I loved this! Full of tropes yes but it also felt fresh and new. The romance was sweet and moved at a good pace. I love when sexier scenes start with cuddling instead of just wham bam banging. Much more realistic that way for me. Luna and JP were adorable together. The cooking antics were hilarious

I have not yet read Chef's Kiss, but after reading this one, I can't wait to read that one. This was well-paced, humorous, entertaining, and romantic. The only critique I have is that I wish there were more moments between Luna and Jean-Pierre that helped build their relationship. Bonus points for the references to Wawa (one of the best gas-station/quick stop food stations in my opinion).

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

This was a lovable close proximity romance. I fell head over heels for Jean-Pierre. That accent *swoons*. There were a few writing choices I didn’t understand such as avoiding ‘Duolingo’ name drop in the beginning just to actually say it’s name later in the book. Neither here or there for the overall story though. Favorite aspect of this book is the inclusiveness, while it could add more it’s a great gateway!

Omg this book was so good! Luna and JP were everything!!! There’s something about a fake dating trope that just makes everything juicer! The angst, the sexual tension, the “let’s do this one time to get it out of our systems” was just chefs kiss.

The way JP showed up for Luna time and time again in these little ways and Luna learned to understand JP and where he was at in his transition journey made this story even more special. You’ll be fully swooning for these two!

I also love the friend group in this story and was so glad to see them make appearances throughout the book!

There’s also a couple more spicy scenes than the first book that were so tender and written with so much care and Steam!

This is a must read this year!!

Easily the best romance book I've read this year. I loved Jean-Pierre so much and was so happy to see Luna (my favorite character from Chef's Kiss) get her happy ending.

This was adorable.
I’m not always the biggest fan of fake dating but this was top tier. I loved Luna from the first book and was so excited for her romance in this book!
Omg Luna and JP!!
Swoon.
Absolutely loved.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC.

I feel like I am a better cook, after reading this book. This is the first title I’ve read by this author, and I liked their writing style. It was fluid and I could practically hear the characters speak. I would read more books by this author. I am glad it will be published in time for Pride month so that I can shortlist it to our store.

This was so good! The first T4T romance I have read! We need more in the world!

I was like happy/sad so many times reading this, like sad for the characters experience but also happy that they are realizing and having better experiences now. I would explain better but spoilers.

I loved this more than the first book but both are great. Luna and Jean-Pierre are in my heart ❤️

Oh my goodness I’m so happy Luna got her own book! I loved Luna’s character in “Chef’s Kiss” and when I saw “Chef’s Choice” was focused on Luna’s story I ran to read it! The book picks up timeline wise where “Chef’s Kiss” left off with Simone and Ray are getting their show up and running. One day when Luna is visiting Simone at work she is roped into a fake dating scheme by a very characteristic French man by the name of
Jean-Pierre. Before she knows it she has signed up to be the fake girlfriend of the heir to a culinary empire and has to help him complete a cooking challenge to earn his inheritance.
Full of chaos cooking, catch-ups with memorable characters from book 1, lots of banter, tension, a little bit of spice and romance - “Chef’s Choice” is a truly fantastic read!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

French transman Jean-Pierre could be the heir to his grandfather's world-famous, ludicrously successful restaurant brand IF he can master a fifteen-course menu. Despite his complicated feelings about his family, especially his grandfather, Jean-Pierre wants to win.

Luna O'Shea is an NYC-based transwoman who meets Jean-Pierre at just the right time. She's just been fired from her depressing job, so when Jean-Pierre offers her big money to be his girlfriend for a few weeks and help him through the competition, she figures there's nothing to lose.

This is a really sweet story with rich characters, a fun peek into the world of gourmet cooking, and a well-crafted HEA that ties together several of the layers of the story.

I liked seeing the world through Luna and Jean-Pierre's eyes, navigating the world as trans people. The scenes with Luna and her girlfriends having happy hour together, and Luna's trepidation at going through the TSA screening were presented with honesty and kindness.

“You let me be more myself than I have ever been in my life.”

