Hey Foodies and Bookworms,

Hope you’ve had a nice weekend. Mine was pretty standard with grad school work dominating. Anywho, it’s time for another review!

This time I read Chef’s Kiss by Jarrett Melendez.

I’ve never read anything by this author before, but I love food and thought the gay romance would be a great addition to my project in achieve greater diversity.

Let’s see how it went. On to the book review!

Blurb

Watch things start to really heat up in the kitchen in this sweet, queer, new adult graphic novel!

Now that college is over, English graduate Ben Cook is on the job hunt looking for something…anything…related to his passion for reading and writing. But interview after interview, hiring committee after hiring committee, Ben soon learns getting the dream job won’t be as easy as he thought. Proofreading? Journalism? Copywriting? Not enough experience. It turns out he doesn’t even have enough experience to be a garbage collector! But when Ben stumbles upon a “Now Hiring—No Experience Necessary” sign outside a restaurant, he jumps at the chance to land his first job. Plus, he can keep looking for a writing job in the meantime. He’s actually not so bad in the kitchen, but he will have to pass a series of cooking tests to prove he’s got the culinary skills to stay on full-time. But it’s only temporary…right?

When Ben begins developing a crush on Liam, one of the other super dreamy chefs at the restaurant, and when he starts ditching his old college friends and his old writing job plans, his career path starts to become much less clear.

GoodReads

Amazon

***Brief disclosure***

I am an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post at no cost to you. It’s a great way to help me keep things running on my blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

The Review

Ben Cook and his roommates have graduated college, but the struggle gets real when he can’t find a job in writing. His lack of experience in his field earns him no prospects, and just when he’s about to give up he sees a sign in the window of a fancy looking restaurant that they are hiring. As Ben undergoes a number of cooking tests to prove his culinary worth, he struggles to maintain his friendships while resisting the allure of the dreamy chef Liam.

Just like a tasty meal, I ate this book up!

What gripped me right away was the art. It’s realistic and has lots of vibrant color. This helped keep my attention, and every now and then I had to stop to admire the craftsmanship of this graphic novel.

Ben was a great main character. His heart’s in the right place, but life can muddle and distort even the best of intentions. While he seemed pretty basic at first, he achieved some depth in his journey to find a job in just a short span of a few weeks. I loved Ben’s interaction with his roommates. They felt so real in their banter, and it kept the story moving. And Liam? Wow, talk about temptation! Liam seemed to be the holy grail of gay gentlemen. He’s kind, caring, handsome, and always has something nice to say.

The plot was pretty simple, but sometimes simple just works. Ben’s main struggle is determining whether his culinary skills are up to the test, and he often tests out recipes on his roommates, who love free food. I would’ve liked to see him stumble a bit more with his food experiments, but there was enough of a struggle to satisfy my need for conflict.

This book was a real home run. If you want a cute romance with lots of tasty food references, you can’t go wrong with this one!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this graphic novel review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this graphic novel? Are there similar ones you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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