Taste Test
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
If you can grill it, smoke it, or fry it, Nora Henderson knows all about it. She's been basting baby back ribs and pulling pork at her father's barbeque joint since she was tall enough to reach the counter. When she's accepted to Taste Test, a reality-television teen cooking competition, Nora can't wait to leave her humble hometown behind, even if it means saying good-bye to her dad and her best friend, Billy. Once she's on set, run-ins with her high-society roommate and the maddeningly handsome-not to mention talented-son of a famous chef, Christian Van Lorten, mean Nora must work even harder to prove herself. But as mysterious accidents plague the kitchen arena, protecting her heart from one annoyingly charming fellow contestant in particular becomes the least of her concerns. Someone is conducting real-life eliminations, and if Nora doesn't figure out who, she could be next to get chopped for good.
With romance and intrigue as delectable as the winning recipes included in the story, this debut novel will be devoured by all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nora Henderson learned to cook in her father's North Carolina barbecue joint. Christian Van Lorton honed his skills as the son of a New York City celebrity chef. Now they're competing to win a $50,000 scholarship to culinary school in Paris. A cooking competition reality show for teenagers is such a good idea that it's not surprising a Top Chef spinoff for teens is actually in the works. Debut author Fiore persuasively details the constraints of being on this kind of show, from the strict security measures to the way producers try to pump up rivalries to increase ratings. Where she's less believable is in the idea that the teens are still taking classes and juggling papers on culinary history amid their cooking challenges, and, more importantly, in her depiction of Nora and Christian's is-it-hate-or-is-it-love relationship, in which their chemistry plays second fiddle to too many obnoxious exchanges. Justice, love, and the best chef prevail, but the story's overly broad strokes, including a melodramatic sabotage subplot, undermine its potential pleasures. Ages 12 up.
