Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

I LOVED this book and felt sooo seen by it . This book represents a lot of the bisexual experience, the good and the bad. I love that the author was not afraid to call out a lot of shit that lgbtqia+ community has to deal with .

I loved the writing style. I loved the plot especially the setting of it being on the Great bake which is the Great British bake off 100%. It was I reretibg to hear about the competition while having a romance happen at the same time. This id also a story of friendship. The power of standing up for yourself and being your true self and being fine with that and making others realize they need to be accepting and respectful.

The daughter in this is also super cute and that’s a great storyline of seeing Rosaline as a single mother and all the experiences that go along with that.

There were many many moments where I found myself snapping/clapping along at this book, nodding my head and smiling and also getting mad at certain characters. This book also made me watch the great British bake off and I highly recommend that for a
Multimedia experience.

I will read many more books by Alexis hall because to me this book was perfection .

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lettuce_read's review against another edition

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4.0

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displacedcactus's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

If a romance featuring a love triangle between a bisexual cisgender single mom and two cis het dudes competing on an obvious GBBO analog sounds like your thing, you will not be disappointed by this book. It does exactly what it promises, delivering:
-A love triangle
-A heroine confident in her sexuality and tired of dealing with casual biphobia
-Two physically attractive love interests
-A colorful cast of fellow contestants and friends and family "back home"
-Lots of descriptions of bakes
-Lots of cheeky inuendo
-Lots of "behind the scenes" reality TV baking competition hijinks
-A precocious plot moppet
-Steamy love scenes

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the structure -- It was broken up by week of filming the show, and then the days within that week. This made it REALLY easy to keep track of where we were in the timeline of the competition and exactly how much time has passed as these relationships developed.

One thing I didn't like was well, the love triangle. Major spoilers ahead:

It's pretty obvious to the reader, early on, that Alain is a snob and self-centered and not after the same things in life as Rosaline. Sure, he's good looking and flirtatious, but it's hard to think they're going to end up together at the end. I guess the author may have been hoping the reader would expect a redemption arc for him, making it less of a clear-cut decision between Alain and Harry. But as is so typical in these love triangle plots, rather than making the point of the triangle have to make a difficult decision (or consider ethical non-monogamy), the decision is made for her. In this case, Alain ends up crossing a serious line with Rosaline, which I will explain in further detail in the next spoiler section.

I always feel a little bad for the love interest who gets chosen by default because the other guy ends up being a jerk/already married/dead by the end of the book. It feels less like Harry gets chosen for who he is, and more like he gets chosen for being Not Alain and being there for Rosaline when Alain goes too far.

A little elaboration on the TW at the start of the book about an attempted assault:

There is a non-violent assault attempt that Rosaline manages to escape from. It involves someone purposefully intoxicating Rosaline to try to get her defenses down, unwanted kissing/touching/advances, and verbal coercion of the "I thought you were cool" variety with additional tones of slut-shaming and gross attitudes about bisexuality. Things to do not get too far, but it could still be potentially triggering for anyone who has trauma from a similar experience.

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readingqueerly's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Fun romance read. It did go quite slow at the start in my opinion. But the second half read so fast!

I really appreciate the way we're supposed to cheer for Rosaline and Alain at the start. It's only very slowly and subtlely you start to realise he's an asshole. I thought that was done so well. I think the balance between the relationship with Alain building before going wrong, and then getting to know Harry more so it makes sense for him to end up with Rosaline was done really well. I was scared at first they would become a couple without really knowing Harry all that well (both Rosaline and the reader I mean), but I feel like we got enough alone time with him to accept him and like him.

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing 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

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cheye13's review

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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

4.0

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caseythereader's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

Thanks to Forever for the free copy of this book.

- Friends, Alexis Hall plus baking competition show romance equals an absolute hug of a book.
- I adored everything about ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE. Hall's signature banter and self-effacing characters are so perfect in this setting, plus it also takes on larger issues like classism, thorny familial relationships, and biphobic stereotypes.
- This is a bit of a SPOILER!!!! but I don't think I've ever read a romance where the love interest changes halfway through! And I'm so glad I trusted Hall, because I thought Alain was a bit of a tool early on and thought it was going to be a story where he sees the error of his ways and tries to reform, and I'm so glad it wasn't like that.

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am absolutely, hopelessly obsessed with the Great British Bake Off, so Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake started on second base. (I realize that is a baseball term which makes it distinctly American but I know nothing about cricket or soccer, so you’re just going to have to deal with it.) I would like to read any and all of the baking/cooking show romance novels now. Also, this one? It’s a GBBO RoNo. 🍰🧁

Aaaaanyway - for once, I read the blurb on the back of the book so I went in expecting a love triangle but was NOT expecting the level of depth this book got into around several heavy topics including intense biphobia, s e x u a l assault, classism, mental health, gender norms, strained family relationships and the pressure of being on a reality TV show. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this book and they felt real to me. I wanted to rage, laugh, cry, celebrate and experience things with all of them.

Even so, I laughed while reading this a whole lot - sometimes from Alexis Hall’s extremely dry British humor and other times while listening to the audiobook and enjoying Fiona Hardingham’s absolutely brilliant narration.

My biggest gripe is that I wanted Rosaline to have more time with the guy she ended up with, because he was the sweetest character in this book, and Rosaline deserved someone who loved her just how she was and wasn’t trying to fit her into some mold to suit themselves. 🥺

Instead, we got 300 pages of the other guy, who is an absolute doorknob. 😤

👍🏻Recommended! This is a sweet, funny, extremely British book that deals with some very intense topics. Please read Hall’s CW at the beginning of the book - there is a SA scene that is intense and Rosaline deals with biphobia from all corners.

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