All's Fair in Love and Pizza by Lane Hayes

Rob may be a former teammate, but Matteo refuses to let him poach his pizza business with his stupid pizza bagel. But Rob refuses to back down, and a cooking competition which will bring in more business may be a temporary solution. But what about the sparks that fly behind the kitchen doors?


From the blurb:

A bake-off between enemies…what could go wrong?

Mateo

Can you believe this? Haverton’s football hero is opening a bagel shop next to my pizzeria and he’s selling—wait for it—pizza bagels. The nerve!

And Rob Vilmer isn’t above using his fame to attract clients. It’s annoying and yes, I’m feeling a little crusty about the situation. My temper has gotten me into a few binds, but a pizza-bagel war? This is a first.

I’m gonna crush him.

Rob

After years of playing in the pros, I’m beat. All I want is to open a bagel shop in the town that gave me a shot at the big time. I’d love some peace and quiet too, however, I won’t be getting that with Mateo Cavaretti next door.

Geez, I can’t believe I had a crush on that guy in college. Sure, he’s still incredibly good-looking, but he’s a grouch. And while I like my business partner’s idea of settling our dispute with a classic bake-off, Mateo and I can’t be in the same room without fireworks exploding.

Okay, some of those fireworks are extra sexy and that might be a problem.

Or is all truly fair in love and pizza…and bagels?

All’s Fair in Love and Pizza is an MM grumpy/sunshine, small-town romance featuring former teammates, a culinary challenge, and a HEA worth fighting for.

*A portion of All's Fair in Love and Pizza was originally included in the Delicious Anthology. This new version has doubled in length to over 40k words and a whole lot of bake-off shenanigans!


SNik's review:

Standalone. Former teammates. Adversarial to lovers. Small town. Quick read. Dual POV. 

Retired from professional football, all Rob wants to do is open a bagel shop in his small college town. However, he doesn’t expect fireworks and anger from his business neighbor and former teammate Matteo, and especially not the sparks that fly from their mutual attraction. 

I was happy that this story balanced the bake-off concept with the romance brewing, leaning more into the relationship, which was fine with me. Matteo embraced his anger, fear for his family business, and snark, never really backing down given that he slowly was becoming more attracted to Rob. And Rob was the golden retriever energy to Matteo’s black cat, was genuinely confused by Matteo’s attacks, but still wanted to protect Matteo once feelings started to grow. I found myself smiling through a lot of this story which had banter, steam, and a group of secondary characters that were secretly supporting the Matteo and Rob ‘ship. This was a fun romp with the small town feel and two men that couldn’t deny their connection.


All's Fair in Love and Pizza is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription