Love á la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm | Review

Posted February 11, 2019 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in Books, Reviews / 3 Comments

Love á la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm | ReviewLove à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Also by this author: Prince in Disguise
on November 27, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 304 •Format: HardcoverSource: Gifted
Goodreads
three-stars

Take two American teen chefs, add one heaping cup of Paris, toss in a pinch of romance, and stir. . . .

Rosie Radeke firmly believes that happiness can be found at the bottom of a mixing bowl. But she never expected that she, a random nobody from East Liberty, Ohio, would be accepted to celebrity chef Denis Laurent's school in Paris, the most prestigious cooking program for teens in the entire world. Life in Paris, however, isn't all cream puffs and crepes. Faced with a challenging curriculum and a nightmare professor, Rosie begins to doubt her dishes.

Henry Yi grew up in his dad's restaurant in Chicago, and his lifelong love affair with food landed him a coveted spot in Chef Laurent's school. He quickly connects with Rosie, but academic pressure from home and his jealousy over Rosie's growing friendship with gorgeous bad-boy baker Bodie Tal makes Henry lash out and push his dream girl away.

Desperate to prove themselves, Rosie and Henry cook like never before while sparks fly between them. But as they reach their breaking points, they wonder whether they have what it takes to become real chefs.

Perfect for lovers of Chopped Teen Tournament and Kids Baking Championship, as well as anyone who dreams of a romantic trip to France, Love la Mode follows Rosie and Henry as they fall in love with food, with Paris, and ultimately, with each other.

One of my favorite things to do after a long day at work is to unwind with a cooking show. Can I cook or bake? Barely, if you count boiling pasta or making a salad. Yet anything food related on tv- Master Chef, Chopped, Holiday Baking Championship, Chef’s Table, etc.- and I am here for it. Cooking shows are the number one thing taking up room on my DVR, so when I found out about Love á la Mode I was PUMPED. A YA series set in Paris with the backdrop of an intensive cooking school? 100% right up my alley. I was so excited for this title that I even added it to my Christmas list (and received it- hey thanks Mom!) which I usually only do for books I’m SURE I’m going to love and/or I’ve already read and are favorites.

Unfortunately, Love á la Mode did not prove to be the book I hoped it would be. While it had so many of the elements I loved, there was just not enough cooking. Set in a super exclusive cooking program in Paris, I was SO READY for the culinary lessons and cutthroat competition. However, there was much less time spent in the kitchen and much more time focused on the miscommunication teenage relationship drama.

The story is told in alternating POVs between Henry (who’s always dreamed of opening a restaurant after growing up in his parent’s family owned establishment) and Rosie (the midwestern girl from “America’s Heartland” who just wants to be a pastry chef and examine crumb structures). While they have a bit of a “meet cute” on the airplane headed to France, I didn’t really feel much chemistry between them, and honestly feel like I didn’t really get to know them at all. I wanted to learn more about Rosie’s family dynamic with all of her brothers, about Henry’s family restaurant and his upbringing with a chef father- but sadly only a few bits and pieces are really revealed and instead we get to know the characters through their inevitable ~relationship drama~ and I was just not really feeling it. I felt like it was actually not a super healthy courtship and Henry treated Rosie like dirt a lot of the time (and even though as I reader I got Henry’s perspective, I still didn’t think the expectations and standards he imposed on her were fair and OK). In fact, there’s a bit of a love triangle and I was whole-heartedly voting for the other guy who was honestly a much nicer, more personable, more MATURE person than Henry View Spoiler »

There were also a few problematic stereotypes in the story. There’s a stereotypical beautiful, popular mean girl who never gets humanized and her character is never really fleshed out (and she’s not necessary to the plot at all so really the narrative could have excluded perpetuating this harmful girl-on-girl hate). Henry’s mother is also super one dimensional and is only focused on his grades and is an overbearing presence in his life, which I think is harmful because it’s never really resolved in a real way (rather a band-aid is put on the situation) and given Henry’s Asian heritage perpetuates a stereotype of an overbearing mother that was uncomfortable.

While I took issue with many of the elements of the plot, I did enjoy reading about the food elements when they appeared. I loved the first culinary class they have when they have to create a perfect “french omelette” (which I hear is usually the first thing you learn in culinary school) and it was fascinating to read each character’s interpretation of what that meant. While there were far too few scenes in the culinary classroom for my taste, there were some wonderful food scenes when the characters went out and about around Paris, including a positively magical crepe experience and a boulangerie run by an adorable gentle giant chef with every type of bread and pastry imaginable (I almost felt myself gaining weight reading about all of the bread, croissants, tarts, etc. that the characters devoured from this single shop). There was also a great friend group that had characters that were really supportive of each other, and I adored Hampus (seriously best character of the book, how many teenage dudes would rock a Marié from Aristocats Halloween outfit)?

Overall: While Love á la Mode was a fun and quick read, it left me wanting more from the kitchen and fell into many tropes and stereotypes that didn’t sit well with me.

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3 responses to “Love á la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm | Review

  1. I also didn’t like the way Henry treated Rosie! One conversation could have cleared everything up. I also agree about the mean-girl character – I really thought there was going to be a bigger purpose to her character, like maybe she was sabotaging Rosie or something.

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