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theladydetective's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ROYAL WEDDING RIVALS TO LOVERS
With grumpy/sunshine and British Bake Off vibes.
More sad and emotional than the cover and premise led me to expect.
Lot's of swoony scenes revolving around touch, which made it feel Period Drama like.
With grumpy/sunshine and British Bake Off vibes.
More sad and emotional than the cover and premise led me to expect.
Lot's of swoony scenes revolving around touch, which made it feel Period Drama like.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident and Emotional abuse
kylieqrada's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
I dont have the words for the pure unadulterated MAGIC that was this book, y'all. Grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, casual inclusivity, CAKE?!?!? I just. I died.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Cancer
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Violence
barefootsong's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
4.0
Overall, I enjoyed it, but there was too much going on for me to really sink into it. I liked the first half better before so many subplots took over. Also, there was more emotional pain and grief of various kinds than I was expecting. I think the only parts where I actually laughed-out-loud were in the first half, and then later I was just more generally amused by the funny stuff because so much else was going on. Still good, and I really loved Sylvie and Dominic's rivalry-turned-romance, but not my favorite of Parker's novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse
sami_leigh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Stalking and Violence
divine529's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
I had such a good time with this book. It's full of a lot of tropes I love, had fun and interesting characters and was just a good time.
This book follows our two main protagonists Sylvie and Dominic, who met previously in a show called Operation Cake (kind of like GBBO) where Sylvie was a contestant and ended up leaving the show due to an epic disaster involving a cake and Dominic's face (he's a judge). Now four years later, Sylvie is a new judge on the show and her and Dominic have to come face to face again despite having competing bakeries across the street from each other. Throw a competition to win a bid to make a royal wedding cake, explorations of trauma and grief and complicated relationships of all kinds and you have the basic idea of what this book is.
This book both hooked me from the beginning and took me some time to settle into. Baking in books is one of my favorite things and adding royalty into the mix is a recipe for a book I will most likely love and on those fronts it didn't disappoint.
Sylvie and Dominic are both interesting characters with lots of trauma and grief and different ways of coping and managing that and exploring all of that through their relationship with intimacy (everything from glances and gentle touches to sexual intimacy) was so heartbreakingly beautiful to watch and the relationship between Rosie and Johnny was lovely to see alongside the mystery and treasure hunt plotline of figuring out what happened to one of Rosie's relatives and his life (it's complicated). The relationship with Dominic and Pet was so good and I love them both. And even though I had issues with it at times, I really liked Sylvie and Jay's relationship too (though it utilized one of my least favorite tropes in books, I thought it was handled decently for a change).
Overall, I have a lot of feelings about everything in the book and it's hard to encompass all of them here, but I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to read the second installment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I look forward to revisiting this in the future.
This book follows our two main protagonists Sylvie and Dominic, who met previously in a show called Operation Cake (kind of like GBBO) where Sylvie was a contestant and ended up leaving the show due to an epic disaster involving a cake and Dominic's face (he's a judge). Now four years later, Sylvie is a new judge on the show and her and Dominic have to come face to face again despite having competing bakeries across the street from each other. Throw a competition to win a bid to make a royal wedding cake, explorations of trauma and grief and complicated relationships of all kinds and you have the basic idea of what this book is.
This book both hooked me from the beginning and took me some time to settle into. Baking in books is one of my favorite things and adding royalty into the mix is a recipe for a book I will most likely love and on those fronts it didn't disappoint.
Sylvie and Dominic are both interesting characters with lots of trauma and grief and different ways of coping and managing that and exploring all of that through their relationship with intimacy (everything from glances and gentle touches to sexual intimacy) was so heartbreakingly beautiful to watch and the relationship between Rosie and Johnny was lovely to see alongside the mystery and treasure hunt plotline of figuring out what happened to one of Rosie's relatives and his life (it's complicated). The relationship with Dominic and Pet was so good and I love them both. And even though I had issues with it at times, I really liked Sylvie and Jay's relationship too (though it utilized one of my least favorite tropes in books, I thought it was handled decently for a change).
Overall, I have a lot of feelings about everything in the book and it's hard to encompass all of them here, but I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to read the second installment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I look forward to revisiting this in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Car accident
jackiepreston's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I might have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't pictured Paul Hollywood in my head the whole time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Car accident
coacklebee's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
5.0
God, this book made me so happy. Believable enemies to lovers, no miscommunications or lying, some of the funniest one-liners I've read in years, and a whole slew of characters I want to read whole series about.
There were some confusing moments where I had to go back a couple of paragraphs to figure out what I had missed, but man, I loved the characters and I laughed so hard. This book is a freakin' delight!
There were some confusing moments where I had to go back a couple of paragraphs to figure out what I had missed, but man, I loved the characters and I laughed so hard. This book is a freakin' delight!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
caseythereader's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
- BATTLE ROYAL is totally precious. Grumpy/sunshine bakers, with a GBBO-type show, and some royal wedding intrigue, too!
- This is a romance novel that really digs into feelings, both past and present. I love a book where you get to watch the leads learn how to care for and support each other.
- To be honest, I didn't really feel any heat between Sylvie and Dominic, but their relationship was so tender that I was mostly okay with it. I'll still keep reading this series; I for sure want to get stories for Pet and Mabel!
- This is a romance novel that really digs into feelings, both past and present. I love a book where you get to watch the leads learn how to care for and support each other.
- To be honest, I didn't really feel any heat between Sylvie and Dominic, but their relationship was so tender that I was mostly okay with it. I'll still keep reading this series; I for sure want to get stories for Pet and Mabel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Cancer
Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
kfmcf's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book is an easy, fun read. The characters are likeable (but maybe not loveable) and the plot is decent. I appreciate it being a GBBS homage without being a DIRECT rip of the show (like another book I have read recently). I'm not going to clamor to read this book again, but I am looking forward to the sequel - especially since it follows Pet, arguably one of, if not the most interesting (and possibly only loveable) character in the book.
However, there was one thing about this book I found completely unnecessary (spoiler).
Why does her friend need to be in love with her? It not only makes him completely unlikable (and I am a self-proclaimed sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, mind you), but it is also in a part of the book with enough conflict that it adds nothing and messes not only with the pacing of the plot of of the FL's character development. Honestly, this part of the book dropped my ranking of it by at least .5 points.
Overall, if you want a light book to take on a week or weekend long getaway (depending on how fast you read), this one does the job.
However, there was one thing about this book I found completely unnecessary (spoiler).
Overall, if you want a light book to take on a week or weekend long getaway (depending on how fast you read), this one does the job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Gaslighting and Kidnapping
circe813's review against another edition
emotional
funny
relaxing
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Violence