Carter fue aceptada en un concurso de comida que organiza una escuela culinaria. Si gana, obtendrá una beca completa para la escuela. Desde que llega y participa en la primera prueba se hace enemiga de Reid Yamada y las cosas se ponen peor.

La portada del libro llamó mi atención cuando estaba viendo qué había en Netgalley y como la sinpsis también sonaba interesante, decidí pedirlo. No esperaba mucho del relato pero me imaginé que me haría pasar un buen rato y así fue.

Carter y Reid me agradaron mucho y sus peleas iban cargadas con la cantidad justa de tensión. Me gustó como se fue desarrollando su relación. Carter era un poco insegura y admito que esa última discusión que tiene con Reid me sacó de onda porque realmente se me hizo muy egoísta de su parte.

Por su parte, Reid era una contradicción. En la cocina y la mayor parte del tiempo se mostraba seguro de sí mismo pero a veces los nervios le ganaban y eso hizo que me enamorara de él. Me encantó que fuera un geek y que le gustara leer. Además, hacía maravillas en la cocina. ¿Quién no querría un novio así?

“Because the thing is, once you want one impossible thing, it’s very hard not to want two or three or a thousand.”

The Art Of French Kissing has all the right ingredients, food, kissing, drama and diverse characters, but something just didn’t sit right with me. For a good portion of the book I was so irritated with Carter and some of the things she does are not cool. Then you’d get these swoony moments between her and Reid and I was like YES I’m loving this. I guess I wanted the whole book to comprise of these moments.

Warning this book will make you hungry, have snacks at the ready!!

A arc was provided by the publisher for my honest review...

Thanks to Netgalley for receiving this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute story! I loved it from the very first to the last page. Carter was a little bit annoying sometimes, but she grows in the story and I liked how hard she worked to make her dream come true. I was also really cheering for her when she stood up for herself near the end of the story.
Oh, and Reid is definitely my favorite book boyfriend now.

5 out of 5 stars and directly to my list of favorite books read this year. I can't wait to read more books by this author.

Cute and quick read! If there’s one thing I love as much as reading it’s definitely eating. So this book combining the two into a culinary school/Top Chef hybrid was right up my alley. I was more of a fan of Reid that I was of Carter. But overall, this book was a fun summertime read! Highly recommend if you’re a fan of contemporary YA books!

4.5 Stars

The Art of French Kissing by Brianna R. Shrum is a fantastic contemporary. I cannot even begin to tell you how long I have been waiting for a book about a cooking competition. Honestly, this one is exactly what I wanted with a high-stakes competition, a rivalry, and some mouth-watering descriptions of food. I wasn’t so sure about the main character at first, but she really turned around. This story is original and cute, and I definitely enjoyed it.

This book tells the story of a cooking competition to win a scholarship. Carter is ready to compete, but ends up with a rough start after getting sabotaged by another competitor. And so begins an intense rivalry. I loved how the book contains some interesting challenges, just like the Food Network shows, and how the reader is taken behind the scenes of the competition. The whole story isn’t just cooking, so there is a lot of time to get to know the characters. Overall, this is a sweet (and spicy) read that is bound to make you hungry.

I had a love-hate relationship with Carter. At the beginning, she is very self-absorbed and blows things way out of proportion, but as the book progressed, I ended up liking her. Honestly, Carter is just a talented chef who knows what she wants and will do literally anything to get it. She has a sense of humour and her voice is authentic. I would say Carter is a developed main character, but I just wish she was a bit less impulsive.

The Art of French Kissing is a cooking story filled with drama. The main character transforms throughout the story and becomes more likeable. If you are a fan of cooking shows, I would definitely recommend this book.

I am a HUGE fan of any sort of competition cooking show out there- Chopped, Master Chef, Holiday Baking Championship, you name it, I watch it. So my interest was definitely peaked when I came across The Art of French Kissing, which combines two of my favorite things: YA novels and cooking competitions. I’d never read a book that actually focused on a cooking competition (though I’m always on the lookout for food-centered novels) so I was extremely excited to see how this popular topic would play out in a YA contemporary romance setting.

There was a lot about The Art of French Kissing that I really enjoyed. The culinary school setting, the unique challenges the students are tasked with (some familiar like mystery box ingredients, some more creative such as only having damaged cookware to use), and the utterly mouthwatering descriptions of food. I could have read about what each of the characters was making in detail for pages upon pages, and I loved the challenges where they had to collaborate on teams and choose a menu that played to everyone’s strengths. I also appreciated the reality of what the scholarship money at the end meant- how it would really make pursuing a culinary education possible for some of them that they could never realistically pursue otherwise. It added a depth to a book covered in sweet, innocent, pastel macarons.

