Cute and quick read! If there’s one thing I love as much as reading it’s definitely eating. So this book combining the two into a culinary school/Top Chef hybrid was right up my alley. I was more of a fan of Reid that I was of Carter. But overall, this book was a fun summertime read! Highly recommend if you’re a fan of contemporary YA books!

4.5 Stars

The Art of French Kissing by Brianna R. Shrum is a fantastic contemporary. I cannot even begin to tell you how long I have been waiting for a book about a cooking competition. Honestly, this one is exactly what I wanted with a high-stakes competition, a rivalry, and some mouth-watering descriptions of food. I wasn’t so sure about the main character at first, but she really turned around. This story is original and cute, and I definitely enjoyed it.

This book tells the story of a cooking competition to win a scholarship. Carter is ready to compete, but ends up with a rough start after getting sabotaged by another competitor. And so begins an intense rivalry. I loved how the book contains some interesting challenges, just like the Food Network shows, and how the reader is taken behind the scenes of the competition. The whole story isn’t just cooking, so there is a lot of time to get to know the characters. Overall, this is a sweet (and spicy) read that is bound to make you hungry.

I had a love-hate relationship with Carter. At the beginning, she is very self-absorbed and blows things way out of proportion, but as the book progressed, I ended up liking her. Honestly, Carter is just a talented chef who knows what she wants and will do literally anything to get it. She has a sense of humour and her voice is authentic. I would say Carter is a developed main character, but I just wish she was a bit less impulsive.

The Art of French Kissing is a cooking story filled with drama. The main character transforms throughout the story and becomes more likeable. If you are a fan of cooking shows, I would definitely recommend this book.

I am a HUGE fan of any sort of competition cooking show out there- Chopped, Master Chef, Holiday Baking Championship, you name it, I watch it. So my interest was definitely peaked when I came across The Art of French Kissing, which combines two of my favorite things: YA novels and cooking competitions. I’d never read a book that actually focused on a cooking competition (though I’m always on the lookout for food-centered novels) so I was extremely excited to see how this popular topic would play out in a YA contemporary romance setting.

There was a lot about The Art of French Kissing that I really enjoyed. The culinary school setting, the unique challenges the students are tasked with (some familiar like mystery box ingredients, some more creative such as only having damaged cookware to use), and the utterly mouthwatering descriptions of food. I could have read about what each of the characters was making in detail for pages upon pages, and I loved the challenges where they had to collaborate on teams and choose a menu that played to everyone’s strengths. I also appreciated the reality of what the scholarship money at the end meant- how it would really make pursuing a culinary education possible for some of them that they could never realistically pursue otherwise. It added a depth to a book covered in sweet, innocent, pastel macarons.

However, as a reader a hurdle for me while reading the novel was the protagonist, Carter. I found her incredibly hard to empathize with, as her behavior was incredibly selfish and she was constantly on edge. While I know the story was trying to pull off a hate-to-love sabotage-like romance, I found her behavior at times inexcusable given the severity of it and the risk and danger it posed to others, both physically and to their future in the culinary program. She didn’t seem to grow much emotionally by the end of the novel, and I was disappointed at her lack of grace when good fortune befell her, and don’t think she reaped realistic consequences for her actions. However the love interest, Reid, was a much more nuanced character and he seemed to grow and become more likeable as the book went on.

Overall: The Art of French Kissing was a quick, fun read that definitely kick started my appetite any time I picked it up. I loved the premise and hope to see this author continue to write food-driven YA. While the main character hindered my overall enjoyment while reading, I still loved the competition premise and seeing some of my favorite cooking competition challenges come to life on the page.

I just could not get into this book - I normally really enjoy reading YA books, and anything with cooking or baking and cooking and baking competitions as well. I had a really hard time enjoying this book, because I just could not sympathize with the characters or their actions. It felt a bit predictable and like the book was trying too hard. It is a very diverse and open book, in regards to characters, their representation, being responsible for one's actions (except for Carter) and good representation of consent. It does also show that anybody can cook.

Many Thanks to Net-Galley and the publisher for an advanced e-copy. This did not affect my rating.
*1.5/5*

I am so sad that I really really did not like this book. I thought that, even though contemporaries aren't my thing, that I would at least love the cooking aspect of this. It is part Chopped, part Masterchef or Top Chef.. and I looveee cooking shows (obsessed with baking shows..) but I did not enjoy this book in the slightest.

