I feel torn on this.

On the one hand, Brianna is likable and her shortcomings are relateable. There is a feel-good story in here about believing in yourself and doing things because they make you happy, not to impress someone else (even if that someone else is your celebrity chef father.)

On the other hand, there's kind of a weird undercurrent of racism and gentrification in here that left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The monsters were persecuted and basically forced into this ghetto called Monster City, where they make their own society apart from humans. The top chef there (Madame Cron) is a monster who remembers the days of persecution, being driven from their homes, etc. (She's also the brownest character in the book.) Now this rich, blonde human comes in and starts a restaurant that ignores their laws, takes business away from monster businesses, etc. And Madame Cron doesn't like it. And I get why she doesn't like it! There's a little bit of lip service paid to her background explaining why she hates humans so much, but she doesn't manage to escape her role as the bad guy, trying to take Brianna (and her restaurant,) down.

I'm not saying that the author is a racist, or that Brianna is an unlikable character, or that she's doing something bad on purpose, but the story IS problematic IMO. Maybe Sam Sykes meant to flesh out Madame Cron more and make her more sympathetic and less of a villain, but just didn't end up doing that. I don't know. But I found myself agreeing with her throughout the book, and feeling like all the people (and monsters) telling her to get over the subjugation of their people (because it was so long ago) were being total jerks. And Brianna should have had to realize that she was at least somewhat in the wrong here.

THAT ALL BEING SAID. It was otherwise fun. And cute. The art is colorful and eye-catching. But it could be better. 2 1/2 stars. ( )

Brianna’s ailing father, a renowned chef, challenges Brianna and her 15 older brothers to each establish a successful restaurant and inherit the family name and reputation. Brianna has only just graduated from culinary school so, broke and unestablished anywhere, she ends up in Monster City where rent is cheap. But how welcoming will monsters be to human cuisine?

I grabbed this on a whim as I was prowling through my library’s shelves last week. Who can resist a bright and cheerful cover that also portrays monsters? Not me.

This was really cute and contained important messages about friendship; overcoming self-doubt; and living for your own ideals of happiness, not those dictated by someone else.

Brianna was a well-developed character who looks sweet on the outside but who is plagued by demons of self-doubt that make her lash out at others. She’s in a stressful situation and the youngest in a family of thirteen. It’s understandable. But she learns her lessons and makes her apologies and tries to grow and be a better person. The supporting characters also showed growth and they were a lot of fun to read about as well.

The illustrations are beautifully done in the same style as the cover. I loved looking at the monsters and seeing them contrasted against Brianna’s cute little cafe.

This is a standalone graphic novel as far as I can tell. I enjoyed it so much that I’m slightly disappointed.

I highly recommend this for readers who struggle with their own self-doubt and especially for anyone who is as drawn to that cute cover as I am. For those who enjoy cooking, there are even four recipes from the book included at the end. ( )

I was slightly troubled throughout this story - I had some issue with the fact that this is basically the story of a marginalized community being invaded by a privileged person.

If you can ignore that, it's a cute story about friendship and finding yourself.

There were also some weird unexplored threads that I wish Sykes had done more with, particularly with the brother and the father (who was supposed to be this mysterious figure, and when finally revealed, I had no clue if I was supposed to know who he was). ( )

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soCzlbyKomo

Enjoy! ( )

It deals directly with racism in a decent way, and the characters are cute. However, if this is a one-off I would be pretty unsatisfied. It ends with a lot of loose ends, and the one regarding the racism of the fantasy world would have really benefited from some closure. I'd have appreciated some closure with other characters, too, like Brianna's dad, her brother, and the budding romance between the other two side characters. ( )