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marmaladereads's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
How does a zero spice book about anxiety have so many dick jokes?
It turns out I actually love books that give you the worst kind of secondhand embarrassment. Paris is the worst kind of disaster "keeps fucking everything up when it was actually going okay because anxiety" kind of way and I was cringing and laughing on his behalf the entire time. This book is a painful look at anxiety disorder and we're in Paris's head the whole time which is honestly a little cringe but it is also hilarious and snarky in a very classic Alexis Hall type of way. And yes, it is like 40% penis jokes. A shocking amount of penis jokes, really. (They're all funny.)
I do think the second half is when things fall apart a little bit. Paris gets predictably better (this is a romance novel, after all, everyone gets their HEA) but I do wish the time scale was a looot longer. It just happened a bit too quickly for me given how severe his anxiety was, it felt a wee bit too magical therapy moment.
Oh, and there's the whole baking competition bit, so that's nice too, I guess.
It turns out I actually love books that give you the worst kind of secondhand embarrassment. Paris is the worst kind of disaster "keeps fucking everything up when it was actually going okay because anxiety" kind of way and I was cringing and laughing on his behalf the entire time. This book is a painful look at anxiety disorder and we're in Paris's head the whole time which is honestly a little cringe but it is also hilarious and snarky in a very classic Alexis Hall type of way. And yes, it is like 40% penis jokes. A shocking amount of penis jokes, really. (They're all funny.)
I do think the second half is when things fall apart a little bit. Paris gets predictably better (this is a romance novel, after all, everyone gets their HEA) but I do wish the time scale was a looot longer. It just happened a bit too quickly for me given how severe his anxiety was, it felt a wee bit too magical therapy moment.
Oh, and there's the whole baking competition bit, so that's nice too, I guess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship
bzliz's review
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was much tougher to get through than Rosaline’s story. Paris has severe undiagnosed anxiety and panic disorders and it was challenging to keep going. There’s a lot of spiraling in fits of anxiety that was minorly triggering for me and I don’t typically find that’s something I experience.
Not only does Paris have real issues he needs to see a medical professional about but Tariq is trying to fix him without realizing it and without being equipped to help. On top of that, Paris keeps reaching out to his parents and gets nothing in return in a way that really hurt my heart. Honestly, my favorite character was the cat.
The structure also suffered in my opinion, because there was so much to cover post-filming. There were relatively few mid-week scenes which made everything feel like a rinse and repeat of Paris buried so deeply in his own head that he can scarcely function. Over all, I didn’t hate it but I certainly wouldn’t read it again.
Not only does Paris have real issues he needs to see a medical professional about but Tariq is trying to fix him without realizing it and without being equipped to help. On top of that, Paris keeps reaching out to his parents and gets nothing in return in a way that really hurt my heart. Honestly, my favorite character was the cat.
The structure also suffered in my opinion, because there was so much to cover post-filming. There were relatively few mid-week scenes which made everything feel like a rinse and repeat of Paris buried so deeply in his own head that he can scarcely function. Over all, I didn’t hate it but I certainly wouldn’t read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Cursing and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
All the phobias and isms are from a particular contestant and from discussion surrounding the show on social media. Otherwise they are merely mentioned in the same way someone would say “I’m from X place, nothing can scare me.”the_reading_kat's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Good points about mental health, but only in the last quarter of the book. Until then it’s literally just the main character being a hot mess, not always relatable. Didn’t feel the chemistry between the mc and the love interest until the last twenty pages or so. Understandable with the plot but difficult to read anyway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Abandonment
alisonvh's review
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
I didn’t like this book as much as I’ve liked Hall’s other stuff, mostly because I found the main character to be insufferable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, and Abandonment
astropova's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm glad Paris finally got the help to work on himself that he desperately needed, though I wish it could have happened a lot earlier in the book. If I had known how long it would take, I may have DNF'd the book earlier because it was a bit awful to sit there and suffer through it too.
I also thought that some of the parts set at the baking show seemed a little abbreviated. At some points, there wasn't even anything important happening, but the plot timeline still had to get moved on.
Loved Morag! So cool to have such a positive depiction of a fat (side-)character!
I also thought that some of the parts set at the baking show seemed a little abbreviated. At some points, there wasn't even anything important happening, but the plot timeline still had to get moved on.
Loved Morag! So cool to have such a positive depiction of a fat (side-)character!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
Huge warning for anxiety. The firstmichfiske5's review
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Xenophobia and Islamophobia
ehmannky's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
If you go into this book expecting a swoon-worthy romance to be the front and center plot, you’re probably going to be disappointed. I think this series is better classified as contemporary instead of contemporary romance, but it’s still good. I think reading a book where someone who had a mental illness actually fucks up and has to work his way back to health, restoring relationships, and finding himself is good actually and I think Hall really did a good job writing a 20 year old going navigating parental abandonment and a mental health crisis. It’s a well-written book, the anxiety felt real (as someone with a tendency to catastrophize, I really related to a lot of what Paris went through), and I think the romantic reconciliation felt appropriate (a very HFN instead of a HEA) for two twenty year olds who both fucked up (and honestly a lot of reviews on here sort of gloss over the fact Tariq did approach Paris as a project to be fixed and then backed out not all that gracefully when the problem could not be solved by love). It’s well done even if it’s not the romance I think the cover sort of builds it up to be. I do think you should mind the page full of trigger warnings in this one and kind of bow out if they’re not for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
daughterofthesungod's review
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble... and after reading this book so am I.
Spoilers ahead.
Well, this book was a ride, just not a good one.
