A review by sophiesometimesreads
Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander

challenging emotional hopeful 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

3.75

There were lots of things I loved, including Ray as a whole, an enby love interest, the found family, exploration of gender and performative workplaces, the food descriptions, and top surgery representation. I felt a lot of this was done well and I was invested in that part of the story. However, some things didn't sit great with me. In particular, I didn't particularly like Simone as a character and this this would've been amazing from Ray's point of view. Simone's early inbuilt prejudices against herself and Ray were never completely addressed, which I felt cheapened some of the discussions around misgendering and transphobia/homophobia, and she was also just kind of rude a lot of the time for no real reason. She did get a character arc and these behaviours stopped but I felt that she never really took responsibility for the fact that she was doing these things in the first place, which would've made it better for me. This took me out of the romance and meant I didn't care too much for it by the end. In saying this, it felt like the romance was a small portion of this story overall, so I did have an enjoyable time overall and the more I think back on this, the more the good parts stick out for me over the parts I didn't enjoy as much, so I'm sitting at about a 3.75 stars at the moment. I would recommend this if solely for the representation of an enby love interest! 
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