State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

State of the Onion (A White House Chef Mystery, #1)

by Julie Hyzy

Introducing White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras, who is rising-and sleuthing-to the top.

Includes recipes for a complete presidential menu! Never let them see you sweat-that's White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras's motto, which is pretty hard to honor in the most important kitchen in the world. She's hell-bent on earning her dream job, Executive Chef. There's just one thing: her nemesis is vying for it, too. Well, that and the fact that an elusive assassin wants to see her fry.

Reviewed by MurderByDeath on

3 of 5 stars

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Overall, a very good story. I was positive I knew who the killer was until the very end, when I was proved very wrong. All the characters in the white house kitchen were likeable and I enjoyed reading about them. There were a couple of times when the main character waxed lyrical about the honor of working in the white house, and while I understood the feelings the author was trying to convey, it felt a bit over-the-top. The only place I felt the author failed was the relationship between Ollie and Tom. His treatment of her throughout the story felt wrong for someone who was supposed to love her and didn't endear me to him at all. And his complete 180 wasn't explained at all - one minute he was so mad at her he couldn't even talk to her, and the next, they're hugging and he's grinning and talking about never letting her go. huh?

Overall, though, I enjoyed this book and I'll gladly pick up the next in the series.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 September, 2012: Finished reading
  • 1 September, 2012: Reviewed