This graphic novel solidly blends old school style and modern day topics. It’s OTT at times (the pig was a bit too much for me) and particularly down to earth at others. It’s funny and heartfelt. I loved the restaurant setting. It was like Top Chef meets The Bachelor meets… Charlotte’s Web? Or something. I don’t know but I liked it.

Ben is a newly graduated English major hoping to land an entry level writing job somewhere, anywhere, but eventually decides to take whatever he can get when nothing else turns up. Being a fairly skilled amateur home cook already, he lands a job in a restaurant and finds that he really enjoys it. Which makes him question all of his decisions about his future up to that point.

This really surprised me with the level of depth and thoughtfulness. It tackles a whole slew of related topics that are especially relevant to those just graduating college and entering the workforce. At one point Ben has a conversation with his coworkers about his plans and dreams; I really appreciated the reply he gets about how we all expect teenagers to figure out who they are and what they want at an impossibly young age. I liked, too, what it had to say about job hunting (how do you get experience if no one will give it to you?) careers, happiness, having to work for free under the BS idea of “getting exposure” or for an internship, the pressure of parental expectations, the whole general purpose of college, and why some jobs are deemed good and valuable and some aren’t. Learning how to follow your heart isn’t always as straight forward as it may sound and this definitely shows how difficult it can be to change tracks.

The romance is adorable. It’s a minor part of the story and really doesn’t come together until the end but it’s very sweet. And ab-tastic. I was not prepared for the abs. Holy ripped chef, Batman.

Overall this graphic novel was lovely and delightful. It started off a little wobbly for me because I wasn’t sure of the tone - it’s a mix of real and surreal - but it had some great things to say and wonderful characters. It was an enjoyable read, for sure! *chef’s kiss*

Thanks to NetGalley And Oni Press for providing the digital ARC.

In Chef’s Kiss, we follow Ben who can’t find a job as a writer after graduating his degree in English literature. He comes across a vacancy for a sous-chef in a restaurant. He starts working there with his stunning colleague Liam.. Ben’s parents expect him to pursue a career in writing, and Ben has a hard time trying to decide which career path he should follow.

This is an amazing and wholesome graphic new adult novel about trying to figure out what you want to do in life and lots of self development. A slight hint of romance is a nice addition to the rest of the story. The story is quite short, which was a pity. I couldn’t get enough of it! Besides this, the artwork in this graphic novel is amazing! The drawing are really detailed and look great. And Watson, the pig with great taste buds, is definitely one of the best side-characters I’ve ever met. I loved him! The big bossy chef was kind of toxic to me, that’s why I cannot give it 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chef's Kiss was a perfect afternoon read. I love a good book centered around food or baking and the main character was also trying to figure out what to do after graduating with a degree and no job prospects in sight. His roommates were delightfully diverse but all seemed to fit as a little found family.

The addition of the restaurant's pig into the story had me scratching my head at some points.

I look forward to reading future additions to this series!

Chef’s Kiss is a charming graphic about Ben, a recent college graduate on an increasingly disheartening job search trying to work out his place in life. When Ben strikes out at another interview for a writing position, he stumbles upon a job opening in a restaurant instead, which leads to a series of baking and cooking challenges to determine if he is fit to add to the staff.

Fans of Check, Please! and similar stories will find a lot to like here. Ben is a queer protagonist who has a lovely cast of quirky friends/roommates, not to mention his new restaurant coworkers, and mouthwatering descriptions and depictions of food abound. “New adult” readers (and lots of others) will find they can relate to the struggles Ben and his friends have throughout this story, including job searching, considering higher education, dealing with tense family relationships, going on (maybe) dates, and trying to find a new balance in adult life, especially when it comes to communicating and maintaining friendships.

While the story often moves quickly through time, the reading experience of the graphic novel is leisurely. There are a few elements that start off as funny gimmicks that the author may take a bit too far, like Ben’s new boss consistently getting his name wrong or the adorable pig with the impeccable palate all of a sudden smoking a post-meal cigarette, but overall this title has a heap-load of innate charm and a satisfying resolution.

