Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm Book Review

” . . . Food was never just food. It wasn’t literal. It couldn’t be. It was never just the bites you took, or even the tastes that lingered. Food was the people you cooked with, the people you cooked for, the people you ate with, and the people you thought of as you ate. The people who made the meal what it was. The thing about cooking wasn’t even how everything tasted. The important thing was the way it made you feel.”

About

Author: Stephanie Kate Strohm

Genre: Young Adult Romance

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Synopsis

Take two American teen chefs, add one heaping cup of Paris, toss in a pinch of romance, and stir. . . .

Rosie Radeke firmly believes that happiness can be found at the bottom of a mixing bowl. But she never expected that she, a random nobody from East Liberty, Ohio, would be accepted to celebrity chef Denis Laurent’s school in Paris, the most prestigious cooking program for teens in the entire world. Life in Paris, however, isn’t all cream puffs and crepes. Faced with a challenging curriculum and a nightmare professor, Rosie begins to doubt her dishes.

Henry Yi grew up in his dad’s restaurant in Chicago, and his lifelong love affair with food landed him a coveted spot in Chef Laurent’s school. He quickly connects with Rosie, but academic pressure from home and his jealousy over Rosie’s growing friendship with gorgeous bad-boy baker Bodie Tal makes Henry lash out and push his dream girl away.

Desperate to prove themselves, Rosie and Henry cook like never before while sparks fly between them. But as they reach their breaking points, they wonder whether they have what it takes to become real chefs.

Perfect for lovers of Chopped Teen Tournament and Kids Baking Championship, as well as anyone who dreams of a romantic trip to France, Love la Mode follows Rosie and Henry as they fall in love with food, with Paris, and ultimately, with each other.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To those with a dream to fall in love in Paris,

I think I speak on behalf of most—-not all girls—-when they say that they want to fall in love in Paris. I don’t know about you but I love the whole idea of sitting by a quaint little bakery or shop near the Eiffel Tower, and then getting up and then running into the love of your life. Then cue the montage of falling in love together by walking through the parks or the shops at Paris to kissing in the glow of the Eiffel tower at night. Like just imagine. Sigh. It would be crazy cute! But that’s not how reality works, so the best thing to that is watching movies about it or reading about it.

So of course, I had to pick up a book about a romance in Paris. Especially when baking was involved! It’s my two favorite things wrapped up into one!

Now I’ll admit this book wasn’t what I hoped for, but that’s not to say that it wasn’t interesting or didn’t have me intrigued. It wasn’t terrible. It’s kind of like when you watch Wipe-Out or those crazy reality TV shows because it’s so bad, but it’s so good and keeps you entranced because you just kind of want to see what happens.

Now as per usual, I’m not that type of person who likes romance books that just seem so instantaneous, like you see a person and you fall in love and know that that’s the person you’re meant to be with. That’s not to say that that can’t happen in life, I just feel like there’s more to a love than just attraction and a person has to get to know someone else before they instantly claim that they love them. And it just felt this way between Rosie and Henry. They meet on the plane to go to the Prestigious Paris school for baking and she sees him reading a baking magazine and she gets all excited. Henry’s looking at her with goo goo eyes, saying that he loves her or that he knows that he’s going to be with her and all that jazz. And it just felt so artificial and forced—-like I was being told that these two characters were going to fall in love with each other.

“And he definitely shouldn’t say, Hey, there’s a change I maybe might love you. Because of cakes” (pg 20).

(pg 20)

There’s maybe a chance I might love you? On page 20? Like how?

I don’t know.

I didn’t feel the romantic spark between them whatsoever. I felt it more with Bodie Tal, the famous Cooking Network son who baked shirtless. Like that’s pretty cool 😉 But that’s not the reason I was rooting for Rosie to grow some two sense and like Bodie Tal. It was because he seemed more mature and down to earth than Henry was. I loved how he would help Rosie out and grabbed the pots and pans for her during the lessons because she was short and couldn’t reach them. Bodie Tal and Rosie also bonded over the fact that their expertise was in baking and they couldn’t cook or clean a chicken to save their lives. Bodie knew Rosie was having trouble with cooking and that she was being torn down by the inspector woman, so he called his Uncle and told him that they needed a break from all the regular cooking and to do some baking. He claimed it was for him too so he could have a break, but we all knew it was for Rosie. And I liked how even though he was “famous,” rich, and popular, he wasn’t conceited or stuck up about it. He was really down to earth and he was always so nice to Rosie. It was also cute how he would get flustered or nervous when talking to Rosie! Like that’s so refreshing.

