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theladydetective's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ROYAL WEDDING RIVALS TO LOVERS
With grumpy/sunshine and British Bake Off vibes.
More sad and emotional than the cover and premise led me to expect.
Lot's of swoony scenes revolving around touch, which made it feel Period Drama like.
With grumpy/sunshine and British Bake Off vibes.
More sad and emotional than the cover and premise led me to expect.
Lot's of swoony scenes revolving around touch, which made it feel Period Drama like.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident and Emotional 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
theaccidentalromanceblogger's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild was a contestant in a Great British Bake-Off (Baking Show for the Americans) type of show. Dominic De Vere was a judge in said show. Sylvie always wowed everyone with her whimsical creations, but those never impressed the more traditionalist De Vere. She was rapidly moving ahead in the competition, when a cake gimmick run amok has her shooting a unicorn hoof smack dab in the forehead of the grumpy judge...
Fast-forward to today and Sylvie is an accomplished baker, with her own fairytale-like bakery/eatery/bar located literally across from De Vere's very classy and traditional one. And, through a series of fortunate events, she ends up being the new judge in the same TV show, much to De Vere's dismay.
When rumors of the new royal wedding pop up, Sylvie knows her competitor will be in the short list and she manages to find herself a way to get invited to show her proposal for the wedding cake.
Let the competition begin!
When they get asked some very hard to achieve and very specific requests from the couple, they end up joining forces in the research. Sylvie figures out that Dominic is not as grumpy as he seems and Dominic, well, Dominic always knew that Sylvie was a fairy in disguise. ;)
If you love GBBO and baking, this one is definitely for you! I loved how the Paul Hollywood/Simon Cowell grumpy Dominic turns into the sweetest cinnamon hero. When Sylvie gets food poisoning after one of their research trips and he takes care of her...*SWOON*.
We get the expected conflicts: Dominic is dealing with his estranged sister who's back into his life like a hurricane and Sylvie runs her bakery with her best friend Jay. There are the expected royal shenanigans and uppity characters but they make it all the more fun to read.
It's light-hearted, low-angsty and a little predictable, but completely adorable. Yeah, the ending is kinda obvious, but it's a romance novel! You WANT it to end exactly like that!
Loved it!
Possible triggers: death of loved ones, toxic relationships with parents, a secondary character gets assaulted with a knife and hurt
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail
caseythereader's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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
4.0
- BATTLE ROYAL is totally precious. Grumpy/sunshine bakers, with a GBBO-type show, and some royal wedding intrigue, too!
- This is a romance novel that really digs into feelings, both past and present. I love a book where you get to watch the leads learn how to care for and support each other.
- To be honest, I didn't really feel any heat between Sylvie and Dominic, but their relationship was so tender that I was mostly okay with it. I'll still keep reading this series; I for sure want to get stories for Pet and Mabel!
- This is a romance novel that really digs into feelings, both past and present. I love a book where you get to watch the leads learn how to care for and support each other.
- To be honest, I didn't really feel any heat between Sylvie and Dominic, but their relationship was so tender that I was mostly okay with it. I'll still keep reading this series; I for sure want to get stories for Pet and Mabel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Cancer
Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
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
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