This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
Commi Kitchen by Cole Crocker is a raw, funny, and profoundly human novel about grief, ambition, and the unpredictable theater of the culinary world. Brand is a young chef with vision, drive, and wounds he has not yet begun to name. As he throws himself into reviving a broken-down commissary kitchen with an eccentric crew of culinary misfits, the physical chaos of weddings and food trucks mirrors his own internal turmoil. The writing pulses with heat, exhaustion, dark humor, and a slow burn of grief that keeps flaring up between batches of barbecue and prepped trays. This is not a sanitized foodie story, but a sweaty, soulful account of survival through work, community, and unapologetic mess.
Author Cole Crocker excels at capturing the back-of-house madness that never makes it onto the menu. I was struck by the honesty in Brand’s character—how his perfectionism becomes both a weapon and a shield. Everyone in the novel has their own baggage and brilliance, and the brilliantly narrated portraits of the staff bring moments of comedy, tension, and unexpected tenderness just when you need them for a great balance of different emotions. The novel’s pacing mirrors the rhythm of the kitchen, too, with frantic, focused, and occasionally breathtakingly still moments that complement the drama perfectly. It's an unusually visual setting for a book, but it's brilliantly captured with cinematic description and multi-sensory moments to perfectly describe the chaos. Overall, Commi Kitchen is a searing, smart, and deeply affecting novel that serves up raw humanity with a side of dark humor and broken crockery.