Carter Lane is in high school, she loves to cook and is accepted in to a prestigious scholarship competition. Carter comes from a not well off family, so going to a school like this, with even only a partial scholarship, wouldn't be feasible. So she goes to Savannah and cooks up a friendship, a rivalry, and a love story.

There are chopped style competitions, where they have to work as a team, as a duo, and individually.

I just hated Carter. I found her to be insufferable. I hated being in her head, I hated her attitude, I don't think I have one redeeming quality that I could say I liked about her. She is mean, and honestly... she should have been kicked out of the competition for the shit that she pulled. It was truly despicable. She also treats Reid like shit, whereas he kept trying to call a truce. Even once they have paired up, and she beats him to the final 2, she can't find it in herself to be happy for her own accomplishment without demeaning it by asking Reid if he sabotaged his own chances and letting her win. She can't fathom why he is upset.. he should be happy for her! like how selfish. As Reid said, people can feel more than one emotion at a time. I liked Reid well enough.. I would have to say that Riya was definitely my favourite character.. I am extremely happy that she came in 1st place, beating Carter who came in 2nd.

Also, please tone down the pop culture references. I am a proud nerd.. I got all the references that were thrown in here, but it felt like they were literally thrown in to show how cool the characters, and therefore the author is. A few are fine, but it was so often that it started to pull me out of the story that was otherwise compulsively readable.

I will applaud the author this - the food descriptions were scrumptious. I was salivating at some of the dishes. I also loved the competition. The book didn't veer to far off that objective, unlike some other YA contemporaries that have a competition and don't focus on it.

I added the .5 star because there is some awesome rep in this book, along with affirmative consent regarding a sex scene.

What a delightful foodie YA read!! I used to read a lot of YA but hadn't for awhile. This was my first step back into YA and it made me remember how much I love it! I loved the foodie element too. Carter and Reid were such great characters. While the story was a predictable YA romance, I loved every minute of it. I was sad when it was over because I wanted to read more about Carter and Reid. Sequel?? :)

I haven't read much YA this year, in fact I've only read one other (Love, Hate & Other Filters which i adored!!) so I decided to finally start the ARC of The Art of French Kissing because cooking rivalry??? Yes!! 

And wow this was a great, fun read. This is my first book by Brianna Shrum and her characters' voices are so vivid and really shine here. The book is from a single POV, Carter, and being in her head was fantastically funny. 

So reasons i loved this book:

-The scene dividers are little macarons. The relevance of this was revealed later on! 

-The rivalry!! I love a good hate to love. and omg there's cheese sabotage! someone gets tripped! an alarm clock gets messed with and they're eventually paired up to work together.

-a brief discussion of the one true ship of Zuko and Katara

-HE MADE HER MACARONS!!! 

-this line: "Reid is unbearable half the time, but he's hot all the time" 

-THE TENSION. This is done so superbly. Their competitiveness is intense but the underlying current of oh no this person is hot and I maybe sorta like them while also hating them is perfectly executed. 

-The characterization: I adored Reid and Carter and all the secondary characters (well except Andrew, that dude was annoying) But I have a little soft spot for Reid,  my beautiful biracial, queer  nerd son. 

-The cooking aspect of the book was fun to read as well! I looked forward to each new challenge the judges threw at them and was on the edge of my bed as i read because the tension and intense rivalry came through really well! 


I want to try every single dish they made. They all sounded so good! (But someone else will have to make it for me cuz I'm not really about that cooking life) 

The build up to Reid and Carter's kiss so was well done. I felt the author really shone with the pacing of everything. We get to see the escalation of their rivalry, the guilt Carter feels about tripping Reid and almost getting him eliminated, and all the while there's the undercurrent of attraction between the two. But nothing felt rushed. 

There's so much bantery goodness in this one which, you all know banter is a thing i love. 

I will admit Carter did piss me off after Reid was eliminated and he was understandably upset. She asks him if he let her win and whooo boy that set off some anger there. I felt that Carter was being unreasonable that he was sad he lost. Who wouldn't be?! And as Reid rightfully said he can feel more than one thing at the same time. Disappointment at losing and happy for Carter making it to the finals. So Carter girl, not gonna lie i side eyed you there for a hot minute for that. 

