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A review by asurasantosha
The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maritza Moulite, Maika Moulite
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Back of the book summary: "Brielle Petitfour loves to cook. But with a chronically sick mother and bills to pay, becoming a chef isn’t exactly a realistic career path.
When Brielle’s mom suddenly loses her job, Brielle steps in and uses her culinary skills to earn some extra money. The rich families who love her cooking praise her use of unique flavors and textures, which keep everyone guessing what’s in Brielle’s dishes. The secret ingredient? Human flesh."
I really enjoyed the Hatian-American representation here. I felt like the authors did a good job showing the experience of someone who is proud of their heritage and family culture but growing up in America, feel a sort of loss of not knowing the place it all comes from. The supernatural elements in the story seemed to emphasize that theme.
Thriller isn't my go-to genre but this one was pretty good. I was pretty immersed in the first 2/3s of the book and while I felt the authors did a good job with pacing out the ending, the ending itself felt kind of disappointing to me. Though the one storyline wrap up I felt satisfied with was the conclusion to the history of Brielle's mother and in turn Brielle and how she came to be so to speak.
I didn't love the romance though I applaud the authors for somehow managing to write what felt a bit like a dark romance that wasn't toxic. And the conclusion of the romance story arc was very confusing to me. Maybe I just missed the point of how the choices the characters made actually caused the results that the authors claimed but it seemed a little too convenient to me.
And lastly, I will say that I loved the audiobook production. The narration by the muses was fantastic. In general, I wish more books had multiple narrators. And the "main" narrator who voiced the chapters from Brielle's perspective was also wonderful. If you're going to read this book, I encourage you to try it in audio format.
When Brielle’s mom suddenly loses her job, Brielle steps in and uses her culinary skills to earn some extra money. The rich families who love her cooking praise her use of unique flavors and textures, which keep everyone guessing what’s in Brielle’s dishes. The secret ingredient? Human flesh."
I really enjoyed the Hatian-American representation here. I felt like the authors did a good job showing the experience of someone who is proud of their heritage and family culture but growing up in America, feel a sort of loss of not knowing the place it all comes from. The supernatural elements in the story seemed to emphasize that theme.
Thriller isn't my go-to genre but this one was pretty good. I was pretty immersed in the first 2/3s of the book and while I felt the authors did a good job with pacing out the ending, the ending itself felt kind of disappointing to me. Though the one storyline wrap up I felt satisfied with was the conclusion to the history of Brielle's mother and in turn Brielle and how she came to be so to speak.
I didn't love the romance though I applaud the authors for somehow managing to write what felt a bit like a dark romance that wasn't toxic. And the conclusion of the romance story arc was very confusing to me. Maybe I just missed the point of how the choices the characters made actually caused the results that the authors claimed but it seemed a little too convenient to me.
And lastly, I will say that I loved the audiobook production. The narration by the muses was fantastic. In general, I wish more books had multiple narrators. And the "main" narrator who voiced the chapters from Brielle's perspective was also wonderful. If you're going to read this book, I encourage you to try it in audio format.