Name: My Fine Fellow
ISBN: 9780063047532

Jennieke Cohen

My Fine Fellow

Sophia

Culinary delights abound, romance lingers in the air, and plans go terribly, wonderfully astray in this gender-bent take on My Fair Lady from Jennieke Cohen, author of Dangerous Alliance--perfect for fans of Bridgerton or A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. It's 1830s England, and Culinarians--doyens who consult with society's elite to create gorgeous food and confections--are the crème de la crème of high society. Helena Higgins, top of her class at the Royal Academy, has a sharp demeanor and an even sharper palate--and knows stardom awaits her if she can produce greatness in her final year. Penelope Pickering is going to prove the value of non-European cuisine to all of England. Her contemporaries may scorn her Filipina heritage and her dishes, but with her flawless social graces and culinary talents, Penelope is set to prove them wrong. Elijah Little has nothing to his name but a truly excellent instinct for flavors. London merchants won't allow a Jewish boy to own a shop, so he hawks his pasties for a shilling a piece to passersby--but he knows with training he can break into the highest echelon of society. When Penelope and Helena meet Elijah, a golden opportunity arises: to pull off a project never seen before, and turn Elijah from a street vendor to a gentleman chef. But Elijah's transformation will have a greater impact on this trio than they originally realize--and mayhem, unseemly faux pas, and a little romance will all be a part of the delicious recipe.

Anna Ureta

Let's go Filipino representation lol

It was just cringey when the narrator pronounced "nanay" incorrectly but it's fine lol 

Nice little Historical YA Romance Novel - I think I have a thing for books about food. Definitely a great read for young readers.

My Fine Fellow has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

annika

wonderful!! i couldn’t tear myself away (literally got home from the library and finished 4 hours later)! very cute and simple, but never scared to confront the issues it presents directly. i think it ties itself up well and is a fun story!
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cry count: 0

Kathryn

Hannah Picken

Thank you to the publisher for an e-arc via Edelweiss. 

I thought I would love this book since I normally love every book I read set in this time period. However, I found myself to be irritated by Helena the entire novel which by the end I felt like that is how we were meant to feel but she was truly insufferable. Penelope and Elijah were the saving grace of the novel, I love them both and the character growth was incredible. 

Plot-wise it was okay. I wasn't captivated throughout the novel and there was so much focus on Elijah's journey and then when it came to the competitions, it felt like the author glossed over his cooking after telling us what the ingredients were as we just jumped to the result. It would have been good to see his thoughts and maybe some challenges whilst he was cooking to add something to the plot intensity-wise.

 

My Fine Fellow

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