Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

14 reviews

kfmcf's review against another edition

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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.  
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celebrationofbooks's review against another edition

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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.
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kimiichanga's review against another edition

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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 
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100_pages_hr's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I love Lucy Parker's writing. Her voice is one I enjoy regardless of setting or anything else.

I really enjoyed getting to know Sylvie and Dominic. I always enjoy the opposites attract tropes and this was no exception. It was quite interesting how different these two were and it was fun to see how things worked out. I really liked that while neither had a perfect childhood they both had some good memories. I loved how they began to open up to each other. I also loved how it lended well to personal growth for both characters throughout the book

Sometimes side characters don't do much for me, but I really liked Pet. I'm hoping she gets featured in a future book in this series.

Reality television and baking in general are not my favorite - but that shows you how good Parker is - because I still really enjoyed this book. The reality television parts were appropriately dramatic and the cake parts had me wishing sugar didn't have such a bad effect on me.

I look forward to more in this series and reading a new Parker book has me wanting to reread her first series.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.
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