CHEF’S CHOICE is a queer romance between Luna, a recently fired administrative assistant with yogic aspirations, and Jean-Pierre, a wealthy French heir to a culinary empire. It’s the second in Alexander’s cooking-themed romance series, and fans of CHEF’S KISS will be thrilled to see Simone and Ray again. Luna and Jean-Pierre’s story begins with a chance encounter at just the right moment that embroils the pair in a fake-dating scheme to help Jean-Pierre gain his inheritance through an extensive cooking test. I won’t lie, the plot of this story did not have me hooked - it’s implausible, as many romcom storylines are, but didn’t lean enough into the ridiculous for me to really enjoy it - but I barely noticed, because I was so enthralled by the love story unfolding between Luna and Jean-Pierre. The fake-dating-to-real-feelings journey is a delight, bursting with sparkling chemistry and slow-burning mutual respect and affection. There’s a sunshine/grump dynamic between them, with Luna’s penchant for color and dorky humor, and Jean-Pierre’s moody clothing and existential despair. The story is told from Luna’s perspective, making her obliviousness even more delicious as you start to see how love-sick Jean-Pierre is. As two trans people, they share so much (the mutual hormone injection scene is so beautiful) and yet consistently differ - in how they feel about passing, the ways the handle the many transphobic experiences they encounter, their articulation of how sexuality intersects with gender, how they engage with other trans people, and more. I loved the nuance captured in their conversations, how they cherish and honor each other even when they disagree. I think this is the first t4t romance I’ve ever read, and it’s bittersweet: Alexander has done an incredible job celebrating the love between Luna and Jean-Pierre, and I’m hungry for so many stories like this, saddened that we have so few. I read this fervently, reverently, heart pounding, grinning like a fool; I adored it. Thanks to Atria Books for the eARC! This book is out 5/30.

Content warnings: transphobia, family rejection

I'm such a fan of TJ Alexander's after falling in love with Chef's Kiss last year! I'm so glad we got to see Simone and Ray again in this next book! One of my favorite things about TJ's is book sis the way that they break norms in the genre in the way that the book is structured. I love being kept on my toes! This book was so heartwarming and beautiful! I can't wait to see what they write next!

I am absolutely in love with this book. I read from this author before and enjoyed it but it wasn’t my absolute favorite. This one you can see the improvement in their writing and story telling.
I absolutely loved Luna and Jean Pierre. I thought their dynamic was so lovely. I enjoyed that both main characters were transgender. It was cool to see both of their individual journeys and even learning from each other. They both were compelling to read about and I just loved them so much.
The cooking element of the book was maybe a little less incorporated than I would have wanted. I personally love descriptions of food and cooking while I read. We did get some of that but I wanted it more throughout. I felt like we only got 3 moments where the characters were doing actual cooking.
As far as the side characters. I enjoyed that we got even more representation with them. I felt like some were a little underdeveloped. I would have liked to have some more interactions with people in JPs family throughout so we had more tension leading up to the cooking challenge.
Overall I absolutely loved how everything in this book wrapped up. I had a blast reading this and would highly recommend it to everyone.

Read this book if you like: Dual POV, LGBTQ representation (both trans), fake relationship

I enjoyed this one. I liked the previous book more as far as pacing goes. This one dragged a bit. It honestly just felt like not a lot was happening. It wasn't until around 60% that I really got into it. There wasn't as much tension and pining for me. This was mostly about them being trans, I feel like. I did love that. The representation is top-notch. I love that they are both trans. I love that it talked about transitioning on both sides. Luna transitioned to a woman. Jean-Pierre transitioned to a man. I loved Luna's friend group. I do recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the gifted e-book ❤️

- off to a solid start, dedication is 12/10
- “themfriend” 🥹🥹
- How fucking rude of them to fire Luna at the very end of the day
- I hate when people (fictional or otherwise) aren’t appreciated for their work
- Well that was an interesting meet-cute to kick off the fake dating
- Simone does not get enough credit
- She’s a very good friend, in her own way
- Mrs O’Shea is such a good mom
- JP is… how do you say? Very French
- “I had an abundance of gender to deal with” is probably one of my new favourite sentences
- I just really love queer romcoms okay
- Clair as a nickname (from Clair de Lune) is so fucking adorable I cannot stand it
- The secondhand embarrassment from brunch just about killed me
- Luna is doing an excellent job of restraining herself from punching JP in the teeth
- Luna is so soft & wonderful & kind & good
- Be like Luna people
- Alright JP is turning out to be somewhat less of an asshole
- Oooooo JP meets the girls! Progress is happening people
- I really love the language aspect of this book
- Also learned what the gender neutral pronoun is in French so I consider that an added bonus
- Big fan of Simone just Simone-ing
- Oh we’ve hit the “I accidentally fell asleep on my fake boyfriend” stage
- 1) fuck that bouncer
- 2) fuck the person who used a slur
- 3) we’ve made it to baby’s first fight
- Alright fine JP is a decent human
- I admit this somewhat begrudgingly
- Love love love the descriptions of Paris
- Don’t love Luna hiding that she can understand French
- That’s just lying by omission
- Henri is the WORST
- Fuck yeahh Luna. Nothing I love more than someone screwing themselves over
- JP + Luna 5ever
- My singular complaint: I had this issue in Chef’s Kiss too, but we don’t get enough time with the characters as actual couples

