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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"For Isabella, forced camaraderie was worse than boneless, skinless chicken breasts."
It feels appropriate that I devoured this book in an evening—the story was fast-paced and delicious, and you could really tell that Adam Roberts cares deeply about food. I think I was expecting a bit more of a romance, so I was pleasantly surprised that most of the tension here was between Isabella and her volatile employers, but my god was I hanging on the edge of my seat through bad decision after bad decision. Selfishly, I would have liked for the cookbook Isabella *wanted* to write to be the one that actually made it to press, but for the character development, blah blah, I see the point. I also wanted to spend more time with her sous-chef boyfriend in his kitchen, but I also could drool just reading his grocery list. I want to see sumptuous meals featured more in fiction. The people need to be FED!!
Thank you to Knopf for the opportunity to read and review!
It feels appropriate that I devoured this book in an evening—the story was fast-paced and delicious, and you could really tell that Adam Roberts cares deeply about food. I think I was expecting a bit more of a romance, so I was pleasantly surprised that most of the tension here was between Isabella and her volatile employers, but my god was I hanging on the edge of my seat through bad decision after bad decision. Selfishly, I would have liked for the cookbook Isabella *wanted* to write to be the one that actually made it to press, but for the character development, blah blah, I see the point. I also wanted to spend more time with her sous-chef boyfriend in his kitchen, but I also could drool just reading his grocery list. I want to see sumptuous meals featured more in fiction. The people need to be FED!!
Thank you to Knopf for the opportunity to read and review!
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a nice change of pace to read something easy with paving and structure like a modern romance novel but with career & friendship taking the forefront and the love interest being present but minor
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good summer read!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This isn't by any means a groundbreaking novel, but it's solid for a debut and it's a good time. I enjoyed all the bookish and foodie elements and all the characters feel fairly well developed. My only issue was with how Isabella seemed to have such a hard time with Gabe being totally ok being a sous chef and not wanting to be an executive chef. It's like people think that unless you want to reach the highest level of success in your chosen field that you don't have any goals in life, which 1.) isn't true and 2.) it's not a bad thing to choose a job that makes your life better simply because it doesn't stress you out and I just couldn't understand why it was so hard for Isabella to get that.