Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander

13 reviews

raindrops333's review against another edition

adventurous emotional relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming and Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment and Alcohol

Minor: Medical content

rockcommander's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

adorable! grumpy type A chef x sunshine extrovert kitchen manager was a very cute pairing and i found this book very readable and entertaining even though there was very little smut

(until the end)

. always impressed when a romance novel can stand on its own without smut. 
it could be a little cheesy at times, and the transphobia got a little intense. but overall pretty good representation of trans stuff and good examples of how cis people should (& shouldn’t!) manage their emotions. the food all sounded delicious and i loved lisette and simone and ray :) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Abandonment

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Racism

tmkutawrites's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism and Vomit

The romance was cute. Speaking as a nonbinary person, it was exhausting

listening to Simone whine about Ray's new pronouns--

I get it, it's realistic, I have heard it a million times about my own. Transphobia from the POV MC in a f/x romance really threw me out of it and just made me hate Simone. Also if you are going to very clearly base a book off the BA Test Kitchen and then only kiiiind of address the scandal but not resolve any of the issues called out in said scandal.... yeah. I wish the ended had been further draw out; I love a good slow burn but this didn't feel like it resolved itself satisfyingly. While this book did a good job of juggling all the plot lines, sometimes I think it could have done with one less. This being said, I think Ray is adorable and Luna is too good for Simone. The pining was delicious.

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

2.5

This was unnecessarily way too long. This is also less romantic comedy and more a cis 101 way to interact with people that aren’t part of the binary & how to occasionally mess that up big time. Ray and a few of the other side characters I enjoyed but Simone? Eh - she irritated me for the majority of the book. Unfortunately this is not a dual POV book but I think I would have rated this higher if we got Ray’s version of events as well. The lack of POC having a voice didn’t sit well with me. How are we supposed to know that Delilah was meant to be a leader when we barely saw / interacted with  her ? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Minor: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

rickireadss's review

4.0

i enjoyed this one. i did find the fmc, simone, a little unbearable at times - the story being single pov also made it to where we were only in her perspective the entire book which i didn't like as much. i would have loved to had ray's perspective at least once during the story.

this one is definitely a slooooooow burn, literally up to the last two chapters and then its BOOM. i loved seeing the caretaking of ray by simone after their top surgery - made my heart warm. i am glad what i thought would be a conflict ended up not being it (because it would have kinda been cliché and made my rating lower). i did really like the YouTube cooking video aspect!! also the little old french lady simone looks up to (can't remember her name lol) - LOVED HER SO MUCH!!

⚠️: transphobia, deadnaming (on-page), homophobia, medical content (top surgery + recovery), biphobia, parental abandonment, vomit 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Biphobia and Medical content

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

kayleigh_reads_romance's review

emotional informative 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Deadnaming, Abandonment, and Alcohol

beckbex's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Racism, and Abandonment

nobeliumreads's review

funny lighthearted slow-paced

3.5

Not a bad book, it was a fun easy audiobook with a good narrator that I listened to whilst doing other things - just the thing I needed to ease my way back into reading after a mini reading slump. 

Also, I’m not a chef so I can’t speak for the cooking parts, but it sure sounded good! 

I really liked Ray, they were fun and charismatic and it hurt to see what they went through, but they were definitely the highlight of the book. I have to admit, Simone was hard to like at first and whilst she did grow on me a little bit by the end, I’m still neutral on her at best; which sucked, considering she was the main character and so it was a StruggleTM reading this book at some parts. Simone and Ray’s dynamic were fun though (when it was fun, not when they were fighting and I just wanted to yell (mostly at Simone)), and the last few chapters had me smiling so not all was lost!

Overall, a good book; not one I would reread but not one I regret reading either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Biphobia, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Abandonment

hazelgirl21's review

emotional 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: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Moderate: Biphobia and Medical content

Minor: Abandonment

uranaishi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, Car accident, Outing, and Gaslighting