Review Detail

ELIZA, FROM SCRATCH by Sophia Lee is a YA Contemporary Romance and Coming-of-Age. In the book, Eliza is on track to graduate as second in her class by finishing and acing every AP course that’s offered. That is, until a small snag happens: she has a schedule conflict that lands her in a regular, unweighted class, which could mess up her GPA and salutatorian standing. To make matters worse, it’s a cooking course, which is far outside her skill set, and on top of that, she gets partnered with the snobby but talented Wesley, who would love nothing more than to see her fail at something. If she’s going to somehow make it through her senior year as she intended, she’s going to have to learn, and fast.

What works very well in this novel is how Lee sets up Eliza and Wesley as enemies-to-lovers. Eliza is a great student, but for the first time, unmoored by not being perfect at something. Wesley is not a great student and has a grudge against Type-A people, but he happens to be a fantastic chef. In that, we have an immediate conflict, which is fun to watch the characters overcome. I enjoyed reading as their relationship blossomed over food and seeing the lessons they learned from one another. I also really liked how learning to cook brings Eliza closer to her mother and her heritage.

That said, I did have questions about some emotional beats. For instance, Eliza indicates she had a great relationship with her mom prior to her grandmother dying, but their relationship became so stilted, so fast. Even with Eliza not knowing how to navigate grief, it’s hard to imagine she wouldn’t have tried to reach out at all when she saw how much her mom was hurting. I also had a difficult time buying the reason Eliza’s friends decided to lie to her, and that Wesley had so much contempt for his mom and their lifestyle, when in the end, he mentioned she’d be fine with his chosen life path. Spending a bit more time motivating these conflicts would have helped these smaller plot lines to land even better.

Overall, though, ELIZA, FROM SCRATCH was a delightful read and a great reminder for people of any age: find what you're passionate about and chase that! Also, a word of warning for anyone who decides to pick up this book: Don’t read while hungry! The dishes Eliza and Wesley create together sound amazing.