BOOKWORM REVIEW: For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥
This is the best ACTUAL-enemies-to-lovers I've read in a while.
Nina Lyon and Leo O'Donnell hate each other with a fire of a thousand suns. After three seasons of hosting a reality-show cooking contest together and tossing vitriol back and forth at every opportunity, Nina finally has had enough and walks away from the show and Leo.
Knowing that the show and he cannot continue without Nina, Leo pays her a visit, and a small incident leads the paparazzi and their fans to believe that their animosity was more of a ruse to hide their relationship.
Now they must keep up the façade to keep their respective businesses and reputations intact, but can they keep their feelings out of this fake match?
I love, love, love enemies-to-lovers reads, but sometimes I get disappointed by the lack of heat in the main characters' hatred for each other. The conflict in this read, however, immediately kicks off in the first chapter, and it is vicious. So vicious to a point that you wonder if a romance would ever come from two people who strongly dislike each other.
But Erin La Rosa does an amazing job at taking the details of Nina and Leo's conflict and slowly giving us details that not only endear us readers to them but also build a great connection between these two characters.
Maybe I am in a spicy mood lately, but I had wished for more between the two, especially given their explosive chemistry. I know, I know -- what we got was so delicious that I just wanted more.
** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Erin La Rosa, Harlequin Books, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **
ABOUT THE BOOK
They go together like water and oil…
All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she's had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV series The Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene.
Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk.
Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It's part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits—on live TV.
To make matters worse, the two are caught in what looks like a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romance” between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most.
Now all they have to do is play along, without killing each other...and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd's pie. Right?
Get Your Copy → https://amzn.to/3ovBngd
Add to Goodreads → https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59040889-for-butter-or-worse
MEET ERIN LA ROSA
Erin La Rosa has written many highly engaging...tweets, as a social media manager. But on her way to writing romance, she's also published two humorous non-fiction books, Womanskills and The Big Redhead Book. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three daughters (one human, two felines). Find her on Twitter and Instagram @erinlarosalit and on TikTok @erinlarosawrites