Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

22 reviews

jackiepreston's review

emotional funny fast-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? No

3.5

This is such a an odd book to rate for me. Everything I saw or heard about this book told me it was a romance, but it's much more of a women's fiction/quarter life crisis kind of book that uses romance to drive that point home.

We spend so much time with Alain as the main love interest for Rosaline and he sucks. I wasn't suspicious of him at first, because he just seemed like a guy with a kind of mean sense of humor, but as it went on and his true colors came out it was so obvious that he sucked and there was nothing to do but get through it. The tension of their terrible relationship and sex life wasn't fun to read, especially when combined with her terrible parents.

In the end I did enjoy this book, mostly because of Rosaline's daughter Amelie, but it did take some pushing to get through.

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unwise_samwise's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-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? No

5.0

It was wonderful, the characters felt like more genuine human beings than your average romance

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brokenlightdances's review

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emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

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allonsyahhlee's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

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kaitlinnoodles's review

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funny hopeful inspiring 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

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historic_wince's review

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted slow-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

4.0

I nearly DNFed this book 8% into it. I could not get past the second hand embarrassment of the

FMC lying to the love interest in order to impress him

. Granted, this is supposed to be cringe worthy, but it nearly did me in. I’m glad, however, that I picked the book back up and finished it. (The audiobook, btw, his excellent. Narrator did a really great job with all the voices).

Our main character is Rosaline, a bisexual disaster. She’s a 27 yr single mum, who’s still desperately trying to live up to her parents expectations. And while she’s always doing what’s best for her kid, she’s not always doing what’s best for her. That includes her dating life.

I really enjoy how Alexis Hall’s writing style has matured and his character work remains top notch. Some readers mayn’t appreciate just how contemporary some of the references are, nor that the book/baking show is rather self referential. Others may not like the ‘love triangle’ at the center of this story, but I really enjoyed the character development throughout the 8+ weeks and how the two love interests juxtaposed one another. This novel contains several sex scenes, but not of them are intended to be ‘spicy.’ Instead, they are central to the development of the plot and character arcs of our main characters.

I did foresee

Alain’s suggested threesome, but I will admit how the scene played out was more scary than I anticipated. Rosaline is assaulted by Alain’s female friend, and both women were coerced by Alain himself to participate. The scene is not particularly violent and Rosaline is able to safely barricade herself until able to the leave the situation.

I think this series has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to the next installments.

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