REVIEW: Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot

Best Served Hot by Amanda Elliot: By day Julie might just be an average executive assistant but by night she is living her dream of being a food critic. With her over fifty thousand social media followers Julie is eating her way through her best New York food life but what she really wants is to land a job for a major newspaper like the Scroll, but when they pass up her application in favour of hiring snobby, buttoned up, social media hating society boy Bennett Wright, Julie can’t help but feel a little annoyed. Which is how she winds up giving Bennett a piece of her mind when they run into each other at the Central Park Food Festival, Julie just never expected her little out burst to get captured on video or for it to blow up her follow count… or for Scroll to ask Julie and Bennett to team up on a few reviews since the public just can’t get enough of their banter. Somewhere between tacos and tapas things being to heat up between Julie and Bennett with their shared love for food bring them closer together, but things get a bit to hot when professional aspirations get in the way… will these two get the fingers burnt or will it be all sweet like candy?

After reading Sadie On A Plate I was super eager to get my hands on Elliot’s next book and let me just start off by saying Julie and Bennett did not disappoint one bit. I loved every moment of this foodie fuelled love story! Not only was this book packed with loads of mouth-watering food but it had one incredibly addictive enemies to lovers love stories. I really liked that we got to see this battle between new school social media and old school reporting both showing their merits and the differences between a food blogger and a food critic.

Julie and Bennett could not be more different, these two not only come from different backgrounds but they both had such different approaches to the way they saw the world. Now I really did want to like Julie more than I did but I could not help but feel that she came across as a bit judgemental and impulsive. There were moments where I just wanted to shake some sense into her, nevertheless I will say that she grew on me as the book progressed and as she grew up a bit. Where as our hero Bennett first comes across as the stuck up rich boy but the more we got to know him the more I found myself liking him. He was a little more on the reserved side but once he opened up we got to see that he was pretty normal and a tiny bit of a geek with his love for comic books.

I loved the secondary characters in this book right from Alice to Emerson and the yoga studio for stressed out pets. They all added so many giggles to this book. Also I loved the little cameo by Sadie, this was a nice extra touch. Now as far as the romance went in the book, it was pretty good. There was no major drama for this couple which made reading their story pretty easy. I will say I loved their banter and the way they zinged of each other.

Best Served Hot is a total must read, this book is a foodies dream mixed in with some good ole enemies to lovers romance to keep things spicy!

Book Info:

Publication: February 21, 2023 | Berkley Books |

By day, Julie Zimmerman works as an executive assistant. After hours, she’s @JulieZeeEatsNYC, a social media restaurant reviewer with over fifty thousand followers. As much as she loves her self-employed side gig, what Julie really wants is to be a critic at a major newspaper, like the New York Scroll. The only thing worse than the Scroll’s rejection of her application is the fact that smarmy, social-media-averse society boy Bennett Richard Macalester Wright snagged her dream job.

While at the Central Park Food Festival, Julie confronts the annoyingly handsome Bennett about his outdated opinions on social media and posts the resulting video footage. Julie’s follower count soars—and so does the Scroll’s. Julie and Bennett grudgingly agree to partner up for a few reviews to further their buzz. Online buzz, obviously.

Over tapas, burgers, and more, Julie and Bennett connect over their shared love of food. But when the competitive fire between them turns extra spicy, they’ll have to decide how much heat their relationship can take.