3.5 stars

I have read several books by Alexis Hall that I have enjoyed and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake caught my interest at first with Rosaline as the lead and centered around a baking competition. There were some good aspects to the story, as well as some aspects that were bland, and some aspects that weren’t to my tastes at all, which left me with an uneven read. Overall, I wanted to like this one more than I did.

Rosaline is a 27-year-old bisexual single parent. She wants to be the best parent for her daughter, but feels boxed in by life and she’s not sure how to get ahead. When she enters the baking competition, Rosaline feels this might be just the thing to move her life forward. The book centers around the weeks of the baking competition and it seems to have a similar feel to the Great British Bake-Off, but since I have not watched that in depth, I cannot compare the two.

On the way to the first taping, Rosaline meets Alain and he is her love interest for most of the book. It’s clear from the start that Alain is not a particularly good person, but Rosaline does not see that as he fits the model of what Rosaline thinks is a good match for her and what she knows her parents want. She then spends most of the book trying to force a relationship with Alain and missing important notes that Alain is not a safe person for her to be with. There is then Harry, who is not anything like Rosaline expected and she’s not interested in Harry for most of the book, except to think he’s good looking.

The format of the book got repetitive for me. We are moved through each week of the competition and there isn’t anything specifically memorable about any of the weeks. The producer of the show is verbally abusive to the contestants, screaming and cursing and belittling them, and they all took it. I do not understand why this is allowed and accepted as a way to treat people or to allow yourself to be treated and I was over it as soon as it began.

This is not a romance, but a story about Rosaline finding her way as she navigates the men and the women in her life, as well as her disapproving parents. It’s not a love triangle either, as she has no romantic interactions with Harry until later in the book. But I was missing that essential element that truly made me like any of these characters. Rosaline is fine and Harry is presented as a nice, but bland guy, since we don’t learn much about him at all. There also is barely any relationship development beyond a tentative friendship between Rosaline and Harry, as Rosaline really doesn’t want much to do with Harry until they become sort of friends and then move to a relationship and, by the end, there was not enough depth to become attached to them as a couple. The book is also long at almost 500 pages and there wasn’t enough there to create a spark for me through such a long story.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is not my favorite work from this author, but if you enjoy other books by Hall, a new one might be difficult to pass up.

Alexis Hall kicks off the Winner Bakes All series with the fast-paced, entertaining Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. Anyone who enjoys Great British Bake Off will delight over the delicious bakes Rosaline and her co-competitors make. And though it choux is hard to compete with that, it’s truly the characters themselves who are the star (bakers) of the show.

I really liked Rosaline. She’s a single mom with a precocious daughter who she does her best for. Her relationship with her parents is extremely strained but she’s got the support of her best friend (and ex-girlfriend) Lauren and I loved that relationship. Rosaline nabs a spot on Bake Expectations, a Great British Bake Off style show, and she hopes the prize money and exposure will put her on the path toward doing something she loves while still being able to provide for her daughter. I loved Rosaline’s strength, determination, and heart and her flaws made her human. I enjoyed watching her journey over the course of the story and where she ends up was incredibly satisfying.

Where Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake falters for me is the romance. The vast majority of the book Rosaline spends with Alain and it’s frustrating. I understand why she’s with him for quite some time but the red flags will be waving for readers long before they come through to Rosaline. Unfortunately the sheer amount of time spent with Alain became draining and it also meant there was not much time left for Rosaline’s romance with Harry, who I absolutely loved. Rosaline is quick to stand up for what’s right and has done an amazing job teaching her daughter to stand up against bias, but she doesn’t see the biases she herself holds for quite some time. Harry is an electrician whose poor grammar and straightforward outlook on life make Rosaline question her beliefs and the assumptions she makes. I loved Harry; he’s got a heart of gold, is patient, and is so, so kind and sweet. The romance falters only due to lack of page time and had the book been a bit longer it would have really shone.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake balances fluffy and fun with unpleasant realities. Hall doesn’t hesitate to take on prejudice of all sorts and though I loved that about this book there were also enough “teachable moments” that even someone like me who agrees with every one will be taken out of the story a bit by the sheet number. Still, I really enjoyed Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake overall. There were so many characters and relationships to love and when you add in the backdrop of Bake Expectations how could I not like this story? I cannot wait to see what Hall comes up with for the next Winner Bakes All story.

