How could I resist picking up a book that is both a cooking love story and a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac? Food and updated culture – let me at it. And oh, sweet heavens, it has recipes. I do love me a good recipe.
Sadly, like a failed souffle, this fell a bit flat for me. The characters could have used some more development other than cute vegetarian, dumb hot guy, ditzy friend and sensitive chef. Also, I always forget that I don’t really like the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, I always find the deception of the girl pretty hard to forgive.
BUT, it was a super fast read, and other than a stray middle finger, it’s clean enough to hand to tweens. And the story wasn’t bad, just a little vanilla after everything I’ve been reading.
I STILL THINK THIS IS GREAT FOR: Providing an overweight male hero. I think this is almost harder to come by than an overweight female hero and best of all, he doesn’t have to change his appearance to get the girl. I’ve read so many stories where all the overweight character has to do is lose weight to be loved. That’s ridiculous. Look around us. People of all shapes, sizes, skin tones and preferences are loved. There are people who will love you for who you are and how you look regardless of your size. Hooray for that!
Also great for: Giving your teen (or yourself) something to do other than read and bum around. I am dying to try out some of these recipes and I bet they’d be a great antidote to the I’m boreds you’ll inevitably hear at some point this summer.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – There is some tame kissing, a single butt grab and cooking with aphrodisiacs.
Profanity– “sucks”, use of “the finger,” “pissed,” “freakin'” “dick,” although not as the body part, just as a jerk equivalent.
Death, Violence and Gore – In true teen melodrama form, Cyril loves the girl so much he’d throw himself off a cliff for her, or starve for her. After a betrayal a girl feels like slapping one boy and punching another in the stomach. She does neither.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A character has a mother who has been to rehab. Jamie talks about getting guys to buy her beer. The biology teacher shares that you can’t make LSD from bleach and Windex, but you can get high from sniffing formaldehyde.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
I feel the same way about the story. However, the food is GOOD. I made a version of the kitchen sink cookies to take with me to the hospital when I gave birth to G. The nurses LOVED them and I swear to you, people came into the L&D room just to have a cookie- they weren’t even assigned to me. Mmmmmm. Cooooookie. (I don’t care if it’s a sometimes food, I must have them!)
My boys really like this one. there are more And more romance books for boys out there, which is greT. You should try Fink’s The Summer I Got a Life. A little more exciting.