As stories go, Kitchen Princess is fairly average. The art appears unsteady, the pace felt a bit too fast, the characters are trite, and some plot devices way too overused. Yet, I still found it an enjoyable read.

You have the new transfer girl who gets bullied by all the girls because she gets close to the most popular guy on campus (yawn). But she perseveres and with his help, wins them over to her side such that they now cheer on her relationship.

I did enjoy that the main characters don't drag on for five volumes about their secret crushes and martyr themselves for the next six volumes for their crush's happiness. Instead there was a more natural variety of paces, including some who got straight to the point. There was one plot device that was extremely contrived (and overused in this particular series) and seemed far too dark for a story otherwise perfect for pre-teen girls. The characters all gloss over it super fast too, making it wholly unrealistic. You really don't need that much sheer tragedy to try to incite sympathy for the main character.

Overall, Kitchen Princess isn't a work of art, but it's an enjoyable, fast read.