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

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall

48 reviews

lportilla's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

quasinaut's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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.

Content Warnings

anika222's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

historic_wince's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

lindsayerin's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

Content Warnings

wardenred's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

You did fine last week. You are going to do fine this week. You just need to get out of your own way and stop being such a titanic fucking prick to yourself.

Well... This was even less of a romcom than Rosaline's book had been. :D I have honestly no idea why these series is marketed the way it is.

Anyway, here's what I liked about this book:

- The cat with the name I won't mention for fear of messing it up with typos;
- All the baking;
- The supporting cast, although they were all far less realized than the contestants from the first book (but that makes sense—Rosaline paid a lot more attention to other people than Paris);
- The really accurate and detailed depiction of what extreme anxiety feels like. Because, yeah. All the catastrophizing and second-guessing and getting so caught up in trying to avert all the worst-case scenario that you create an even worse scenario? That's exactly what this shit is like.

It's worth noting, though, that while Paris initially seemed like the kind of person who tries to get to a good place but is constantly hindered by his undiagnosed, untreated anxiety, he is... not quite that. Anxiety makes him more self-absorbed, sure, because, well, all the endless exhausting fears *are* absorbing. But it doesn't seem to be the root cause at all. He's fortunate to have people in his life who both care for him and call him out on his bullshit, but it sure takes him a lot of time to start actually doing something about his problems.

And here's what I really didn't like about the book, by the way: most of the story depicts Paris sinking closer and closer to rock bottom, making two steps back for every step forward, coming very close to messing up even the parts of his life that were okay/his safe haven at the start. And then, um, there's a gap, and afterward, we see him already having started on the journey to getting better. I honestly keep feeling like my copy of the novel has a bunch of pages missing, because honestly, wtf? After spending so long accompanying Paris down to that botom, I felt like I deserved to witness some of his actual journey back up. As it was, I feel kind of cheated.

As for the romance, I really, really liked Tariq and would love to see more of his life, especially once he starts his own BBC show. I liked how ready he was to give Paris chances, and how ready he was nevertheless to set and protect his own borders, and how he took a step back when the relationship between them began harming him. I'm not sure I liked Tariq and Paris as a couple even for a hot minute, too, and it was almost funny how I found myself, even while witnessing the story through Paris's POV, rooting for Tariq against the relationship. Which ones gain brings me to the point I started with: this is so not a romcom. It's not even really an angsty romance. Why, marketing people, why? Why do you lie to me?

Content Warnings

sglance9's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

a_win_in_clear_rain's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny tense 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

2.75

It was cute... Not my favorite though.
I went into this expecting an adorable baking show romantic comedy, and it definitely was not that.
It was a good book, but it was much more focused on the main character and his struggles.
I did appreciate the huge character growth,

especially near the end, and that they verbally recognized that they both made mistakes!

Overall, wouldn't recommend if you're looking for a cute, lighthearted romance, but if you like contemporary books in general you'll probably enjoy this one!

Content Warnings

slytherin11's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.5

Content Warnings

onceandfuturereaders's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I adore Alexis Hall and his books, but this one was probably my least favorite I’ve read so far. As someone with anxiety, it can be tricky to read characters who have anxiety - it’s hard to find books that do it right without making it triggering. This was a triggering kind of story - Paris has very severe anxiety and apparently no one has suggested that to him until he goes on a baking show and meets a prospective love interest who is like “hmm something may be medically wrong here” and then Paris is like “no, this is just me” all while thinking he doesn’t want to appropriate a medical condition that isn’t his. Honestly Paris should have been in therapy years before 80-some percent of the way through the book. So often I was torn between wanting to give Paris a hug and wanting to scream “GO TO THERAPY” at him.

There were parts I liked - Tariq for the most part, Morag for the most part, Paris in therapy and his friendship with Joy, and most importantly the entire laser tag scene with Tariq’s family.

Overall this fell flat for me, despite loving the GBBO style story where I could easily envision how each weekend would go. I wanted to like this so much more than I did.

Content Warnings

More...