This was such a cute romcom book. It has all the tropes and wholesome and fun. so cute! This was such a fun read! I can’t tell you how hungry I was while reading about all the deliciousness these characters bake up. Definitely don’t read this one on an empty stomach! Halfway through, I was overcome with the need to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies

Overall I did enjoy this. The supporting characters were a major highlight for me. I was expecting a bit more humor but I walk away from this excited for the next in series.

“It would have been one of those unexpectedly perfect moments with an unexpectedly perfect guy. Had it not been for the tiny, tiny detail that she’d lied to him about literally everything.”

What You’ll Find:
✔️Love Triangle
✔️Bisexual Rep
✔️Single Mom
✔️Singular POV

I listened to Boyfriend Material prior to this one and really adored it. Unfortunately though, this one was not for me. That doesn’t mean it might not be for you!

There were many things that made it difficult for me to enjoy this read. Most of it due to personal reading tastes. It felt heavier than I expected, nothing ever truly positive happening. I felt as though too much was tackled in this one story and it came across a little preachy. It’s described as a love triangle but I don’t feel that’s accurate either. It just didn’t hold my interest.

The concept and setting of this story is so fun. But the only thing I really enjoyed was Harry. And I’m sorry, but in all honestly, I didn’t want him to have a HEA with Rosalie. I felt he deserved better.

* Thank you to Forever Publishing for the eARC via NetGalley for my honest review.

This book is fantastic. It's a rom com that hits both the rom and com perfectly. It's a fun look inside the world of a GBBO type show. It's full of delicious sounding foods that will make you hungry. And it's got the best characters.

Rosaline is amazing. She's well-rounded, has layers (like a cake!), has great baking ideas, and has the uncanny ability to get herself into some interesting situations *and* find a way out. I also love her Romeo and Juliet reference in regards to her name.

The thing that really won me over though are all the characters around Rosaline. They are so well written, so fun, and play off her so well.

Just make sure to have some cake handy when you read this. I promise you'll want some!

One of my go-to comfort shows to watch is hands down, Great British Bake Off and when I read the synopsis for this, I knew I had to read it! Rosaline is a bit of mess which makes her character totally relatable albeit a bit frustrating at times, yet you still root for her. I love her relationship with her cutie pie daughter, Amelie. She was such a sweet fictional daughter and I love her to pieces. This story includes a bit of a love triangle, which really isn’t my favorite trope but thankfully it’s palatable with Harry who is the ultimate cinnamon roll hero. Like Hall’s previous book, Boyfriend Material, this story is a closed door romance... so expect lots of sugar and a perfect little dash of spice. If you love Great British Bake Off and a touch of behind the scenes drama, you must add this to your reading list!

I barked like a seal reading Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, delighted by unexpected guffaws. The “unexpected” part was, well, unexpected, given that the novel is marketed as a romcom. I mean, I had expected to laugh, just not when, why and where I did! Which goes to prove that Alexis Hall, whose career has encompassed every romance genre, has hit his (already impressive) stride.

We meet Rosaline, who got pregnant at nineteen and ended her Cambridge training towards a career in medicine. Now at twenty-seven, she’s adores precociously brilliant Amelie, but “works minimum wage jobs to support my daughter while my parents shake their heads sadly and occasionally make me beg them for money.” They are a cardiologist and oncologist who have judged Rosaline harshly ever since. Luckily Lauren, her ex, has remained her best friend and Lauren’s wife is conveniently/ frequently out of town. Because, when Rosaline decides to turn her baking hobby into a quest to improve her life circumstances by entering a televised bake-off competition, Lauren and her parents will babysit.

Rosaline’s first encounter is contestant Alain, a landscape architect, sharp, funny, good looking and obviously attracted to her. Their banter is easy and snappy. Don’t they fit perfectly? Aha, the boy Rosaline can take home. But as we meet more genuine contestants, like Anvita, whose vivacity lights the pages, or plain-spoken Harry, an electrician who is content with himself and fully accepting of others, Alain’s veneer grows thin. Readers are left hoping Rosaline will make wise choices – whether the contest changes her life, or not.

After all, she is a woman of conscience. “Rosaline couldn’t cope with people doing kindness at her. It made her feel like she’d shoplifted a lipstick. Except the lipstick was made of time and emotional energy.” But then again, “She was just…jumbly, as if her whole life was a jigsaw puzzle that had been put away in the wrong box, so she’d been trying to make a picture of a sunset with piece that were meant to be a cow.” Still, I had hope for Rosaline, because she did make the right choice in raising Amelie, didn’t she?

