[Review] Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams

Kathryn Williams
Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous
[contemporary YA]
240 pages
Henry Holt and Company, NY

You can buy it here:
Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous (hardcover)
Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous (Amazon eBook)

FTC: I bought this book with my own money.

Summary: (from the cover flap)
Sixteen-year-old Sophie Nicolaides was practically raised in the kitchen of her family's Italian-Greek Taverna Ristorante. When her best friend, Alex, tries to persuade her to audition for a new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, Sophie is reluctant - could chopping onions in her family's super-traditional restaurant have prepared her to compete against young chefs from all over the country? On the other hand, she'd get to spend the summer in Napa, California, and the prize includes a full scholarship to an elite culinary school and even national fame.

Once she's on the set, Sophie finds herself surrounded by drama - including a burn book, cutthroat celebrity judges, and a very cute French student. Sophie must figure out how to survive the heat and still stay true to herself. In this fresh and hearty novel, food, friendship, and romance take center stage.

My thoughts:
This is one delicious novel that makes you drool while reading! Not only the recipes that are a nice addition to any food-related book, but also the various dishes prepared by the teen chefs on the fictional show. Just thinking about the book makes me feel hungry again, and it has been worse while I was reading it (luckily, I could easily whip up a microwave cookie or a microwave brownie while reading to keep at least the sweet tooth filled).

The characters were not all new, but nonetheless very loveable. In general, some of the contestants may have been a bit naive, when it came to the ins and outs of reality TV, which was a bit tedious from time to time, but all in all, the story and their interactions were so cute, it is pretty much negligible.

The romance for me was mostly that of food, though there was a tiny love triangle that was resolved without much emphasis on what was going on. To some readers, this may be bothersome, as the resolution seemed to come out of nowhere. Despite that, both boys played their role in the life of our main character, Sophie, and their importance to the plot was obvious, so it can be forgiven.

If you like food, cute young adult novels and some drama, I recommend you pick up a copy of Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous. And maybe try one (or all!) of the recipes. I know I will!

Rating:
3.5/5