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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
11 reviews
stormeno's review against another edition
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content and Classism
garbutch's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I have a lot of baggage that this book poked at. I wanted to sympathize with the protagonist but the kissing without asking and the groping without asking are just not things that make a character likeable or relatable.
The mental illness stuff also seemed well above and beyond generalized anxiety disorder, IMO. But maybe wealthy cis men have a different experience with pathologization than I do. I've been diagnosed with BPD a few times over and feel doubtful that Paris didn't have some kind of cluster B thing going on. Also just applying 1 therapy and 1 medication just seemed like way too simple a fix and not representative of the reality of what interacting with the mental health care system is like.
I've got other stuff I typed out and then deleted but yeah. This is definitely my least favourite Alexis Hall book by a long shot.
The mental illness stuff also seemed well above and beyond generalized anxiety disorder, IMO. But maybe wealthy cis men have a different experience with pathologization than I do. I've been diagnosed with BPD a few times over and feel doubtful that Paris didn't have some kind of cluster B thing going on. Also just applying 1 therapy and 1 medication just seemed like way too simple a fix and not representative of the reality of what interacting with the mental health care system is like.
I've got other stuff I typed out and then deleted but yeah. This is definitely my least favourite Alexis Hall book by a long shot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault
arf27's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Abandonment
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia
pkc's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Racism, and Toxic relationship
amanda_reads13's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Paris is going on a baking show despite his severe anxiety.
Paris has undiagnosed anxiety, severe anxiety. Since this is a single POV book, we are stuck in Paris' head for the entirety of the book. It was a lot. I wish there were multiple POVs in this book, because I got tired of Paris' self-destructive behaviour and whiny attitude very fast.
I don't like how Paris' selfishness was passed as a symptom of his anxiety. As someone who actual has generalized anxiety disorder, I find this a really disrespectful and irresponsible angle to take. Yes he is anxious and has catastrophic thinking, but that doesn't make you an asshole.
I like that we saw Paris getting help and part of his healing journey.
Tropes: competition, friends to lovers
Paris has undiagnosed anxiety, severe anxiety. Since this is a single POV book, we are stuck in Paris' head for the entirety of the book. It was a lot. I wish there were multiple POVs in this book, because I got tired of Paris' self-destructive behaviour and whiny attitude very fast.
I don't like how Paris' selfishness was passed as a symptom of his anxiety. As someone who actual has generalized anxiety disorder, I find this a really disrespectful and irresponsible angle to take. Yes he is anxious and has catastrophic thinking, but that doesn't make you an asshole.
I like that we saw Paris getting help and part of his healing journey.
Tropes: competition, friends to lovers
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
littlewishling's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
I loved this. Hall does such a wonderful job creating flawed protagonists that grow with their stories and I really related to Paris and absolutely adored Tariq.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Toxic relationship
historic_wince's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Homophobia and Islamophobia
Minor: Religious bigotry
sglance9's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Abandonment, Islamophobia, and Toxic relationship
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
Minor: Homophobia, Classism, and Toxic relationship
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
4.0
You don’t have to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this one. But you’ll find the whole setting so enchanting you’ll want to go back and read the first one, which I am doing now!
The beginning was so cute and laugh out loud funny, but it progressively got darker and harder to read as I went on.
Everything in this story was filtered through the lens of anxiety, and as someone who also has anxiety, this was hard to read. The obsessive thoughts and shame spirals are described effectively in an all encompassing way, which can make for a stressful read.
That being said, I did appreciate that anxiety was not glamorized and thought the portrayal was relatively realistic as how it hinders almost every aspect of your life.
Unfortunately though, the romance didn’t really do it for me. I found the couple hard to root for, as the main character Paris said and did some things that were completely out of pocket, regarding Tariq’s boundaries and religious beliefs.
Overall, the writing style was goofy and fun, but the drawbacks from this storyline prevented me from loving it as much as I thought I would.
Thanks so much to Forever Publishing, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, for providing us with a copy of this book!
The beginning was so cute and laugh out loud funny, but it progressively got darker and harder to read as I went on.
Everything in this story was filtered through the lens of anxiety, and as someone who also has anxiety, this was hard to read. The obsessive thoughts and shame spirals are described effectively in an all encompassing way, which can make for a stressful read.
That being said, I did appreciate that anxiety was not glamorized and thought the portrayal was relatively realistic as how it hinders almost every aspect of your life.
Unfortunately though, the romance didn’t really do it for me. I found the couple hard to root for, as the main character Paris said and did some things that were completely out of pocket, regarding Tariq’s boundaries and religious beliefs.
Overall, the writing style was goofy and fun, but the drawbacks from this storyline prevented me from loving it as much as I thought I would.
Thanks so much to Forever Publishing, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, for providing us with a copy of this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Racism, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Homophobia