However, as a reader a hurdle for me while reading the novel was the protagonist, Carter. I found her incredibly hard to empathize with, as her behavior was incredibly selfish and she was constantly on edge. While I know the story was trying to pull off a hate-to-love sabotage-like romance, I found her behavior at times inexcusable given the severity of it and the risk and danger it posed to others, both physically and to their future in the culinary program. She didn’t seem to grow much emotionally by the end of the novel, and I was disappointed at her lack of grace when good fortune befell her, and don’t think she reaped realistic consequences for her actions. However the love interest, Reid, was a much more nuanced character and he seemed to grow and become more likeable as the book went on.

Overall: The Art of French Kissing was a quick, fun read that definitely kick started my appetite any time I picked it up. I loved the premise and hope to see this author continue to write food-driven YA. While the main character hindered my overall enjoyment while reading, I still loved the competition premise and seeing some of my favorite cooking competition challenges come to life on the page.

I just could not get into this book - I normally really enjoy reading YA books, and anything with cooking or baking and cooking and baking competitions as well. I had a really hard time enjoying this book, because I just could not sympathize with the characters or their actions. It felt a bit predictable and like the book was trying too hard. It is a very diverse and open book, in regards to characters, their representation, being responsible for one's actions (except for Carter) and good representation of consent. It does also show that anybody can cook.

Many Thanks to Net-Galley and the publisher for an advanced e-copy. This did not affect my rating.
*1.5/5*

I am so sad that I really really did not like this book. I thought that, even though contemporaries aren't my thing, that I would at least love the cooking aspect of this. It is part Chopped, part Masterchef or Top Chef.. and I looveee cooking shows (obsessed with baking shows..) but I did not enjoy this book in the slightest.

Carter Lane is in high school, she loves to cook and is accepted in to a prestigious scholarship competition. Carter comes from a not well off family, so going to a school like this, with even only a partial scholarship, wouldn't be feasible. So she goes to Savannah and cooks up a friendship, a rivalry, and a love story.

There are chopped style competitions, where they have to work as a team, as a duo, and individually.

I just hated Carter. I found her to be insufferable. I hated being in her head, I hated her attitude, I don't think I have one redeeming quality that I could say I liked about her. She is mean, and honestly... she should have been kicked out of the competition for the shit that she pulled. It was truly despicable. She also treats Reid like shit, whereas he kept trying to call a truce. Even once they have paired up, and she beats him to the final 2, she can't find it in herself to be happy for her own accomplishment without demeaning it by asking Reid if he sabotaged his own chances and letting her win. She can't fathom why he is upset.. he should be happy for her! like how selfish. As Reid said, people can feel more than one emotion at a time. I liked Reid well enough.. I would have to say that Riya was definitely my favourite character.. I am extremely happy that she came in 1st place, beating Carter who came in 2nd.

Also, please tone down the pop culture references. I am a proud nerd.. I got all the references that were thrown in here, but it felt like they were literally thrown in to show how cool the characters, and therefore the author is. A few are fine, but it was so often that it started to pull me out of the story that was otherwise compulsively readable.

I will applaud the author this - the food descriptions were scrumptious. I was salivating at some of the dishes. I also loved the competition. The book didn't veer to far off that objective, unlike some other YA contemporaries that have a competition and don't focus on it.

I added the .5 star because there is some awesome rep in this book, along with affirmative consent regarding a sex scene.

What a delightful foodie YA read!! I used to read a lot of YA but hadn't for awhile. This was my first step back into YA and it made me remember how much I love it! I loved the foodie element too. Carter and Reid were such great characters. While the story was a predictable YA romance, I loved every minute of it. I was sad when it was over because I wanted to read more about Carter and Reid. Sequel?? :)

I went into this expecting a lighter, fluffier, contemporary read. And that is definitely what I got! I really liked it! It was a nice quick light read. Nothing super heavy or that weighs on you. Just a nice fun light read! This book reminded me why I love a good contemporary romance once in a while! :)

