For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa: Book Review

For Butter or Worse is Erin La Rosa’s first foray into fiction after having published two non-fiction books. With an anticipated release date of July 26, 2022, For Butter or Worse is a look into the world of reality tv and the restaurant world. Nina Lyon is a chef with strong opinions about food, and she also hosts a reality cooking show. Leo O’Donnell co-owns his family’s Italian restaurant but knows little about cooking, and he is also Nina’s co-host. What could go wrong?

I want to thank Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of For Butter or Worse. All opinions presented here are solely mine.

CW/TW: anxiety, cyberbullying, panic attack, mental health

Synopsis from Goodreads

Their feelings are about to boil over…

Chef Nina Lyon dreams of cooking her way to culinary stardom and becoming a household name. She thought hosting The Next Cooking Champ! was her golden ticket, but she and her co-host/arch-nemesis Leo O’Donnell go together like water and oil, and he undercuts her at every turn.

So when Nina unexpectedly quits the show–on live TV, no less–to focus on her restaurant, she doesn’t anticipate the he-devil himself showing up at her door begging her to come back. Nor does she expect the paparazzi to catch them in what looks like a passionate kiss, but is actually Leo tripping into her. When the fans go crazy over Nina and Leo’s “secret romance,” keeping the ruse going might be the only way to save both their careers. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

Positives

Nina and Leo both discuss their mental health. Nina understands how too much time spent on social media can negatively impact her. Leo struggles with anxiety and panic attacks and learns to let people help him.

Jasmine and Sophie are great best friends, and I would love to see more of their stories.

Negatives

I know this is a part of the story-telling process, especially with the enemies-to-lovers trope, but why can’t the main characters communicate already? Don’t get me wrong, I know if they would communicate better, there wouldn’t be a story. But there was so much miscommunication and no communication that it was painful.

My Opinions

For Butter or Worse is a rom-com with two of the most popular tropes in romance–fake dating and enemies-to-lovers. Yes, these two tropes can often be found together, but they work well independently. In this instance, the enemies-to-lovers begin before we meet Nina and Leo. They work together on a reality show and have the good host/bad host mentality. Leo inadvertently gives Nina an unflattering nickname, which fuels the fire. The fake dating comes about early in the story and begins with a misunderstanding.

I found the first third of the book a bit slow of a read, and I often wanted to do something other than reading. But once I got past that point, things began to grab my attention and made me want to read over doing other things. And just a heads up, the last third of the book is pretty steamy. And the majority of that steam is on the page!

The discussion of mental health throughout the book is one that I enjoyed. It is not often that you find a rom-com that discusses the characters’ mental health so openly. Leo openly discusses his anxiety and panic attacks, though it’s more with the reader than other characters. Nina discusses how she had to take breaks from social media for her mental health, especially when she was the target of cyberbullying. Again, this discussion was more with the reader than other characters.

Another topic discussed in the book, and part of Nina’s backstory, is how women are treated. Part of the reason she walks away from the show is because of how she is treated. If a woman is strongly opinionated, she’s mean or nasty. Nina also discusses how she has often been treated negatively in the workplace and that men in the restaurant industry did not treat her with the respect she deserved.

Overall, I enjoyed reading For Butter or Worse. And if you enjoyed reading The Hating Game, you may also enjoy reading this.

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.