A Taste for Love

By: Jennifer Yen

Narrated by: Josephine Huang

For fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen, and The Great British Baking Show, A Taste for Love is a delicious rom-com about first love, familial expectations, and making the perfect bao.

To her friends, high-school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. Smart, kind, and pretty, she dreams big and never shies away from a challenge. But to her mom, Liza is anything but. Compared to her older sister, Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and worst of all, determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang's traditional values, especially when it comes to dating.

The one thing mother and daughter do agree on is their love of baking. Mrs. Yang is the owner of Houston's popular Yin & Yang Bakery. With college just around the corner, Liza agrees to help out at the bakery's annual junior competition to prove to her mom that she's more than her rebellious tendencies once and for all. But when Liza arrives on the first day of the bake-off, she realizes there's a catch: All of the contestants are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date.

The Bachelorette situation Liza has found herself in is made even worse when she happens to be grudgingly attracted to one of the contestants; the stoic, impenetrable, annoyingly hot James Wong. As she battles against her feelings for James and for her mother's approval, Liza begins to realize there's no tried-and-true recipe for love.

©2021 Jennifer Yen (P)2021 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Pride and Prejudice gets a taste of The Great British Bake Off in this debut, which hits all the right notes." (Booklist)

"A plot-driven romance with a happy ending, Yen’s debut is filled with mouth-watering descriptions of jelly cakes, egg waffles, matcha cookies, boba tea, and char siu bao.... A fun story about family and friendship." (School Library Journal)

"This enjoyable rom-com has plenty to offer readers, including valuable friendships, the importance of family, a well-developed main character, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.... Readers will be engrossed in this relaxed re-telling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from beginning to end.” (School Library Connection)

LOVED IT

*Spoilers*


I absolutely loved the whole story line. Even though James didn’t win the contest, I was still happy that he did the honorable thing. And the way James and Liza were like the same person was the funniest thing ever.
OVERALL LOVED IT!!!!

Retelling of a classic

A fabulous modern retelling of a classic with some Asian flavor added into the mix.

cute rom com with helicopter mom

The book was very cute. It made me giggle like I was back in high school all over again. This is a great read for people who love rom com and helicopter mom comedies.

The setting is fun it's set in summer in Houston, Texas. Liza Yang is an 18 year old who is still trying to figure out what she wants to do for a living and where she wants to go to college. Liza has a helicopter mom who is trying to set her up with a good ASIAN guy. Liza is aggravated about this. Its quite funny. Liza's mom owns a bakery and all Liza wants to do is bake with her mother but mom is having non of it she must go to a good college and get a 'real' job. Liza's dad owns a restaurant and is the mediator between the 2.

I love the characterization and relationships in this book. Liza's character is stubborn and stong-willed and a little rebellious. Her best friend Grace keeps her from taking it too far.

And of course can't have a rom com without the first meeting. Which is this case is absolutely hilarious because James is just as stubborn as she is but he's more quiet, reserved, and socially awkward than she is which makes for a terrible first impression which of course makes for hilarious dialogue.

Overall I enjoyed this book.

Nasally narrator

The narration style was so bad that I couldn't finish. I might buy the Kindle version because there plot seems good.

Terrible narration

Nasally valley girl narration kinda made it hard to really get into the story. The main character sounds like a snotty spoiled teen. I feel like if I’d read the book I would have been able to enjoy the story much more.

Really Enjoyable

This was really enjoyable, I really miss these kind of books where there is no real drama or deep issue going on .. it's just pure fun and people having the time of their lives
So the story follows Liza she is a high school senior and she LOVES baking, too bad her parents don't approve with this though they have a baking shop themselves, her mom is dead set to match her with a cute Asian boy but she is trying to resist it .. until James come to the picture .. he fits every check in the list, too bad he is too arrogant and prejudiced to be likable ..
the story takes place in a baking contest, where Liza is a judge and James is a contestant and her mom is trying to set her up with Edward, another contestant, it's sounds complicated .. but it's adorably complicated
I did have an issue with the progression of the relationship between Liza and James, it seemed like one moment they were kind of friends, and then the next thing we know they like each other so much !! .. for me, the cutest story was Grace, she is such a true friend and her story with Ben was sooo cute .. I liked Nathan a lot too, but .. no spoilers

It's really obvious that this was the narrator's first time narrating because she was barely performing, specially when Ben and James talking I couldn't tell who is who most of the time .. hope she does better next time