But i thoroughly enjoyed this! I won't spoil who actually won the competition ;) but this was a quick, fun read! And the ending was really cute ^_^

I loved how both Carter and Reid are strong headed characters; he’s arrogant and she is ironical and sassy. That romance was everything I love ; nesting itself without guard, in both parties, yet without having “agreed” to it. They try to push it away and just move on (with hate toward each other and mischief) so they can win that challenge, when boom; all goes to hell when the competition needs them to work together !

That first time together in the kitchen was particularly entertaining to read; As being a strong headed person myself, I can totally see that being how I would have reacted. Plus just to imagine them behaving in front of EVERYONE else in the competition is kind of funny.

The romance made me feel like a teenager again; however the competition was very present all until the end, like it should have been. Chugged the remaining 60% until 642am to finish it – Finally a story ending positively. Be warned however; that don’t stop me from shredding some tears 😅

As someone who absolutely adores dramas (Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese) about cooking, this may have felt like it was written for me. There is something about fictional stories detailing people's adventures in cooking that is so alluring and extremely entertaining.
Strangely enough though, we don't actually get that many YA cooking novels, even though everyone cooks literally all the time in real life. Is that not super strange? I mean considering the fact that literally everyone watches shows like Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Family Food Fight and Hell's Kitchen all the time. A novelised version of one of those shows should be the holy grail of all novels - or at least your guilty pleasure. Because let me tell you, this was a guilty pleasure of mine.
While the title, 'The Art of French Kissing' makes me slightly uncomfortable (I'm sorry but it does, shhh), the book was super comforting and super adorable.

The storytelling is simple, which is great and I think totally fits the whole TV-cooking-genre thing. It's all about the competition of cooking and the hate-to-love relationship (you have to admit, it's one of the best tropes) between two of the competitors.

The main character definitely gave me a lot to think about. It was a love-hate relationship for ME with our protagonist, Carter Lane. Carter at first comes across as this somewhat shy character, but then it's like she's a bubble of fury and passion waiting to burst. And that at moments can definitely come across at times as quite brash and condescending. Which I like? Question mark? I questioned this as I was reading because occasionally I'd think gawd, I cannot stand this girl right now - why did she have to say that? But then I thought about myself, and how I say dumb things in a moment of spontaneity and I was like welllllll yeah that definitely makes sense.
Sometimes I feel like I'm so forgiving and accepting of characters in the books I read but I can't help but try and relate myself to everyone and try to understand them. *shrugs* What can ya do?

As I said before, I am a big fan of the hate-to-love trope because it shows a real development of character, and because it generally makes a really adorable story. I think this book was a perfect example of that development, because at first you see the characters at face-value, pretty 2-D where they're pretty naive, innocent creatures *sighs* before they develop (3-D/4-D WHOAH) and you suddenly realise that the characters are older than you thought and then that sigh turns into a blush.
It totally gave me the feels that you get during those classic rom-com movies that are always screening on TV, which I definitely think shows this was a success.

You want a guilty-pleasure read that is an adorable version of Masterchef? This is the book you want *Jedi Mind-Trick activated*

An amazing, funny book that is filled with lots of goodies!! Great young adult romance that will keep you interested.

1.5 stars.

I'm SO disappointed. The concept of this book sounded great. I was really looking forward to this book, even before it had a cover, and I love the cover. But I CANNOT root for the main character, Carter. How can I like the book when I don't like her?

Y'all, this character does so much mean, vindictive, immature stuff to other people and blames it on everyone else. The love interest lies to her about cheese at the beginning, causing her to have to use muenster instead of mozzarella or something, so she sets out to ruin him. In the process, she does things that hurt other people, too. And her reasoning for not apologizing is "He looked at me angrily, so I didn't apologize." I'm like....HE LOOKED AT YOU ANGRILY BECAUSE YOU DID SOMETHING THAT HURT HIM AND OTHERS. YOU KNOW YOU'RE WRONG. JUST APOLOGIZE. She repeatedly says and does bad things, says in the narration that she knows she's wrong, and then just keeps right on doing and saying the things. And I don't see any growth in her as a character by the end.

