What a fun way to flip a story. In My Fine Fellow, you will meet Helena Higgins, an accomplished culinarian student, proud and opinionated... Elijah Little, an accomplished chef in his own right but unable to climb the ladder of success because of his heritage... and Penelope Pickering, Helena's best friend, confidant, and sense of reason -- when Helena listens. The story rags to riches is played out in an 18th century world of food lovers.

I really enjoyed the way the author, Jennieke Cohen, crafted this story. The characters ring true and the story is endearing. As a foodie myself, I enjoyed the culinary setting and wanted to add a few new spices to my shelf after listening.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

This one took me a minute to get into but it was a fun and fast read. The descriptions of food were mouth watering and made me hungry all the time! I did like that they talked about the consequences of an experiment like this, I feel like the original vaguely mentions it but this book goes into more detail. I liked the changes they made so you don't feel like you're reading the same thing just genderbent. Overall fun and thought provoking!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Teen for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Fine Fellow is an adorable gender swapped version of My Fair Lady set in an alternate 1830s England. The story follows Elijah Little (a poor Jewish street vendor), as well as, Helena and Penelope (two up-and-coming culinarians at the height of society). Like the original story, Helena decides, as her final project in culinary school, to try and elevate Elijah in the eyes of society by teaching him the latest culinary skills in order to become a gentleman chef.

Overall I really enjoyed this clean romantic comedy! The story was engaging, it was easy to pick out the elements of the original story, the culinary school aspect was fun, and I really loved both Elijah and Penelope. At times the use of very modern culinary techniques drew me out of the story and had me second guessing the setting of the story but I think for most people it wouldn't bother them that much.

I would love to see who they would choose to narrate an audiobook.

This was such a cute play on My Fair Lady. I loved the food aspects (and the descriptions of the food were excellent). I flew through it because it was just so easy to read.

Imagine a Venn diagram. In one circle place young readers looking for a fun historical romance with friendship, ambition, and just the right amount of anacronistic feminism and global understanding. In the other circle, place foodies who want to read rich, detailed descriptions of food and all its scents, textures, and provenance. Readers in the center of this diagram will be delighted with My Fine Fellow.

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**

My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen was a solid My Fair Lady retelling, minus the singing. ;-) This story followed a gender-bent version where two young high society ladies took a street food seller under their wing to teach him cooking as well as to turn him into a gentleman. I enjoyed the author's unique take on this classic story, she added her own plot and character depth which I appreciated, though the pacing did seem to drag quite a bit for me. Enough food descriptions were included to make your mouth water, and there was even one of the recipes in the back of the book. The ending was very satisfying as well. I would recommend this novel for anyone who enjoys cooking, period pieces, and/or the Pygmalion story.

I received this as both an EARC and an audio ARC—read by an AI voice.

I have discovered that I’m hopeless at audio books. They just take too darned long. It took me four hours of ironing to get through the first six chapters. Fortunately, I was able to also snag the text version—it took fewer than four hours to read the entire book.

This book was charming. The inspiration from My Fair Lady was very clear. Fortunately, the ending was not as contrived as the movie. Nor was it exactly like the ending of the source material, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Helena Higgins is very much like Henry Higgins. Convinced (perhaps rightly so) of her own brilliance, bossy, self-centered. Unlike Henry, she does learn some valuable lessons about herself and actually shows growth.

Penelope Pickering is a delight. Of a mixed-race background in this alternate-universe Britain of the 1800s, she has her own challenges to deal with. And those challenges have made her kind and patient as she helps Helena to instruct Elijah.

And of course, Elijah. Here is a young man who truly wants to raise his station in life. Like Penelope, the situation of his birth has left him with obstacles. Like Eliza Dolittle, he wants more from his life than just to be a street vendor. Like Eliza Dolittle, he is put into a situation where he can’t go back to his old life, and he’s not sure he wants the life that Helena has planned for him.

In addition to well-constructed characters and good dialogue, this book talks a lot about food. A lot. And if you’re a food lover, plan to feel hungry as you read. I wish culinarians were a real thing, because I would want to be one.

The author does include a recipe at the end of the book, so we can all be Helena, Penelope, and Elijah for a while.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the EARC and AARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2022/01/january-11-releases.html

I received a complimentary copy of MY FINE FELLOW by Jennieke Cohen as part of a scheduled Let’s Talk Books tour. Thank you to Harper Teen and the author for the opportunity to read and review!

