Yes, I also think it’s kind of a silly title.

I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Love and Hot Chicken by Mary Liza Hartong. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

In Love and Hot Chicken, PJ Spoon leaves her PhD program to return to her tiny hometown in Tennessee for her father’s funeral. Devastated by his loss, going back to school feels like too much, so she gets a job at the local Chickie Shak as a fry cook. Months pass, and only then does PJ feel like maybe she can start looking forward again. After all, her coworker Boof is really quite cute, and PJ’s mother keeps asking about her plans for the future. But when the Chickie Shak CEO arrives with an idea for a franchise-wide pageant, PJ has to deal with that too. She isn’t sure how she’s going to navigate this, her burgeoning relationship, and the possible new beginnings before her.

There’s a kind of subtitle on the cover of this book that says “A Delicious Southern Novel,” and… yeah. This is Southern, all right. (Southern USA, that is.) So much of the culture of the South is present here, but in a light way. None of the heavier topics like race relations or Civil War effects are brought up here, and that’s honestly okay. It would have felt out of place in such a light-hearted story about friendship, love, and hospitality. (And honestly, other writers have dealt with those themes, and are possibly better suited.)

As it is, this is cute enough. I liked PJ’s characterization, and her struggles with grief and moving forward are sympathetic. Her relationship with her mother is delightful, and I liked to see how supportive her mom is of PJ’s queerness. Being openly LGBTQ+ in the American South is sadly often risky, and it’s nice to see so much acceptance, even in a fictional setting like this one.

I also liked seeing PJ’s relationship develop with her coworker Boof, even if I couldn’t get over Boof’s name. I know it’s a nickname from childhood, but… what. Once I thought of it like the French word for “beef” I couldn’t un-think it, and it bugged me the entire time (even though that’s not where the nickname came from). Why couldn’t she have had a different name? I know, overall, it’s a minor complaint, but I never warmed up to the name at all. Nothing against the character, who’s a fantastic combination of sweet and sassy with a touching story, but still.

As for the main plot, the weird chicken restaurant pageant, I found it kind of weird. Is this a thing that restaurants actually do, or did the author make it up? Either way, I’m not sure it did much to advance the plot, other than to bring up some drama between PJ, Boof, and their boss Linda. And while I saw where their relationship was going from a mile away, I still didn’t really like Linda, even if I understood the reason she acted the way she did. I just never really felt invested in her as a character.

All that said, though, in the end, there’s some charm in Love and Hot Chicken. The central romance is sweet, and the family bonds are lovely. The pageant is kind of weird, and some of the drama is a little tedious, but ultimately this is a book about fresh starts and kindness. Nothing wrong with that!

Love and Hot Chicken is available now!