Let me be straight: this book is not for everyone. If you struggle with your mental health or, like me, suffer from anxiety this probably isn't for you because it can be really *super* triggering. As a person who has also worked very hard to get better when it comes to anxiety I can tell you this book was too exhausting and it triggered me to many times. — And yes I know it had a trigger warning at the beginning, yet I don't think that was even enough —. Moreover of you are looking for a cute romance book THIS IS NOT IT. The romance is barely there and I'm not gonna lie I wish there wasn't any.
To be honest I'm not so sure how I didn't DNFed it. I guess I just really needed to know if there was going to be some progress at the end. Spoiler alert: there was, I just think that happened a bit too late.
Now there are some things that I can't ignore. First of all, Paris is a crap person. I know he has crippling anxiety and I know how horrible and exhausting that is, but I'm sorry, not everything can be excused on that. He has a lot of awful behaviors, he's cultural insensitive and snobbish. He just hurts people and a lot of the time it cannot be excused. Moreover his development (like I said) just happened too late for me, if that would've happened a lot earlier then this book could've been better. It would've been so good to read more about him dealing with getting better. I do have to say that I felt sad and bad for him at times and I even wanted to protect him from the world when it came to his personal life. And a lot of times his anxiety (which was really well portrayed l, so props for that) made me want to be there for him and help him.
Still there are things he should be more aware of. Specially when it comes to religion, beliefs and race.
That is another thing: THE AMOUNT OF RACISM THIS BOOK HAS! And I know it has a warning about it too but there are times in which there seemed to be racism written just to fill in. Like somebody said 'oh this is just a blank space where we could add more Islamophobia *that will not contribute to the story* it's fine.' I think some of that didn't do much to the story. It would've added to it if maybe there would've been a dual POV and that was more focused from Tariq's view.
Now, there were some things I liked tho.
I will start saying that the first thing I loved about this book was the cover. It's just too beautiful and of course it caught my eye.
Secondly, I loved Tariq and I can say he deserved better. He's not perfect, he made his mistakes too but he tried a lot too and owned everything he did, he also stood for himself too and God I wish I had as much self love as him.
Thirdly, I really loved the format of the book. The whole bakimg show and the book divided in weeks and days and then in episodes it was just really good. I did not read Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake and I don’t know if it has the same format but I'm definitely curious about it. The whole baking show was my favorite thing.
And talking about the show I have to say that the people involved in it were EVERYTHING. They gave me the best moments in the book and were just pure comedy. Marianne, Wilfred, Colin, Jennifer were just so good, but Grace Forsythe was my absolute favorite, she had me laughing hysterically at times.
Overall it's not a book I'd reread or recommend but if you read it I really hope you have a better experience than me reading it.
Spoilers ahead.
Well, this book was a ride, just not a good one.
Let me be straight: this book is not for everyone. If you struggle with your mental health or, like me, suffer from anxiety this probably isn't for you because it can be really *super* triggering. As a person who has also worked very hard to get better when it comes to anxiety I can tell you this book was too exhausting and it triggered me to many times. — And yes I know it had a trigger warning at the beginning, yet I don't think that was even enough —. Moreover of you are looking for a cute romance book THIS IS NOT IT. The romance is barely there and I'm not gonna lie I wish there wasn't any.
To be honest I'm not so sure how I didn't DNFed it. I guess I just really needed to know if there was going to be some progress at the end. Spoiler alert: there was, I just think that happened a bit too late.
Now there are some things that I can't ignore. First of all, Paris is a crap person. I know he has crippling anxiety and I know how horrible and exhausting that is, but I'm sorry, not everything can be excused on that. He has a lot of awful behaviors, he's cultural insensitive and snobbish. He just hurts people and a lot of the time it cannot be excused. Moreover his development (like I said) just happened too late for me, if that would've happened a lot earlier then this book could've been better. It would've been so good to read more about him dealing with getting better. I do have to say that I felt sad and bad for him at times and I even wanted to protect him from the world when it came to his personal life. And a lot of times his anxiety (which was really well portrayed l, so props for that) made me want to be there for him and help him.
Still there are things he should be more aware of. Specially when it comes to religion, beliefs and race.
That is another thing: THE AMOUNT OF RACISM THIS BOOK HAS! And I know it has a warning about it too but there are times in which there seemed to be racism written just to fill in. Like somebody said 'oh this is just a blank space where we could add more Islamophobia *that will not contribute to the story* it's fine.' I think some of that didn't do much to the story. It would've added to it if maybe there would've been a dual POV and that was more focused from Tariq's view.
Now, there were some things I liked tho.
I will start saying that the first thing I loved about this book was the cover. It's just too beautiful and of course it caught my eye.
Secondly, I loved Tariq and I can say he deserved better. He's not perfect, he made his mistakes too but he tried a lot too and owned everything he did, he also stood for himself too and God I wish I had as much self love as him.
Thirdly, I really loved the format of the book. The whole bakimg show and the book divided in weeks and days and then in episodes it was just really good. I did not read Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake and I don’t know if it has the same format but I'm definitely curious about it. The whole baking show was my favorite thing.
And talking about the show I have to say that the people involved in it were EVERYTHING. They gave me the best moments in the book and were just pure comedy. Marianne, Wilfred, Colin, Jennifer were just so good, but Grace Forsythe was my absolute favorite, she had me laughing hysterically at times.
Overall it's not a book I'd reread or recommend but if you read it I really hope you have a better experience than me reading it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry
lindsayerin's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Xenophobia and Abandonment
Minor: Religious bigotry
jakemitton's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Xenophobia