Sarah Chamberlain

There were many things to like in this book. I always like when authors write about their cities with love, and the Bay Area gets all the love here. Wonderful and beautiful attention is given to being part of a Jewish family. Grief and healing for various loved ones are nicely addressed (the FMC was widowed in her 20s, this happens at around the 3-year mark.) The MMC is dyslexic and has severe ADHD. As the mother of an adult son who has the same challenges, I thought Chamberlain did a really show more nice job of showing how that impacts life. The ways in which we evolve in our 20's, how what we needed in a partner at 20 diverges from what we need in a partner at 30, was addressed with a deft touch. And this focused on food, which is a topic I love. Chamberlain and I differ on the subject of haute cuisine (I love food that is brainy, humorous, and delicious, and shows reverence for the ingredients. Bring on Alinea, French Laundry, and Per Se! Chamberlain thinks all good food has to brim with comfort and love and I don't feel that is always essential, though I love that happy comfort food too.) I never include quotes in romance reviews, but I am leaving one here about shopping at a good farmers market:

"Speckled brown eggs that the farmer promised had been laid just that morning, two dark loaves of sourdough that crackled when I squeezed them gently. Meaty bacon from happy pigs, a chunk of salmon glowing coral and smelling like the sea. Little waxy potatoes firm to my touch, dirt-skinned onions, bouquets of fresh herbs.”

It sounds all good, but two things got in the way of enjoying this. First is that I felt zero chemistry between the leads. Ellie talks about how hot Kieran is, Kieran talks about how hot Eliie is. But noticing people are hot is not the same as wanting. I see hot people every day and appreciate their hotness without being attracted to them. Some people just pull you in somehow, and that spark is how romance begins. Here, I just didn't feel any pull. In romance, that flaw is fatal. The other problem for me was that there were 10 pounds of romance tropes stuffed into this 5-pound bag. This is not a fatal flaw, but it induced a lot of eye-rolling here and took me out of the story. Also worth mentioning, I don't think the sex we well written. it was not off-putting, and it showed sweet and generous engagement from both participants which is amazing, but it all seemed like it was between two people following a recipe. Nothing seemed playful or enveloping, which are things that make sex (in life or literature) appealing for me personally -- this is a very personal thing, and I hope other readers feel different.

All in all, for me this was fine, kind of meh for the most part, but it showed promise. I will try the author's next one. show less

My sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Love Walked In by Sarah Chamberlain. I give my unbiased opinion of it in the following review.

Mari has a reputation for saving struggling bookstores and has been tasked to work with the almost 100-year-old Ross books in London. Leo Ross has taken over the management of Ross books since his grandfather passed away 8 months before, and he's not all that keen on having this American show more woman invade his space and start making changes. And change she does! Her momentum is thrown when she gets sick soon after her arrival. Little does Leo know when he helps Mari recover that she has had very little help with anything her whole life. Leo has had his own struggles as well and now even as he is fighting to save the store, a good friend is pressuring him to sell it. Will Leo and Mari decide to work together for the good of Ross Books? What will happen when they start catching feelings and there is an end date for Mari's time in England?

Sarah Chamberlain's debut novel, The Slowest Burn, was one of my top favorites in 2024. I so enjoy her writing style and was happy to revisit it when reading Love Walked In. That being said, I found this one a little more challenging to get into. I loved the bookstore setting where I wouldn't have minded getting lost for a while amongst the rows and rows of books. The idea of it being 100 years old and an institution really appealed to me. I liked Leo's somewhat awkward personality. It was a nice change for the love interest to be more of a normal lanky guy who needs a little help with his finesse. I wasn't all that in love with his secret "alpha" personality as Mari called it, but I loved how when he decided that Mari was important to him that he made himself a safe place for her. There are a few surprises toward the end of the book that I don't want to spoil, but I wish they would have been revealed a little earlier and developed a little more. Overall, I liked the book and I look forward to learning about what Sarah Chamberlain has planned next.

Open Door and some Cursing show less

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

A great slow burn romance with food.

Full review: Well, this was a great romance to me at least. Fair warning, this is a romance dealing with a widow, I know some romance readers are not a fan of that, but it made sense in this one and I loved that Chamberlain did not try to hide the dead spouse.

"The Slowest Burn" follows Ellie Wasserman, a ghost cookbook author (yes this is a thing I am finding in show more my romance reads these days). Ellie is still dealing with the death of her husband, Max, from several years earlier. She lives with his parents (in a guesthouse) and finds herself wanting to move on from Max, but is scared to leave since Max's mother depends on her so much. When she gets offered the job to write for Kiernan O'Neill, she jumps at the chance. However, Ellie meets Kiernan and finds herself unimpressed with the new celeb chef. Kiernan finds Ellie bossy and judgmental. However, both start to realize they are interested in each other, way more than they should be.

The book jumps back and forth between Ellie and Kiernan's perspectives. I liked the slow build from enemies to lovers that we get. And I thought Chamberlain did a great job developing Ellie and Kiernan both. They both have hard backstories that just worked. I definitely wanted to beg Ellie to get rid of several people in her life. Also the love scenes were hotter than hot. I definitely enjoyed them.

The secondary characters (their two best friends) were great and I like them though the book moved away from where I thought they were going there.

The ending was wonderful and we get a HEA. show less

The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain

Kieran is an up-and-coming chef who just won a reality tv cooking competition. Ellie is hired to be Kieran's ghostwriter for his first cookbook. They are so different, but just what they need for each other. I loved these characters so much. The author wrote both of their stories of growth and healing with such care that my heart was full of all the feelings as Kieran and Ellie navigated their individual paths to the point where they were able to come show more together as soulmates. I appreciated the dual points of view. The descriptions food and of Kieran's dream restaurant made me want to experience a place like that in real life! I loved that this was a romance with a slow burn. Not every author gets the slow burn right, but Sarah Chamberlain did an outstanding job.

My sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Slowest Burn and give my unbiased opinion of it in this review. show less