First of all, thank you so much to NetGalley - this was, despite its rating, a wonderful read. If I was rating this book based purely on its writing, it would be an easy five star read. I adored the description, the feeling each scene gave me, the unique, lifelike quality to every page... but I didn't like the plot, its lack of direction and genre. It felt... lazy? Maybe a little entitled? Like the author wanted the characters and writing to speak for itself, which it just... didn't.

To put this in simple terms, I just wasn't compelled to read on. I'm not sure what it was that was meant to be driving the plot. Characters seemed to drift in and out, developed at random, nonsensical points, and until the thirty percent mark, I couldn't tell if it was going to be a coming-of-age book (which I think it should have been), or a romance. Auden's character was the strongest until, at about halfway, Valerie took centre-stage, and it felt like Auden's character only existed to supplement Valerie's.

I feel like maybe the author had too much creative control with this book, after the success of their first. It was beautifully written, but made simple mistakes I felt like some very sparse developmental editing could fix. Ivy's character? Irrelevant, until all of a sudden vital. Auden's mum? Her understandable confusion and hesitance to Auden's new identity was never really explored. Auden's view on grades, on university, on... life? It felt like they had no idea what on earth they wanted to do with their life, until they met Valerie, and then Valerie became their purpose.

I wasn't overly convinced by the ending, or by their chemistry. I would have probably loved this so much more if it was a story of platonic love.

The last thing I want to touch on has become a bit of a pet peeve in books, especially ones marketed as diverse or LGBTQ+. Sometimes, it feels like characters become... very little more than their identity. I felt that with Auden. Their brain was only really explored in the sense of their non-binary identity, with subsequent questions about their passions, interests, future goals and ideals kind of... brushed over. Valerie felt so fleshed-out compared to Auden, which was a real shame. My image of Auden is still sort of hazy, while Valerie feels so bright and colourful.

I'll definitely be reading Cynthia So's first novel, but this one didn't quite work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Tiger Group for approving my request to read an arc of this book

This book follows the joy of finding yourself and also the joy of food, and each character has a special connection to certain dishes as they remind them of cherished memories. There was so much amazing representation in this book. I loved the fat rep and the nonbinary, trans, bi, gay, and queer rep too. This book also deals with the journey of grief and healing.