With the best culinary school in the country on the line in The Art of French Kissing, Carter Lane needs to get her mind back to beating the competition, not kissing it.

Seventeen-year-old Carter Lane has wanted to be a chef since she was old enough to ignore her mom’s warnings to stay away from the hot stove. And now she has the chance of a lifetime: a prestigious scholarship competition in Savannah, where students compete all summer in Chopped style challenges for a full-ride to one of the best culinary schools in the country. The only impossible challenge ingredient in her basket: Reid Yamada.

After Reid, her cute but unbearably cocky opponent, goes out of his way to screw her over on day one, Carter vows revenge, and soon they’re involved in a full-fledged culinary war. Just as the tension between them reaches its boiling point, Carter and Reid are forced to work together if they want to win, and Carter begins to wonder if Reid’s constant presence in her brain is about more than rivalry. And if maybe her desire to smack his mouth doesn’t necessarily cancel out her desire to kiss it. (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC from Edelweiss, courtesy of Sky Pony Press, in exchange for an honest review.

The Art of French Kissing is an enemies-to-lovers romance that will have you on the edge of your seat and on the way to the kitchen to get something to eat. I couldn’t put it down, and had to make myself a grilled cheese after I finished.

I loved a lot about this book, y’all. I’m usually hesitant about enemies to lovers, but this really worked for me and had me rooting for Carter and Reid… while also wanting to shake them.

The Art of French Kissing needs content warnings for racially antagonistic comments that are called out on the page, gender antagonistic comments that are called out on the page, and sabotage of other characters.

I really loved that the biggest conflict in this story wasn’t actually the conflict between Reid and Carter, but Carter and her feelings of inadequacy. As someone who grew up poor and got told regularly by others to dream smaller, I really identified with Carter in that.

The food descriptions, the unapologetic nerdiness of both protagonists, and the friendships with the other characters was all wonderful. I thought they maybe shouldn’t have said they were in love with each other as soon as they did, but that’s personal opinion and didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story one bit.

You can pick up a copy on Amazon or Indiebound. I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.