If we’ve come to expect inner turmoil in Mr. Hall’s prior work, outer snark is never far behind, like when Amelia’s teacher is upset because (in listing words that start with “bi”) Amelia has offered that her mother was “bisexual.” Miss Wooding says the school board suggests, “learners shouldn’t be taught about LGBTQ until year six.”

“’Oh do they,’” asked Rosaline, doing her best to remember that Wooding was probably a very nice person and not just a fuzzy cardigan draped over some regressive social values. ‘Because Amelie’s in year four and she manages to cope with my existence nearly every day.’” Again and again, I thrilled to Mr. Hall’s clear insights into society’s inability to “cope” with the reality of sexual and gender role diversity.

As an avid fan of Mr. Hall, I’ve enjoyed watching his wisdom mellow. “You’ve just got to figure out what matters. And then not let stuff what don’t matter get in the way of stuff what does.” … “There’s always someone worse off than you, but you’re not helping ‘em by ignoring your own problems.” In fact, Rosaline is the most normative (?)/generally identifiable of all Mr. Hall’s protagonists, and hopefully will attract a wider audience. We can all benefit from incisive commentary penned in exquisite prose.

If you’re looking for insight tucked into humor, wrapped around romance, flawless writing, perceptive characters and a smooth plot, "Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake" is for you. Perhaps Alexis Hall sweats razor blades creating his masterpieces, but the result is an effortlessly enjoyable and enriching novel.

Review:

“I couldn’t fit four hundred cookbooks in my house.”
“I wouldn’t want to. I’ve got the internet and a phone. Like a normal person”

Alexis Hall is the MASTER of banter. I was cackling, I mean, CACKLE-ingggg so hard from Rosaline. Rosaline is real and is hilarious, but also understanding and sympathize. When Rosaline just start to lie, I couldn’t help but laugh, but also try to look away. That’s the car crash I needed to read about.

I honestly just imaged Carla Hall eating all of Rosaline’s sweets and giving her wonderful feedback. I loved the set of the show and feel like I was actually there behind the scenes. Plus, Bake Expectations? OH COME ON. That wins.

Overall, love. Alexis Hall still can do no wrong in my eyes. Forever will be part of the AH fan club. Thank you so much Forever for the gifted copy. If you’re going to get one book I suggest this month, is should be Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake.

Man, I loved this one! The focus is more on Rosaline's personal growth and journey versus the Romance arc, so there's an argument to be made that it could be women's fiction instead of romance. But honestly? The relationship is there, and there's enough of it to keep this die-hard romance reader engaged. Where Hall really shines, is in writing groups of friends. The characters together are often laugh-out-loud hysterical, and make the story. Highly recommend.

If you love The Great British Bake Off (UK)/The Great British Baking Show (US) (“Bake Off”), then you will absolutely adore this novel. It is pretty much three stories in one as there is the Bake Off portion where the contestants are on-site each weekend for filming, there is the romance element, and there is a nice character growth journey for the MC, Rosaline Palmer. In this story, the reader follows Rosaline’s experience as a contestant on Bake Expectations. Each section of the novel is one week in the competition where there is the brief time before and after the contestants are on-site and then there is the two actual baking challenges for the week. Similar to the actual show, Bread Week was my absolute favorite and I loved how it was written in this story!

Rosaline Palmer is a 27-year-old stationary shop worker. She dropped out of school on her path to being a doctor after she became pregnant at 19. She is also bisexual, which becomes a playing factor in the story and is well-written into the main story. She is a character that I both liked and disliked, but still rooted for overall. She had so many good qualities, but I think it was how some of her traits and conversations were written that did not gel as well with me. The information itself was fantastic, but it was written more as preachy instead of being naturally informative.

The very first moment Alain, a fellow contestant and a landscape architect, and Rosaline interacted, I absolutely could not stand him, and so it was very difficult to continue to read at times once the two of them develop a relationship. For me, there were zero redeeming qualities, although I can see why others might find some good traits. As I did not like his character, I almost found myself dreading reading about his parts and hoped that Rosaline would see the light and move away from him. When she was away from him and around either the other contestants or Lauren and her daughter, it was a much more enjoyable story for me. It definitely took a lot of talent on the author’s part as I do not outright characters usually, so I commend the author for being among the few that made me hate a character.

