Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 Spice: 🌶️🌶️

by Sarah Chamberlain (Sept. 24, 2024) – Many thanks to @smpromance for the gifted digital copy of this incredibly sweet romance.

Kieran O’Neill, a celebrated chef fresh off a major cooking competition win, is a culinary star in San Francisco. Yet despite his professional success, he struggles with planning and feels like a disappointment to his family. Enter Ellie Wasserman, a meticulous cookbook ghostwriter whose life revolves around precision and order. When they are paired to collaborate on Kieran’s new cookbook, chaos ensues. He’s too scattered for Ellie’s structured world, and she’s too rigid for his freewheeling style. But as the months pass, they uncover deeper layers within each other—Kieran’s ADHD diagnosis and Ellie’s grief over the death of her young husband—and their unlikely partnership blossoms into something much more profound.

This book is a slow burn in the best possible way. The way food serves as a backdrop, anchoring scenes of joy, grief, and connection, is beautifully done. Watching Kieran and Ellie’s relationship evolve from frustration to understanding was a joy, as their contrasting personalities didn’t so much soften each other as complement one another. The exploration of grief was particularly poignant, as Ellie’s journey through love after loss, especially navigating her late husband’s family dynamics, felt raw and heart-wrenching.

One of my favorite aspects was how Kieran championed Ellie both in her personal life and her professional career. He becomes a source of support for her, contrasting the many people in her life who seem to take from her. Their love story is messy, tender, and real, with moments of vulnerability