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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Couldn't start the writing style and too many characters were thrown at us too early.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book has wonderful intentions; I appreciate the centering of enby protagonists and love interests, and the trio of happily ever afters. Of the three stories, I think I enjoyed the third one the most, because I liked Yujin's character best out of the cast. I struggled with the writing and the volume of typos, though.
This was so sweet!
These are three very queer love stories, in a lovely bakery that made me want to eat so much cakes! All of them are very sweet but also hella sexy!
My favourite story is probably the last one, Ravenous, mainly because I think Alex is my favourite character of them all. They're an enby baker and probably the character I related to the most!
It was a quick read full of soft feelings, nerdy references and great characters and so! many! cats! Literally every story has at least a little bit about cats and I truly feel blessed because of it, like, seriously. All the cats.
The Content Warnings are listed at the beginning of the book but here if you want them before picking it up: explicit sex (including one scene with D/s dynamics), mention/discussion of parental death, misgendering that's immediately challenged.
These are three very queer love stories, in a lovely bakery that made me want to eat so much cakes! All of them are very sweet but also hella sexy!
My favourite story is probably the last one, Ravenous, mainly because I think Alex is my favourite character of them all. They're an enby baker and probably the character I related to the most!
It was a quick read full of soft feelings, nerdy references and great characters and so! many! cats! Literally every story has at least a little bit about cats and I truly feel blessed because of it, like, seriously. All the cats.
The Content Warnings are listed at the beginning of the book but here if you want them before picking it up: explicit sex (including one scene with D/s dynamics), mention/discussion of parental death, misgendering that's immediately challenged.
disclosure: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’ll be honest: I’m picky about my romance.
It’s probably a side effect of growing up queer and creative. Watching and reading traditional romances, I never really related to the characters or stories: they were too straight, too thin, too cis. The happily-ever-afters were too predictably heteronormative for me to enjoy. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the tropiness of it--who doesn’t love a good friends-to-lovers story, or enemies-to-lovers, or mutual pining, or all three put together?--but I just never saw myself.
Welp, fellow chubby enby queers, grab a bottle of wine and some bubble bath, because Graham’s Delicacies is the romance we were waiting for you.
This collection of three stories by #ownvoices author Em Ali is a sweet, steamy read, perfect for an afternoon or evening of easy escapism. It’s not high literary fiction by any means, but it’s not trying to be. The stories are honest and genuine and delightful in their open-heartedness, and the diversity of the characters is a welcome break in a genre saturated with straight white thinness.
Graham’s Delicacies centers in a bakery by the same name, with a beautifully diverse staff that forms the backbone of the stories. Emilie and Alex, who are both nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, work in the kitchen, whipping up beautiful baked confections. Alex is Arab-American and queer, and Emilie is white and chubby, with a history of anxiety that the narrative explores with tenderness and care. In the front of the store, we meet Jen, who is Black and bisexual; Sam, Black and gay, and James, Mexican-American and also gay. Through Alex, we meet, Yujin, a gay Korean-American YouTube star who features the bakery on his dessert tour.
Each story focuses on a different pair of characters, with the others featuring in and giving peeks at the plot points of the other stories. We see a lot of favorite rom-com tropes show up in the individual stories--Saccharine, Jen and Emilie’s story, is ripe with friends-to-lovers sweetness; Delectable, James and Sam’s, is chock-full of mutual pining. You do get the sense, as you read, that there’s a bit of an over-reliance on the trope to sell the story, particularly in the third story, Ravenous, about Alex and Yujin, and somewhat with James and Sam’s story as well--other characters and the book’s description imply a deeper sense of animosity and tension than the narrative really conveys, so you need to sort of push it along yourself.
The different dynamics between the three couples are an absolute delight to read. Jen and Emilie are soft and sweet and sexy, Sam and James playful and teasing and entertainingly bashful, Alex and Yujin straddling the line between longing and self-denial and delightfully sharp. The sex scenes are definitely explicit, but in an indulgent way that never feels fetishizing. Even though each couple has an incredibly different sexual vibe, there’s an undercurrent of sweetness that runs under every scene, and a distinct emphasis placed on enthusiastic consent. It was refreshing to read, and wove in organically and easily.
One very minor drawback of the book in general--and in slightly the same vein--was that there really wasn’t an overall sense of tension or urgency. The stories moved along, and they were sweet and fluffy and occasionally a bit angsty, but there wasn’t a deep sense of risk in any of them. If you like your romance with higher stakes, you might not walk away delighted. But as a bathtub read designed to leave you feeling warm and cozy inside, Graham’s Delicacies does its job very well.
As a reader, I also really, really appreciated the content warnings that the author provided at the beginning of the book. None of my triggers showed up, but in general, I think this represents a trend of authors becoming more aware of their readers and being more intentional about making sure readers have a safe experience--which is great.
