Jessica Tom

How far would you go to further your career? This is what confronts Tia Monroe during her first year in New York City. She's a graduate student in the food studies program and hopes to land an internship with Helen Lansky. Instead, she gets coatroom clerk at a 4 star restaurant.

Heralded NY Times restaurant critic, Michael Saltz, approaches Tia at the restaurant to test her culinary senses and soon proposes that she clandestinely help him review restaurants since he's lost his sense of taste. Saltz claims he will help Tia get in with Lansky in return. But it all has to remain a secret.

The secret distances Tia from her roommate Emerald, her boyfriend Elliott, her coworkers at the restaurant, and her advisor. Tia finds herself swept up into a romance with a chef whom she thinks loves her but finds out later he just used her to get a good review because the upscale restaurant world knows she's been going to restaurants with Saltz.

Tia does find out who her true friends are. Most of her day-to-day coworkers stand by her and even help her expose the truthfulness of the review scandal. Emerald also stands by Tia. Melinda--I'm not sure about her character's loyalties. She wasn't a true friend, but she wasn't in the enemy section either.

The ending is a bit fairy-taleish with Tia ending up getting exactly what she'd wanted when she first came to New York (with the help of her restaurant manager Pete and co-student Kyle, who'd landed the original internship with Lansky). I'm glad Tia eventually did the right thing, but sometimes you have to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing. In life, you can't expect that you'll get everything you wanted just because you do the right thing.… (meer)

Jessica Tom’s Food Whore is fast-paced, light and entertaining — everything I love in good chick lit. Comparisons to a foodie version of The Devil Wears Prada are pretty spot-on, but I liked Tia’s persistence and willingness to step out to reach her goals.

Even if that meant getting stepped on.

As a narrator, Tia could be frustrating, though. She’s frequently gullible, though I can’t pretend I would know better. The plot line with her college sweetheart was a little irritating, given dude was as interesting as plain vanilla ice cream (let him go, lady), but I liked the push-and-pull Jessica Tom established in Tia’s conscience: settle for the old, or strive for the new?

Though Tia is our main squeeze, Michael Saltz — and his creepiness — seep between every crack in the story. He presents himself as Tia’s savior, a one-man ticket to a better life, but I had the sense he was all bluster from the beginning. We know his intentions aren’t romantic (he’s gay), but his obsession with Tia as the one remaining tether to his lifestyle and prestige is . . . unsettling, to say the least.

Food Whore moves quickly — so fast I finished it in a few days, which is a record for this new mama who rarely reads more than a few pages at a clip. It often kept me up past my bedtime, and I found myself thinking about Tia and her madcap adventures throughout the day.

Fans of women’s fiction, tantalizing food descriptions, New York settings and speedy reads will enjoy Food Whore. I really liked slipping into Tia’s stylish shoes for this adventure through New York’s culinary culture — and I would return in a heartbeat.… (meer)