Blog Tour Review & Giveaway || The Secret Recipe for Moving On

Thank you so much to Xpresso Book Tours for the opportunity to be on this blog tour!

Title: The Secret Recipe for Moving On
Author: Karen Bischer
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: March 23, 2021
Genres: YA Contemporary Romance

Official Synopsis

Ellie Agresti’s not sure anything could be worse than being dumped by her boyfriend, Hunter, the first day of senior year.

But sharing a “life skills” class with him and his new girlfriend, Brynn? AND getting partnered with a “family” of misfits (A.J., the loudmouth; Isaiah, the horse-racing obsessive; and Luke, the tattooed stunt-biker)?

It’s a recipe for certain disaster…until an in-class competition allows Ellie to channel her angst into beating Hunter and Brynn’s team, and she unexpectedly bonds with her own group–especially Luke–in the process.

But as Ellie soon discovers, it will take more than classroom triumphs to heal her broken heart–and find herself again.

Find it Here:
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

Review

I think I heard about this a year before it was published? I remember looking it up on Goodreads and being devastated that it was being published in 2021 instead of 2020… and now the long wait is over! And this book did not disappoint. The premise instantly captured me, and the voice and hilarious shenanigans and characters kept me going through this book at breakneck speed.

When you’ve made a boy your whole life, what happens when he breaks up with you? This is one of the main questions this book asks. After Ellie moved, unwillingly, to a new neighborhood and school, she meets a cute boy who introduces Ellie to all of his friends, and she feels like she’s found her place among the high school hierarchy. Until he breaks up with her. And suddenly she finds herself with no boyfriend, no friends in general, and basically no identity. I loved that this book wasn’t just a romance; it was also about how Ellie goes about finding herself in all the messy breakup aftermath. I loved seeing her break out of her shell and her comfort zone as she finds her own people and her own motivation to do the things she loves.

The people she meets along the way are the best–mainly the boys she meets in her home ec class. I loved the competition aspect of this book. It was hilarious and fun, and I was cheering for the team the whole way through. Both A.J. and Isaiah had surprising depth that made them so lovable. And the love interest, Luke, is SO SWOONY. Oh my gosh. He was just so much fun, and I loved his interactions with Ellie and the other boys. I said earlier that I wasn’t happy it wasn’t JUST a romance, but this book is definitely a romance! And it’s a fantastic one! It has so many swoony scenes, and an incredibly satisfying HEA.

Overall Feelings

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This is one of those books I know I’ll be rereading over and over because of how heartwarming and funny it is. I loved it so, so much, and I’d definitely recommend it for fans of romcoms!

Meet the Author

Karen Bischer has written short stories for Girls’ World and Animal Tales magazines and currently works as a copyeditor. She lives in her native New Jersey, where she has never encountered Bruce Springsteen in the wild, but does have a cat named after a member of the E Street Band.

Find The Author Here:
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

Find reviews and other bookish extras by exploring the rest of the blog tour here.