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

This was good in the beginning and in the end, but my interest waned during most of the middle. While I did like Rosaline, my favorite characters were side characters—specifically, Anvita and Amelie. The banter was highly entertaining, but there were also times where some of the dialogue and even a couple of characters felt cringey. I liked Alain at first, but then he started to get on my nerves more and more, and then he outed himself as a totally pretentious, jealous asshole. I no longer like him. And while Harry is a sweetheart, no doubt about it, I… didn’t really feel any chemistry between him and Rosaline?? I liked their friendship, but never really got attached to their romance.

Also, it felt pretty obvious to me that Rosaline would win the competition. Books like these almost always either have the protagonist win, or they come in second/third place but still end up getting some sort of prize out of it. I’m happy for her, don’t get me wrong—and definitely glad that Alain didn’t win—but yeah. No surprise factor here.

Overall, this was fine. Not the new favorite I’d hoped it would be when I started, but not bad either. I’d recommend it, but there are other romances I’d recommend first/more. I’ll probably read the next one just because I’m curious, and these books are, at the very least, entertaining.

Representation

bisexual protagonist
lesbian side character
achillean side character
Punjabi side character
side character with an anxiety disorder (unspecified)

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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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bookedinsideout's review against another edition

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funny reflective 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

This book would have been more fun without Alain, but it was a meaningful arc of a story and the structure covering each weekend of the baking competition was great. (More of what I was hoping for with Love & Other Disasters.) Going in with adjusted expectations helped too… I had barely started reading it last year when I saw reviews talking about how she doesn’t get together with the hero until the end of the book and there’s a total shit of a guy that nobody should touch with a barge pole (those reading guide questions from Alexis Hall were great!) that she’s with for much of it, as well as a sexual assault. At the time I felt it wasn’t for me, but I decided to try again feeling more prepared and falling more in love with Alexis Hall’s writing and wit, which is on full display here.

With all that in mind (i.e., not expecting a light-hearted baking competition), I’m really glad I gave it another go because it was so satisfying to see Rosaline be reminded of her priorities and value, state her boundaries, and… take the cake. The sexual assault was condemned by the book and treated with care, and we got to see people believing the victim and no pressure to forgive or console the perpetrator. As much as I wanted to see more of Rosaline and Harry, it was a great story. And that last chapter sex scene with communication and running off the railroad tracks of heteronormative penetrative sex was perfection.

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eamily's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

4.75

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shaipanda's review

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funny hopeful 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

3.5

I once again have a lot of feelings about a book lol
So my main issues with this book were that it was ridiculously long for what is essentially a rom com and that the first love interest long overstays his welcome in my opinion - like I get that it’s kinda a slow burn but literally 70% of the way through the book Rosaline was still actively dating the first love interest which was kinda infuriating by the end
I did appreciate that you slowly view him as more and more unlikable as the book goes on but gddamn did he have to stay for so long as a main character?
— also I didn’t really like sex scenes in this - I know they’re not a main focus or anything but if you’re looking for a spicy book I definitely wouldn’t recommend this
However I liked the premise and the baking storyline, I loved the bisexual rep and conversations around bisexuality in this, and really enjoyed most of the sorrounding side characters like Harry Anvita Lauren and Amelie

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karolinaz's review

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funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

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malin2708's review

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emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm not the first Cannonballer to review this title, and I doubt I will be the last. Last year, I read and absolutely adored Hall's Boyfriend Material. It got me out of a reading slump and I loved both the two protagonists and all of the supporting cast around them. My rather high expectations of this book were somewhat tempered when fellow romance reviewer, Emmalita, read an ARC of the book and admitted to not being able to finish the novel. Naturally, that made me a bit wary, but the reasons she gave for not being comfortable with the contents are not things that necessarily upset me.

Nevertheless, I went into the book with lowered expectations, and that might have been good because Rosaline Palmer is a very different book from Boyfriend Material. The first one is a straight-up romantic comedy, complete with a lot of the tropes we expect from that genre. In this book, there is absolutely romance, but the heroine does spend basically the whole first half of the book with the wrong guy, so to speak and the primary plotline in the book is more about Rosaline's journey of self-discovery and self-determination than it is about her finding lasting romance.

As a huge fan of the Great British Bake Off (or Great British Baking Show, as it is known in the US), the fake baking reality show, complete with esteemed judges, snarky hosts, foul-mouthed and ill-tempered producers and all manner of baking shenanigans was absolutely an added bonus. The fact that Hall is apparently going to write more Bake Off-inspired romances delights me to no end.

One of Hall's strengths, I find, is how well he writes not only his protagonists but makes all the supporting characters feel real and essential as well. Rosaline's daughter could well have been an annoying plot moppet in less skilled hands (seriously, so many writers just don't know how to include realistic children, and should just refrain from including them in their books). Lauren, Rosaline's ex and now best friend was also great (as were the appearances of Lauren's current girlfriend when she occasionally popped up). The various other baking show contestants felt very real, and even Rosaline's demanding and occasionally overbearing parents felt very realistic.

If you don't find self-centred, narcissistic, and emotionally manipulative love interests an instant turn-off (be assured that he is not Rosaline's HEA, and she gets a lovely guy when she just wakes up and stops second-guessing herself), and are OK with this romance being a lot more slow-burn than Oliver and Luc's, this is a fun book, especially for those of us who want more GBBO.

Judging a book by its cover: Possibly in keeping with the central story of this book being Rosaline finding herself and discovering what she wants to do with her future, rather than the romance, this cover doesn't feature any male love interest, only our heroine herself, with a number of delicious baked goods and baking utensils floating in the air around her.

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threeara's review

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

A fun, funny romance novel about finding your own happiness (even when others want to decide that for you). Really excited and curious to see how Hall tells other stories in this faux-GBBO universe.

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