I'm sorry. I tried to be patient. The plot was okay, but not super compelling. (And toward the end, I wasn't a fan of the plot.) The side characters were people I didn't know well and didn't care much about. The love interest, Reid, was a mixed bag. He was cocky and a bit tool-ish at the beginning, did some bad crap, and then he was sort of nice? Idk. And then the romance part lacked depth, and I'm thinking "Why do these two like each other? I seriously don't understand." It was just too contrived and easy, and again, I couldn't root for them. They did things in the competition that really shouldn't be condoned, but had no consequences. I really want to put a spoiler here, but I can't find the spoiler button, dang it.

If you watch CinemaSins, you'll understand when I say, this book is the perfect example of "because...PROTAGONIST" and "because...PLOT". In other words, things were happening in a way that wasn't necessarily logical or good, but were put there just to serve the plot. And to make our protagonist happy, in spite of her having a bad attitude. We're supposed to feel bad for her because she's insecure, but it's honestly just because she's the protagonist. There's no other reason to root for her or, in my opinion, to feel any sympathy for her. And I really don't feel much sympathy, so the "because protagonist" was not successful. (In fact, it really never is. Your character needs to be compelling, point-blank.)

Also, Carter accuses Reid of having feelings. As if him feeling a certain way is a personal affront to her.

The last 10% or so of the book=what? It made me roll my eyes so much. I can't see the characters learning from their mistakes. If the end had been better, this might have been 2 or 2.5 stars for me.

I wanted to like this book, but I didn't, and I'm sorry. I usually don't feel guilty about my opinions, but dang, how I wanted to like this one.

Thank you NetGalley, for the review copy.
(Note: I will probably put this review on my blog or Youtube channel closer to its release date, but vocal problems have caused me to temporarily put my Youtube channel on hiatus.)

3.5 stars

I am either super lucky to come across TWO romance novels in a row that I liked (never happens!), or I am currently just predisposed to consuming romance and can look past the genre limitations. What can I say - I liked The Kiss Quotient and I enjoyed The Art of French Kissing, although to a lesser degree.

The Art of French Kissing is a summery read, with cute banter, low stakes drama and yummy descriptions of food. The romance is set in a Savannah Culinary School where two dozen of junior high schoolers compete in a lengthy Top Chef-like contest for a scholarship. Carter and Reid start it off on a wrong foot (Reid is a Slytherin jerk), and their retaliation towards each other escalates rapidly and brutally. It's a competitor-to-lovers scenario, so you know what's what.

Like I said, this story doesn't break much new ground. Reid and Carter are very archetypal romance characters with a familiar romantic dynamic (she is blank good girl, he - a suave and cocky guy), and I do prefer more unique personalities in my books. But the novel has plenty good stuff to offer - food competitions! (Food channel junkies like me will enjoy the kitchen thrills), pop culture references, easy diversity of the characters, and macarons!

This book made me grin, made my heart pound during the challenges, it made me hungry. I had a great time reading it!

Okay, I love anything to do with cooking, mainly because I am so bad at it. The story behind this book sounded so good, but somehow the actual execution of it failed.

For me, this book was a little too cute. While the author tried to infuse the story with some fun, it felt overdone and not remotely real life.

I did managed to get through it and its not horrible, there just wasn't anything to keep me hooked.

I would give this book 3.5 stars!
I enjoyed myself reading this book, but it was kind of predictable.
Full review is on my blog!

This is one of those perfect love/hate relationships that is believable and fun to read. Carter and Reid are at each other throats from the beginning and the way the relationship works out is swoon worthy. The competition isn't all it seems and the ending is perfect. I could not ask for a better contemporary food loving romance.
The only thing that would make this book better is a recipe guide so I can cook the food because it all sounds fantastic and I am hungry after reading this!
Last thing I want to throw in this; thank you for all of the nerdy references they were perfect and my fangirl heart enjoyed it immensely!

This was SUCH a fun read! A frothy enemies-to-lovers romance set amidst a competition for a culinary school scholarship, a diverse cast of relatable and flawed characters, tons of witty banter, and perfectly geeky references to Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Avatar: The Last Airbender... an absolute delight! I loved this and heartily recommend it. The logic of the reality TV-esque scholarship competition may require some suspension of disbelief, but once you accept the premise, you're in for an awesome ride. And you're likely to come away craving nabe and macarons. Swoony-worthy and utterly delicious!

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. I love cooking competition shows, and I've read just about every book I can get my hands on involving cooking competitions in all forms. When I read the description, I hoped I could get a copy, and I opened it with so much anticipation. My first hint that perhaps the characterization might not live up to the premise came pretty quickly (when Carter and her best friend Em are talking, and Carter can't even spare a second to listen to her friend's concerns). But I was sure it would pick up and the competition would make up for it. Sadly, for me, it didn't. In fact, it only got worse.
What began as Reid throwing Carter a curveball in the initial challenge (which was, yes, not nice of him) quickly snowballed into Carter portraying immaturity and complete disregard for those around her. Reid had made things harder for her; she sabotaged Reid and his entire team -- and she destroyed his hard work in the process. The retaliation was exponentially worse than Reid's initial action, and for me, it was all the worse because of the competition format. Why on earth would anyone want to win like that? It's something a toddler would do, not something I'd expect from a high school junior/senior. From there, she continued to behave selfishly and childishly by refusing to apologize (for her truly horrible action) and then over-reacting to everything Reid did. Her inner dialogue of whining and blaming those around her for her own misery didn't help, and the constant self-justification put it over the top for me.
So Carter was a bust, and it's hard to really sink into a story when the main character is someone you can't stand. Reid, I liked, though I have to wonder about his perception if he found Carter at all interesting. I think the contrast between his approach to the rivalry (by tricking her in ways that she *could* have recovered from if she was on her toes) and hers (where she took him out to the point he couldn't possibly come back) actually made Carter appear even more childish and immature, so I'm not sure where the author was going with that.
Carter didn't seem to grow or learn much at all. *shrug* It just didn't work for me, but for those who also love cooking competitions and stories about them, the culinary atmosphere might pull you in and give you a satisfying ride.

As a fan of all things food and romantic comedy, this book was a breath of fresh air. I usually steer more towards the dystopia side of YA but I am happy that I took a brief break to read this. I loved the Masterchef-esque competition with a side of young love. Anyone who loved Julie/Julia will adore this.

Chopped meets Kids Baking Show. The perfect blend between food and competition.

*Note: I highly recommend not reading this book on an empty stomach because it will make you hungry.

I absolutely love the concept of this book and haven't read another one like it. It perfectly exemplifies the hate to love trope. The banter between Carter and Reid was everything!

I loved the diversity in this book! There are two Indian characters which have substantial roles in the book, which I was very happy about. The topic of bigotry is addressed through one of the characters but I wouldn't say its a major plot point. There was also at least three characters apart of the LGBTQ community.

While there were a lot of positive aspects to the book, there were some things that I felt like could have been fixed or expanded on. This was a book all about a cooking competition and at times, it felt like the author sped through or skipped over those scenes, especially in the later half of the book. The finals, in my opinion, should have been a bit more dramatic than they were. As far as our main character Carter goes, I got really frustrated with her. Reid kept apologizing and owning up to what he did to her, but Carter could never apologize back. She kept saying everything was Reid's fault (even though it wasn't). We also didn't know why she needed to win this competition so badly until towards the end. Even then, it was implied and not explicitly stated. There wasn't a huge drive for me to root for her to win. I feel like having more information about her family life could have helped this a lot.

Overall, I really loved this book and it was a fun, quick read. It also reminded me of Anna and the French Kiss a bit.

The Art of French Kissing was a really cute book. I swear it was like the author dug around in my head looking for things I like and then wrote a book about it. For the most part I really liked the main character, Carter. She comes from a poor family, likes to cook, and best of all is a total nerd. I loved all the references to to movies and shows, especially the Harry Potter references.

We are thrown right into the story and it remains fairly fast paced throughout the book. It also had an array of characters. There was a queer character, lesbians, and also not every single character was white.

I do wish we had been able to get to know some of the other characters better. The book was also very short, I wish it had been longer so we could have gotten to know some of the characters better and because I didn’t want it to end ahaha. I also found that even though the book is all about the cooking competition it didn’t go into to many details for the actual cooking events.

Overall this book was really cute and fluffy and I would probably read it again in the future.