Chef's Kiss

A Novel

De: TJ Alexander

Narrado por: Em Grosland

“Like a dish of comfort food you’ll want to devour.” —The Washington Post
“It’s hard to say which aspect of TJ Alexander’s novel is sweeter: the slow-burn romance or the drool-worthy desserts.” —Time

A high-strung pastry chef’s professional goals are interrupted by an unexpected career transition and the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager in this deliciously fresh and witty queer rom-com.

Simone Larkspur is a perfectionist pastry expert with a dream job at The Discerning Chef, a venerable cookbook publisher in New York City. All she wants to do is create the perfect loaf of sourdough and develop recipes, but when The Discerning Chef decides to bring their brand into the 21st century by pivoting to video, Simone is thrust into the spotlight and finds herself failing at something for the first time in her life.

To make matters worse, Simone has to deal with Ray Lyton, the new test kitchen manager, whose obnoxious cheer and outgoing personality are like oil to Simone’s water. When Ray accidentally becomes a viral YouTube sensation with a series of homebrewing videos, their eccentric editor in chief forces Simone to work alongside the chipper upstart or else risk her beloved job. But the more they work together, the more Simone realizes her heart may be softening like butter for Ray.

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).

©2022 TJ Alexander. All rights reserved (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Loved it!

This was a fantastic romcom with a story that really matters. Great writing, nice slowburn, not overly spicy, amazing rep. Really enjoyed this!

Perfect Queer Rom-Com

From start to finish, this book was delightful. The writing was smooth and unpretentious and the story cute and realistic. The bisexual and non-binary/trans representation was realistic and showed the Truth about getting to know and respect someone's identity even when you're uncertain about it. You learn, you love, you respect, and you fight for the people you care about.

The relationship between Rae and Simone was well developed and flirty (and sexy!).

And the detailed writing about the food profession is spot on. I'm picky as a chef and I really enjoyed all the accurate writing.

Highly recommend this book! It's the queer representation in books I've been longing for.

Beautiful Queer Rom-com

Loved this book. it was so sweet and refreshingly queer. I think it found a really great balance of remaining light and sweet, but also tossed in some really great examples of how examining how our cultures treatment of gender is tied to many other areas of oppression?? truly not what I was expecting going in but I am so pleasantly suprised.

Narration was also awesome. Em had such a steady tone that was comforting, precise, and fit the story well.

Definitely recommend this sweet queer ride.

Chef's Kiss is literally a 👩‍🍳💋

I just finished reading (well listening to the audiobook version) of Chef's Kiss and it's fucking awesome ♡

It's sweet and fun and romantical, but also a sharp view into the world of bs that the LGBTQ community have to deal with every day.
All the characters feel like real, solid people and while some I want to punch in the face, others I want to take out for a beer & a chat.

Go get a copy and see if you can put it down long enough to sleep or eat or do boring shit like work. Or get the audiobook & have the best of both worlds, like I did ♡

Interesting insight into gender fluidity

I’m very straight but thought I could use some insight into alternative genders. Love is love is love etc. it was very interesting and not very lurid. I enjoyed it and would recommend. A bit like Nora Roberts for the LGBTQ set.

Amazing!!

The whole book was beautiful, all the characters were so lovely and relatable. This has been one of the best romance novels I've read!!

The banter

SO CUTE!!! I listened to it in two days! I couldn’t stop listening! Imagining it all in my mind!🤩

Heavy on the slow. Basically nil on the burn.

I wanted to like this. I did finish it, because the writing is good. But holy moly is it slow. I also couldn’t figure out what year it was supposed to take place in, because the way they discuss gender issues (in a major city, especially) just didn’t feel current to me.