The Halloween party was really Bodie’s time to shine. I liked how he opened up to Rosie about Halloween being his favorite holiday because it was this whole tradition with his family and he got to dress up. Rosie was raving about how immaculate and clean the cookies looked and how soft they tasted as if they were made by a professional. Lo, and behold, it was made by Bodie Tal. Get you a man who is down to earth, can back shirtless and with a shirt, and who’s such a good person. At the party, he was dancing with Rosie and I was like, yes, Bodie, this is your moment. This whole time during the party, Rosie was waiting for Henry to come, but Henry was taking FOREVER to chose a costume because he didn’t want to look ridiculous. Excuse you sir, you don’t want to look ridiculous on Halloween? Halloween? Please enlighten me on how you don’t look ridiculous on Halloween? Oh, yea you don’t. Everyone looks a little bit ridiculous—-you’re expected to look RIDICULOUS.

And the audacity of Henry to show up LATE, LATE, to the Halloween party after throwing on a basketball jersey, and he was angry that Rosie was dancing with Bodie Tal.

“What are you talking about? Rosie stopped in her tracks, stung by his tone. I was waiting for you.”

“Really,” he said flatly. “That’s funny. Usually when I’m waiting for someone, I keep busy by messing mourn with my phone. Maybe next time I’ll try slow dancing.”

(pg 199)

Someone give Henry the prissy diva crown he deserves!!!!! 😤

YOU DON”T GET TO BE ANGRY HENRY! You were the one who showed up late because you were nervous about looking good for Rosie who was waiting for you. Like what was she supposed to do? Stand like a statue by the punch bowl to await your grand entrance down a staircase like you’re some belle of the ball? NO! And they weren’t even dating and he wasn’t even talking to her in that sort of way and it’s like Rosie can dance with whoever she wants to dance with and you can’t be angry about it because you’re not her man and your’e not her father, so back off. Henry could be jealous because guys can get jealous if someone they like is dancing with someone else, but he didn’t need to throw a hissy fit and reflect his anger out at Rosie. Be angry at yourself Henry, not her.

And there was this one moment where Bodie and Rosie hug, and Henry goes off on her and I sat there just wanting to punch Henry so badly.

“He is my friend,” Rosie insisted eventually. And I’m sorry if you have a problem with that, but he’s been there for me when you haven’t.”

“I haven’t been there for you?” That sound. That stung so much that Henry found himself taking a couple steps back, like he was absorbing a blow.

“You’re always disappearing! And moody! And I can never figure out where I stand with you, what you thing about me—-“

(pg 271)

Henry, Henry, Henry.

Boy sit down. You are so DRAMATIC. It was a blow to his heart. He needed to step back because she claimed Bodie was there for her more than he was. She’s only preaching the truth and here Henry is acting like he got shot. Are you kidding me, Henry? Don’t act so surprised or act like you were the one done in the wrong when you’re not even dating, it was just a hug, and you know that deep down she’s telling the truth.

The whole time they’re arguing, I’m thinking to myself, Rosie, you’re giving all he reasons on why you shouldn’t even try with him.

But let’s talk about this infamous roof top kiss that they never mentioned to their friends. Like what are the chances that they both wanted to go to the rooftop that one night or that they would kiss. It was the first week and that’s way too soon to be kissing someone you just met on a plane. I will admit it was kind of cute that Henry got her wings for her from the flight attendant because Rosie never flew on a plane before. But seriously, they were just like I want to kiss the other so badly and Henry was making all these plans to kiss Rosie, saying he wanted to go out and plant one on her and blah blah blah, and I was like Henry you’re moving waaaay to fast my friend. Henry’s also kind of strange. He’s like Joe from You. His personal internal monologues to himself about how he wanted to ask Rosie out, get her alone, wanted to kiss her, or wanted to be there when she came out was just soooooo weird! Was I the only one who thought that?

UGGGGHH!!! I CRINGE!!!

