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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.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
katemae's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
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
donnicakelsey's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.25
I was already sold by the sunshine-meets-grump/ enemies-to-lovers trope, and then adding the British Bake Off type plot was truly icing on the cake. (Sorry had to!)
Sylvie Fairchild was a popular contestant on a baking competition show who captured the audience with her colorful hair and unicorns and sparkles vibe. Dominic De Vere, a judge on the show, is her opposite in every way -- traditional, stoic, and somewhat distant. Four years after he eliminates her from the show, they find themselves running rival bakeries on opposite sides of the same Notting Hill street, competing for a contract to bake the royal wedding cake, and working as judges on the show.
Battle Royale is moderately spicy, but the attraction between are main characters feels real. I would’ve rated this book higher if there weren’t so many storylines e.g. Dominic's relationship/backstory with his sister Pet, the royals in need of a traditional wedding cake with a personal twist and a mystery flavor top layer, stolen recipes, Sylvie's business partner love interest, and the Operation Cake competitors . There are almost too many to round them all out and give each a satisfying conclusion.
However, I do look forward to the next book - which I believe is Pet’s story.
Sylvie Fairchild was a popular contestant on a baking competition show who captured the audience with her colorful hair and unicorns and sparkles vibe. Dominic De Vere, a judge on the show, is her opposite in every way -- traditional, stoic, and somewhat distant. Four years after he eliminates her from the show, they find themselves running rival bakeries on opposite sides of the same Notting Hill street, competing for a contract to bake the royal wedding cake, and working as judges on the show.
Battle Royale is moderately spicy, but the attraction between are main characters feels real. I would’ve rated this book higher if there weren’t so many storylines
However, I do look forward to the next book - which I believe is Pet’s story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
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
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
e_flah's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As a fun story with lots of baking, I really enjoyed Battle Royal. As a romance, it didn't click for me quite so much. This is an incredibly busy story -- I think there are four subplots? I honestly lost track at some point -- so the romance between Sylvie and Dominic ended up not getting the amount of page time I would've liked. The other plots are entertaining and added a lot of emotional weight to the story but I still feel like the story would've benefited from being a bit more focused.
Parker absolutely has a knack for vivid descriptions. From Sylvie's magical, over-the-top bake shop, Sugar Fair, to the set of the reality bake show Operation Cake, I felt like I was really in the story. The side characters also had rich backstories that added a lot to the overall story.
I finished Battle Royal wanting more from Sylvie and Dominic's relationship. There were so many other plot arcs happening that their happily-ever-after/happy-for-now seemed to get lost in the shuffle. We caught a glimpse of it before moving on to other, much more dramatic, storylines.
I'm not sure if I'm interested in picking up the next Palace Insiders book. I think I prefer my romances a bit more front-and-center than Parker seems to write them.
Parker absolutely has a knack for vivid descriptions. From Sylvie's magical, over-the-top bake shop, Sugar Fair, to the set of the reality bake show Operation Cake, I felt like I was really in the story. The side characters also had rich backstories that added a lot to the overall story.
I finished Battle Royal wanting more from Sylvie and Dominic's relationship. There were so many other plot arcs happening that their happily-ever-after/happy-for-now seemed to get lost in the shuffle. We caught a glimpse of it before moving on to other, much more dramatic, storylines.
I'm not sure if I'm interested in picking up the next Palace Insiders book. I think I prefer my romances a bit more front-and-center than Parker seems to write them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
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