Fate & Fried Chicken

by Cheryl Terra

Isla Monroe is a compulsive planner with colour-coded calendars, a five-year plan, and a personal goal to "be more spontaneous" without having a panic attack. Ellie Burns is a chronic underachiever who’s coasting through life, dreaming of more but too busy avoiding her terrible boss and her own fears to actually look for it.

So of course, the two of them are destined to be best friends.

When a painful breakup leaves Isla feeling like she’ll never have her meet-cute moment, Ellie convinces her that all they need is a little “planned spontaneity” for destiny to work overtime and deliver their soulmates. You crafting meet cutes over spilled coffee, staging accidental run-ins with the lead singer of the band, purposely stumbling on curbs and getting caught by attractive strangers…

But when Isla’s impulsive decision to act as Ellie’s fake girlfriend to fend off family drama and an accidental kiss under the New Year’s Eve disco ball feels way too real, they each start to realize that no matter how hard they try to make sparks fly with someone else... they keep tripping over each other instead.

The only problem? One of them isn't sure she's doing this for the right reasons… and the other has sworn off falling for her best friend ever again.

Fate and Fried Chicken is a slow burn sapphic romcom full of friends-to-lovers heat, queer awakenings, and the realization that sometimes the real soulmates are the friends we "platonically" spooned with along the way.

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 21, 2025

About the author

Cheryl Terra writes romantic and adult fiction with drama, sass, and a whole lot of... spice. Emotional and humorous, her books focus on contemporary relationships, inclusive characters, and happily ever afters. Living with her husband in northern Alberta, Canada, Cheryl relies on the heat between her quirky and memorable characters to help keep the gas bill down in the winter.

For more information and to get free books, visit Cheryl’s website at cherylterra.com

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be one of my favourite Cheryl books to date! It’s got everything I could want. Banter? Yep. Sapphic romance? Yep. One bed? Yep. Amazingly funny and well rounded side characters? You guessed it.

[Romantic.Rainbow.Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m vegetarian but that didn’t stop me from adoring Fate and Fried Chicken by Cheryl Terra.

The story is so lighthearted and funny that I didn’t even notice all the emotions sneaking up on me until they hit. Isla and Ellie’s best friend hijinks were so fun and entertaining. Their joy in each other’s company was palpable. Isla is waiting for fate to give her the perfect meet-cute with her soulmate, but she eventually realizes that maybe her soul mate is the one she had “platonic” sleepovers with along the way. (Also, she and Ellie had an adorable meet-cute; they just didn’t realize what it was when it happened.)

I loved reading about Isla’s queer awakening and her realization that isn’t quite as straight as she thought. Her bacon metaphor for asexuality was great. I also really appreciated that this book had such a positive and joyful depiction of a plus sized character. Ellie was the perfect bisexual disaster.

This book is definitely friends-to-lovers, but I think it could be categorized as idiots-to-lovers as well because they both are so oblivious. I love the idiots-to-lovers trope, and this book ticked all the boxes for me. Everyone else realizing it before them? ✅ “Totally platonic” physical interactions? ✅ Jealousy they don’t realize is jealousy? ✅ Parents assuming they must be dating? ✅

When they finally figured it out and got together, it was so rewarding. I also love that Isla ended up with a cat at the end of the book!

Highlights:
- friends to lovers
- bi love interest with ADHD
- asexual main character with a queer awakening
- funny & heartfelt
- family drama

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy of this book!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isla and Ellie make a cute couple. i could not get enough of them. If I was to compare myself to one of them, I would say I am like Isla. She is more reserved than Ellie and sticks up for her friends. Not that Ellie is not kind and would do the same. Ellie is an extrovert.

I felt so bad for Ellie with the way her family; especially her grandmother treated her. Yet I was cheering when Isla stood up for her. That evening was a changing point in Ellie and Isla's relationship. I loved the slow burn romance of these two.

I loved Cheryl's other series featuring Nellie and JP, so much. I was sad when it ended. Yet, this book helped heal me heart. This book still features sprinkles of the witty banter that I have come to expect from Cheryl. Um, I am going to need more sapphic romance books from you, Cheryl. This book may not be about fried chicken, it is better. It is feel good read that features engaging characters, witty banter with sprinkles of spice and fried chicken!

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is laugh out loud hilarious.
Isla the very predictable planner just ups and leaves everything behind in search for herself and little bit of adventure. Jobless and lonely the universe gives her a gift vis a amazing meet cute in the form of ellie, her new coworker and quick best friend. The girls try to trick faith by setting up meet cute in order to find their soul mates.
Its just hillarious. The situations are funny, the banter, quirky come backs and secondary cast had my face hurting from laughing so much.These girls are oblivious. With all that comedy their is a lot of sexual orientation representation as well as learning disabilities, familly dynamics and grief. The complexity of the characters is perfectly leveled with the comedy making it not to emotional but still with an amazing message that can connect to readers on a deeply personal level. Just great read

[Joanna C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute story! Our main characters have a meet-cute and become best friends not long after. Ellie and Isla are both in search of their soulmate; however, could their person be closer than they believe? I love how these two girls are always finding themselves in interesting situations and the close-knit group of friends they have. Besides some of the adventures at the bar, I particularly enjoyed the scenes where they met each other's families. Although there were some uncomfortable moments with family members, especially when they met each other's moms, it was all so cute.

I think the realization for each one came at the perfect moment, and I couldn't have asked for a better ending. Thanks to InkSlinger PR and the author for the eARC!

[Erin M. Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
OMG this book had me chuckling throughout the whole thing and going awww in the right spots, it was so cute and funny. Yes I will come out and say it this was not my typical read, but I thought I'd give it a chance and it was adorable and definitely did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did Isla and Ellie we're such a cute couple as they didn't realize they already had their perfect meet cute when they first met at Starbucks over the same name wrong name on the coffee cup.
I received a complimentary ARC from the author for a fair and honest review

[Ashlee Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Isla is the type of person I feel like I am most similar to, as she always has to have a plan. She loves books and coffee, which is so me! Ellie is the person I want to be like as she is a ball of energetic spontaneous sass. I loved their relationship and how instantly these two women clicked and the escapades they had to go on to realize, they were their meet cutes all along! Cheryl, this book is the first one I've read of yours and now I know I have to read them all! Reading them all will be like catching Pokemon 🤪 Thanks for my new addiction!

[MarlyUsagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a nice change from what I was reading after a heavy book it was refreshing though this one didn't lack pain it was a different type of pain. I am always down for a sapphic read and this hit the spot, the characters were likable and relatable the plot although silly was fun. definitely hit the spot.

[Luigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those random books you find on a whim! Had this preordered, and just got round to finally reading. What a fantastic story, loved the characters, especially the ace representation (I knew it, before it was even confirmed by the character!). The whole idea of fate throughout the book was so fun too!

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read a book dealing with this story line before.
I did enjoy this book.
It just shows that you never know where you will find love.

[Jessica Crome · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had me laughing and wanting to see what happened next. I loved the banter and the friendship. But seeing the growth of the characters was fun and a bit of journey. To see them grow and stand up for each other while only being friends was fun. But I loved that in the end they finally figured it all out

[Rachel Skow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cheryl is my go to for a feel good Rom Com with the perfect amount of emotion and social commentary. This book is perfect Cheryl - its hilarious from page one, has a sassy Drag Queen, characters who are both too smart and too dumb for their own good, and all the feels. This one had a bonus cat - so its my favorite!