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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Minor: Blood
A fun book with great bisexual and nonbinary representation. The story was interesting, though most of the book focused on their growing tension, with it only being resolved around 95% way through the book so there wasn't much romantic/sexual content, just pining.
Simone is working her dream job creating recipes for a food publisher. But when the higher ups want her to bring her recipes to video, she is not interested in the spotlight. To make matters worse, her new coworker Ray is getting under Simone’s skin with her cheerful outgoing personality. And after Ray makes a video that goes viral, they have to work together on this new project. While this is happening, Ray comes out as nonbinary at work, with many mixed reactions, and Simone learns how to support and stand up for Ray.
This was a fun, slow burn romance with great representation. What I particularly loved about this book was the focus on being your authentic self, learning to trust others with seeing who you are, and how to be an ally. Seeing Simone’s journey in learning more about trans and non-binary individuals was so informative and I think many people will be able to learn a lot from reading this book. Additionally, I love a good food romance and the food descriptions in this one wade me so hungry!
Thank you to Atria Books for the advanced copy.
This was a fun, slow burn romance with great representation. What I particularly loved about this book was the focus on being your authentic self, learning to trust others with seeing who you are, and how to be an ally. Seeing Simone’s journey in learning more about trans and non-binary individuals was so informative and I think many people will be able to learn a lot from reading this book. Additionally, I love a good food romance and the food descriptions in this one wade me so hungry!
Thank you to Atria Books for the advanced copy.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kicking my feet and giggling- not perfect but one of the cutest lgbtq contemporary romances with a trans character I’ve ever read
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
I love myself a queer romance! I just wish there was more romance in this book. The main character gets annoying with her constant fear of offending someone in regards to their gender or sexuality and that really slowed down the romantic aspect of the book.
3.5 stars rounded down (although it could be rounded up maybe?).
Chef's Kiss by T.J. Alexander is an incredibly difficult novel to rate, and I think the reason why is pretty apparent if we just look at the synopsis. Simone works in the test kitchen at a relatively obscure, failing magazine. To increase sales, the magazine starts a YouTube video unit which is unsuccessful until an incident involving the new manager of the test kitchen, Ray, goes viral and videos with them become incredibly popular. Simone and Ray have some crossed wires but clearly have some sort of chemistry; Ray attempts to come out as nonbinary and the company refuses to provide accommodations; shenanigans occur.
As you can see, the plot of this novel is complicated enough that I have trouble summarizing it. I think that's a pretty clear indicator of where this book fails for me. The work-related plot on its own is fine, but mixing in a romance which honestly doesn't go anywhere until the last 5% of the book just overcomplicates things a bit. What makes it even worse is that we end up with a deus ex machina coming to save the day at the last possible second; no satisfactory scene in which we see the bad guys getting their comeuppance; and a really lazy take on race that bothers me something fierce.
More on that: see, this book is clearly a trans/nonbinary take on the real-life Bon Appétit YouTube fiasco of 2020. To summarize that can of worms, BIPOC workers were not receiving equitable treatment or pay with their white colleagues, which led to general outrage and a restructuring of the channel which was too little, too late. Chef's Kiss plays with this idea, focusing on Ray's coming out narrative as the spark that sets fire to the haystack, while also featuring the occasional thrown-in comment on how the company is not racially diverse. Ultimately, white Simone and Ray save the day through a chain of fortuitous events, allowing for the BIPOC characters to achieve success. This makes me really uncomfortable - it edges toward white saviorism, which is gross in and of itself. If just one of the protagonists had been BIPOC the story would have worked so much better. As it stands, it just seems lazy and incomplete and, well, kinda problematic.
My other big critique of this book is that it doesn't have the right protagonist. The book deals a lot with Simone trying to understand the trans and nonbinary experiences; it deals with Simone making mistakes regarding said experiences; it deals with Simone helping Ray after they had top surgery; it deals with Simone watching Ray find their own voice. In other words, the book centers the cishet bisexual character of Simone while she acts as spectator in nonbinary character Ray's life. I see some pros and cons of this. First, having cishet Simone centered as protagonist rather than non-binary Ray is, I suspect, more marketable; simultaneously, the book acts as a sort of guide for how cishet people can do right by trans and nonbinary people. On the other hand, the book gets a little preachy ("Do not talk to trans and/or non-binary people like this. They are not there to do the work of teaching you. It's okay to make mistakes, but you should do better regardless."), and by centering a cishet character Chef's Kiss becomes just like every other book. The book would have been much more powerful with Ray as the protagonist.
