Cooking Up Love
Okay, admittedly, this is not my usual book. I don't really do the whole enemies to lovers trope as it's not something that usually appeals to me but my roommate had this book, decided she didn't want it, so I decided to give it a shot. Eri La Rosa is a new author to me and as such, this is also a new type of story.
Nina Lyons and Leo O'Donnel cohosts of a cooking show that's similar to things like Top Chef l don't get along which culminates in her quitting the cooking show on live tv. What she doesn't know is that Leo's family restaurant is failing and he needs the show to be a success so that he can save it, so when he learns that she's in the same boat with her own restaurant, Lyons, he convinces her to pretend date him so that they can save the show and their restaurants. Pretty standard trope solution, something I've seen in a lot of movies.
Throughout the book, you come to learn that Nina lost her confidence because of a verbally and emotionally abusive ex as well as nasty comments on her Instagram calling her various nasty names, including one that came about from a throwaway comment from Leo (which, does Instagram not have the ability to block things? Genuine question as I don't use it) and Leo uses his comments to hide the fact that he's been suffering panic attacks for a long time, which, dude, is being on live tv really conducive to your mental health then?
Of course, as usually happens, the fake dating turns into real feelings, and both Nina and Leo go back and forth with alternately opening up to each other and then withdrawing because of a miscommunication or assumption (such as Leo thinking Nina's getting back with Charlie when he sees them in what he assumes is an intimate position), and honestly, that got a little exhausting.
At the end, Leo finally goes on Nina's Instagram and sees what she's been dealing with and calls out the fans. Charlie's kicked to the curb for good, Nina opens up a new restaurant after losing Lyons, and Nina creates a new show, while she and Leo live happy-ish ever after.
To be honest, I wasn't really wowed by the book. Don't get me wrong, it entertained me. However, I also had QUESTIONS. Such as: if both Leo and Nina had Instagram accounts and the show was really popular, wouldn't the show itself have an Instagram page, meaning Leo would have no excuse for not seeing all the nasty comments towards Nina? Also, if it was supposed to be her show, how come Nina didn't feel comfortable telling the producers how she felt or trying to advocate for herself? I can understand that this can be hard for some people and maybe it was the same way for her and to me, the author didn't explain this well. Or maybe she did and I just missed it, which is entirely possible. I'm not always the brightest person out there.
I was also bothered by the fact that while Nina ended up having to close her restaurant, Leo didn't, and to me, it just felt like she was being punished for finally standing up for herself while Leo got a slap on the wrist because he had a support network in his family while Nina just had herself and her best friend. That being said, I enjoyed this book as a whole and I applaud La Rosa for bringing awareness to issues like workplace toxicity and mental health, so I'd give it about 4.5.
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