MY FINE FELLOW is a YA, gender swapped retelling of My Fair Lady. In the 1830s, Helena Higgins and Penelope Pickering are young Culinarian students working on their final projects to graduate as the best of the best when it comes to preparing fantastic food for the elite of society. Helena has been raised for greatness with every expectation of being top of her class. Penelope has long been looked down on for her Filipina heritage, but she’s determined to bring fantastic food from different influences to the forefront.

The young women meet Elijah, a young man with a definite talent for making tasty and unique food, but he’s without the means to move up from selling pasties on the street. Helena determines that he will be the perfect senior project. If she can turn him from a street hustler to a gentleman worthy of selling to high society in a store of his own, she will nail down the top spot in her graduating class.

I have always enjoyed My Fair Lady as a musical, but can definitely see why the author felt the story could do with a re-do to give it a more modern and diverse take, even as it stays set in the past. I really enjoyed seeing where changes were made and how the story was adapted! I found that the characters were really well done and there were definitely moments where I could see where the author pulled from the original material.

I always enjoy a good food related book as well, so really liked that change! It was interesting (and sometimes hunger inspiring) to hear about their forrays into food. The book tackles a lot of issues of feminism, racism, and antisemitism as well.

This was a really fun read and definitely one worth picking up! MY FINE FELLOW is available now!

. This is a gender-flipped version with the main characters being two women training to be "culinarians" who work to train a boy to become a culinarian himself. The idea is interesting and the alternative history portion of the plot puts women in a much better situation than they were at that time (1800s England). However, for me it dragged and the descriptions of the food and training were so drawn out it didn't hold my interest. I would have preferred to have the story be less about cooking competition and cooking ideas and more about the teaching, the environment, etc. I'd look out for other books by this author, especially if I was more interested in the subject matter.

I stopped at 10%. I just wasn’t hooked in. It seems like such a sweet premise but it just didn’t grab me.

A twist on the classic Pygmalion (My Fair Lady), with a foodie twist. Had I known that to start I probably wouldn't have requested the advanced copy to review. Not a bad book, but not my thing.

My Fine Fellows is a retelling of my fair lady with a twist. The author kind of flip the powers. We even get to imagine what it may be like to face discrimination in the 1830s. Just imagine women chefs in the 1800s. You don't want to miss it. It's a delightful audiobook 😍

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review. Review is for the e-galley, not the voice galley.

MY FINE FELLOW is a gender-flipped retelling of My Fair Lady (which of course is a retelling of George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion). In Cohen's version, readers have Helena Higgins and her friend Penelope Pickering, who are in their final year at the Royal Academy and top of their class. As they ready to take the world by storm as new Culinarians, Pickering's chance encounter with a local London street merchant hawking his pasties gives Higgins the perfect idea for her final project.... can Higgins turn a lowly, poor, street merchant into a proper chef? Instead of Eliza Doolittle, Cohen gives us Elijah Little, who on top of being poor, is Jewish. In this version of mid-19th century London, both will cause a person to have few options in life (and Little's religious beliefs play a pretty prominent role throughout the entire story).

As Elijah begins to learn the art of Culinaria from Higgins (and Pickering), MY FINE FELLOW plays out similarly to My Fair Lady. Higgins takes Little out into polite society for test runs, there are missteps and misunderstandings. We even still get Freddy Eynsford-Hill as a distraction (just between Pickering and Little instead of Doolittle and Higgins). I was intrigued by the cooking aspect and the reality cooking competition feel of those bits of the novel. Though they did make me hungry.

I won't lie, the miscommunications trope in novels of two characters that CLEARLY like each other but for whatever reason won't verbalize it to the other causing lots of misunderstandings and situations that didn't need to happen if they just admitted their feelings to each other is a trope that I feel is overplayed. HOWEVER it still hooks me and I stayed up way past my bedtime at one part in this novel when I thought Little and Pickering were FINALLY going to tell the other they liked them waiting for it to happen.

Overall this was a fun read, especially for someone who grew up on the Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn film. I loved the nods to it as well - there is even a moment where one character says they could have danced all night. I liked how the gender roles were flipped and the author's note was really interesting on thinking about what could have happened if Princess Charlotte hadn't died so young.

