The plot just isn’t relevant. Cookbooks have been dead for years, yet our main lead only writes recipes for cookbooks with zero video or marketing skills, in the time of Facebook and food-stagram and whatever else, after training at the top chef academy where she’d be following/friends with all the other top chefs who would have gone on to the top restaurants where they do all the marketing things? Nope. Not buying it. Stopped at 4%.

3-4 stars for the target audience.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC.

I read this book as part of the 2024 Trans Rights Readathon. It had been sitting on my (virtual) shelf for too long, so I took the opportunity to finally get this read. Unfortunately, I had a hard time relating to many of the characters, especially Simone, the main female character. The whole book is told from her POV, so not caring for her character was a bit problematic. Simone is a chef who works for a food magazine, creating and testing recipes. With the magazine losing money and readership, the higher-ups decide it’s time to add a video presence. Simone says she’s a cisgender female, who is bisexual. Ray is the new kitchen manager at the magazine and Ray prefers they/them pronouns and eventually comes out to the staff as nonbinary. Simone finds herself attracted to Ray. Her roommate, Luna, is a trans woman and Simone asks Luna to help her learn more about how to not put her foot in her mouth around trans people. She offers to “pay” Luna with yummy food.

Simone isn’t particularly good in front of the camera but Ray turns out to be a natural at it and winds up starring in their videos, especially ones that highlight their beer-brewing expertise.

There’s a lot of office politics and drama, which is probably the main reason I didn’t care that much for the story. It got a lot more interesting fairly late in the book, when Simone and Ray’s relationship became more of the focus of the story.

I mostly wound up listening to the audiobook which was well-narrated by Em Grosland. There are a lot of delicious-sounding foods described throughout the book.

Content warnings include transphobia, biphobia, deadnaming, and racism in the workplace.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

1.5/5
did not love some of the discussion that was a huge part of this book, some parts irked me such as the main li being soooo tone deaf and ignorant about what is supposed to be the main part of the book. I don't understand how we are supposed to like Simone.

Started but unable to finish the title. I was intrigued by he nonbinary representation but the characters were difficult to get to know.

This was the Bon Appetit romance novel I needed post-pandemic. Loved it, especially the non-binary rep and all the food feelings!

This was a slower burn than I was expecting but great nonetheless. I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I'm so glad I finally did. This was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad for the way this all resolved.

My compliments to the Chef! Chef’s Kiss is a charming book, and a quick read. I recommend this to anyone looking for a cute, funny read.

I love myself a grumpy/ sunshine trope! This book was everything!

Simone's food magazine is on the struggle bus and it’s not going to survive in a world where print media is ending. In an effort to help modernize, the magazine's owners decide it's time to embrace the social media platforms, which means Simone will have to learn to make videos and more social media content, which is not in her thing . To help with this major change, the owners bring in technical staff as well as a new kitchen manager, Ray, to help make the workplace more realistic for filming. Ray becomes a big hit with all of the staff except of course Simone, who finds Ray's personality to be flat out annoying.
Things begin to change between Simone and Ray though, as is to be expected as they get to know one another better . Things get even more complicated when Ray comes out at work as nonbinary to mixed reactions—and Simone must choose between the career she fought so hard for and the person who just might take the cake (and her heart).

I went into this looking for a cute, fun, romcom style book with a foodie twist - and it delivered!

It was refreshing to see a non-binary main character, and I loved the banter, and the foodie twist to the story. It was a lot of fun, and I am excited to read the next book in the series.

*Gifted from Netgalley/Atria Books, thank you!

This was a delightful book. You couldn’t help but love Ray from the first moment they stepped into the test kitchen. I loved how real and raw the story was. It’s unfortunate that people have to deal with such hate and bigotry in places they should feel safe. I loved the found family the crew created despite the company they worked for. I would totally watch the heck out of their YouTube videos and Netflix series.

Exquisite representation accompanied by a cozy-turned-complicated plot will keep readers invested long after the final page in TJ Alexander’s Chef’s Kiss.

This novel offers incredible commentary on queer culture, being out in the professional world, how to be the ally your community needs versus the ally you WANT to be, and ultimately how to love people as they are.

Good story and I’ll definitely read the next installment!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I really wanted to love this book, but I found half of the main character duo annoying, and when his parts came up, I checked out. Had potential but wasn't for me.

I loved everything about this book - the characters., the found family, the setting, just everything. It was so well written and had me hooked from the start. Definitely going to check out more of Alexander's work!

While this was a fun read, I felt like I was constantly comparing it to two other queer, food-based romances that released that same year, and this one fell short. I didn't click with the writing style, and ultimately decided to put this one down at about 40%. I know that this would be a great book for lots of people, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

3.5 stars

Good. Very slow burn. Definitely homophobia drama but great friendships and a very diverse cast of characters.

The lesbophobia is making me uncomfortable so it's a no. There was only two instances where the word lesbian is mentioned, both are bad and defenitely no challenged. Simone making everything about her didn't help either.

[ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review]

The way this scratched the itch of that… one internet video cooking production conglomerate…

Chef’s Kiss follows professional pastry chef Simone Larkspur at The Discerning Chef, a New York-based cooking publisher. When they decide to pivot to more viral-video based content, Simon finds herself paired with Ray Lyton, the new test kitchen manager.

This was an engrossing read, though not always the fun and fluffy one I had been expecting going in. That’s not a slam against the book, but I realized pretty quickly that I needed to adjust my own expectations. There was more transphobia and deadnaming than I had been expecting (as Ray comes out as nonbinary; not a spoiler as this is stated in the book’s summary). I found myself stressing out about Simone’s career, wanting her desperately to succeed against the terrible people in charge at The Discerning Chef.

The supporting characters really stood out for me, almost more so than the romance. I enjoyed this overall, mainly because having non-binary characters are becoming more common in romance novels.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed learning more about each of the characters and their individual plotlines within this story, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

I thought that this was really sweet. I also appreciated the amount of representation and the coverage of super important topics. Do I think at times the main character was a bit obnoxious in terms of their attitude? yes. But to be fair so am I so I cant really discredit them. Overall I think that this is a special read that would help so so many people and for that it is so special.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my review. This novel released May 3, 2022.