Chef's Kiss (Chef's Kiss, #1)

Chef's Kiss (Chef's Kiss, #1)

T.J. Alexander

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

A high-strung pastry chef’s professional goals are interrupted by an unexpected career transition and the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager in this deliciously fresh and witty queer rom-com. Simone Larkspur is a perfectionist pastry expert with a dream job at The Discerning Chef, a venerable cookbook publisher in New York City. All she wants to do is create the perfect loaf of sourdough and develop recipes, but when The Discerning Chef decides to bring their brand into the 21st century by pivoting to video, Simone is thrust into the spotlight and finds herself failing at something for the first time in her life. To make matters worse, Simone has to deal with Ray Lyton, the new test kitchen manager, whose obnoxious cheer and outgoing personality are like oil to Simone’s water. When Ray accidentally becomes a viral YouTube sensation with a series of homebrewing videos, their eccentric editor in chief forces Simone to work alongside the chipper upstart or else risk her beloved job. But the more they work together, the more Simone realizes her heart may be softening like butter for Ray. Things get even more complicated when Ray comes out at work as nonbinary to mixed reactions—and Simone must choose between the career she fought so hard for and the person who just might take the cake (and her heart).


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  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    Chef's Kiss is a cute slow-burn romance with a foodie premise, which does seem to be rather popular right now (overly so? Not yet, for me, I'll take all the food-themed romances, thank you very much). I appreciate the frankness and fullness with which topics of gender and queerness were discussed (this might be the first intimate scene in a romance novel I've read that discusses scars from top surgery, and I do love that about it). But that slow burn is...verrrry slow. I love a romance that pushes and pulls, the tension and banter and will-they-won't-they before a couple finally get together, but Simone and Ray don't even know the other is interested in them until the book is almost over. And overall, I just got a bit bored throughout the story, with somewhat uninteresting, merely pedestrian writing plodding along, while I waited for...the characters to realize they're in love, to do something about the toxic work environment, to do something that surprised or interested me. Appreciate the representation, didn't care about the romantic entanglements and characters, just not for me.

    Content warnings: Medical/surgery, misgendering, transphobia & homophobia, workplace harassment.

    Thank you Atria Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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