I really enjoyed this book and am extra glad that I had the arc available in time for the Trans Rights Read-athon, because the MC is a trans woman we met as a side character in the first book and she ends up fake dating a trans man during this story so there was a lot of insight into different experiences from my own as a cis woman. Also, the author put it best during their acknowledgments, that "Luna and Jean-Pierre's story is a celebration of the kind of love that exists between trans people," which is exactly what people should be reading this week and all weeks.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! Release date is May 30/23. 4.5 ⭐

I really appreciated the representation in this book, but overall the story don’t feel fully fleshed out. It seemed like the MCs didn’t really get to know each other over the course of the story, and it seemed odd to me when they both caught feelings without fully KNOWING the other. There were times, too that Jean-Pierre’s character came off a bit like a caricature of a Frenchman, and I found that slightly off-putting.

Generally, I found the story to be fine. It provided a lot of representation that is always good to see, but the story felt a little lacking to me.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Atria Books. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this sequel to Chef’s Kiss. Luna and JP have immediate chemistry—first as instant friends, and then more. I loved the concept of “fake girlfriend helps win family inheritance for a guy she just met but he’s paying her so well she can’t say no.” And I *love* that Simone and Ray play a pivotal role in the prep for the cooking challenge. They’re some of my favorite characters from a cooking-adjacent novel, and I love their chemistry too.

The end to this book was :::chef’s kiss::: (pun not intended 😅). Just perfection. Family is often chosen, not inherited, and that message is classic and timeless.

Highly recommend this fun romance. An excellent addition to the LGBTQ+ literary space, and everyone should read!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: toxic relationship with family, transphobia, microagressions

This is an interconnected standalone with Chef's Kiss

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-trans rep
-fake dating
-just a hookup
-opposites attract
-let's just kiss for practice
-bang it out of our systems
-he falls first
-only one bed

Gosh I adored this book. It started out with just a bonkers set up. Luna's life is not going her way, she gets fired, then why not agree to fake date a Frenchmen for a few minutes for some cash, and then accidentally need to stay fake dating him for a lot more money to help him inherit his family's lotsa money. Except whoops your mom comes to visit throwing you into in only one bed situation. It's kooky and fun in the best way.

I adored the romance between Luna and JP. They were opposites in the best way. Personality wise, their experiences as trans people, and just how they saw the world. But their differences also brought them together, into shared experiences into just soft tender moments of learning and experiencing together. The romance was just so soft and swoony, the fake dating chef's kiss as these two bumbled through falling for each other. The way these two just took care of the other, not because the other needed it, but because everyone deserves their safe space.

I have to shout out the choice to have this be a single POV romance, which I am always trash for. JP was prickly and grumpy at first, and I'm not even sure that he realized when he started to fall for Luna. But gosh once he did, he was just so swoony, speaking in French and just so tender and just so frustrated because she is just not putting it together that he wants it to be real. I just adored JP cause honestly who doesn't want a Frenchman to buy them eclairs and whisper french words and says screw gender roles let me take care of you. He's just so swoon.

What this book says about privilege, being trans in society, and everyone deserving and finding love. I could go on and on. Pick this one up, it's swoony, amazingly written and just a great book and I'm so glad I read it.

Steam:3

This story was so sweet and charming, I couldn't get enough. I loved Chef's Kiss, but this story brought a whole new level to my love for TJ Alexander's writing. Luna was such a fun side-character in the first book, and seeing her get the romance of her dreams was truly swoon worthy. The relationship between Luna and Jean-Pierre was sweet and challenging and created space for each of them to be more of themselves. What more could you ask for?