I do realize that I am being very critical of this book, but to be honest, I see it as a relatively strong read. It's actually pretty good overall; the romance makes sense, some of the situations are so infuriating that I had to read on to see what happened next; it didn't really fall into too many tropes. I just see this book as a series of missed encounters - encounters that would have raised it up to become a true phenomenon. As it stands, it just sort of exists as a pretty average book with a below-average romance, honestly. And that's unfortunate, because trans and nonbinary folx deserve so much more.
Recommended if you liked Bon Appétit at one point in your life; if you want to read a f/nb romance; if you enjoy reading about really blatant homo/transphobia & misogyny (and a little racism tbqh) that has no real resolution; and if you like to read really long descriptions of food.
Chef's Kiss by T.J. Alexander is an incredibly difficult novel to rate, and I think the reason why is pretty apparent if we just look at the synopsis. Simone works in the test kitchen at a relatively obscure, failing magazine. To increase sales, the magazine starts a YouTube video unit which is unsuccessful until an incident involving the new manager of the test kitchen, Ray, goes viral and videos with them become incredibly popular. Simone and Ray have some crossed wires but clearly have some sort of chemistry; Ray attempts to come out as nonbinary and the company refuses to provide accommodations; shenanigans occur.
As you can see, the plot of this novel is complicated enough that I have trouble summarizing it. I think that's a pretty clear indicator of where this book fails for me. The work-related plot on its own is fine, but mixing in a romance which honestly doesn't go anywhere until the last 5% of the book just overcomplicates things a bit. What makes it even worse is that we end up with a deus ex machina coming to save the day at the last possible second; no satisfactory scene in which we see the bad guys getting their comeuppance; and a really lazy take on race that bothers me something fierce.
More on that: see, this book is clearly a trans/nonbinary take on the real-life Bon Appétit YouTube fiasco of 2020. To summarize that can of worms, BIPOC workers were not receiving equitable treatment or pay with their white colleagues, which led to general outrage and a restructuring of the channel which was too little, too late. Chef's Kiss plays with this idea, focusing on Ray's coming out narrative as the spark that sets fire to the haystack, while also featuring the occasional thrown-in comment on how the company is not racially diverse. Ultimately, white Simone and Ray save the day through a chain of fortuitous events, allowing for the BIPOC characters to achieve success. This makes me really uncomfortable - it edges toward white saviorism, which is gross in and of itself. If just one of the protagonists had been BIPOC the story would have worked so much better. As it stands, it just seems lazy and incomplete and, well, kinda problematic.
My other big critique of this book is that it doesn't have the right protagonist. The book deals a lot with Simone trying to understand the trans and nonbinary experiences; it deals with Simone making mistakes regarding said experiences; it deals with Simone helping Ray after they had top surgery; it deals with Simone watching Ray find their own voice. In other words, the book centers the cishet bisexual character of Simone while she acts as spectator in nonbinary character Ray's life. I see some pros and cons of this. First, having cishet Simone centered as protagonist rather than non-binary Ray is, I suspect, more marketable; simultaneously, the book acts as a sort of guide for how cishet people can do right by trans and nonbinary people. On the other hand, the book gets a little preachy ("Do not talk to trans and/or non-binary people like this. They are not there to do the work of teaching you. It's okay to make mistakes, but you should do better regardless."), and by centering a cishet character Chef's Kiss becomes just like every other book. The book would have been much more powerful with Ray as the protagonist.
I do realize that I am being very critical of this book, but to be honest, I see it as a relatively strong read. It's actually pretty good overall; the romance makes sense, some of the situations are so infuriating that I had to read on to see what happened next; it didn't really fall into too many tropes. I just see this book as a series of missed encounters - encounters that would have raised it up to become a true phenomenon. As it stands, it just sort of exists as a pretty average book with a below-average romance, honestly. And that's unfortunate, because trans and nonbinary folx deserve so much more.
Recommended if you liked Bon Appétit at one point in your life; if you want to read a f/nb romance; if you enjoy reading about really blatant homo/transphobia & misogyny (and a little racism tbqh) that has no real resolution; and if you like to read really long descriptions of food.