What happens when Iron Chef, Master Chef & Top Chef meet Drop Dead Gorgeous?
You get Taste Test by Kelly Fiore!
Nora Henderson's a small-town girl from North Carolina, who's grown up in her Dad's barbecue restaurant. When the opportunity to compete for $50,000 and a culinary trip to Paris arises, she has to take it! She leaves her Dad and best friend Billy, hops a plane to Connecticut, and is thrust into the world of Reality TV cooking shows. Personalities clash, judges are acting shady, and there are many too random accidents on the set. Will Nora figure out what's going on, while still putting forth her best dishes?
I enjoyed Taste Test! As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm kind of addicted to cooking competition shows (tonight, even, I caught up on all my Master Chef and Hell's Kitchen episode backlog). -And I just love experimenting in the kitchen.
The book starts with an explanation on regional dialects, and how barbecue has its own regional dialects (St. Louis, Kansas City, Texas, etc). My sister, like Nora, lives in North Carolina- and that barbecue is hands down the best I've ever had. There's a lot of food explanations included in the novel, so you're learning a lot while reading it, too.
To me, it kind of read like a manga (without, you know, the pictures). You have the jerky boy wonder, the feisty girl, the snotty princess, almost an entire book's worth of chemistry build up (like "Oh! OH! Here it comes! HERE IT-! Oh....crapdammit, c'mon!") There's a love triangle thrown in, too. With the love, drama and food aspects, it reminded me a lot of Kitchen Princess. Which made me like it even more.
Then! To add to its awesomeness- RECIPES AT THE END!!! So, there's that. All in all, it's a really fun, entertaining read.
I would recommend Taste Test to anyone who likes teen dramas, reality TV, cooking shows and mysteries.
Taste Test is published by Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. Digital ARC provided by NetGalley.
Release Date: 08.09.13
Guilty Pleasure admission: I love reality TV. I tend to go more toward the weight loss/cooking challenge shows, though. The others make me feel better about myself for an episode or two, and then I just feel sad/frustrated/over the characters and drama. I did watch all episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (stopped when it became Kate Plus 8).
That is what got my interest piqued for Edgar-nominated Alison Gaylin's YA mystery: Reality Ends Here.
Estella Blanchard's father died 10 years ago. Since then, her mother has re-married. For the past 6 years, Estella's life has gained a new stepfather, sextuplet half-siblings, and a reality show- Seven Is Heaven. It's hard enough being a teenager- without having an image-obsessed family, and your life being caught on camera 24/7. After a viral video-worthy incident, Estella is forced to attend "therapy" for troubled child stars- run by "not Gary Coleman."
To add fuel to the fire, she's got a paparazzo stalker, who swears her dad is still alive; she keeps seeing the same sketchy people in the oddest places- and of course there's the huge crush on a boy band pop star! Will life ever have any semblance of normality for Estella?
I really enjoyed this book. It was an entertaining mystery (and I tend to not go for mysteries). I thought Estella was spunky and likable. She had a good relationship with her siblings- teaching them sign language to communicate privately, though cameras were all around. I will say, I rolled my eyes at her Mom enough to strain them.
The child star (and former child star) characters were SO entertaining. You'd be feeling sad for them one minute, and laughing at their antics the next- while still feeling sad. It was amazing the lengths the stars would go to to either keep things hidden, or to get noticed. There was a lot of pop-culture name dropping: Teen Choice Awards, One Direction, Bieber, Gomez, Scarlett Johansson, Full House, etc. So that will make it relatable to teens and tweens.
The mystery aspect was good. I mean, it's not Dan Brown, but it got (and kept) me interested. A slight clue would be dropped, and I would wonder "wait...where did that come from???" or "how did that disappear?" or "what is the relationship between this and that?" It kept me guessing, and made me want to keep turning pages.
I also liked the way the book showed how unrealistic Reality TV is. Staging fights, planting objects, exploiting emotions, and sponsors up the wazoo!
All in all- I thought Reality Ends Here was an entertaining, pop-culture mystery!
Reality Ends Here eBook is published by Simon & Schuster.
