased husband’s parents. I understood that her grief was complex and by remaining close with her in-laws, she got to keep a piece of her husband alive, but their dynamic was unhealthy. It was interesting to see this weaved into this kind of story.

In theory, this romance novel had some of the right ingredients, but crucially I was never won over by the leading man, who I found to be too immature and unreliable to root for. Ellie deserved better.

This was cute - a definitely slow burn romance between two total opposites, with heavier topics at its heart, such as grief. I have pretty mixed feelings about this book - it was easy to read, and I think I enjoyed it, but the characters felt very stiff at times, and I cannot tell how many times the male love interest Kieran gave me the ick (why was he growling all the time?!).

I did enjoy the storyline, and I personally LOVE a slow burn romance, so in most ways, this was right up my street! However, it was just the characters didn't feel like real people, so I struggled to stay in the story or believe in the romance. I did like how the book dealt with grief, and with the pressure Ellie felt to stay single out of respect to her deceased husband, particularly from having to hold all of her mother-in-law's grief on her shoulders. But I don't know, Kieran just cringed me out too much.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would! Not in a negative way at all, but my standards for romances are high, and this really put a smile on my face. I loved how he was there for her while she was there for everyone else.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

First of all! Thank you to NetGallery and Sarah Chamberlain for the ARC for this book. I’m so so so so sorry that it took me nearly two months after the book’s publication to read this. In saying this, let’s get to the review, this book follows Ellie Wasserman, a young ghostwriter working for a firm tasked with writing a cookbook for the most recent winner of a TV cook show. Ellie is strong, hardworking and stubborn, stunk grieving after the loss of her husband 3 years prior. It’s like her world is at a standstill, she’s gone to therapy and has adopted a cat but she’s living in the back garden of her in-laws’ house and feels like the caretaker of everyone around her, not knowing how to live her life post her husband. Enter Kieran O'Neill, the hyper, energy-filled redhead that Ellie now has to work with. Even though he’s fuelled by adrenaline from winning his cooking show, Kieran has his own skeletons in the closet. Living with ADHD and Dyslexia, only being diagnosed in adulthood, Kieran has always felt not good enough, like a burden and he’s always trying to prove himself, especially to his parents. As much as the book's premise intrigued me, the romance between a chef and a ghostwriter, there were many elements to this book. The trauma of grief, abandonment and trust, especially within Ellie’s character. She’s had to deal with being the caretaker for her and her little brother her whole life, especially since her parents weren't always there for her. I know these past traumas explain her choices throughout the book but it felt like a lot and not well explored for a book of less then 350 pages. The romance kinda flew, Kieran had heart-eyes from the beginning and Ellie soon followed but for a book titled “The Slowest Burn” the romance wasn’t a slow burn, it was kinda quick and the timeline wasn’t very pronounced. The side characters were good, but overall kinda forgettable but with that being said it was an easy story to get through and with the help of the audiobook was able to finish in 3 days. Like Kieran, I have Dyslexia so I found some of his methods for coping really relatable which is good. I would recommend this book for an easy read, I did have a fun time.

This book was unfortunately a DNF for me - I wanted to love this book. Everything about the synopsis and the cover art called to me, but I had a real hard time connecting with the story line and the plot.

This is marketed as a slow burn yes, but the pacing just wasn't there and I found it to be quite lacking meaning it fell flat at times for me, which then just killed my chances of getting through this book.

I am sad this wasn't for me, but I would be open to reading more from the author as I understand this is a debut and can see the potential in the writing.

Such a beautiful cover on this book, and such a beautiful, heartwarming story inside the cover. Loved Kieran and Ellie’s story. Two damaged characters figuring out they’re worth waaay more than they’ve been receiving. Ellie’s in-laws were TOXIC, and I’m so glad she realised that and put boundaries in place. Thanks Netgalley and the publisher.

This was a just a great read. I was just all in the story.
Loved the MCs. Lovely written book. i enjoyed more than I expected I would

Where was the slow burn I was promised? Not in this one that I can assure you. The characters had little to no chemistry, so the whole fake dating thing was just uninteresting, and I love fake dating so. Ellie's character had a lot of potential but I thought it was weird how her feelings were handled and didn't make sense with what I was being told about her. For fans of Emily Henry, not really.

I really enjoyed this novel, it was a different kind of romance novel for me but it was great to read. I really enjoyed the characters and their slowly developing relationships.

3⭐️

The Slowest Burn is a cute, easy read and definitely for fans of Tessa Bailey.

As much as I enjoyed reading the book, I don’t think it quite deserved more than 3 stars. I found some of the dialogue as well as the characters actions, so be quite awkward and cringey. They’re supposed to be 27 & 31/2 (I can’t quite remember Ellie’s age) and this definitely didn’t translate to the page.

I did enjoy the cooking references and loved the process of cookbook writing with ghostwriters, it was definitely interesting and fun to read.

All in all, if you’re looking for a quick, easy read, I would recommend this..

Loved this funny and warm hearted romance between a chef and the ghostwriter for his cookbook! A sprinkle of enemies to lovers (well, at least from Strong Dislike to lovers…), plenty of food content and a wonderful cast of characters. I read the whole thing over the course of an afternoon and it was the perfect mood brightener!