My favorite part of this book was the cooking! Our main character Carter is in a cooking competition to try and win a scholarship for college at a culinary school! There was so much food! Carter starts off the book by describing how to make the perfect grilled cheese, in the first paragraph! Food in the first paragraph. It pulled me right in! We then continue to get all kinda of different food throughout the competition. Baked Alaska, beef wellington, duck, scallops, macarons, etc. I swear, this book was trying to make me fat through the pages! LOL. We get to see Carter and her competition try making a lot of these dishes, hopefully well enough to stay in the competition. We saw people's cooking strengths and weaknesses. Some people were awesome with skillet stuff, others with the oven and baking. It was fascinating seeing people with wide cooking/baking backgrounds come together and compete. And the way all the food is described throughout the competition makes everything better! Red, juicy, slices like butter! Ice cream not to frozen but not too melty. Just perfect! Omg! The food was awesome!

I also loved the friendship Carter formed with her roommate! It was like they went from "hey, guess we're roommates" to "omg tell me everything that just happened with that boy!" Carter and Riya's friendship was great! I loved how they stuck together throughout the summer! Having meals together, hanging out when they weren't doing competitions. It was a nice friendship. They also definitely became each others confidants about the boys! And I love how they are planning on trying to be roommates when they actually start at the school! I definitely think their friendship will last for a while. :)

Reid Yamada. So Reid becomes Carters biggest competition. He steals her cheese in the first challenge which then leads them to go back and forth sabotaging each other (and inadvertently, their teams). Apparently Reid thought she was so good he knew she'd be his main competition we learn. For the first half of the summer, these two are just at each others throats. But yet they both also seemed a little interested in the other. Checking each other out both during the competition and not. Reid with the nicknames. In the second half of the competition they are forced to work together and bury the hatchet after their bickering almost gets them both eliminated. Its when they start being civil with each other that they finally admit to being interested in each other. In which yes, then they do start a relationship. I liked it once they finally admit it because once they got together, they both seemed to have a big confidence boost when it came to everything else. Including standing up to the bully in the competition who was always finding ways to put people down for something.

Something I really liked about this book was that it touches on things you don't see talked about a lot. We don't exactly see birth control talked about in regards to sex scenes in a lot of YA books but it was a topic of conversation in this book and taken seriously. We also hit on consent and making sure it was ok and that it was still going to be fine if they decided later on they didn't want to. I thought this was very important to see in this book and I applaud the author for putting both these subject in the book!

I haven't read much YA this year, in fact I've only read one other (Love, Hate & Other Filters which i adored!!) so I decided to finally start the ARC of The Art of French Kissing because cooking rivalry??? Yes!! 

And wow this was a great, fun read. This is my first book by Brianna Shrum and her characters' voices are so vivid and really shine here. The book is from a single POV, Carter, and being in her head was fantastically funny. 

So reasons i loved this book:

-The scene dividers are little macarons. The relevance of this was revealed later on! 

-The rivalry!! I love a good hate to love. and omg there's cheese sabotage! someone gets tripped! an alarm clock gets messed with and they're eventually paired up to work together.

-a brief discussion of the one true ship of Zuko and Katara

-HE MADE HER MACARONS!!! 

-this line: "Reid is unbearable half the time, but he's hot all the time" 

-THE TENSION. This is done so superbly. Their competitiveness is intense but the underlying current of oh no this person is hot and I maybe sorta like them while also hating them is perfectly executed. 

-The characterization: I adored Reid and Carter and all the secondary characters (well except Andrew, that dude was annoying) But I have a little soft spot for Reid,  my beautiful biracial, queer  nerd son. 

-The cooking aspect of the book was fun to read as well! I looked forward to each new challenge the judges threw at them and was on the edge of my bed as i read because the tension and intense rivalry came through really well! 


I want to try every single dish they made. They all sounded so good! (But someone else will have to make it for me cuz I'm not really about that cooking life) 

The build up to Reid and Carter's kiss so was well done. I felt the author really shone with the pacing of everything. We get to see the escalation of their rivalry, the guilt Carter feels about tripping Reid and almost getting him eliminated, and all the while there's the undercurrent of attraction between the two. But nothing felt rushed. 

There's so much bantery goodness in this one which, you all know banter is a thing i love. 

I will admit Carter did piss me off after Reid was eliminated and he was understandably upset. She asks him if he let her win and whooo boy that set off some anger there. I felt that Carter was being unreasonable that he was sad he lost. Who wouldn't be?! And as Reid rightfully said he can feel more than one thing at the same time. Disappointment at losing and happy for Carter making it to the finals. So Carter girl, not gonna lie i side eyed you there for a hot minute for that. 

But i thoroughly enjoyed this! I won't spoil who actually won the competition ;) but this was a quick, fun read! And the ending was really cute ^_^

I loved how both Carter and Reid are strong headed characters; he’s arrogant and she is ironical and sassy. That romance was everything I love ; nesting itself without guard, in both parties, yet without having “agreed” to it. They try to push it away and just move on (with hate toward each other and mischief) so they can win that challenge, when boom; all goes to hell when the competition needs them to work together !

That first time together in the kitchen was particularly entertaining to read; As being a strong headed person myself, I can totally see that being how I would have reacted. Plus just to imagine them behaving in front of EVERYONE else in the competition is kind of funny.

The romance made me feel like a teenager again; however the competition was very present all until the end, like it should have been. Chugged the remaining 60% until 642am to finish it – Finally a story ending positively. Be warned however; that don’t stop me from shredding some tears 😅

I’ve never really read a book like this! It was a very intriguing book and plot and I ended up absolutely loving it. I loved the culinary war between Carter and Reid. It’s a book that you would want to read for a light summer read! It was very cute and I loved the competitive love hate relationship

As someone who absolutely adores dramas (Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese) about cooking, this may have felt like it was written for me. There is something about fictional stories detailing people's adventures in cooking that is so alluring and extremely entertaining.
Strangely enough though, we don't actually get that many YA cooking novels, even though everyone cooks literally all the time in real life. Is that not super strange? I mean considering the fact that literally everyone watches shows like Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Family Food Fight and Hell's Kitchen all the time. A novelised version of one of those shows should be the holy grail of all novels - or at least your guilty pleasure. Because let me tell you, this was a guilty pleasure of mine.
While the title, 'The Art of French Kissing' makes me slightly uncomfortable (I'm sorry but it does, shhh), the book was super comforting and super adorable.

The storytelling is simple, which is great and I think totally fits the whole TV-cooking-genre thing. It's all about the competition of cooking and the hate-to-love relationship (you have to admit, it's one of the best tropes) between two of the competitors.

The main character definitely gave me a lot to think about. It was a love-hate relationship for ME with our protagonist, Carter Lane. Carter at first comes across as this somewhat shy character, but then it's like she's a bubble of fury and passion waiting to burst. And that at moments can definitely come across at times as quite brash and condescending. Which I like? Question mark? I questioned this as I was reading because occasionally I'd think gawd, I cannot stand this girl right now - why did she have to say that? But then I thought about myself, and how I say dumb things in a moment of spontaneity and I was like welllllll yeah that definitely makes sense.
Sometimes I feel like I'm so forgiving and accepting of characters in the books I read but I can't help but try and relate myself to everyone and try to understand them. *shrugs* What can ya do?

As I said before, I am a big fan of the hate-to-love trope because it shows a real development of character, and because it generally makes a really adorable story. I think this book was a perfect example of that development, because at first you see the characters at face-value, pretty 2-D where they're pretty naive, innocent creatures *sighs* before they develop (3-D/4-D WHOAH) and you suddenly realise that the characters are older than you thought and then that sigh turns into a blush.
It totally gave me the feels that you get during those classic rom-com movies that are always screening on TV, which I definitely think shows this was a success.

You want a guilty-pleasure read that is an adorable version of Masterchef? This is the book you want *Jedi Mind-Trick activated*

An amazing, funny book that is filled with lots of goodies!! Great young adult romance that will keep you interested.

4 stars...a teen Hallmark movie in the making!

Carter has wanted to be a chef for forever, so when she gets the chance to go to compete for a full scholarship to a Savannah culinary school she goes for it. In her way, however, is a fellow chef named Reid who is trying his best to knock her off track.

This was an adorable book that kept me interested the entire time. I honestly pictured it being a movie fit for Hallmark or some other channel like that. The characters were a little predictable but other than that I enjoyed them. It peaked my interest with the culinary competition and that aspect did not disappoint. I would recommend this to teen readers looking for an easy summer read.

NetGalley only gave me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review, they did not throw in coffee or wine.

1.5 stars.

I'm SO disappointed. The concept of this book sounded great. I was really looking forward to this book, even before it had a cover, and I love the cover. But I CANNOT root for the main character, Carter. How can I like the book when I don't like her?

Y'all, this character does so much mean, vindictive, immature stuff to other people and blames it on everyone else. The love interest lies to her about cheese at the beginning, causing her to have to use muenster instead of mozzarella or something, so she sets out to ruin him. In the process, she does things that hurt other people, too. And her reasoning for not apologizing is "He looked at me angrily, so I didn't apologize." I'm like....HE LOOKED AT YOU ANGRILY BECAUSE YOU DID SOMETHING THAT HURT HIM AND OTHERS. YOU KNOW YOU'RE WRONG. JUST APOLOGIZE. She repeatedly says and does bad things, says in the narration that she knows she's wrong, and then just keeps right on doing and saying the things. And I don't see any growth in her as a character by the end.

I'm sorry. I tried to be patient. The plot was okay, but not super compelling. (And toward the end, I wasn't a fan of the plot.) The side characters were people I didn't know well and didn't care much about. The love interest, Reid, was a mixed bag. He was cocky and a bit tool-ish at the beginning, did some bad crap, and then he was sort of nice? Idk. And then the romance part lacked depth, and I'm thinking "Why do these two like each other? I seriously don't understand." It was just too contrived and easy, and again, I couldn't root for them. They did things in the competition that really shouldn't be condoned, but had no consequences. I really want to put a spoiler here, but I can't find the spoiler button, dang it.

If you watch CinemaSins, you'll understand when I say, this book is the perfect example of "because...PROTAGONIST" and "because...PLOT". In other words, things were happening in a way that wasn't necessarily logical or good, but were put there just to serve the plot. And to make our protagonist happy, in spite of her having a bad attitude. We're supposed to feel bad for her because she's insecure, but it's honestly just because she's the protagonist. There's no other reason to root for her or, in my opinion, to feel any sympathy for her. And I really don't feel much sympathy, so the "because protagonist" was not successful. (In fact, it really never is. Your character needs to be compelling, point-blank.)

Also, Carter accuses Reid of having feelings. As if him feeling a certain way is a personal affront to her.

The last 10% or so of the book=what? It made me roll my eyes so much. I can't see the characters learning from their mistakes. If the end had been better, this might have been 2 or 2.5 stars for me.

I wanted to like this book, but I didn't, and I'm sorry. I usually don't feel guilty about my opinions, but dang, how I wanted to like this one.

Thank you NetGalley, for the review copy.
(Note: I will probably put this review on my blog or Youtube channel closer to its release date, but vocal problems have caused me to temporarily put my Youtube channel on hiatus.)

This book gave me a slew of wholesome, fuzzy feelings. And an appetite for dessert.

The cast of characters is effortlessly diverse, and I love, love, love that. I grew up reading books where all the characters were some white, cis, and straight--I am so glad that now, just about a decade later, young adults can read books with characters that actually look like them. Whether it's Reid Yamada's Japanese heritage or sexual orientation or personal struggles, or those of the supporting characters, they get their proper respect and then we move on. It's not a token thing and it's not a Big Deal--it just is.

Carter might be a dense little ball of anger for most of the story but, who cares, I enjoyed the heck out of this book.

3.5 stars

I am either super lucky to come across TWO romance novels in a row that I liked (never happens!), or I am currently just predisposed to consuming romance and can look past the genre limitations. What can I say - I liked The Kiss Quotient and I enjoyed The Art of French Kissing, although to a lesser degree.

The Art of French Kissing is a summery read, with cute banter, low stakes drama and yummy descriptions of food. The romance is set in a Savannah Culinary School where two dozen of junior high schoolers compete in a lengthy Top Chef-like contest for a scholarship. Carter and Reid start it off on a wrong foot (Reid is a Slytherin jerk), and their retaliation towards each other escalates rapidly and brutally. It's a competitor-to-lovers scenario, so you know what's what.

Like I said, this story doesn't break much new ground. Reid and Carter are very archetypal romance characters with a familiar romantic dynamic (she is blank good girl, he - a suave and cocky guy), and I do prefer more unique personalities in my books. But the novel has plenty good stuff to offer - food competitions! (Food channel junkies like me will enjoy the kitchen thrills), pop culture references, easy diversity of the characters, and macarons!

This book made me grin, made my heart pound during the challenges, it made me hungry. I had a great time reading it!

Okay, I love anything to do with cooking, mainly because I am so bad at it. The story behind this book sounded so good, but somehow the actual execution of it failed.

For me, this book was a little too cute. While the author tried to infuse the story with some fun, it felt overdone and not remotely real life.

I did managed to get through it and its not horrible, there just wasn't anything to keep me hooked.