Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - Chef's Kiss

I really don't know why I put off reading this for as long as I did! It was delightful, one of the best romances I read featuring a non-binary characters. I liked the food focus, the use of social media in the plot and all the secondary characters. Simone and Ray have great chemistry and some good growth throughout the novel. Highly recommend for anyone seeking a funny, heart-warming queer romance!

Although please heed the content warnings as this book does involve transphobia as a core theme

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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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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legalplanner's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

I went into this blindly because it was the first book and I had already picked up book two but absolutely couldn't read it without reading the first book.

That being said, I was intrigued by how type A Simone was. It was very frustrating how closed off, anti-social, and dependent on others doing the labor of teaching her. We hear Simone talk about her sexuality in a way that seems she has a problem with herself being bisexual, it was very much the oh because you date "boys" you can't be bisexual commentary a lot of the time and it was frustrating to hear. I was aching for more interactions with her roommate Luna to see that their relationship was more than just using her to educate herself on transgendered individuals. I wanted Simone to do some of the work on her own to better understand her friend.

I also struggled with the misgendering of Ray at first, because we as readers know Ray is nonbinary, but Simone has not learned this yet. Ray's coming out was extremely hard to read because I couldn't understand why Simone wanted them to fight so hard against a company that was providing for them to survive. I understand that it is likely that Simone just didn't have a clue but it was rather frustrating to get through. All that said, Ray was truly the sunshine in this novel and was completely themselves even while getting misgendered, having their job threatened, and navigating confirming surgery.

In the end I did enjoy this book, but while it was a queer rom com, it did feel as if the opportunity to utilize Ray and Simone as narrators was missed. I truly read this quickly and moved onto the next book just as quick. I would absolutely read more from this world/cast of characters. I found the romance once the issues were talked about very good. I found Simones's growth slow, but it was there and made the relationship with Ray much better.

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