Cook the Books by Jessica Conant-Park

Chloe's boyfriend, the talented chef Josh, just left her and moved to Hawaii. But she has been dealing fine by overindulging her 3-month old godson and eating lots of ice cream. To pay off her credit card bills Chloe looks for a job, and finds the perfect one, a Cookbook Writer's Assistant. She gets to eat great food and gets paid to do it, what could be better! Not to mention, her new boss Kyle is attractive too. But things quickly turn bad when Josh's good friend dies in a suspicious fire.

Chloe is a quirky and lovable character, even though she spends just a bit too much time pining for her ex, she is real. The accompanying characters also add flavor. The constant theme of food in this book made my mouth water and including the recipes in the back was a great addition to the story. But the plot was almost nonexistent. The fire occurred a few chapters in but the idea of murder didn't come up until the second half. Then, nothing was really done about it. For the first ninety percent of the book very little happened, then in the last few chapters everything was revealed and resolved and boom we're done. There was no mystery, there was a crime and then later the crime was solved. That's it. In the end, the delicious food and lovable characters barely held the book up through the plot.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Amherst, MA USA