I really wanted to love this. Alas, I ended up barely finishing. Food and romance? With a sprinkle of fake dating?!! Those are all totally my Jam! Unfortunately, this book couldn’t turn out a tasty dish with all those ingredients (see, I can also overuse baking analogies)!

Nina and Leo did enemies very well. However I didn’t buy the later “to-lovers” part. Leo was too downright nasty to her a lot of times for me to get on board with them especially since he was supposedly in love with her from the beginning! I didn’t buy their romance, and truly the only thing I liked was the brief separation at the end. LOL.

One of the few things I liked was the mental health inclusion.

I overall felt there were the right ideas, but they were put together funny. A shame.

Thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC
( )

If only they could talk. Oh, wait… How non- and intentional miscommunication not only derails a decent story but an entire novel.

“For Butter or Worse”? This amusingly cheesy title (and Helen Hoang’s prominent endorsement on the cover) made me read this. Sadly, it was mostly a waste of my reading time.

Chef Nina and restaurant chain owner Leo co-host a cooking show and don’t get along. Once she drops out of the show, Nina discovers she’s losing even more business than before and agrees to fake-date her “enemy” Leo. Leo is in a pretty similar situation and, thus, agrees to this charade as well.

At this point, I should have stopped. Fake-dating and enemies-to-lovers in one book? That’s a recipe for disaster but Erin La Rosa had to add a lot more ingredients to her novel and as its sole cook, she creates a hotchpotch of topics that are each highly relevant - and thoroughly neglected.

There’s, of course, the subject of sexism in the food industry. To be honest, I have next to no clue about the food industry but judging by the number of famous male chefs I know versus that of famous female ones, this seems fairly obvious.
It doesn’t really get explored in any meaningful way, though.

Let’s add anxiety and panic attacks to the mix - pretty much the only thing the novel has to say on the topic is that “the symptoms of a heart attack [are] virtually indistinguishable from those of a panic attack”.

We’re still not done yet because next to be added is “extreme burnout”. Thankfully, the author refrains from making any big assumptions on that one - apart from it being dealt with conclusively in a mere six therapy sessions…

Social media toxicity also had to be added, right next to toxic masculinity represented by the transgressive stereotypical ex-boyfriend. Stress eating and lots of other miscellaneous issues serve to further enrich this mess.

I could look past all that if the remainder of the story made up for it but, alas, there just isn’t enough of a story in this: They fake-date, they discover they harbour feelings for each other - and decide to keep silent about those feelings, sometimes actually expressing the exact opposite of what they feel and want from each other. I kept thinking “TALK TO EACH OTHER!” (Yes, in all-caps.)

It is so unbelievably annoying to me when authors resort to such simplistic devices: Both Nina and Leo can’t be teenagers anymore. They’ve each actually accomplished a lot. And, yet, they don’t talk.

Two out of five stars.

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam ( )

Hot steamy summer days like these call for a hot steamy romance to read and Erin La Rosa's For Butter Or Worse takes the cake.

Nina Lyon owns her own restaurant and hosts the cooking challenge reality show The Next Cooking Champ. Her cohost is Leo O'Donnell, whose family owns a chain of Italian restaurants, some of which can be found in airports.

Nina has worked hard to earn the respect she deserves in the culinary world, something not easily attainable for women. She brings her experience to the show and can be tough, but fair, to the contestants.

Leo runs the business end of the family restaurants, leaving the food part to his twin brother Gavin to handle. Leo is handsome and all charm to most people, but snarky to his cohost Nina. He can't help pushing her buttons on air.

Both Nina and Leo hope that their TV show appearances will translate into more customers to their restaurants; it's a tough business with very tight profit margins. When Nina decides she's had enough of Leo, she loses her cool and announces on-air in a live show that she is leaving The Next Cooking Champ.

That leaves both Leo and Nina and their restaurants in a precarious position, and when paparazzi take a photo of them in what looks like a romantic clinch, the only way to save their restaurants (according to the show's PR person) is to be seen in public dating. Can Nina and Leo put aside their animosity to save their restaurants?

For Butter Or Worse is an enemies-to-lovers tale with some delicious food descriptions that will make you hungry. (Nina's mother's Pates aux Lardons -noodles with gruyére cheese, bacon and butter- will be making an appearance in my kitchen very soon.)

La Rosa elevates her story with some interesting touches. Leo has anxiety issues, and I love that he and his mom talk on the phone while watching rom-coms (Sleepless in Seattle) together. As the mom of two adult sons, I appreciated Leo's mom.

As with any good enemies-to-lovers story, Leo and Nina's "fake dates" lead to misunderstandings and to some very steamy sex scenes. (If you don't appreciate explicit sex scenes, this isn't for you. If you appreciate them, you'll be pleased.)

If you're someone who enjoys a hot romance and doesn't miss an episode of Top Chef, put For Butter Or Worse on your TBR list today. ( )