Peyton Sinclaire has made it all the way to New York City to compete in the Top Teen Chef competition, where the winner will win a full-ride scholarship to one of the best culinary schools in the country. She needs that, because her parents are not in a position to pay for her to go. She made it onto the show and traveled all the way from her aunt’s trailer in Florida and the truck stop where she waits tables to cook and bake her way to her future.

But standing in her way are all the other contestants who want that scholarship too, and the producer of the reality show, who wants Peyton to serve up drama along with her dishes. Peyton wants to win solely on her merits as a baker, but the producer wants to show her as the underdog, as a rags-to-riches teenager who uses anything she can to get ahead. But Peyton doesn’t feel like that’s true. She does want to win, but does she want it enough to portray herself as someone she isn’t?

For their first challenge, the young chefs are tasked with creating a 3-course meal that showcases who they are for the three judges. Peyton reaches for her Florida flavors for inspiration and creates a meal like she’s never made before. But going before the judges, she realizes that she’s going have to work extra hard to please them. While two of the judges liked some of her ideas and loved her key lime pie, the other judge was extremely critical and questioned why she was even in the competition. She came in last, meaning that she would have a penalty in their next challenge.

But most of the other competitors were encouraging to her, and she started making some good friends. While there was that one young chef who took “mean girl” to another level, Peyton finds enough strength within herself and gets enough good advice from the rest of her competitors to fight for another shot. As the chefs spend the next three weeks together, going around New York City for the cooking challenges based on iconic landmarks and cooking from the inspiration they find, Peyton finds herself growing as a chef, as a friend, and as a person.

But as the days go by, and more of the chefs are eliminated, will Peyton be able to stay in the competition until the end? Or will she get eliminated and have to move back to Florida, back to her aunt’s trailer, back to waiting tables in the diner?

Where There’s a Whisk is a delicious novel of competition, cooperation, and figuring out who you are. Author Sarah J. Schmitt has constructed this world that shows the inside world of a cutthroat cooking competition while also creating a diverse group of teenaged chefs who all have an agenda and bring something different to the story.

I am a cooking show nerd. I love them, and I was really looking forward to reading this. And I thought it served up an amazing story, interesting characters, fun behind-the-scenes drama, and a really convincing cooking competition. I loved just about everything about this smart ya novel, and I really hope that other cooking show nerds (of any age) find that it fulfills their appetites for drama too.

Egalleys for Where There’s a Whisk were provided by Running Press Kids (Perseus Books) through NetGalley, with many thanks.