Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble

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.

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bzliz's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense slow-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

2.75

This was much tougher to get through than Rosaline’s story. Paris has severe undiagnosed anxiety and panic disorders and it was challenging to keep going. There’s a lot of spiraling in fits of anxiety that was minorly triggering for me and I don’t typically find that’s something I experience.

Not only does Paris have real issues he needs to see a medical professional about but Tariq is trying to fix him without realizing it and without being equipped to help. On top of that, Paris keeps reaching out to his parents and gets nothing in return in a way that really hurt my heart. Honestly, my favorite character was the cat.

The structure also suffered in my opinion, because there was so much to cover post-filming. There were relatively few mid-week scenes which made everything feel like a rinse and repeat of Paris buried so deeply in his own head that he can scarcely function. Over all, I didn’t hate it but I certainly wouldn’t read it again.

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arf27's review against another edition

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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

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amanda_reads13's review against another edition

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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

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kaistephan's review against another edition

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emotional funny

5.0

Alexis Hall once again delivers a story that is seamlessly laugh-until-you-can't-breathe funny, a sharp critique of the British class system, a visceral portrait of living in a brain with mental illness, and a very sincere romance that, even though it is single POV, still have very balanced character arcs. Heck, even the Best Friend manages to feel like a real person and not just a plot device, a true rarity for romance novels.

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evelynyle_88's review against another edition

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funny 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

4.0

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gale_bruckner's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Alexis does a great job of giving Paris a unique story that's also in the Bake Expectations universe. I appreciate realistic mental health concerns representation. The boundary setting and character growth felt realistic and compelling. At the end of the story, I was whole-heartedly rooting for Tariq and Paris. <3

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the_reading_kat's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

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

2.25

Good points about mental health, but only in the last quarter of the book. Until then it’s literally just the main character being a hot mess, not always relatable. Didn’t feel the chemistry between the mc and the love interest until the last twenty pages or so. Understandable with the plot but difficult to read anyway.

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