Chef's Kiss is just perfectly adorable!
Ben is in the well-familiar spot for many young adults: fresh out of college, living with his friends as roommates, and struggling to find a job in his field of copy-editing... but everyone requires experience! The only job he can find that doesn't is at a small restaurant. Throw in a really cute guy Ben crushes hard on and a food-loving pig, and it seems like a weirdly perfect job.
The art is fantastic, engaging, and brightly colored. All the characters are distinct with their own personalities shining through, and the pig is just the perfect amount of chaos to have in the mix. It's funny, it's sweet, it's fulfilling as Ben develops into his own personal and takes a stand to do what's best for himself.

I got the ARC off of Netgalley, these opinions are my own. I’ve only read one other graphic novel so I was little hesitant at first but I’m so glad I requested this! It was super cute and I found both Ben and Liam to be super charming! I loved all of the characters in this novel, especially Watson, he was super cute! I love the way it’s a slow burn and you get to watch Ben and Liam grow overtime! Plus Ben’s a natural with cooking! Something else I liked was the realistic portrayal of the difficulties of finding a job without experience! And I wasn’t sure how the ending was gonna play out, but it worked well! Jarrett Melendez, with the help of Danica Brine and Hank Jones, created a fantastic graphic novel that I can’t wait to read again!

This was so cute. I loved the characters and the storyline. The story was relatable as someone that graduated university and didn't really know what to do afterwards! The romance was also cute and it was nicely developed in such a short amount of time. p.s. i love watson the pig

Chef's Kiss is a sweet graphic novel about a guy named Ben who graduates college with an English degree and gets a job in a restaurant. Along the way we meet his roommates, his hunky co-worker, a brusque chef, a charming pig, and we get to see some cool food get made.

This is a delightful little story. There's humor, romance, a tiny bit of drama, and a charming pig. What is not to love? I absolutely recommend this to any human.

I got an ARC of this book.

This could have been a lot better, but the premise of the tests was a total rip off of Yakitate!! Japan. In the anime, the MC has to bake bread that even a horse will eat. In the graphic novel, the MC has to make dishes that a pig will eat. The boss in both are big, burly men. The MCs are both home cooks and not professionally trained, but have great cooking abilities. So this just felt like someone watched a few episodes and then went “what if this were gay?”.

The gay plots were minimal. There was no reason that they were into each other outside of looks. They didn’t really interact with each other much. There was no build up to their relationship. There was no satisfying longing. It was literally just they looked good without shirts on. They were both fit. There was no substance.

There was a lot of cooking and baking talk. So if you are a fan of food network or the cooking channel, then this may just be the book for you. If you are looking for gay baking, there are much better options out there. The only reason this is not one star for me, if there were some cute pig scenes. The pig is why I kept reading. I didn’t care what job the MC chose, I didn’t care if he got the boy. There was just not any reason for me to care.

A real cute feelgood story!

Ben is a soft sweetie with a talent for cooking and checking out hot guys, like his mentor, Liam. He's also stressed about life choices - trying to get a job in what he majored in without any experience, then getting a job as a chef and ending up loving it.

This book is a bit bonkers and a lot cute. I loved the friend group, both in the house and in the restaurant. It's also queer (we know of at least two men who are attracted to men) and includes BIPOC characters, which is always a major bonus for me.

Keep an eye out for this next year!

/ Denise

This was utterly perfect from beginning to end! I loved the characters immensely, especially Ben & Liam. I was rooting for their love story from the minute that Liam walked into the picture.

Chef and Watson were both ADORABLE! Well Chef was more Daddy than adorable!😂 But I loved them so much!

I really hope this becomes a series, because I could read about the restaurant for many books to come! Plus Liam without his shirt was not seen enough IMO! Idea for Book 2, Liam can not fathom the use of a shirt!! Health Inspector, Smealth Inspector! 🤣🤣🤣

Super sweet, super romantic and super charming. What a joyous, light hearted and fun read - my students will love this!

