e-Audio, 08:46:29
Narrated by: Josephine Huang
Release Date: February 2, 2021
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: February 23-24, 2021
Stand-alone
Source: Library
TW: Microaggression from a friend
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Foodie Favorites, Racial/ Ethnic Diversity, Retellings, Stand-alone, YAFor fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen, and The Great British Baking Show, A Taste for Love, is a delicious rom com about first love, familial expectations, and making the perfect bao.
To her friends, high school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. Smart, kind, and pretty, she dreams big and never shies away from a challenge. But to her mom, Liza is anything but. Compared to her older sister Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and worst of all, determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang’s traditional values, especially when it comes to dating.
The one thing mother and daughter do agree on is their love of baking. Mrs. Yang is the owner of Houston’s popular Yin & Yang Bakery. With college just around the corner, Liza agrees to help out at the bakery’s annual junior competition to prove to her mom that she’s more than her rebellious tendencies once and for all. But when Liza arrives on the first day of the bake-off, she realizes there’s a catch: all of the contestants are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date.
The bachelorette situation Liza has found herself in is made even worse when she happens to be grudgingly attracted to one of the contestants; the stoic, impenetrable, annoyingly hot James Wong. As she battles against her feelings for James, and for her mother’s approval, Liza begins to realize there’s no tried and true recipe for love.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I didn’t hear about this book until it was already out 🙁 That made me sad because after finding out about it, I knew it would be something I would like. And sure enough, I definitely did love it.
To everyone else, Liza has a great life. She’s pretty, smart, and has a great family. But to her mom, she is less than. That is until she can find a nice traditional boy to be with. Which Liza definitely doesn’t want. When Liza agrees to help with the baking competition that her mother’s bakery does every year, she doesn’t realize that all the guys picked for this year are those that her mom hopes to get her to be with. It gets worse as she finds herself gravitating to one of the contestants without her mother’s help.
First things first, I LOVED the setting. From the restaurant to the bakery, to the streets of Houston, I LOVED it. Of course I may be biased since I’m from Houston, but I thought it was portrayed correctly. Especially when they talked about the weather lol From the sticky humidity to just the heat period, it was definitely accurate.
I also liked the romance. There were a few times where I didn’t care for the love interest, but I had to remember what retelling this was. As a Pride and Prejudice retelling, it was only right that there was a rude Mr. Darcy, so I had to get over it. I’m not always a huge fan of enemies to lovers, but this was cute. I do wish they had a little more time together tho. It seemed that things between them didn’t get really moving until like 80%. I wanted to swoon over them some more.
The food part was of course another reason I liked this. My goodness all the food and the sweets made me go looking for where I could find something like it. The boba tea actually sounded kind of appetizing as well. (I don’t like tea of any kind…. I know, how Southern of me lol) So basically what I’m saying is, make sure you eat something or have something nearby to eat while you read this. You will definitely need snacks.
The only thing I didn’t care for was the baking competition. I just thought it wasn’t done in a great way. Like they all jumbled together and there was so much going on. Like the mystery that popped up. I know it was going off the retelling, but it just didn’t completely flow to me.
There was so much to love about this! I was sad I didn’t know about this until it was already out, because this one deserves a lot more praise than it’s getting. I would have been yelling about it a long time ago. But now that I’ve read it, I can still push it on to you, who’s reading this. Have you put your copy on hold or bought your copy yet?
Overall, I give this