He came to the lunch table and was literally like, “We should go out.” Rosie’s sitting there thinking, “Wow, he wants to go out with me,” and all that gooey stuff. She was blushing and flustered, and then her friends are all saying, “Yea, let’s go out,” because it was there first weekend at the school and they could go out to explore Paris as long they were back by curfew. Poor Rosie. She felt like an idiot. But little did she knowHenry just proclaimed to go out because he secretly wanted to go out with Rosie and get her alone to kiss her. I’m sitting there, thinking why didn’t you just take her to the side or something after breakfast and ask her out? He’s not the brightest for someone who’s supposed to handling more classes.

Speaking of more classes. It was kind of the typical kind of Asian quality to make the Asian mom be hard on her son for wanting to be anything other than a chef or a doctor. The mom had to push her son to do more school work in Paris, talking to the other teachers on behalf of Henry so that he could do more math and social studies, and I understand that’s just the Asian mother in her and she’s concerned about her son, but she didn’t need to impose all that pressure on Henry. I could feel for me and understood how he was so tired all the time, waking up before everyone else to do is extra assignments. I could understand why he would be angry and lash out on his friends because gosh knows we’ve all been there when we have been so exhausted from school that we displace our anger on others. But he could have literally told Rosie that he was taking more classes or something. It wasn’t something to be ashamed of, and he didn’t have to go through that whole experience alone.

So the first time he lashed out at Rosie, I wanted to CRINGE because she didn’t deserve that from him. And yet, I knew it just came from a place of tiredness, but that didn’t excuse his poor behavior. After lashing out on her, I found it so weird how Rosie was the one who brushed it off and acted like nothing happened. I guess that was very mature of her and that maybe she just thought that he had a bad day. But then he did it again at the Halloween party when he absolutely had no right to be mad at her.

And guess who apologizes for it later?

Not Henry that’s who!

Like really Henry?

Be a man!

He was the one who yelled at her after leaving her hanging at the dance for how many hours and she SHE?! apologizes to him! Rosie acted like nothing was wrong, and she gave him soda like she always did on their Sunday outings where they would meet in front of the bakery. I just don’t understand Henry sometimes because honestly, he should have been the one to initiate all of those apologies because Rosie did nothing wrong but be the product of Henry’s displaced anger and his lateness. She must have really liked him to put up with apologizing all those times. Especially if she had another, much better, person pinning for her all the while.

I would have moved on if I was her.

Then comes the week before Thanksgiving and Bodie and Rosie happen to find themselves in the bakery that Rosie and Henry would go to for bread every Sunday. In the bakery, Bodie and Rosie talk about their Thanksgiving plans and how Rosie was homesick and Bodie was probably just going to travel back to California to do some filming with his dad. Then this made Rosie come up with the idea of doing a Thanksgiving at the school where everyone can make a dish that reminds them of home—-kind of like a cultural friendsgiving. I thought that was a very cute idea and Bodie did too and they HUGGED! Girl, it’s about darn time you showed that man some appreciation.

And guess who’s outside like Joe himself!

UGHGHHGHGHGH!

It was Henry!

I swear!

I

was

Cringing!!!!!!!!

And, of course, like the petulant five year old he was, he got angry and waled away, steaming with all these assumptions running in his mind. He was like, “She didn’t love me,” and “She liked Bodie Tal,” and all the boo hoos wah wah. Cry me a river Henry, why don’t you?

He’s such an overreacter, I swear!

They were eating together? No! That was their thing! His and Rosies’s!”

(pg 244)

Excuse me Henry, I didn’t know eating was only reserved for you and Rosie. 🤔 How rude of Rosie to not wait every darn meal to eat with you. Like really? Can she not eat with other people because it was “their thing.” I eat with other people all the time Henry, get over yourself.

And I think he gives her the cold shoulder and doesn’t talk to her and Rosie’s confused because she didn’t do anything wrong as far as she knows. And it’s like Henry, Henry, Henry, Henry, get your head out your butt, and put on your big guy panties and talk to Rosie like a man about what you saw rather than skirting around her and brooding like a little kid who didn’t get the last cookie in the cookie jar. Stop being so petty when she wasn’t even dating you!!! She is allowed to hug anyone she wants because she is a girl and she has her rights to do whatever she wants. And you can be jealous, but if you like her a lot, you should just talk to her like a mature person rather than stew in your feelings making her feel bad for nothing.

I really, really don’t know how or why Rosie wouldn’t want to be with Bodie.

