Review: Chef’s Kiss

Title: Chef’s Kiss
Author: Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine
Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBT, Contemporary
Publisher: Oni Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

Ben Cook is a recent college graduate with an English degree. When he can’t find a job in publishing after weeks of interviews, he finds a restaurant that is hiring with no experience necessary. It doesn’t hurt that Ben also likes the cute sous chef who interviews him. Ben must do a series of challenges to prove to a tough critic that he has the skills to work there full-time.

I loved the quirky characters in this story. All of them, even the minor characters, had distinct personalities. There was also a pig, named Watson, who was just adorable.

The one thing I didn’t understand was why Ben had to do weeks worth of challenges for this job. He didn’t spend time actually working in the restaurant. He had to work on one dish a week to perfect it, but it seemed more like a training program or school rather than a job.

Chef’s Kiss is a cute queer graphic novel!

Thank you Oni Press for providing a copy of this book.

What to read next:

Have you read Chef’s Kiss? What did you think of it?