Love à la Mode, by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: November 27, 2018
Length: 323 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: 
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.
What I Liked: I’ve not had the best luck with this author. I’ve found her books to range from delightfully cute to just dull. This one landed somewhere in the middle for me, but I think others are going to absolutely adore it.
♥ It’s a very sweet, fluffy book. The characters are cute, and the plot is easy to follow without any twists coming your way. Nothing surprising is going to happen, but sort of like Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, that doesn’t make it boring to read. It’s a little young sounding, and largely all of the conflict would have been resolved with the most basic amount of communication, but those aren’t necessarily bad things. They just aren’t what I look for in a book.
♥ The cooking and the descriptions of the food were excellent. Especially all the baking and pastry chat.
And if you’re a Food Network fan, you’re going to love all of the name dropping and show talk that goes on throughout the book. Those parts, and the boarding school parts, are really fun.
What I Didn’t: Most of it I’ve mentioned already, but in general it’s a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”
⊗ It’s a really fun idea, kind of a culinary take on Anna and the French Kiss, only the characters didn’t live up to the ones in Stephanie Perkin’s book. It’s a little long for what it ends up being, because there isn’t much plot to speak of.
⊗ Also, they changed the final cover, and I don’t like it nearly as much as the one on the ARC.
Favorite Quotes: “We could unpack a lot here with how the culture of toxic masculinity doesn’t teach boys how to ask for help, but maybe that’s a discussion for another dinner.”
Pages and Pugs 
One thought on “Review-Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm”