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sapphisms's review
3.0
I received this book through NetGalley and Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review
So, when I started writing this review, it had four stars- when I started looking over my notes in the book, I knocked it down a star. This book is cheesy in the way that dimestore paperbacks with forced heterosexuality are cheesy- which is what I've been saying the queer community has definitely needed. I liked Del as a character, but a lot of the author's ignorance to French culture (and really every other culture) really shined through in her narration, which (as a bisexual person of color reading this book) made me really uncomfortable.
I can give Emanuelle for at least trying to include diversity in her book- there's two people of color that are in the novel... They just are barely important, and typically function to further the plot or help Del along. They become disposable in this way- you could probably cut them out and all that would be missing is filler moments between the actual plot. I think the worst part about this is how sexualized the women of color are in this book, too- it's one thing to have your women of color be sexually active/open to talking about sex, and it's another to make their culture inherently sexy.
At 5%, Del comments on how Chantel (who is rarely seen from again later in the book) was hired because she was an artist, they had a brief fling, and because of "her smooth, dark skin and startling blue eyes, the legacy of her African-Dutch-Curaçaoan heritage. The clincher was her accent, a sensuous combination of Dutch, Spanish, and African languages." Like, I could write a dissertation on how gross this is. The first thing is how Chantel is a Special and Acceptable black woman because of her blue eyes (from her 'Dutch heritage')- the next would be how her accent is 'exotic' and 'sexy' just because it's there. That's just the way she talks- there's no need to throw in how you're objectifying her just because of how she speaks. Next would be how she's 'African-Dutch-Curaçaoan', but she's never specified where in Africa- where the other two countries are specified. Like Africa is where All Black People Come From- the Caribbean (where Curaçao is located) is a majority of black people... It's never specified where in Africa, so I think it's fair to assume that Emanuelle was treating 'African' as a placeholder for 'black'. Also 'African languages'... There are over a thousand languages spoken in Africa. Emanuelle also consistently Reminds Us that Chantel is black, as if we forgot, with things like "Chantel's full-lipped smile and island accent"... It gets gross after seeing stuff like that repeated so often.
Onto Ophelia, the Chinese character in this book. She's literally written as the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype, and, while I loved her, God there were a lot of little things about her character that were really racist. "Ophelia's faint Chinese accent made everything she said sound so much more important, and she never said anything she didn't mean." Do you see what I meant by the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype? But, wait, there's more! "Ophelia telling her that to sew your clothing while you were wearing it was bad luck." "Oh, right. Ophelia had mastered the English language so well that Delphine often forgot that she didn't grow up in the U.S. and so didn't always get cultural references." (Also total bullshit because she's referring to an Abbott and Costello skit- which would be difficult for anyone to think up immediately until you say 'Who's on first? What's on second?') "Del realized that it probably wasn't often that a Caucasian woman with blood-red-spiked hair entered a bakery that catered to the Asian community." (They've probably seen weirder white people, Del, don't think you're so special). Like, honestly? If Ophelia was the main character, I probably would've like the book a lot more. A girl struggling with That would've been awesome.
Unfortunately, that's not the story we got.
We get the perspective of Delphine, a lesbian French vampire from the Victorian era that really enjoys cooking- unfortunately for her, someone seems hell-bent on ruining her restaurant. She struggles a lot with finally Having Feelings for someone (because she's just been living off of one night stands and doesn't want Emotional Attachment), and proves, yet again, that we can't have a lesbian character without them being hypersexualized. Like, this wasn't even filed under erotica when I requested to read it- and it definitely should be. I just kept getting bombarded with random (and unnecessary to the plot!) porn while I was reading, which was an uncomfortable experience. I don't know what world these lesbian novel writers are living in, but it's difficult enough to get a date with a girl when you're a girl, let alone have droves of women in a revolving-door type sexual relationship with you. I'm all for lesbian characters being sexually active, but it eventually started to feel like that's all there was to Del's character- she's French, she likes to cook, and she's a "player".
Also, miss me with the constant slutshaming in her own narrative- she has the audacity to call one of her partners "a clueless bimbo" which was "okay for a one-night stand, but...". Also, she criticizes hook-up culture (which isn't even really a thing in this generation!!!), when she's actively benefiting from it. "A period of courtship? This was new and different. At least for this era." Like. Miss! Me! With! This! Misogyny!
I also can't even like her because of her love of food- she's like, a mega-elitist when it comes to food and talks about how other food isn't 'real food'. Her restaurant is 'French fusion', which always sets off warning bells in my head because that usually means 'I'll call my food French but I want to appropriate Arab food into my menu because they were colonized by France'. Though I can't blame the author- she apparently has such a poor grasp on modern French that she didn't know that 'c'est terrible' doesn't mean 'it's terrible!' any more- it means 'how good!'.
Bonus!
"I'm making real food. Serious food. When people cooked with these [antique] ovens, it wasn't easy. The temperature was hard to maintain, space was limited, and you had to keep feeding and stoking the fire. That was dedication."
"[Jocelyn] had grown up in a world of technology, in a world that didn't know what it meant to keep something year after year, to fix things rather than replace them. When obsolescence meant that the most expensive items in the home are replaced every couple of years, how could someone appreciate something that lasted generation after generation?"
"Santé" (which means, 'to your health')
"Is that French for cheers?" Del went liquid.
"Um, yes, it is."
"I love French. I don't speak it, but it's so sexy." (eyerollll)
So, when I started writing this review, it had four stars- when I started looking over my notes in the book, I knocked it down a star. This book is cheesy in the way that dimestore paperbacks with forced heterosexuality are cheesy- which is what I've been saying the queer community has definitely needed. I liked Del as a character, but a lot of the author's ignorance to French culture (and really every other culture) really shined through in her narration, which (as a bisexual person of color reading this book) made me really uncomfortable.
I can give Emanuelle for at least trying to include diversity in her book- there's two people of color that are in the novel... They just are barely important, and typically function to further the plot or help Del along. They become disposable in this way- you could probably cut them out and all that would be missing is filler moments between the actual plot. I think the worst part about this is how sexualized the women of color are in this book, too- it's one thing to have your women of color be sexually active/open to talking about sex, and it's another to make their culture inherently sexy.
At 5%, Del comments on how Chantel (who is rarely seen from again later in the book) was hired because she was an artist, they had a brief fling, and because of "her smooth, dark skin and startling blue eyes, the legacy of her African-Dutch-Curaçaoan heritage. The clincher was her accent, a sensuous combination of Dutch, Spanish, and African languages." Like, I could write a dissertation on how gross this is. The first thing is how Chantel is a Special and Acceptable black woman because of her blue eyes (from her 'Dutch heritage')- the next would be how her accent is 'exotic' and 'sexy' just because it's there. That's just the way she talks- there's no need to throw in how you're objectifying her just because of how she speaks. Next would be how she's 'African-Dutch-Curaçaoan', but she's never specified where in Africa- where the other two countries are specified. Like Africa is where All Black People Come From- the Caribbean (where Curaçao is located) is a majority of black people... It's never specified where in Africa, so I think it's fair to assume that Emanuelle was treating 'African' as a placeholder for 'black'. Also 'African languages'... There are over a thousand languages spoken in Africa. Emanuelle also consistently Reminds Us that Chantel is black, as if we forgot, with things like "Chantel's full-lipped smile and island accent"... It gets gross after seeing stuff like that repeated so often.
Onto Ophelia, the Chinese character in this book. She's literally written as the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype, and, while I loved her, God there were a lot of little things about her character that were really racist. "Ophelia's faint Chinese accent made everything she said sound so much more important, and she never said anything she didn't mean." Do you see what I meant by the 'wise Asian friend' stereotype? But, wait, there's more! "Ophelia telling her that to sew your clothing while you were wearing it was bad luck." "Oh, right. Ophelia had mastered the English language so well that Delphine often forgot that she didn't grow up in the U.S. and so didn't always get cultural references." (Also total bullshit because she's referring to an Abbott and Costello skit- which would be difficult for anyone to think up immediately until you say 'Who's on first? What's on second?') "Del realized that it probably wasn't often that a Caucasian woman with blood-red-spiked hair entered a bakery that catered to the Asian community." (They've probably seen weirder white people, Del, don't think you're so special). Like, honestly? If Ophelia was the main character, I probably would've like the book a lot more. A girl struggling with
Spoiler
her sexuality, being ESL, and knowing her best friend was a vampire?Unfortunately, that's not the story we got.
We get the perspective of Delphine, a lesbian French vampire from the Victorian era that really enjoys cooking- unfortunately for her, someone seems hell-bent on ruining her restaurant. She struggles a lot with finally Having Feelings for someone (because she's just been living off of one night stands and doesn't want Emotional Attachment), and proves, yet again, that we can't have a lesbian character without them being hypersexualized. Like, this wasn't even filed under erotica when I requested to read it- and it definitely should be. I just kept getting bombarded with random (and unnecessary to the plot!) porn while I was reading, which was an uncomfortable experience. I don't know what world these lesbian novel writers are living in, but it's difficult enough to get a date with a girl when you're a girl, let alone have droves of women in a revolving-door type sexual relationship with you. I'm all for lesbian characters being sexually active, but it eventually started to feel like that's all there was to Del's character- she's French, she likes to cook, and she's a "player".
Also, miss me with the constant slutshaming in her own narrative- she has the audacity to call one of her partners "a clueless bimbo" which was "okay for a one-night stand, but...". Also, she criticizes hook-up culture (which isn't even really a thing in this generation!!!), when she's actively benefiting from it. "A period of courtship? This was new and different. At least for this era." Like. Miss! Me! With! This! Misogyny!
I also can't even like her because of her love of food- she's like, a mega-elitist when it comes to food and talks about how other food isn't 'real food'. Her restaurant is 'French fusion', which always sets off warning bells in my head because that usually means 'I'll call my food French but I want to appropriate Arab food into my menu because they were colonized by France'. Though I can't blame the author- she apparently has such a poor grasp on modern French that she didn't know that 'c'est terrible' doesn't mean 'it's terrible!' any more- it means 'how good!'.
Bonus!
"I'm making real food. Serious food. When people cooked with these [antique] ovens, it wasn't easy. The temperature was hard to maintain, space was limited, and you had to keep feeding and stoking the fire. That was dedication."
"[Jocelyn] had grown up in a world of technology, in a world that didn't know what it meant to keep something year after year, to fix things rather than replace them. When obsolescence meant that the most expensive items in the home are replaced every couple of years, how could someone appreciate something that lasted generation after generation?"
"Santé" (which means, 'to your health')
"Is that French for cheers?" Del went liquid.
"Um, yes, it is."
"I love French. I don't speak it, but it's so sexy." (eyerollll)
hhushaw's review
3.0
An honest review thanks to NetGalley. This was a good book; I was expecting more romance, and I had never read anything by this author before so I was pleasantly surprised. The book rolled through smoothly, and I became invested in Delphine and her restaurant, the restaurant was a main part of the story, and you learn to love it and the journey that Delphine has gone through. I would have liked to know more about Delphine's backstory and more romance between Delphine and Jocelyn, but this was a good read if you are looking for a vampire book with a hint of lesbian romance and adventure.
munleigh's review
2.0
Delphine Bouchard is a vampire and chef of a restaurant that is open late at night. Problem arises when vampires in her community turn up dead because of a vampire hunter. She is being watched closely by the vampire hive council and the witches coven. In addition to being targeted by the vampire hunter, a food critic has a vendetta against her.
I wanted to like this book more than I did because it was about vampires and also food, but I didn't. I didn't quite believe the romance between Delphine and Jocelyn and it felt kind of forced. It was a lot of telling and not showing.
I loved the descriptions of all the dishes that was made, however, I felt that there was something missing regarding the main story. Despite a vampire hunter being after her, the story was lacking excitement.
Review also posted here: http://wp.me/p4Pp9O-xC
I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*Image taken from Goodreads.
I wanted to like this book more than I did because it was about vampires and also food, but I didn't. I didn't quite believe the romance between Delphine and Jocelyn and it felt kind of forced. It was a lot of telling and not showing.
I loved the descriptions of all the dishes that was made, however, I felt that there was something missing regarding the main story. Despite a vampire hunter being after her, the story was lacking excitement.
Review also posted here: http://wp.me/p4Pp9O-xC
I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*Image taken from Goodreads.
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