While scrolling through the archives of GuysLitWire, I realized I'd yet to post my review of Flavor of the Week here, so here we go!If you're hungry for a good book, pick up Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw, a modern-day retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac in which the protagonist remotely woos his dream girl with pastries instead of poetry.
Cyril, a teenage boy with a flair for cooking, hopes to make it into a culinary academy after high school. He also wants to make it onto Rose's radar. Rose is quiet and cool, easy to talk to, but Cyril would rather freeze up than admit his feelings for her. When his friend Nick also falls for Rose, Cyril finds himself whipping up tasty treats for the girl and helping Nick pretend that HE made them instead.
The main characters are all offbeat high school students without being stereotypes. For example, instead of being the most popular girl in school or conforming to the norm, Rose is a Bohemian girl, with glasses and swirly skirts. With steady pacing, a sweet conclusion, and mouthwatering recipes - including kitchen-sink cookies and butter-and-sugar sandwiches - between chapters, readers will be drawn to the kitchen and to the characters. Hopefully, they'll check out the original Cyrano too -- after they've had dinner.
Hungry for more? Check out my Cooking Up a Storm booklist!
2 comments :
I don't think I've encountered many young adult books with boy main characters interested in culinary... I'm actually rather pleased to see a young adult novel do this - take different approaches to high school characters. There's not enough of that in the genre.
Agreed! :)
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