Simple and sweet, Chef's Kiss is an easy and charming read. Relatable to young college grads trying to navigate the "real adult world" and find themselves outside of parental expectations, Chef's Kiss is a fun story about friendship, finding yourself, and a little bit of romance. Also, there's a food critic pig!

This was a cute, enjoyable little graphic novel. Like everyone else has said, the taste-testing pig absolutely stole the show and my heart. The art was beautiful, especially where the food is concerned. I did feel like there was too much happening in the story and very little of it was original or fleshed out. In a rather short period of time, our MC Ben conflicted with himself, his parents, his potential boss, and his roommate. He was very indecisive throughout which led to a lot of turmoil. And while all of this is happening, the author is also trying to give us brief insights into the lives of every character, of which there were too many. Overall I think it was cute and fun but it tried to do too much — perhaps it should have put more focus on the romance element or been written as a series to accommodate the many facets of the character’s lives.

Really adorable and easy to fly through! Was very relatable for someone who feels stuck after graduating with their degree and changes what they thought they might do. The food descriptions made me hungry and I wish there was more!

I seriously loved everything about this graphic novel. Ben and his friend group were so diverse and fun, and I liked all the chefs too. Even the relationship Ben had with his parents was very relatable. You really got to know each and every character throughout the story. Watson, the food critic pig, stole the show though — what a unique concept!

Loved this book! The story was so relatable and one of the few that I have read about the realities, struggles and hardships of being a recent graduate.
Following Ben as he receives a multitude of rejections from writing jobs, he decides to take a kitchen job. What starts as a inbetween job turns into a full blown passion for cooking, making new friends and a journey of self discovery... with a very distractingly attractive colleague thrown into the mix.
This was a whimsical and sweet story, with some very real struggles thrown into it. And who doesn't love a tale where a Pig named Watson is in charge of your destiny?
Will reread for sure and be buying on release.

The artistic style of Chef's Kiss is absolutely beautiful. Each character was so distinct, both in how they were drawn and their personalities. I thought the build-up to Ben and Liam's relationship was adorable, and even Ben's interactions with his roommates and fellow chefs were a joy. While the storyline was generic and predictable (in that it follows the very relatable struggle of post-college students looking for work), I didn't mind at all because I was so entranced by the beautiful layouts and art on each page. I definitely recommend this graphic novel, especially for fans of Heartstopper and Check Please.

ARC via Netgalley. This is a cute coming of age story -- recent college grad in English literature can't find a job in journalism or publishing, so he applies for the only "no experience required" position he can find and discovers that he actually has a real talent for cooking. It's very much a pastoral fantasy version of restaurant work (for one thing, it makes ZERO sense for the "no experience required" opening be for a chef, a job which unlike most entry level positions in publishing actually DOES require a highly specific set of skills and training, and the restaurant doesn't seem to employ waiters, dishwashers, or busboys) and never really addresses the classism cooking away underneath the main character's friends and family's negative view of his new career path. (In this world four new grads, only two of whom are employed, are able to afford a very nice house and nobody ever talks about student loans and financial assistance is only ever a phone call to mommy and daddy away and working in a restaurant is somehow more degrading than working as a copyeditor so we're dealing with a very specific worldview here.) The romance (between the protagonist and the hot midtwenties Danish chef who takes him under his wing) is likewise very idealized -- Liam exists to be an attractive and supportive love interest and has no character development whatsoever. That said, the art is GREAT, the food sounds delicious, and I imagine there's a lot of potential readers out there who would find this specific fantasy (you can't get a job because you don't have job experience which you can't get without a job and then you get rescued from the hell of job applications by a hot blond who offers you an alternative career path in a creative industry) very appealing! If the tone-deafness about class issues is going to bother you, give this a pass; if you can ignore that, it's a cute little book.

This is exactly the sort of graphic novel that our Year 7 book club members would love. Unfortunately it is marred by the unnecessary inclusion of drug paraphernalia on several occasions. A cute, fun read with pleasing illustrations, which would be suitable for older teens but not appropriate for our school library.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.