Luckily, there is another potential love interest that catches her eye that she becomes friends with, Harry, the electrician. Although he is written as being the “hot one” on the baking show, I love that he was a contender at least to catch Rosaline’s attention. He is a working class more gruff man that usually is not a featured love interest. I loved that he was written this way as the middle class typically is not written into romance stories in favor of more “flashy” careers. In addition, he is written as the tougher guy who does not always know how to express his feelings and he is dealing with his own anxiety issues. I loved his interactions with Rosaline and the other contestants. As a whole, the contestants were all fun as I liked the comraderies they had on and off camera. As the book states, it is one reason why a lot of viewers like this show as it is not as cutthroat as other similar shows.

Overall, this novel was very fun and a lot different than I expected. I thought it would be a more straight romance story within a baking show setting. It felt more women’s fiction as Rosaline was on her journey to grow and realize her potential and worth. This was not a bad thing, though, as I rooted for her to find happiness. I loved her eight-year-old daughter, Amelie, and, of course, her best friend Lauren. Rosaline is a flawed character that is barely making ends meet in her daily life, but she will do whatever it takes to give her daughter a great life. She does not always make the best decisions, but she tries to learn from her mistakes. Her journey of self-discovery was nice, but there were moments where I wished she would realize some things sooner so I would have more time to enjoy it before moving on to other growths. This was still a very fun story and I will definitely continue reading Alexis Hall novels in the future!

**I want to give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), for a review copy of this very entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

After a bit of internal debate, I finally settled on giving this book 4 stars. There is a lot about this book that I liked- the fun setting of the baking competition, the witty banter and dry british humor, the lighthearted romance but also serious personal growth of the main characters. I really enjoyed the way the book was divided into weeks of the baking competition too. However, I really think this book was about 100 pages too long and could have cut out a lot of the dialogue that didn't further the plot but was just meant to be funny. Surprisingly, I found myself wanting to skip over the parts of the book that happened outside the baking weekends and just read what was happening at the competition. The competition setting was absolutely the best part of the book.

Overall, this was a lighthearted romance that did was it was supposed to do. I hated Alain, I loved Harry, and I thought Amelie was adorable and precocious. Rosaline could be a bit insufferable at times but just in the way she was supposed to be as someone who was given everything by her rich parents. Her character development was great though, as was Harry's. I would have liked to see a little more interaction with Rosaline and Lauren without Amelie around. I do think this book tried to do a bit too much, hence why its about 100 pages too long, but it was very enjoyable so it made up for it. I really appreciate NetGalley and Forever giving me an ARC of this book. I love Alexis Hall and would recommend this book to friends. I also am excited to see that there will be more books set in the Bake Expectations world.

Puddings, pies, tarts oh my! #RosalinePalmerTakestheCake is such a fun book, but I warn you, do not read this on an empty stomach!
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Rosaline Palmer had a plan for life. This plan did not include dropping out of college, getting pregnant at 19 and not becoming a doctor. Instead, she becomes a contestant on Britain’s most famous baking contest.
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The cast of characters are amazing. I loved her ex-girlfriend, current best friend Lauren and her possible current love Harry. Harry could not have possibly been more endearing of a character!
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This book is pure fun and looks at what happens when you are planning a certain life but it veers off course. Sometimes life can be equal parts a recipe for disaster and sweet desert. This book is out today!
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Huge thank you to @readforeverpub for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am not a fan of baking, reality tv shows, or reality tv shows about baking, so I’m hardly the target audience for a book based on all of these things. And yet! Alexis Hall is reliably a laugh-outloud writer for me, so no way was I not gobbling up ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE the second I had the chance.
🍰
Rosaline Palmer spends her waking hours variously occupied with raising her surprise daughter, working in a shop, baking, and torn between wanting to redeem herself in the eyes of her unpleaseable parents or stick it to them. Going on a reality show baking competition may not achieve either—but with any luck it’ll jostle her loose from the groove she feels stuck in.
🥧
This is absolutely the Great British Bake-Off (did I get that name right? I’m not googling it) romcom of your dreams, if that is a thing you dream about. It has it all: baking puns galore, bawdy British humour, an excellent cast of characters, sizzling bi-rep, and a truly satisfying love triangle. Also a Richard Dawkins send-up?? BE STILL MY HEART.
🧁
I cackled all the way through this and when I finished, wanted to start it right back over from the beginning. I will be shoving it into friends’ hands for the rest of the summer and wishing more novels were this exquisite blend of smart, hot, funny, and Marx jokes.
🍪
ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE is on shelves today for you to acquire and wolf it down in a single sitting like I did! Massive thanks to @readforeverpub for the dARC and to Alexis Hall for the hours of entertainment & tears of laughter.

