Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander

24 reviews

louisekf's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Medical content, and Transphobia

Minor: Alcohol and Sexual content

lindseyph's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Deadnaming

bookishmillennial's review

 disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial 
 
I read this on the plane ride back home from my work trip and it was an absolute delight!

I adored the grumpy x sunshine dynamic between Simone and Ray — they were equally hilarious and awkward, which made it especially entertaining for me as a third-party removed from the fictional situation hahaha. Not only that, but the found family dynamics tugged at my heart. I am still giddy over them (the entire crew) all giving each other nicknames teeheeeee

While their love story is slow but steady, I also appreciated the commentary on how workplaces can be per formative and only focus on optics and how harmful that is! I was stressed for Ray but I want to assure you there is indeed a happy ending here!

I actually have the ARC of Chef’s Choice on NetGalley so I’m excited to dive into that one next hehe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical content, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Child abuse

sage_alexandra's review

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Blood, Dysphoria, Excrement, Biphobia, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Ableism

I only gave it 4 stars because I'm not a huge fan of reading queer fiction that isn't "anyone who is queer is established as such from the get go."

I hated that for the first 150 pages, the enby character was being misgendered by everyone bc they hadn't come out yet.

starlitpage's review

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content and Outing

Minor: Racism and Emotional abuse

tmledvina's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual content

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I hated Simone for the first 30% of this book and strongly considered DNFing it. She's obnoxious, self-righteous and mean. But after you hit that roughly 30% marker, she starts to grow as a person. Simone becomes more self-aware and is much kinder to those around her. Once she hits that place of growth, she becomes a lot more likeable.

Ray is a consistent ray of sunlight (pardon the pun) throughout and a deeply lovable character. So many things Ray said or did had me giggling or beaming. I also loved the side characters like Petey and Luna. These side characters effectively helped to develop the plot while still feeling like real people I might know in my life. That can be tough to do, so it was good work on the author's part (in my opinion).

My main criticisms for the book are

they never address the race issue of TDC that's referenced by Jake. In the ending, it's just...not acknowledged again, while the on-screen talent of the new show remains entirely white. Why make that a plot point if nothing is done about it?

I also would say that while Simone would be a great friend, she seems like the most exhausting person to date as a trans person. She is so well-meaning but so naive and ignorant about all kinds of trans issues. She is also the type to be set in her ways and stubborn, so if she feels she knows best on a trans issue, she may be difficult to convince otherwise. It feels like Ray will absorb all of the work Luna has to do with educating Simone as a cis person, which already seemed exhausting. I would have really loved to see some growth on Simone's part in this respect by the end of the book.

For those who followed the Bon Appetit debacle or who otherwise love cooking magazines/shows, you'll enjoy this read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual content

The medical content refers to

recovering from top surgery.

littlecozyreaderr's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Sexual content

maeverose's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

3.5

I was worried based on the synopsis that it would be overly cheesy but it’s really not. It is funny though, and the humor  worked for me. You can tell a trans person wrote this book, they definitely understand trans issues and it’s reflected in the book. I loved the conversations about how trans people shouldn’t be expected to teach cis people everything about gender.

My only complaints are the misunderstanding trope and how long it takes for them to finally get together. I do like how everything played out in the end but it was mild torture having to read Simone constantly convince herself Ray didn’t like her. I just wanted them to make out already. But those are mild complaints, overall I had a good time.

I do want to note that there is a lot of misgendering of Ray throughout the story. For the first half everyone, including the main character uses she/her pronouns for them because they aren’t out yet, then once they do come out the antagonists of the book purposefully misgender them every time they interact, and it’s quite infuriating. So if that’s a trigger for you I’d be prepared for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Transphobia, Bullying, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Dysphoria, Homophobia, Medical content, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Excrement, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, and Cursing

Graphic: misgendering, handling of bodily fluids after surgery

auudrey's review

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Biphobia and Child abuse