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ladylothlorien's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Almost a perfect book to me. I really loved the premise and Lucy Parker has been highly recommended, so I took a leap and bought the paperback. So glad I did! Such a lovely combination of hilarity, vulnerability, and sexiness. The reasons why the main couple experiences issues was much more realistic and the angst was pretty low here. But the story is tinged with grief, although not at all dragged down by having the characters allow themselves to feel it. Just a delightful, emotionally intelligent romance and I can’t wait to read the next in the series as well as everything else Lucy Parker has written!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Mental illness, Stalking, Violence, Child abuse, and Death
There is a mentally Ill person who stalks and ends up attacking someone. It is a very small subplot and is handled with care.livelypsyche's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The perfect book for lovers of romance and baking! Parker takes the concept of The Great British Bake Off (and where it is heading) and tweaks it a bit for a cute love story between the Grumpy Expert Judge and a bubbly former contestant. The romance isn’t predictable but the mystery of the mole at Sugar Fair is. Still, it was a lovely read and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Stalking, Infidelity, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Car accident
kylieqrada's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
I dont have the words for the pure unadulterated MAGIC that was this book, y'all. Grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, casual inclusivity, CAKE?!?!? I just. I died.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Cancer
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Violence
barefootsong's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall, I enjoyed it, but there was too much going on for me to really sink into it. I liked the first half better before so many subplots took over. Also, there was more emotional pain and grief of various kinds than I was expecting. I think the only parts where I actually laughed-out-loud were in the first half, and then later I was just more generally amused by the funny stuff because so much else was going on. Still good, and I really loved Sylvie and Dominic's rivalry-turned-romance, but not my favorite of Parker's novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse
akswhy's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Come for the Great British Bake-off vibes, stay for the rivals to lovers and the food descriptions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse
divine529's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I had such a good time with this book. It's full of a lot of tropes I love, had fun and interesting characters and was just a good time.
This book follows our two main protagonists Sylvie and Dominic, who met previously in a show called Operation Cake (kind of like GBBO) where Sylvie was a contestant and ended up leaving the show due to an epic disaster involving a cake and Dominic's face (he's a judge). Now four years later, Sylvie is a new judge on the show and her and Dominic have to come face to face again despite having competing bakeries across the street from each other. Throw a competition to win a bid to make a royal wedding cake, explorations of trauma and grief and complicated relationships of all kinds and you have the basic idea of what this book is.
This book both hooked me from the beginning and took me some time to settle into. Baking in books is one of my favorite things and adding royalty into the mix is a recipe for a book I will most likely love and on those fronts it didn't disappoint.
Sylvie and Dominic are both interesting characters with lots of trauma and grief and different ways of coping and managing that and exploring all of that through their relationship with intimacy (everything from glances and gentle touches to sexual intimacy) was so heartbreakingly beautiful to watch and the relationship between Rosie and Johnny was lovely to see alongside the mystery and treasure hunt plotline of figuring out what happened to one of Rosie's relatives and his life (it's complicated). The relationship with Dominic and Pet was so good and I love them both. And even though I had issues with it at times, I really liked Sylvie and Jay's relationship too (though it utilized one of my least favorite tropes in books, I thought it was handled decently for a change).
Overall, I have a lot of feelings about everything in the book and it's hard to encompass all of them here, but I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to read the second installment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I look forward to revisiting this in the future.
This book follows our two main protagonists Sylvie and Dominic, who met previously in a show called Operation Cake (kind of like GBBO) where Sylvie was a contestant and ended up leaving the show due to an epic disaster involving a cake and Dominic's face (he's a judge). Now four years later, Sylvie is a new judge on the show and her and Dominic have to come face to face again despite having competing bakeries across the street from each other. Throw a competition to win a bid to make a royal wedding cake, explorations of trauma and grief and complicated relationships of all kinds and you have the basic idea of what this book is.
This book both hooked me from the beginning and took me some time to settle into. Baking in books is one of my favorite things and adding royalty into the mix is a recipe for a book I will most likely love and on those fronts it didn't disappoint.
Sylvie and Dominic are both interesting characters with lots of trauma and grief and different ways of coping and managing that and exploring all of that through their relationship with intimacy (everything from glances and gentle touches to sexual intimacy) was so heartbreakingly beautiful to watch and the relationship between Rosie and Johnny was lovely to see alongside the mystery and treasure hunt plotline of figuring out what happened to one of Rosie's relatives and his life (it's complicated). The relationship with Dominic and Pet was so good and I love them both. And even though I had issues with it at times, I really liked Sylvie and Jay's relationship too (though it utilized one of my least favorite tropes in books, I thought it was handled decently for a change).
Overall, I have a lot of feelings about everything in the book and it's hard to encompass all of them here, but I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to read the second installment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I look forward to revisiting this in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Car accident
jackiepreston's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I might have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't pictured Paul Hollywood in my head the whole time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Car accident
totallyshelfaware's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Abandonment and Child abuse
bookworm_leilani's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I marked this in content warnings as "moderate child abuse" which I don't think is quite accurate: the abuse, mainly via neglect and heavily emotional, of one of the main characters is a significant part of the narrative and one cannot read around it. However, marking this as "graphic" feels wrong as well, since for most people "graphic child abuse" is going to summon images of physical brutality, which is not the case here. Both Dominic and Sylvia are deeply marked by losses and grief, and the main subplot of the book is their untangling of the complicated relationships with their respective family members.
None of which is to say this book is not good: it's excellent, and I'd even say delightful. While it handles a lot of very heavy topics, including death, lost love, neglected childhoods, estrangements, and mental health, it did not feel overwhelming or dark to me. Conversely it is also not at all what I'd categorize as a "rom com." I loved this book, and think Lucy Parker executed a bittersweet, deeply hopeful, very romantic, very human story while deftly setting up what looks to be a promising series. It's just a.) not a rom com and b.) does deserve content warnings (a feature I love about this app!) but needed some finessing to make sense.
None of which is to say this book is not good: it's excellent, and I'd even say delightful. While it handles a lot of very heavy topics, including death, lost love, neglected childhoods, estrangements, and mental health, it did not feel overwhelming or dark to me. Conversely it is also not at all what I'd categorize as a "rom com." I loved this book, and think Lucy Parker executed a bittersweet, deeply hopeful, very romantic, very human story while deftly setting up what looks to be a promising series. It's just a.) not a rom com and b.) does deserve content warnings (a feature I love about this app!) but needed some finessing to make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent
kimiichanga's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
girly this was so good
like this was my jam
baker enemies to lovers, ft the great british bake off ALSO A ROYAL WEDDING
the fact that it had so many sub plot lines didnt feel congested to me
ugh this was so good
like this was my jam
baker enemies to lovers, ft the great british bake off ALSO A ROYAL WEDDING
the fact that it had so many sub plot lines didnt feel congested to me
ugh this was so good
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Cancer, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Injury/Injury detail