Ratings28
Average rating4
Oh my heart, this was SO FREAKING CUTE and I was so invested in these characters. This was cute! I liked the art style a lot. I really enjoyed the friend group and Watson the pig was hilarious. Love that the romance didn't take away from the story.
Chef's Kiss is a little graphic novel about roommates in a very classic comic book style. There are speech bubbles and clean lines throughout the book. Now, I don't know much about comic books, but this looks like a superhero book from my dad's collection. It's not a style for me! It's also very old-style comic book in the fact that it censors all swears? And this book is meant to be adult or at least new adult, so it doesn't make sense why swears would be censored. The main character also only reads books that are available in the public domain, or so old that they aren't copyrightable, which sure is weird! (His favorite books are 1984, Brave New World, and another that I forget. Come on, dude! Haven't you heard of the Hunger Games? There are people using laptops and tablets in this book so I know it's not set in the 90s!) Despite this, there is a vibrant cast of characters and the portrayal of working in a kitchen is both incredibly idealized and exactly right. Honestly? This is like a comic-book adaption of a gay romance light novel, and it's kind of exactly right. Five stars. You didn't see that one coming, did you? Neither did I. Publishes March 1st, 2022. Bookshop link here.
Very cute! Very sweet! The art work was beautiful and I loved the recipes at the end.
OMG I LOVEEEEE this!!! It was so cute and hilarious and the descriptions of food were amazing!!
Rating: 4.25 leaves out of 5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Genre: Romance
Type: Comic
Worth?: Yes!
First want to thank Netgally and the publisher for letting me read for free in exchange for a honest review. I wasn't too sure how this story was going to go but I loved it. You see the struggle of the male lead and figuring himself out after graduating. What I really wish there were more of was the romance aspect of the book. It seemed to kind of build but it was faint and then at the end they hit you with it. I would have liked to see more build up so we could build our own connection with it as readers.
I really hope there is another volume coming out. I enjoyed the ride of the story!
Cute story, but I feel like Ben didn't overcome enough challenges to have interesting character development. He basically succeeded at everything instantly, which seems unrealistic. The pig was the best part, I wish we had more Watson involvement in the story.
I really enjoyed the artwork; that was my favorite part.
Going into this, I was expecting a romance, and the romance is really an afterthought. The love interest really doesn't feature that much.
The main focus is on Ben meeting culinary challenges to be hired permanently at the restaurant, and his home life with his housemates. I'm not at all interested in food so, to be fair, those sections aren't really my jam. Plus, Ben was a bit of a Mary Sue in the cooking department, making changes to the recipes of experienced, trained chefs, that miraculously elevate the dishes. There was never any stakes that Ben might not pass the challenges.
The restaurant pig was cute... but was a really weird inclusion the didn't really jibe with the rest of the tone.
While simplistic, I liked how it showed Ben and his housemates' life after college and supporting each other, though the programmer housemate (forget his name) could have been entirely cut without affecting anything at all. But, it was nice, and gave the story some heart.
Ultimately, I was expecting something different and wasn't super into the cooking stuff. But in spite of this I still enjoyed it well enough. I think if you like food and aren't looking for a romance, you might dig this.
I read the graphic novel from NetGalley and I highly recommend the book if you love light-hearted graphic novels about a character who is in dire need of a job after graduating from university with a degree in English. I'm pleasantly surprised how much I smiled throughout reading this and seeing how the main character progressed from not being a good chef to impressing Watson the pig. Plus, the romance is absolutely adorable and seeing a LGBTQ+ story that doesn't have coming out as a major plot point is refreshing for me. My only thing is that I wish the graphic novel was longer and see how his parents reacted to him staying at the restaurant after three weeks.
3.5 stars
Yes, Chef Davis in real life would actually be terrible to work for. Then again, restaurants are really weird places to work. Especially, from what I can tell, independent ones.
The art was definitely manga-influenced. It was cute and pretty and really well rendered. Food looked and sounded tasty. Characters were likeable. I really loved the main quartet of friends and would read a story just about them.
And Watson the pig. Believe in him. Pigs are smart. I particularly love the panel where he's squaring, much to the horror of Chef Davis, the piggy daddy.