For Butter or Worse

If only they could talk. Oh, wait... How non- and intentional miscommunication not only derails a decent story but an entire novel.“[b:For Butter or Worse 59040889 For Butter or Worse Erin La Rosa https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1648414406l/59040889.SX50.jpg 93007167]”? This amusingly cheesy title (and [a:Helen Hoang 17147855 Helen Hoang https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1505925131p2/17147855.jpg]'s prominent endorsement on the cover) made me read this. Sadly, it was mostly a waste of my reading time.Chef Nina and restaurant chain owner Leo co-host a cooking show and don't get along. Once she drops out of the show, Nina discovers she's losing even more business than before and agrees to fake-date her “enemy” Leo. Leo is in a pretty similar situation and, thus, agrees to this charade as well.At this point, I should have stopped. Fake-dating and enemies-to-lovers in one book? That's a recipe for disaster but [a:Erin La Rosa 15071204 Erin La Rosa https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1638849502p2/15071204.jpg] had to add a lot more ingredients to her novel and as its sole cook, she creates a hotchpotch of topics that are each highly relevant - and thoroughly neglected.There's, of course, the subject of sexism in the food industry. To be honest, I have next to no clue about the food industry but judging by the number of famous male chefs I know versus that of famous female ones, this seems fairly obvious.It doesn't really get explored in any meaningful way, though.Let's add anxiety and panic attacks to the mix - pretty much the only thing the novel has to say on the topic is that “the symptoms of a heart attack [are] virtually indistinguishable from those of a panic attack”.We're still not done yet because next to be added is “extreme burnout”. Thankfully, the author refrains from making any big assumptions on that one - apart from it being dealt with conclusively in a mere six therapy sessions... Social media toxicity also had to be added, right next to toxic masculinity represented by the transgressive stereotypical ex-boyfriend. Stress eating and lots of other miscellaneous issues serve to further enrich this mess.I could look past all that if the remainder of the story made up for it but, alas, there just isn't enough of a story in this: They fake-date, they discover they harbour feelings for each other - and decide to keep silent about those feelings, sometimes actually expressing the exact opposite of what they feel and want from each other. I kept thinking “TALK TO EACH OTHER!” (Yes, in all-caps.)It is so unbelievably annoying to me when authors resort to such simplistic devices: Both Nina and Leo can't be teenagers anymore. They've each actually accomplished a lot. And, yet, they don't talk. Two out of five stars.Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam