first i just wanted to thank penguinteen for sending me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! i love contemporaries and i think this one was adorable! the theme of baking is one i havent read much of in books and i really enjoyed this one! esp the gbbo elements as me and my mom watch it all the time. i look foward to reading more by this author!

I was looking for a light, fluffy romance and I devoured this one in a day. It was so much fun reading about all these great Asian desserts and the baking competition that Liza helped her mom model after The Great British Baking Show. Yen also did a great job introducing the characters and I really believed that Mrs. Yang was enough of a meddler to sabotage her own baking show in order to set Liza up with someone. I was laughing out loud as the contestants were introduced!

Liza's mom was highly critical of her at the beginning of the story, to the point where I was a bit uncomfortable. If you have this kind of relationship with your parents it could potentially hit a little too close to home for you. But Liza and Mrs. Yang eventually come to an understanding and I was really invested in the evolution of their relationship.

Of course, I have to talk about the romance! Liza and James were super cute together and I think a lot of us can relate to how utterly dense Liza is about his feelings for her. This book is also a Pride and Prejudice retelling, so in accordance with the original, she's given reason to believe he isn't interested. (I also didn't know that this book was based on P&P until after I read it, so I probably missed some parallels between the two.) The only thing I wanted here was more scenes of them alone together; the constant double dates got old after a bit and it felt like their friends were too pushy at times. Plus, my favorite scene was the last one and I wished we had gotten more one-on-one scenes with James and Liza. I recommend this to all the GBBO and Austen fans out there!

After first hearing about this book when it was announced, I grew even more excited to read this book after reading a sample, especially for the setting! And it did not disappoint. A Taste for Love was an adorable contemporary with a fun plot and a cute romance.

For the past few years, Liza has been fending off her mother’s attempts to set her up with a “good match.” Then she agrees to help judge her mom’s annual junior baking competition in an attempt to convince her parents that she’s serious about wanting to pursue baking as a career; however, there, she realizes that all of the contestants are potential matches that her mom picked. One of them is James, a boy she met a few months ago and whom she keeps crossing paths with because her friend starts dating his cousin.

I will say that the baking competition plot doesn’t start till about halfway throught the book, but this is a short book so that wasn’t necessarily a pitfall. The first half is more dedicated to building up Liza’s relationships with her parents, particularly her mom, and her sister. We also see Liza and her friend Grace meeting and hanging out more with James and his cousin Ben.

The competition was fun! I usually hate books that are centered around cooking or baking because I just cannot stand long descriptions of food. However, this book avoided that and I actually liked the food descriptions.

I also really liked the characters; Liza is headstrong and stubborn, and I really related to her relationship with her mom. Grace is supportive, and I really liked her scenes. At first, James came fof as rude but you gradually come to see that he’s more of a Darcy character. I also loved that we got to see a lot of Liza’s parents, which is fairly unusual in contemporary YA.

The romance was cute! I think the book vaguely follows Pride & Prejudice, so it has dislike-to-love, mostly because Liza thinks James is stuck-up at first. Also, she knows that he pretty much exactly fulfills her mom’s requirements for a “good” boy to date, so she refuses to like him more. But naturally, they grow to know each other more.

A Taste for Love was an adorable contemporary filled with descriptions of pastries that will leave your mouth watering. I liked the characters, and the romance was so cute. If you like Pride & Prejudice retellings and/or To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I definitely recommend A Taste for Love.

3.5 rounded down.

This was really cute, and exactly what I needed to get out of my slump. I really loved Liza, and honestly I’d really like to try all of these recipes stat. Normally I hate an overload of descriptions of food, and typically get bored when it’s described to me in such detail, but this was pretty enjoyable. It definitely should be a movie so we can all see the delicious creations. My problems with this, however, were mainly two things.

1. James. I know we’re supposed to feel bad for him and the fact that he opens up later is supposed to undo it all, but that is not for me. Maybe I’m just getting old, but though there were a few sweet and romantic scenes, he seemed like a really toxic individual and I really hated his attitude and the way he just assumed shit. I’m willing to let it slide if that’s just him being a kid, but if there’s a sequel, I have my eye on him.

2. A personal preference of mine is leaving “real world” stuff out of books, as it always makes it seem like the author is trying too hard to relate to the teens (i.e. talking about TikTok or famous actors or Netflix). Again, a personal issue of mine, so if you don’t mind that and you find it awesome that they have nods to pop culture, ignore this note!

This books was so cute! I loved the premise, but I think the story couldn't been clearer at points. I wasn't really invested in the romance, and I didn't understand some of the barriers holding the couple from getting together. However, even though the romance was a little confusing, other aspects of the book were phenomenal. I really enjoyed the baking scenes and the competition. The author NAILED the Great British Baking Show feel. Also, I loved the main character's relationship with her family, especially her mom. The books was really sweet and I loved the premise of the story, but I just didn't like the romance because I wasn't rooting for the couple.

Disclaimer: I got this Arc from @NetGalley

I honestly adored Liza and James' character. It's like a mix of To All the Boys I've Loved Before meets Loveboat, Taipei. Liza's mom annoyed me at times throughout the book, but otherwise I really loved it and you're going to be hungry by the time you're done because I definitely was. I even wanted boba tea after reading it. If you like romance and baking, then this is for you!

Thoroughly enjoyable take on Pride and Prejudice, The bake off bits differentiate A Taste for Love from other re-tellings, and there's just enough drama and tension to get worked up over.

This was a light fun read. It got me into the baking mode! Always a good sign when a book influences what you do in daily life.

I think this book was such a feel-good story. Each character had their own charms and I was rooting for the main couple the whole time. It was a quick, easy read. I really liked the main character and the development of her and her mother's relationship. This story highlighted how a lot of Asian American parents feel about dating. It really showed that aspect in a realistic way. I would definitely read more books by this author in the future!

This was a really cute concept, but parts of it seemed really forced and rushed. I think I would have liked this better if it wasn't inspired by Pride and Prejudice - the plot points I liked the least were the ones that seemed to be trying to keep it in like with the P&P plot. I did like the characters and especially the friendship between Liza and Grace. Not a ton of chemistry in either of the main romances, unfortunately.