Love à la Mode

September 15, 2018
Boy meets girl meets Paris meets Chopped.Bound for a prestigious culinary program in Paris, high school junior Henry Yi exchanges glances with aisle mate and--surprise!--fellow aspiring pastry chef Rosie Radeke in a requisite meet-cute. Their romance, replete with distracting detours, minor miscommunications, and Parisian pastries galore, unfurls in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Henry and Rosie. This story has the feeling of the many reality shows that it references, with a multinational, multiracial cast of students frantically cooking for a chance to return for spring semester and all of the friendships, relationships, and drama that a boarding school entails. Characterizations are a bit glib at times: When the classmates create a meal of their favorite foods, a black American brings mac and cheese, a South Asian girl brings samosas, and a Swedish character brings meatballs with gravy and lingonberry jam. Rosie, a white girl from Ohio, has a backstory that feels a bit rushed. Henry, though, a third-generation Korean-American with fully-fleshed, complicated parents, is at once recognizable and original. Ultimately, despite an entirely inevitable ending that borders on saccharine, the story is infused with such joy and love--and delectable dishes--that readers will simply gobble it up whole.Like a souffle: bright, frothy, and entirely delicious. (Fiction. 12-18)

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Starred review from September 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Henry's dying to prove to his strict Korean mother that he can hack it in the world of fine cooking. Rosie's hungry to see a world outside of tiny East Liberty, Ohio, and she thinks her pastry skills might be just the trick. Sound like a recipe for sparks? It sure is: after their transatlantic meet-cute on the flight to culinary school in Paris, they seem destined for a sweet end. But when the pressure of their high-stakes program makes Henry distant and a fellow pastry chef sets his sights on Rosie, their fledgling romance starts to sour. Strohm's delectable novel perfectly captures the mania of food obsession, from celebrity chefs to cooking-competition shows to the pleasure of running your hands through a new kind of flour, and her descriptions of food are salivatingly good. The snappy banter and camaraderie among the rich cast of well-rounded characters crackles, and the halting, awkward romantic tension between Rosie and Henry simmers tantalizingly through every page. It's got the lighthearted, cinematic pace of a rom-com and some comfortably familiar tropes, but Strohm folds in enough witty humor, believable stakes, and emotional growth?not to mention dreamy, envy-inducing descriptions of Paris?that it never feels stale. Best of all, the story is as much about Rosie finding herself and falling in love with a place as it is about her growing relationship with Henry. An utterly satisfying, delicious delight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)