I didn’t quite believe in the chemistry between our two main characters, but the ending of this was SO sweet. It took a while to warm up to JP but there were definitely some sweet moments throughout. I really liked Luna as a main character and I’m rooting for her to achieve her dreams. I also really liked the conversations in here about being trans. Also loved seeing Ray and Simone!!

I have mixed feelings about this one. The plot is good and the characters are fascinating. Their life experience is vastly different from my own, but it’s a story of true love. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

Chef's Choice was a delight of a book. I read it one sitting on a plane ride and I was sad it was over. I love that the adorable French Billionaire would help use his money for good by funding Trans dreams!

*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!*

I enjoyed this one! I actually liked it more than I liked Chef's Kiss, though again this one had the really unlikable MC. I don't understand... I quite liked Jean-Pierre, even though he was a bit of an asshole, but Luna was just plain mean at times. I feel like even once she had an 'a-ha!' moment, it didn't really translate into her being nicer to Jean-Pierre.

It was interesting to read a romance book with a trans MC and trans LI, as well as the fact that both trans folks have had quite extensive gender-affirming surgeries. I actually think that this is the only book I've read where the extent of the gender-affirming surgeries has even been mentioned, especially in an AFAB context. Maybe I'm being weird about this? But I appreciated that there were explicit sex scenes, because I appreciate reading about all different kinds of sex in my romances.

The overall storyline was a bit silly, I thought, despite fake dating pretty much being my number one trope! But, there had to be a reason for them to fake date, I guess, so... And I must say that Jean-Pierre's grandfather is pretty fucking awful. Like, total evil villain, right there. Though I'm not sure how I feel about the villain being French, but maybe that's a Canadian thing?

Anyway, overall enjoyed this one, and have TJ Alexander's next book sitting on my kindle, so I will probably get to it soon.

Chef's Choice delivers a delicious mix of the beloved fake dating trope, culinary challenges, and important representation. While the initial fake dating setup felt a tad contrived, the story's charm and the undeniable chemistry between Luna and JP kept me invested. Both main characters, Luna and JP, are transgender and bring different perspectives to the table, making it an enlightening read.

The story serves up Jean-Pierre (JP), a chef with a legacy to uphold, and Luna O'Shea, a vibrant character who agrees to a short-term pretend relationship for financial compensation. With a cooking challenge thrown into the mix and support from characters from book one, Chef's Kiss, the narrative keeps you hooked.

Though the book might lean a bit more on exploring trans issues than deep diving into the romance itself, Chef's Choice is delightful, touching, and peppered with humor. Looking forward to reading what's next from TJ Alexander!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for this arc!!

I LOVED this! Luna was one of my favorite parts of Chef's Kiss and I was so excited to get her story. I loved Jean-Pierre as a character, he was so funny and I loved the dynamic between these two. The premise was definitely out there but I really enjoyed the climax and how much Luna wanted to help Jean-Pierre. I think I read this in a day.

Definitely excited to check out TJ Alexander's next work!

I love Luna! I’ve loved her from our first introduction in Chef’s Kiss. Her voice was clear from the first page. Like Luna, I was not impressed with JP upon first meeting, but as time went on, the little Prince charmed me with his sweet, thoughtful, and somewhat self deprecating personality. I liked them together in the end.

This book has some tropes that I love, fake dating, dislike to friends to lovers, and found family to name a few. TJ Alexander has definitely become an auto buy author for me, and I’m looking forward to what comes next from them!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary arc.

I love TJ Alexander and how they write about queer love. I see myself represented in their books and I know my students will too. TJ Alexander always manages to discuss heavy topics in a light heartfelt way.

Chef’s Choice
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: T.J. Alexander

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Atria Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: This was a very cute RomCom. I really appreciated the author’s take on T4T romance and it was represented well. Our two MCs are both Tran and also both have very different interpretations on what being tran means to them, as well as different views on queerness. To have this expressed in a respectable, graceful way is not only a huge feat but quite impressive. The message of the book is clear, we can have different opinions of each other, no matter the gender, and can express it in a way that is both beneficial and respectful. If the world was just an ounce of this, it would be a much happier place. Luna and Jean-Pierre embark on a fake dating relationship and cooking relationship so that Jean-Pierre would not be written out of the will and so Luna can get back on track. This follows the tropes of fake dating and grumpy v sunshine.

This is book number two in the Chef’s Kiss series. The story is narrated by Luna, in her POV. Luna is a bad ass woman who is independent, confident and positive. Jean-Pierre is grumpy, set in his ways, and feels like he needs to prove himself to his family. We also get some follow up with Simone and Ray, which was delightful. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, refreshing, spicy, humorous, and just brilliant.

I was looking forward to this second installment and it did not disappoint. Just a refreshing, heartwarming read. I highly recommend picking this up from the bookstore or your local library.

This was my first book that had trans characters, and I loved it and the way the topic was addressed. The story was a fun ride through a fake relationship that led to real feelings. When Luna finds herself unemployed, she has to scramble to figure out how to pay the bills. When the opportunity falls in her lap to be the fake girlfriend to Jean-Pierre, there is nothing stopping her, especially with the amount of money he is offering to pay her. Long nights trying to learn to cook and paparazzi-laden evenings send Luna and Jean-Pierre into each other's arms. This was a fun take on this trope and I enjoyed it. Thank you, NetGalley, for the eARC. 4 stars

An adult T4T romance! Rejoice!

In Chef’s Choice, Luna is fired from her job and finds herself with an unconventional job offer: girlfriend. Jean-Pierre, whose future lies in the outcome of a gigantic cooking hoop to jump though, needs someone to pretend to date him while also proving himself to his family. As the two learn to cook together, they also learn so much more.

