At the start of the novel, we see that Tia is a new student in NYU's food studies graduate program and is hoping to get an internship with cookbook author, Helen Lansky. However, she first meets NY Times' restaurant critic, Michael Saltz, who alters the course of her young life.
The whole premise here is a bit outrageous and somewhat unbelievable, but this is fiction after all. It's possibly every young food writer's dream to be taken under the wing of the most powerful man in NY food, to be given a fabulous wardrobe of expensive designer clothing, and to see her words in print in the New York Times. Only Tia's not getting credit for them. In fact, she has to keep her whole gig with Saltz a secret from everyone: her long-time boyfriend, her family, her roommates, and the staff at Madison Park Tavern, her internship placement where she works as a lowly coat-check girl.
Once you get past the set-up of the premise, the book flows pretty nicely. It's well-paced, most of the secondary characters are believable, particularly hottie chef Pascal Fox and Tia's boyfriend Elliott, and actually ends up being a real page-turner. Tia Monroe is driven in her desire to be a food writer, and displays impressive erudition without being pompous. She's also highly likable, and as a reader, I wanted her to succeed.
The book's not perfect. Tia thinks too much. Some of the secondary characters, like her roomates, seem like filler. But the meat of the story is fun and well-paced. And props to Tom for writing sex scenes that are not tacky and actually a bit titillating. I look forward to her second novel.
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