Because after he saw them hug Henry ran away to cry into his pillow (not really, but I could only imagine he did). Bodie and Rosie were so in the moment and were going to kiss. Now, Henry, that’s how you do it. You don’t plan to kiss a girl, the moment just comes to you.

But Bodie was such a gentleman and asked Rosie like a true chivalrous person if he could kiss her! Henry should have been there to watch and take notes. And I was like Rosie, say YES! But Rosie, said no!!! *Thoroughly shakes head* Tsk tsk. Rosie, somehow, for some unknown reason, liked Henry still. The person who yelled at her for nothing, the person who showed up late for the dance and yelled at her, the person who barely talked to you unless he wanted to impress you with how much food he could shove in his mouth. Yea, I definitely see the appeal compared to Bodie Tal, who constantly went out of his way to talk to her, to help her, to ease her mind, to be there, and to ask her things about her life. Yea, I don’t see the appeal in a great guy.

And she told Bodie that she just wanted to be friends with him and like I felt sooooo bad for him. But he took it so well and was like okay and he backed off. Other guys probably would have put up a fight or did something dumb, but he understood that and was even willing to still be friends with her. Like how sweet is he! Rosie you lost such a great catch of a man. I kid her not.

In the end, of course, Rosie and Henry end up together because they “love” each other. But I just couldn’t stand their relationship. I have a hunch that they might break up next year once Rosie realizes she could do so much better. I hope she gets the common sense to. So towards the end, the gang was all going out to the Eiffel Tower and Bodie came out of the house in a coat and everything and was casually talking to them, being his sweet little self. And he sees Henry and Rosie together, but he’s so cool and good about it. Reading this part, to me, it was kind of obvious that Bodie wanted to go out with all of them rather than be stuck at the house with all the people he didn’t really like. Bodie never explicitly said he wanted to go with them, and I guess no one picked up on that and so Bodie just retreated back into the house. My heart hurt for Bodie. He was like a rejected puppy. And Henry. OOOOOH, I couldn’t with him. But Henry was like I wasn’t comfortable with him still to invite him to come.

OOOOOOOOHHHH, someone hold my earrings!

What a PETTTTY CHILD!!!!! My five-year-old cousin has more respect and maturity in her tiny finger than Henry has in his entire body! I kid you not. Like what kind of garbage is that?! 🤮 You don’t NOT invite a person you know wants to come because you’re still a jealous little butt even though Rosie chose you, gosh knows why?! If Rosie picked up on the subtle clues Bodie was giving in wanting to go with them, she would have took the moral high ground and asked him to come, but nooooo Henry wants his property all to himself like Joe would do anything for Beck.

I don’t know if it’s obvious, but I don’t like Henry whatsoever.

Those were my feelings about the romance in this book.

Did I enjoy the romance? Not particularly. But was I thoroughly engaged in it because Henry was such a petty petulant kid that I had to see how everything turned out? Yea. That’s the reason I stuck around.

But there was other romances in this book. I found just kind of overall awkward how Yumi and Marcus had to announce their relationship and create a hashtag for it. It was just weird, over exaggerated, and unnecessary. I liked how bold Yumi was in having the courage to say to everyone that Marcus and her were dating, unlike Rosie and Henry who didn’t even tell anyone they kissed or that they like each other. But a hashtag and telling everyone your ship name is Mumi? That’s just weird.

A character I liked besides Bodie Tal, was Hampus. What a fun character. He was from Sweden so he didn’t know a lot of the European or American culture, but he was so eager to try. He went all out for Halloween and for Friendsgiving and I just appreciated his optimistic and cheerful air. He was also very encouraging.

So even though the romance in this book wasn’t my favorite, I still found the baking fun. I thought it was unfair that all the tasks were cooking because Rosie was a baker, so there was no way that she could cook as good as the other chefs because that’s not her forte. So the lady who would always tell her she was doing horrible, was mean because she had no right to make Rosie feel belittled when she’s not a good cook, but a great baker. And the one time Rosie got to bake, she made a broken cheesecake, which disappointed the critique again. And it’s like, c’mon, give the girl credit for going big.

But no, she gets threaten to go home. Rosie got pulled aside after class, midway through the fall semester and was told she could be sent home. That has to suck. She went to school in Paris and if she didn’t go back for Spring, she would go back to regular high school where all her friends or peers would say she got kicked out of chef school in Paris. That’s not easy conversation to go back to.