I was so delightfully surprised by this book. I loved both of the main characters and found their relationship to be so charming. Do things move a little too fast to be believable? For sure, but I don’t think that’s too much a detractor from the story. It was so nice to see the very real conversations these two had with how the world sees them, how they see the world, and how they make sense of it together.

Also, this made me want to cook… or at least eat food that has been beautifully and professionally prepared. Reader be warned: you’ll be hungry after reading.

4 stars

Full disclosure- TJ Alexander is an auto-buy author for me! And this book does not disappoint. It was so fun to see previous characters back on the page with a fun new love story. Plus-- FAKE DATING. Plus-- DELICIOUS FOOD MOMENTS. Alexander writes banter like a champ and they never disappoint. Buy this one today!

This book is chefs kiss 😘

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Finally, in TJ Alexander’s CHEF’S CHOICE (Emily Bestler Books, 336 pp. paperback, $17.99), Luna, a down-on-her-luck personal assistant, pretends to be the girlfriend of a snooty French cooking dynasty heir, Jean-Pierre, so they can team up for a high-stakes food competition. Fake dating is an incredibly popular premise, but this one hits a little different, as the kids say, because it has two trans leads. Through this lens, the tension between outward-facing and inwardly-felt authenticity has an urgent and intimate aspect.

The real fun of fake-dating novels is anticipating the moment when pretending starts to become passion, long before the characters are aware. You get those delicious moments of seeing past the narrator’s point of view — for instance, when Luna offers to introduce Jean-Pierre to her friends, and he’s ecstatic, but then wilts a little when she reminds him that it will reinforce the illusion of their relationship. Luna finds this turnaround puzzling — but the reader basks in the understanding that J.P. has forgotten, for a moment, that this was all fake.

Winks like this can feel too zany for the real world, but Luna’s bubbly, breezy voice floats atop some very deep currents that keep things feeling realistic. The dread of public exposure also hits different for trans characters, after all. And of all our books this month, this is the story that has the boldest rejection of wealth for wealth’s sake. Which we should have expected. Wealth is part of the fun of the first three, but the core fantasy of fake dating isn’t money: It’s being known, and understood, and loved for who you are.

This was a fun summer book. Classic romcom shenanigans loved everything about it. The characters were unique and enjoyable

I'm so happy I got to read Luna's story in Chef's Choice. After reading Chef's Kiss and getting to know Luna, I wanted to know more, I wanted a story based around her and her life and what she goes through, and I was EXCSTATIC when I got to devour this one. The story felt genuine, hooked me from the beginning, and had amazing representation. All in all, both books I've read from Alexander are highly recommended. I can't wait to read more.

This book was great - TJ Alexander developed these characters beautifully. Usually with single POV romances I feel like I'm missing out on the other character's perspective, but I didn't have that issue at all this time. I loved watching the relationship between Luna and Jean Pierre develop, and seeing them deal with their fake relationship turn real. I also loved the cooking contest angle, and watching them in the kitchen. I can't wait for TJ Alexander's next book.

In one of the most entertaining meet-cutes of all time, Luna has just been fired when she’s approached by a Frenchman offering $1000 for her to pretend to be his girlfriend for a 15 minute FaceTime call. She agrees, but that 15 minute call turns into so much more when she is somehow roped in to participating in Jean-Pierre’s family’s cooking challenge so he can inherit an obscene amount of money. Of course neither of them knows how to cook, and there are so many more twists and turns that make this fake relationship even more complicated as it goes on.

I first have to applaud the representation in this book - I haven’t read many books with a trans main character, but this book was a beautiful perspective of trans identity in multiple forms with multiple characters. Between the T4T romance and Lina’s friend group there was a variety of trans characters and perspectives. We need more books like this!

I loved the cooking competition twist - as someone who is a terrible cook, I loved how Luna and Jean-Pierre managed to pull off learning such complex meals AND how they also stayed true to their own tastes. I enjoyed Luna and Jean-Pierre together and especially how they learned from each other and their different experiences and opinions.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This is the first T4T romance I’ve read and I found it more enjoyable than the author’s previous book. I am a sucker for the fake dating trope and I loved JP’s self-discovery throughout, despite being so far along in his transition. It was a lot of fun and food is a main character.

“‘Reste ici pour toujours,’ he murmured. Stay here forever.”

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Displays homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and deadnaming. Describes unhealthy power and family dynamics. Contains some sexual content and references.

“Chef’s Choice” follows Luna O’Shea, a recently fired trans woman, as she fake-dates a multimillionaire to appease his family—ish. Jean-Pierre is a french trans men in search of miracle, as he has been tasked to re-create his grandfather’s famous restaurant menu. He isn’t the most avid cooker, but he is set on trying, as his inheritance depends on it. And ultimately that’s where Luna comes in, as she will be helping him through this quest—after all, she’s part of the family, right? At least for the time being.

Okay, hear me out, I love the fake-dating troop as much as the next gal, but what I truly loved about this book was how amazingly well defined all characters were. I loved how Luna and JP were so stubborn to address the feelings that were starting to bubble between them. I loved how they incorporated the cooking aspect into this book—in book one of this series, “Chef’s Kiss”, we got to see two chefs get to know each other through shared experiences, and now, in “Chef’s Choice”, we get to see two people who knew nothing about cooking get to know each other through the craft.

This is absolutely the perfect series for cooking and culinary lovers. I would highly recommend this Amazon’s Editor’s Pick for Best Romance if you’re looking for a queer romance with that sweet, ol’ fake-dating pizzazz.

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ARC provided by Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: May 30, 2023
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