A review by lezreadalot
Chef's Kiss by Stephanie Shea

4.0

She just couldn’t afford to care. Then, an intern trips into her with faltering grace, patient eyes and a zeal for everything, especially a future in the kitchen, and God help her, she cared too much.

4.5 stars. Sometimes you read a book and you just become besotted with the characters and their romance, and this was that for me. I loved this!

This was a pretty short, simple f/f romance about a young chef who lands her dream job, kind of an internship, with a renowned chef who she's always admired. Valentina is a great mix of focused and relaxed and eager and super kind, and she's determined to make the best impression at the restaurant and with her new boss. Jenn is a bit older, divorced with a teenage son, not much of a people person, with an attitude that makes her seem cold/standoffish. But she and Valentina, after a bit of a rough start, end up cultivating the sweetest, sexist romance and I fell head over heels for them.

“I would show you everything about me, if you just asked.”

I loved every part of this story: Valentina's relationship with her parents and her best friend; Jenn's relationships with her ex-wife (I LOVE seeing relationships with exes in books that aren't all about jealousy and toxicity; they both handled themselves like mature adults who loved their kid, and it was so refreshing); seeing the ins and outs of life in a restaurant. Even though this is on the short side, it felt fully realised, and not really rushed at all. None of the conflict felt outsized or inappropriate for the book. I can't stress how much I adored these two women: Jenn isn't quite grumpy, but broody in a way that masks her awkwardness, and I LOVED how Valentina could make her flustered. Valentina herself is a new book crush for sure. And I also loved how this touched on being women of colour in a field that's dominated by white men.

I did feel like the author could have done more to really integrate the B-plot (which I really liked and appreciated) into the book as a whole, and I kinda wish we got more restaurant scenes, because the ones that we did get were so interesting! Otherwise, this was a complete winner for me, and I'm very glad to have found this author. I'll be checking out more of her work soon, hopefully!

Content warnings:

Spoiler

discussion of cancer, parental abandonment, teen homelessness, abuse, parental death

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“Who even are you?”
She held Jenn closer, tighter, lips against Jenn’s ear when she whispered, “Yours.”