Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Dos and Donuts of Love

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

65 reviews

andykarnik's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

This is probably the cutest thing I've ever read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If "cozy romance" were a genre, this would be a hallmark of it. We follow a 16 year-old girl dealing with her first real breakup while competing on The Junior Irish Baking Show... against her ex girlfriend.

I loved how the protagonist felt that these were some of the highest-stakes moments of her LIFE and yet for me the reader this was a really low-stakes story. I mean

she loses the competition and yet I'm still gushing that this one of my favorite stories.

Highly recommend the audiobook version if you have the chance. The narrator does an excellent job (to my American ears) with the various accents characters have, making the setting come that much more to life.

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raginsagein's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

This is one of the absolutely cutest books that I have ever read. Hands down.

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pencilspeaker's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

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lighthearted 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? No

4.25

Characters: 9/10
Relationships: 9/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 8/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 8/10
Internal Logic: 10/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Overall: 60/70, 4.25*

I wanted a book that didn't have any spice so when I saw that this was YA I was initially so excited! when I found out how young the characters would actually be it became hard for me to stick with listening for awhile. nothing against younger characters! but teen romance isn't really what I was expecting/hoping for. I'm glad I stuck it out though, this was such a heartfelt story! definitely something I wish I'd had as a teenager. a very sweet coming of age story!

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jachnax's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

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shade_gomes's review against another edition

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funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.25

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foreverbooked15's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

3.0

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pey333's review against another edition

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emotional 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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sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful 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

4.25

I had a blast with this, I loved it! I was a little more invested in Shireen's personal journey than the romance though, but the romance was cute! I also enjoyed the baking aspect of this, and the representation was great - queer MC/SC, Bengali MC, Taiwanese SC, fat MC, hijabi SC.

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

This book revolves around two concepts: a romance and a baking competition, and both were pretty solid.

I enjoyed the romance between Shireen and Chris. It had a couple of my fave tropes, namely second-chance romance and the MC not realising that the LI is in love with them when it is very obvious to the reader. The dynamic between Shireen and Chris was great - they had a lot of healing to do, but you could see that there was so much love there. Their interactions got sweeter and sweeter as the book went on. I do wish we had gotten more of a feel for WHY Shireen was in love with Chris - like, what was it about her in particular? Even though I liked the romance, my favourite relationship in the book was actually between Shireen and her parents. Her parents were so lovely and supportive! I enjoyed their interactions so much.

The plot being focussed on the baking show was downright entertaining, as the fictional show had all the drama you expect from and love in the real thing. I loved that the judges’ names were puns of Mary Berry, Gordon Ramsey and Paul Hollywood. Admittedly I sometimes had to suspend my disbelief regarding the details of how the show was run, but this wasn’t too bad.

A theme that emerged as a result of the baking show was about how being fat and Bangladeshi impacted Shireen’s experience, not just on the show, but in life, too. She faces a tidal wave of online hate with little support from production, and is accused of special treatment at one point when she IS shown a tiny bit of support. In that way, the narrative explores how white people will cry “unfair treatment” when all that’s happening is the playing field being levelled (and in this case, it was more like a smidge of dirt being levelled). In her regular life, Shireen observes the difficult position being both fat and Bangladeshi puts her in, as Bangladeshi culture is one centred around food yet also obsessed with diets. Reading from Shireen’s perspective was insightful in many ways and gave a new angle, especially on reality TV, that is unfortunately uncommon in YA and in literature in general.

Shireen had great development as the MC, as she learns to temper her all-or-nothing thinking as it comes to failure and love. As the story progresses, she really settles into herself. As a side note regarding her character, I wish we had been shown and not told about her passion for baking. We see little of her baking process, and even less of her emotional response to this.

Rep: Rep: fat Bengali Irish-Bangladeshi lesbian (word not used but implied) MC, lesbian Irish-Taiwanese LI

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