So Rosie knew in the final challenge she had to make the best dish she ever made. And I just adored what she did. She took dishes that reminded her of family, of home, and of tradition and put it into her final dish. I liked how she made a simple hamburger because it reminded her of Fourth of July and how her dad would grill burgers. Her dad passed away and in his loving memory, she made a burger that emphasized that love and the fond memories she had with him. I also liked how she made a spin off of the dish her mom made for desert with Kit Kat, fudge, and M&Ms. It had a real child like touch to it that the chef enjoyed. The book should have really included a recipe for it! That would have been a cool touch. But I love how Rosie and all the chefs in this book described food in how it wasn’t so much the food itself and how it looked, but the people they made it with and made it for—–the memories it brought.

And I just loved that.

Because everyone loves food——-some more or less than others. When most people think about food, we think about how decadent, how delicious, how aromatic, and how rich or savory it is. But I never thought about it as memories; memories of good moments in life with people. I never thought of it as traditions and joy and love and now I kind of see how food is so much more than its appearance and all the senses it arouses, food is what people cook to bond people and that’s why it’s just as important to eat it as to make it. I think that when other people cook our food for us, we forgot all the hands that it took to get the food to where it’s supposed to be—-all the farmers who planted and harvested the food, all the people who shipped it across the world, all the people who bought it, and all the people who worked to prepare it——we forget that it’s not the food itself, but the hands and the story of the food. Food in itself, is kind of like people in how it has a story and how it has support and love from others.

Food brings happiness.

Henry’s dishes never really showed who he was. It was always dishes that was safe, easy, or predictable. So for his final dish, he wanted to make something that encompassed his essence. And it wasn’t his most extravagant or best dish, but it was him. At the end of his food testing, the head chef of the school said Henry’s cooking was amazing and that he had a real shot at a career. Henry asked him to for one favor and to call his mom. So the chef did. When he calls Henry’s mom, he gushes about how talented his son was and how proud the mom must be to have a good cook of a son. He also throws in how Henry might get an internship with him.

After the call, the mom calls Henry with a slightly kinder voice, in saying she was proud of him and how he could go to culinary school but to still keep his options open. I think the mom really needed to hear that call because she never understood how much cooking meant to Henry and how good he was at what he did. She always had her dreams for him in mind and never his dreams in mind, and I think that a lot of parents get jaded by their dreams for their kids that they don’t see what their kids dreams are for themselves. It was such a good moment where I could just feel Henry exhale all the pressures of school away. He didn’t have to worry about constantly proving to his mom that he could keep his grades up and still cook, of course though, Henry would still work hard in school, but he dint’t have this extra burden on his shoulders where he felt burden to prove himself to his mom. And that had to feel good.

Rosie got praised for her dishes, but the critique had to say her food wasn’t that good, but better than anything she’s made before in the semester. I’m just happy she got to stay in school for Spring semester in Paris.

This whole review might have sounded like a big “I dislike you to Henry,” but I honestly don’t think Henry’s a bad person, I just think that he’s slightly immature and wishy-washy with his feelings when Rosie displayed more maturity and demureness. They did have their good moments from the wings, to the bakery, and to when he bought her a rose chopped food (kind of cheesy though, but cute). But I didn’t like their relationship and I’m still secretly holding out for Bodie Tal. I’m up for a Bodie Tal spinoff book where we get to see the update of Henry and Rosie and his love life.

What were your thoughts about this book? Favorite parts? Not so favorite parts? Did you like Rosie and Henry together or were you like me and were team Bodie Tal? And if you could chose one dish to represent who you are, what would it be and why? Let me know below in the comments! 💕

Always be kind to other people and if you’re ever stressed, don’t be a Henry and take your anger out on others!

I hope you have a beautiful day and bright day whenever and wherever you’re reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

3.45 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I liked Rosie and Hampus and the diversity of the characters in how they all came from different parts of the world. Henry? Yea, no thank you.

Plot: If you’re looking for a anger ridden kind of weird finding love in Paris baking books, this is an okay book to read.

Writing: Even though my review is very satirical, the satire and dislike is towards Henry’s character, not the author! The author herself is not a bad writer at all! I found her writing easy to get into. Some parts of the book was slow, but overall interesting to read.

Romance: Not one for instant love or petty, petulant, and protective boys who think they are in love when really they are just angry all the time and expects the girl to apologize for nothing.