Scan barcode
A review by jayvall
Skinny Bitch in Love by Kim Barnouin
2.0
Skinny Bitch in Love is the debut novel of Kim Barnouin, co-author of the Skinny Bitch cookbooks. After the main character, Clementine, finds herself fired after a rival in the restaurant she works at sabotages her vegan dish by adding butter, she decides that what she really wants to do is open a vegan cafe. In order to fund such an endeavor, she begins offering an assortment of vegan services including cooking classes, private chef gigs, and providing bakeries with vegan items. She also has a run in a with a wealthy restaurateur who she finds both intriguing (as he’s gorgeous) and frustrating (as he’s a carnivore).
It’s not clear the degree to which Skinny Bitch in Love is a roman a clef, and on some levels, it probably doesn’t matter whether it is or it isn’t, but if it was, it would at least help to explain why this book is short on plot. Life doesn’t evolve neatly in story format, and I get that, however, I would expect a novel to have more of a plot than just “I need to save money so that I can buy a restaurant of my own.” Also, this is kind of billed as a romance, and there’s not much romance in it at all. Yes, Clem becomes involved with another chef but by the end of the book I was not at all convinced that they were in love, much less “happy for now.” I got the sense that ten minutes after the book ended, they would have broken up again due to someone’s insensitive comment. What I did enjoy about the book is how much Barnouin clearly loves her vegan food and how tasty the food descriptions sounded. While vegan cheese still doesn’t sound appealing to me, some of the other dishes described in the book sounded really good and I would have liked if there had been some recipes included at the end.
All in all, Skinny Bitch in Love is an easy book to read, not without its flaws, but still entertaining nonetheless.
It’s not clear the degree to which Skinny Bitch in Love is a roman a clef, and on some levels, it probably doesn’t matter whether it is or it isn’t, but if it was, it would at least help to explain why this book is short on plot. Life doesn’t evolve neatly in story format, and I get that, however, I would expect a novel to have more of a plot than just “I need to save money so that I can buy a restaurant of my own.” Also, this is kind of billed as a romance, and there’s not much romance in it at all. Yes, Clem becomes involved with another chef but by the end of the book I was not at all convinced that they were in love, much less “happy for now.” I got the sense that ten minutes after the book ended, they would have broken up again due to someone’s insensitive comment. What I did enjoy about the book is how much Barnouin clearly loves her vegan food and how tasty the food descriptions sounded. While vegan cheese still doesn’t sound appealing to me, some of the other dishes described in the book sounded really good and I would have liked if there had been some recipes included at the end.
All in all, Skinny Bitch in Love is an easy book to read, not without its flaws, but still entertaining nonetheless.