Scan barcode
abhirupa's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Literally such an adorable book and concept! There were so many different moving parts and I'm super impressed by how well the author was able to wrap everything up by the end of the book. Super satisfying ending and a really great enemies to reluctant coworkers to lovers progression. I especially appreciated how this book didn't objectify either the male or female lead, and it was never like "[female lead character] had always felt insecure about her 5'4 hourglass frame with perfect boobs and ass" which is always annoying as shit. I also really liked how much character development happened for both characters and their other relationships outside of their romance.
The only reason I docked this rating from 5 stars is because of the love triangle which is a trope I personally cannot stand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
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
sami_leigh's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Stalking and Violence
abi_carter's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
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
coacklebee's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
5.0
God, this book made me so happy. Believable enemies to lovers, no miscommunications or lying, some of the funniest one-liners I've read in years, and a whole slew of characters I want to read whole series about.
There were some confusing moments where I had to go back a couple of paragraphs to figure out what I had missed, but man, I loved the characters and I laughed so hard. This book is a freakin' delight!
There were some confusing moments where I had to go back a couple of paragraphs to figure out what I had missed, but man, I loved the characters and I laughed so hard. This book is a freakin' delight!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
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
kfmcf's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book is an easy, fun read. The characters are likeable (but maybe not loveable) and the plot is decent. I appreciate it being a GBBS homage without being a DIRECT rip of the show (like another book I have read recently). I'm not going to clamor to read this book again, but I am looking forward to the sequel - especially since it follows Pet, arguably one of, if not the most interesting (and possibly only loveable) character in the book.
However, there was one thing about this book I found completely unnecessary (spoiler).
Why does her friend need to be in love with her? It not only makes him completely unlikable (and I am a self-proclaimed sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, mind you), but it is also in a part of the book with enough conflict that it adds nothing and messes not only with the pacing of the plot of of the FL's character development. Honestly, this part of the book dropped my ranking of it by at least .5 points.
Overall, if you want a light book to take on a week or weekend long getaway (depending on how fast you read), this one does the job.
However, there was one thing about this book I found completely unnecessary (spoiler).
Overall, if you want a light book to take on a week or weekend long getaway (depending on how fast you read), this one does the job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gaslighting and Kidnapping
celebrationofbooks's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
4.0
This has been a year where I have only wanted to read books that help me escape the reality around me. Because honestly, life in 2021 sucks. Hard. The world seems to think that everything should be back to normal by now, that masks aren’t necessary, that yelling at people in the service industry is totally okay, and that they can be generally assholes to women. Couple that with my own personal hellish year and, well, it should come as no surprise why I just want to read light hearted fiction right now.
If you love baking, spunky heroines, haters to lovers tropes, and then a solid romantic relationship that isn’t troubled by random unnecessary drama, delightful sisters, and a touch of royalty, then this is the book for you! Sylvie and Dominic are not unlike Olive and Adam (The Love Hypothesis) in that we have a fun and spunky heroine dealing with some grief from the loss of their mother figure and a strong, silent, brooding but loving type in their romantic lead.
Both are surrounded by a cool cast of secondary characters and friends and you can’t help but anxiously anticipate the next in the series that will focus on Dominic’s delightful little sister. There’s a bit of culinary espionage, a veritable culinary wonderland, delectable descriptions of mouth watering chocolates, and a baking competition, which despite the description’s emphasis on it, really takes a back seat to everything else in the story. Our royal couple have their own challenges, as do our bakers, and it all mixes together to make the lightest and fluffiest chocolate cake of a book that you could possibly imagine.
And yes, because I’m obsessed with it, this book does pass the Bechdel test.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content