best served hot is a professional rivals to lovers romance between two food critics; julie, a social media reviewer and bennett, a critic for a newspaper. bennett has just gotten julie’s dream job at the scroll, and when she happens to run into him at a food festival, she is determined to let him know everything wrong with his privileged position that got him the job and also the way he reviews food. video footage from the confrontation is posted and goes viral, which leads them to team up on new restaurant reviews to push both of their careers.
right off the bat, i want to say that while i enjoyed my time reading this book, i do not think it will be for everyone. our main character, julie, is quick-tempered in the way that sometimes she speaks before she thinks, and i can see where people wouldn’t enjoy that about her. for me, yes she was chaotic and messy, but she did try to do right by people and when she took the time to sit with her actions, she was able to recognize her missteps. just from the setup and the situational humor in the story, i could 100% see this as a movie, my jaw was hitting the floor at some of the silly things that happen. the banter and natural comfortable vibe between julie and bennett in the initial stages of their acquaintance/friendship situation made me want to root for them. bennett was a sweet cinnamon roll man, so i loved learning more about him throughout the story. also the descriptions of food had my mouth watering. overall i thought this was solid and cute! i'm not sure if it’ll be super memorable down the line, but i enjoyed it!
*thank you to berkley & netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review!