This is an adorable, steamy read after a long day when you just need to relax your brain and chill out with some sweet, easy, and--well, saccharine cuteness. It's worth the buy.
I’ll be honest: I’m picky about my romance.
It’s probably a side effect of growing up queer and creative. Watching and reading traditional romances, I never really related to the characters or stories: they were too straight, too thin, too cis. The happily-ever-afters were too predictably heteronormative for me to enjoy. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the tropiness of it--who doesn’t love a good friends-to-lovers story, or enemies-to-lovers, or mutual pining, or all three put together?--but I just never saw myself.
Welp, fellow chubby enby queers, grab a bottle of wine and some bubble bath, because Graham’s Delicacies is the romance we were waiting for you.
This collection of three stories by #ownvoices author Em Ali is a sweet, steamy read, perfect for an afternoon or evening of easy escapism. It’s not high literary fiction by any means, but it’s not trying to be. The stories are honest and genuine and delightful in their open-heartedness, and the diversity of the characters is a welcome break in a genre saturated with straight white thinness.
Graham’s Delicacies centers in a bakery by the same name, with a beautifully diverse staff that forms the backbone of the stories. Emilie and Alex, who are both nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, work in the kitchen, whipping up beautiful baked confections. Alex is Arab-American and queer, and Emilie is white and chubby, with a history of anxiety that the narrative explores with tenderness and care. In the front of the store, we meet Jen, who is Black and bisexual; Sam, Black and gay, and James, Mexican-American and also gay. Through Alex, we meet, Yujin, a gay Korean-American YouTube star who features the bakery on his dessert tour.
Each story focuses on a different pair of characters, with the others featuring in and giving peeks at the plot points of the other stories. We see a lot of favorite rom-com tropes show up in the individual stories--Saccharine, Jen and Emilie’s story, is ripe with friends-to-lovers sweetness; Delectable, James and Sam’s, is chock-full of mutual pining. You do get the sense, as you read, that there’s a bit of an over-reliance on the trope to sell the story, particularly in the third story, Ravenous, about Alex and Yujin, and somewhat with James and Sam’s story as well--other characters and the book’s description imply a deeper sense of animosity and tension than the narrative really conveys, so you need to sort of push it along yourself.
The different dynamics between the three couples are an absolute delight to read. Jen and Emilie are soft and sweet and sexy, Sam and James playful and teasing and entertainingly bashful, Alex and Yujin straddling the line between longing and self-denial and delightfully sharp. The sex scenes are definitely explicit, but in an indulgent way that never feels fetishizing. Even though each couple has an incredibly different sexual vibe, there’s an undercurrent of sweetness that runs under every scene, and a distinct emphasis placed on enthusiastic consent. It was refreshing to read, and wove in organically and easily.
One very minor drawback of the book in general--and in slightly the same vein--was that there really wasn’t an overall sense of tension or urgency. The stories moved along, and they were sweet and fluffy and occasionally a bit angsty, but there wasn’t a deep sense of risk in any of them. If you like your romance with higher stakes, you might not walk away delighted. But as a bathtub read designed to leave you feeling warm and cozy inside, Graham’s Delicacies does its job very well.
As a reader, I also really, really appreciated the content warnings that the author provided at the beginning of the book. None of my triggers showed up, but in general, I think this represents a trend of authors becoming more aware of their readers and being more intentional about making sure readers have a safe experience--which is great.
This is an adorable, steamy read after a long day when you just need to relax your brain and chill out with some sweet, easy, and--well, saccharine cuteness. It's worth the buy.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Gaaaaaaah!!! I love all these cuties!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
this book is three short stories wrapped up in one. All set around the same bakery and the people who work there. All 3 are queer and the characters cross over in each of them. The stories centre f/nb, m/m, & nb/m relationships respectively. It is an adult book and does have explicit sex on page. I really loved the characters and their relationships. It's a soft, warm book with a happy ending for everyone. But only 3 stars from me because I didn't love the writing.
3.5 stars
This book could use some further editing, but I found the three short stories here sweet enough to overcome that deficit. It’s a fluffy, light confection about some lovely people who fall in love while working at the same queer-friendly bakery. It prioritizes consent and kindness, and basically feels like the written version of a favourite dessert - without all the pesky calories.
This book could use some further editing, but I found the three short stories here sweet enough to overcome that deficit. It’s a fluffy, light confection about some lovely people who fall in love while working at the same queer-friendly bakery. It prioritizes consent and kindness, and basically feels like the written version of a favourite dessert - without all the pesky calories.
cute! i think the minimalist approach to plot worked better here than in soft on soft -- you can get away with that sort of thing more in short stories. still could use a copy-editor though not as notably as in the first book
3 stars
3 stars
I almost feel mean, but giving this 2 stars is me being generous (Goodreads says 2 stars means "it was ok", so it's definitely generous!).