A switch on “My Fair Lady”
England 1803.
Helena Higgins and Penelope Pickering are chief’s in training (Culinarians) at the Royal Academy in London. When they discover Elijah Little’s cooking talents, they set out to turn him from a street vendor to a gentleman chef!
I did enjoy this story, there were times I thought it might be a little too slow for a middle schooler. But the message is good. As a Guidance Counselor in a Jewish Community Day School, I certainly would recommend this to students.
I totally enjoyed the Historical notes at the end. I always enjoy reading the Author’s note and/or acknowledgements. Since this was written during the pandemic, author Jennieke Cohen expressed the difficulties in being motivated to write. She, of course, is appreciative to those who provided her with love and support.
Want to thank NetGalley and Harper Audio Harper Teen ~ for this VoiceGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review. Note this early form it is a VoiceGalley and not the final Audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 11, 2022

This was an interesting take on the Pygmalion story. Although I did like the story, I was a little disappointed in the way the some of the relationships were handled.

I liked Cohen's previous book and looked forward to this endeavor. The storyline was pretty solid and had great references to the original play. What I wasn’t a fan of was the romance between Little and Pickering instead of Higgins. That, to me, was the greatness of Pygmalion; when Henry realizes that he loves Eliza and their bickering and distaste change to fondness. Helena lacks this great change and the book somewhat hurts for it. Pickering and Little’s romance is very downplayed as well which leaves only the training plot which is a bit tedious and underwhelming.

The female characters were a bit more annoying than enjoyably snarky as I had hoped for. They very much over powered Little’s character and he did not shine in his success as the original Eliza had. A wanted more from these characters and the secondary ones that were very underdeveloped.

While I did enjoy the book as a whole, I simply found it lacking a spark that would excite readers to read more of this author’s works. I hope for better selections in the future that are more on par with Cohen’s previous outing.

This book was a marvelous take on the original work. Elijah, Helene, and Penelope characters were easy to love, yes even Helene with all her bossy, know it all bravado. I believe this book will be a delight to foodies and historical fiction lovers alike. The conflicts of acceptance in society, status, and class differences gave very real and age appropriate conflicts to the character to Elijah was so wonderfully charming. Penelope was a good contrast to the character of Helene without being lackluster as she was a sweet and understanding as one can get.. All in all, I was whisked away to a time of culinary excellence and enjoyed the journey this story lead me on. I look forward to the moment this books hit the shelf as it will be a delight to all.

A delightful retelling of My Fair Lady, or Pygmalion, set in an alternate past in 19th century London. The person transformed is a street hawking young man with culinary talents. He is trained in new skills by a bossy young woman and her sweet friend. The narrator distracted from the story with her poor inflections, frequently placing the emphasis on the wrong words. Other than that, it was an enjoyable and creative story.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Harper Teen for allowing me the opportunity to listen to a voicegalley of My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen. This book will be published in January 2022. All opinions are my own.

It's the 1830s and culinarians are in high demand in England. Helena Higgins is at the top of her class at the Royal Academy. She has a refined palette and a sharp demeanor. She knows she will be a top culinarian when she graduates. Her best, and only, friend is Penelope Pickering who is second at the Royal Academy. Penelope loves the food of the Americas and embraces her Filipina culture. She is kind and handles social situations with more grace than Helena. One night, the two girls meet Elijah Little while at the night market where he is selling empanadas. Helena realizes he is a golden opportunity and turns him into her final project for the Royal Academy. She is determined to train him and make him into a true gentlemen chef. Elijah's transformation from street vendor to gentlemen chef may have a bigger impact than the three could have ever imagined. As they begin working together, mayhem ensues.

This is a super fun gender-swapped retelling of Pygmalion (or My Fair Lady) set in an alternate history. The book is rich with description which truly brings the flavors alive. Not only are the characters vibrant but so is the society that Cohen has imagined. I loved the rich descriptive language, the humor, and food. The book is full of life and moves at a brisk pace. I truly enjoyed the novel. It's perfect for those who enjoyed Dangerous Alliance or My Lady Jane.

This was a really cute, clever My Fair Lady retelling! I love the idea of more Broadway retellings in YA. Cohen's debut was so much fun, and this one really lived up to my hopes. The culinarian competition was a great endgame for the characters to work toward, and will definitely appeal to readers who love modern cooking competition shows. The romance was perfectly sweet and I liked that it was between Penelope and Elijah, while Helena got to experience her own much-needed growth outside of a love story arc. Overall I think this will be a fun, fresh read for fans of foodie stories, historical fiction, and romance.

Already a fan of Jennieke Cohen, I was excited to see that she had a new book coming out. My Fine Fellow lived up to all my expectations and so much more. The characters, the story, the intrigue, and the food were all fantastic! 5 bright stars for My Fine Fellow!!