“I was just trying to work out if it makes you more or less of a racist that your culturally appropriative journey of self-discovery only took place in your head.”

Rosaline Palmer is a young single mother struggling to keep it all together. When she gets the opportunity to appear on Bake Expectations, a baking competition/reality TV show, she knows it's her chance for a career she actually loves, financial security, and validation in the eyes of her overbearing parents. And she just might fall in love along the way. But will she end up with the successful, charming, parent-approved Alain or the working class, kind-hearted Harry?

ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE is both a romance and a contemporary adult story. The love triangle situation develops alongside Rosaline's growing confidence in herself and her choices. The plot becomes predictable from an early point in the story, so the reader's enjoyment hinges on how much they'll be entertained along the way. The cast of quirky supporting characters provides much comedy and charm, and Hall has a gift for writing dialogue. The comedic dialogue brings the characters vividly to life. Meanwhile, the dramatic dialogue, which often has characters speaking past each other and misinterpreting one another, feels true to life. On the flip side, the book feels a touch too long and a bit preachy at times. While I appreciate a socially conscious book, the number of confrontations gets to be excessive here.

While Rosaline's story contains much to enjoy, particularly for those who love baking, the pacing keeps it from reaching its full potential. I'd recommend Hall's 2020 release, BOYFRIEND MATERIAL. I, myself, intend to explore his backlist!

This is a tricky book to review, largely because I really love Alexis Hall's authorial voice & I enjoyed the characters, but I spent quite a bit of this book very frustrated with pretty major plot points. I'll start with saying I don't believe this is a romance— while it has some "romantic comedy" elements, this plot largely circles around Rosaline & her growth through the show Bake Expectations, and her romance with the hero doesn't start until about 82%. Thus, the romance between Rosaline & Harry isn't truly central to the book, which is kind of the requirement of a romance?

One of the things that I really enjoyed were the found family aspect— I loved Rosaline's relationship with Lauren, the camaraderie she built through the show with Anvita, Harry, and some of the other contestants, and Amalie is just amazing! Hall really knows how to craft a core cast and I felt it in these relationships, they were just fun and easy and full of joy. I also ~loved~ every part of the cooking show!! I watched quite a bit of GBBO over the last year or so and it was just spot on perfection in this book🥰 it was clever, it was playful, and BE really captured everything I love about the Great British Bake Off.

There were a number of things I struggled with in this book. One thing that felt odd is the tone of the book & some of the marketing it received felt incongruous with the content? Like I saw it marketed as a rom com and while it is funny in moments, a lot of this book is ~very~ sad and they're also an on-page assault of the heroine. Thankfully other reviewers who had read this book warned be, but if I hadn't known going in that heroine was sexually assaulted I may not have been able to even finish the book. But beyond the sexual assault, the tone of this book felt really heavy. Rosaline is a single mom who appears to be barely making ends meet, her parents are pretty deeply emotionally abusive (criticizing her life choices, being homophobic/biphobic to her face, just generally treating her like shit) and literally nothing good or positive happens to her (including sex with Alain!!! Like, on pages it's just like "the sex was fine"👀) until 40%. And I think those kind of romances are certainly necessary and speak to people, the cover and the marketing surrounding this book did not at ~all~ prepare me for reading this book, and there were honestly several moments that I considered DNFing.

My thoughts on this book are pretty complex, and I think I'm still unpacking them. Much as I loved Alexis Hall's writing, the world building (love GGBO!!) and some of the characters, the things that didn't work for me really didn't work— namely the inclusion of an on-page sexual assault of the heroine, the tonal dissonance between the writing and the way it was marketed/positioned, and it's questionable status as a romance (its really Literary Fiction to me) I don't think I can give this more than 3 stars, and I'd wait to read reviews of the next books in this series before picking them up

After laughing my way through Alexis Hall's last novel, I was eager for more. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake provided everything I was hoping for and more.

Not only did Alexis provide quotes that I've repeated multiple times, she provided an entertaining novel that may be one of my new favorites. I loved Rosaline and the people around her. I loved her banter with the other characters as well as how sharp her daughter is.

