A cute title and a cute cover? I’m intrigued. 👀 I have been on a major contemporary reading spree lately, and The Art of French Cooking *ahem I mean French Kissing* was one that I knew I needed to pick up. 💖 However, while the premise and plot had major potential, it lacked that special spark that made me fall in love.
THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING KISSING by Brianna R. Shrum
PUBLISHED BY Sky Pony on June 5th, 2018
GENRES:Contemporary
PAGES: 256
ADD TO GOODREADS // BOOK DEPOSITORY
Seventeen-year-old Carter Lane has wanted to be a chef since she was old enough to ignore her mom’s warnings to stay away from the hot stove. And now she has the chance of a lifetime: a prestigious scholarship competition in Savannah, where students compete all summer in Chopped style challenges for a full-ride to one of the best culinary schools in the country. The only impossible challenge ingredient in her basket: Reid Yamada.
After Reid, her cute but unbearably cocky opponent, goes out of his way to screw her over on day one, Carter vows revenge, and soon they’re involved in a full-fledged culinary war. Just as the tension between them reaches its boiling point, Carter and Reid are forced to work together if they want to win, and Carter begins to wonder if Reid’s constant presence in her brain is about more than rivalry. And if maybe her desire to smack his mouth doesn’t necessarily cancel out her desire to kiss it.
What I Loved 💘
- The beginning is super captivating, and I was instantly engrossed in the story. ✏ The writing is very simple and direct which makes it easy to follow.
- I loved the storyline—a YA romance meets a cutthroat cooking competition. 🍴 We have the structure of Chopped meeting the intensity of Cutthroat Kitchen sprinkled with the cuteness of Cupcake Wars.
- The food descriptions are really satisfying. You’ll be hungry right from the first page. I wanted to start snacking the second I started reading, and I loved the descriptions of Carter cooking because it was a major throwback for seven-year-old Tiffany who wanted to be a chef.
- THAT COVER…I adore it. 😍
What I Didn’t Love 💔
- It’s a cutthroat cooking competition with teenagers 🔪 so we can expect some sneakiness to make the plot more interesting, but all the sabotage became juvenile and repetitive very fast. At first, it was captivating and made everything more intense but eventually, it became more frustrating than interesting.
- There is almost no mention of French cooking??? (I mean it’s crossed out in the title, but I still expected some French cuisine) 🤷♀️
- The story itself isn’t well-paced. Although I loved the beginning of the story, the middle and ending were too jumbled. We would fly through 3-4 competition tasks with no explanation, but I would’ve preferred the author just focusing on a few big missions that were better developed.
- Towards the middle of the book, everything becomes super predictable—you’ll know how everything is going to play out. (And not the good kind of predictable)
Overall, the storyline had the potential be as heartwarming as a Kasie West or Morgan Matson novel, but it needed a bit more development and refining. 😕 While it started off very promising, I found myself skimming the pages towards the end. I would still recommend this book, but personally, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Read By Tiffany 
Ahh those food descriptions sound heavenly! But ugh I hate it when teenage characters act so young. Lovely review!
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The food descriptions are amazing! and yup I thought the sabotage was interesting at first, and I wouldn’t have minded it because teenagers are teenagers. however, it just became too repetitive 😦 It could definitely be up to personal preference so if you’re still interested in the story I’d recommend giving it a read :O
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Oh my I saw the cover and the title of the book and immediately blushed 😂 I don’t think I could ever read it in public! The cooking competition element does sound amazing!!! I’m addicted to chopped and all kinds of cooking shows, so I’m sure I’d love the scenes actually set in the competition stages…
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I agree! I actually read the book on my Kindle 😂 I love cooking competitions too, so I really liked the premise of the book. I think it was mainly the romance and development that wasn’t working for me, but I think that’s definitely personal preference! You should still give it a read 🙂
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Whaaat no French cuisine at all? I am disappointed already, damn, we have so MUCH FOO ID TO TALK ABOUT. Sorry haha. I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love that one, it always frustrates me when the book is predictable, but in a bad way
thank you for sharing!
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I know!! I want to hear all about the amazing French foods because I want recommendations ❤ It definitely had some cute moments, but I think it comes down to personal preference and it wasn't for me
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OHHH well…. just ask and I’ll make you a list of foods and baked goods and everything hahahaha. ❤
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Oh, no the juvenile behavior, it would put me off too. However, these food talk just from this is making me snacky 🤤. And wow, no mention of French cuisine at all? Bummer. I am sorry this one didn’t work out.
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Yea
I wouldn’t even mind juvenile behavior too much too because I understand that they’re high schoolers, but it was getting too repetitive of a plot device and wasn’t moving the story along. (Now, it’s time to go snack to make everything better 😉 )
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Ahh, great review! This book has been on my TBR for a while and I think I might end up picking it up someday but after reading your review probably with not the highest expectations, haha.😅That’s so disappointing about there not being much French cuisine, maybe it’s just me, but I love reading about food!
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Aww thank you Olivia!! There are definitely amazing food descriptions (but just not French) 😦 I still think the plotline was pretty cute, so I would still recommend because it might come down to personal preference 🙂 I can’t wait to hear your thoughts ❤
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Great review, Tiffany ❤️
I’m an absolute sucker for books and food and books that have delicious food in them. The food competition aspect sounds right up my alley so it’s a shame that it wasn’t executed very well. I’m also sad that it became predictable, that just takes all the fun out of it.
The food descriptions sound really yum but it’s a shame that it couldn’t save this one!
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Aww thank you Michelle!!
I think you’ll really love the food descriptions because they made me soooo hungry 🙂 I would still recommend this book because it might be personal preference too!
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I had very similar frustrations. I disliked the simplistic writing style and I mainly just wasn’t rooting for the main character. I felt that she caused most of the problems in this book by refusing to ever admit she was wrong. Great review!
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Agreed! It was nice at first, but after a while, it got kind of stale to read. There wasn’t a lot of communications which made the plotline feel too repetitive
I’m glad to hear that we had similar thoughts though 🙂
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