Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Paris Daillencourt Is about to Crumble

It was lovely to return to the setting, characters, and structure of Bake Expectations -- and the brief call backs to "last season" were nice touches. Overall, I wish a bit more had happened in this book. For so much of it, we were trapped in Paris's mind, which absolutely made sense for the story, but I don't know, maybe we could have had Tariq's point of view, too?

Other thoughts: I liked Morag's vibe but found her treatment of Paris to be off-putting rather than endearing. Tariq was wonderful and pragmatic and wise beyond his years (in a "not very believable for a 20-year-old" way) but I loved that he was able to put his thoughts into words. His approach to Bake Expectations, saying "it's silly to go into something without knowing what you want to get out of it", was so sensible. Minor quibble, but Alexis Hall's language can be quite fun and descriptive, but at times the wordplay can be just too much.

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finesilkflower's review against another edition

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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

This was hard to read, because it so accurately captures the emotional experience of anxiety. It's almost more of a PSA than a romance novel. The baking show elements continue to be very amusing (and add both levity and a soothingly artificial set of stakes), and Hall has peopled his world with fun side characters to cut through the emotional fog a bit, but for the most part this is quite a dark journey into mental illness. This is not a bad thing - I much prefer the seriousness with which Paris's self-sabotage is taken compared to the way Luc from "Boyfriend Material" is just presented as a funny fuck-up. In a straightforward comedy novel, I can find Hall's humor to be too silly, but in a more serious story, it's a welcome relief and adds balance.

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anika222's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

This was a pretty heavy book for a romance. It heavily features Paris' undiagnosed/untreated anxiety including many indepth, on page descriptions.

Because Paris is an unreliable narrator for the first 3/4, the romance is really in the background and hard to see/feel the chemistry between him and Tariq.

Everyone in Paris' life is focused on what they perceive to be his shortcomings/flaws and Tariq and his best friend both handle supporting him really poorly. Both relationships get addressed, apologies are made, but we don't really get to see either of them change. It was honestly hard to read in a romance where we usually get to live out more idealistic relationships, but it was realistic.

Paris really deserves a lot of love and I would have liked to see him get just a whole ton more of it.

I did really enjoy Tariq's character outside of his treatment of Paris. Hall writes queer characters so well and representative of queer culture which I find absent in so many queer books where the characters are just being plunked into straight stories but with two men/women/nonbinary people.

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theallmightyme's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective sad 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

4.5

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historic_wince's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

I think the overall format of the "Winner Bakes All" series works really well. It’s this perfect situation in which unlikely people are grouped together (forced proximity) with one common interest/goal, but since they only compete on the weekends, for a set number of weeks, there’s a delicious slice of life quality to both books. But Hall also really gets to play with his characters. While while the main characters of Rosaline Palmer were in their late 20s and early 30s, Paris and Tariq are university students, still figuring themselves out, and that gives Paris Daillencourt a distinctly ‘new adult’ feel than the previous book.

That being said, I think some readers won’t enjoy this ‘season’ of Bake Expectations, both because the protagonists are younger and due to the nature of their character arcs. While there are some humorous scenes sprinkled throughout, I agree with other reviewers that this book is not a romcom. It does, however fit the bill of being a romance novel by having

HFN/hopeful

ending.

Our titular character Paris is suffering from an undiagnosed anxiety disorder, and, I would argue, severe depression. He is severely lacking a support system and has developed unhealthy coping mechanisms over the past several years. Within the very stressful situation of being on Bake Expectations, his condition understandably worsens. Readers get trapped with Paris in his anxiety, excessive worries, and catastrophizing. He’s hitting all the standard distorted thinking tropes. For readers with anxiety and/or depression, these scenes (which are numerous) may be very difficult to read, may be triggering, may seem all too relatable. As clear in other reviews, many readers might find Paris irritating and annoying—mirroring exactly in universe social media users who label Paris a twat.

And while at times Paris is selfish and hurtful to those close to him, he’s also a young kid, with a still-developing prefrontal cortex in a brain that has trained itself to sabotage all of his positive experiences.

The relationship at the center of this novel is also a bit of a disaster, but that seems fitting for the context and ages of Paris and Tariq. Is it a good idea to start dating your co-star/competition within the narrow context of a reality tv show? No, absolutely not, but they’re fucking 20 years olds. We’re not making our best choices at that age.

The many comments about Paris’s temperament and whether or not Tariq was too forgiving or not patient and understanding enough of Paris’s condition are marginally understandable. But also make me empathize with anyone in their lives that might be suffering with a mental illness. Because we both need to give Tariq and Paris some grace. Tariq thought he could fix his boyfriend, but severely underestimated the extent of Paris’ distorted thinking. Paris Daillencourt is that scene in Rosaline Palmer when Rosaline suggests to Harry that he might have anxiety, but with less mature main characters. Characters who are still growing and in different stages of defining their values, and that’s okay!

While it wasn't my favorite Alexis Hall reading experience, I'll still be picking up the next book in this series.

Other things:

Paris’ parents are completely absent from the story despite Paris texting them weekly. They are negligent and emotionally abusive. And probably huge narcissists.

I loved the dynamic between Tariq and his family.

I also really enjoyed that Tariq was both firm and proud of his many identities. Many, many people view religion and homosexuality as incompatible. It is a spot of contention in both religious and queer communities. So, it was nice to see a queer man with a positive relationship with his faith, even though I am not a particularly religious person.

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theos_sunlit_bookcafe's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.5

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