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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 3 customer reviews )
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2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 A High Calorie Fantasy Oct 13, 2008
By J. Schaefer
If you enjoy good food, good wine and good sex while dodging organized crime types, the Compulsive Chef by Stephen Anthony is for you. When young David discovers his calling in life is among the pots and pans, he transforms himself into a world class executive chef. His gastronomic talents are sought by patrons on both sides of the law. His romantic talents are sought by the wife of a crime lord and it's then that David realizes he has cooked up more trouble than he can digest. So pour a glass of Pinot Noir, jump into the recliner and be prepared to work up an appetite of some type.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Unsatisfying and not delicious Apr 13, 2012
By LG
The description of The Compulsive Chef promises action adventure, romance and travelogue, but the main reason that I selected this book was that I ran across two free novels about the adventures of a chef at the same time and that piqued my interest. How often do you read about a chef's adventures?
Unfortunately, this chef doesn't deliver. By the time I read chapter 2, I was already shaking my head, thinking I had picked up a teen book by mistake. In part 2, David, who we are told has three years of college, borrows money to invest in a mail order starter package of door-to-door cleaning products. The box arrives and David says, "This box holds the key to my future!" Upon unpacking the box, he holds a booklet entitled "How to make a million dollars selling door-to-door" up in the air and thinks, "This book contains a wealth of knowledge". He gets chased by a vicious dog at one house, has a shotgun pointed at him at another, slips in a pile of dog poo, and, of course, sells no products. Just like the last job, he quits the first day. Haha, so funny.
The writing is so simplistic, the characters are cardboard cutouts, the dialogue is just cringe-worthy, and the cliches go on and on -- mad dash to the john, ran like the wind, turned beet red, white as a ghost, half-baked promise, well-heeled patrons, winning smile, burning desire, throes of passion, patience of a saint, fateful journey, near death's door, like the back of his hand, like a bump on a log, like a chicken with its head cut off (used twice) ..... Ugh!
The book is amateurish, written at a young teen level with subject matter that is not young teen level. It did not meet my expectations set by the book description. The adventure consisted of our hero repeatedly running away from the results of his own very stupid actions. The travelogue consisted of a paragraph describing his location. There was not one iota of romance -- lust, yes, tons of that, but no romance. Even the food was not described; instead we are told that it was so wonderful that it brought a tear to the eye and we are expected to believe that.
If this were a high school writing project, I'd give it a 'B+'. Even giving a break to an indie author, as generous as I can go is 2 stars. I highly recommend reading the sample before buying to see if this style is for you.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
It was OK but... Apr 08, 2012
By Peggy G
"Peggy G"
It was somewhat interesting but it did get redundant and a bit silly near the end.
Also, the grammar and spelling were atrocious. Seriously, didn't someone with at least a grade school education proofread this? There's this new invention that this publisher really should check out, it's called Spell Check.
I guess it was worth the price I paid for it, $0.00.
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