One of my favorite quotes happens toward the beginning of the book when the daughter's teacher pulls Rosaline aside to request that the daughter not use words like "bisexual" in class because the teacher didn't want to discuss it with the other children. Rosaline's response was eye opening and absolutely perfect. I felt this fit into our current culture perfectly and her response has really stuck with me.

I encourage all romance readers to pick this one up and read it!

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Book Description
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.
Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory. Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.
Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.


My Review

I knew I was going to like this book when a character mentioned the Child Catcher (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) within the first few pages. A+ reference—that n’er do well has frightened several generations of children—why is he so creepy?

But I digress. This book has everything:

A precocious child: Rosaline’s daughter Amelie is intelligent and astute and adorable… so she clearly deserves to have some of the best lines in the book.

Baking: As the punny title suggests, a good portion of this book takes place during the filming of a fictional baking show called Bake Expectations. See, there’s another pun! There’s a lot you can learn about a person by watching them bake, which is probably why the Great British Baking Show.

A love triangle: I have a confession to make. I didn’t read the description before jumping into this book. I said to myself, “Bisexual single mum, baking show, meets a nice man? Sounds good, let’s go!” And then there’s a moment fairly early in the book when the polished and erudite Alain makes a disparaging remark about Harry. I actually said out loud, “Um, WTF?” Except I didn’t say W-T-F. I said the whole phrase. I don’t intend to paraphrase the whole book, but needless to say, Rosaline was a bit taken aback by the comment, but she second guesses herself. This is such a natural thing to do, and I don’t think we should fault her for not dropping Alain like a hot potato right then and there. Besides, if Rosaline had figured out that Alain was rubbish, there wouldn’t have been much of a book. This is what is referred to in the lit crit business as a “well developed character arc".

But the enigmatic Harry proves to be much more than the stereotypical “lad” he appears to be. Not only is he a deft baker, but he’s a good and decent man. And Rosaline doesn’t know what to do with this knowledge because Alain is the sort of man she thinks she’s supposed to be with.

Or rather, he’s the sort of man her parents would want her to be with.

But then again, Alain is a snake.

Okay, I should stop talking about the book before I give everything away. I have yet to tell you who wins Bake Expectations, and you won’t pry it out of me, even if you ask nicely.

Have I mentioned that this book is hilarious? Hall has such a knack for dialogue, and this book is no exception. I spent the majority of the book highlighting the best lines like I was studying for an exam, and laughing to myself.

Needless to say, I would absolutely recommend Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. This book is sweet and tender and Rosaline is such a delightful protagonist. She’s just doing the best for herself and Amelie and doesn’t go onto the baking show to find love, so she’s just as surprised as the reader to find two eligible gentlemen interested in furthering their acquaintanceship with her. I am planning on buying my own copy of this book as well as the audiobook. Well done, Alexis!


I received an ARC of this book from Forever/NetGalley

Steam: 🌶🌶 /5 (one sex scene with description)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars

TW: Biphobia, attempted sexual assault/rape, classism.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC In exchange for my honest review!

No spoiler review!

First thing the amazing LGBTQ+ rep! Our main character is bisexual. She is also a single mom. I love to see representation in my romance reads!

I love the dialogue, the main character is hilarious. This is one of the most funny Romcoms I’ve read. I caught myself laughing aloud a few times.

The background of a reality tv show baking competition (Bake Expectations) makes for an entertaining read!

Without spoiling, there are a couple people in the competition that our main character feels attracted too. One of the love interests went on for a bit long and I would have liked to see more of the other one. Anyway It makes for some twists and turns and a great RomCom.

I liked how the chapters were set up in accordance to the days of the reality show and what they were baking! As well as the drawings of the bakes lining up with the chapters/days. Just such a cool touch! This book also made me really crave cake and all the food. At the end there are recipes from
The characters which was such a clever touch!

This book would make for a perfect R rated British RomCom movie.....Just so good and entertaining!

That being said there are some parts of this book that deal with very serious stuff so please check trigger warnings prior to reading.

4 stars
As some parts were a little slow for me, and some things with the plot could have been cut shorter, as well as some of the romance felt a little rushed. That being said overall a great read!

(Also the smutty romance novels that Nora was reading between shoots, would totally be me)

I highly recommend picking this one up!

Thanks again to NetGalley and
Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the digital copy!

No one is more disappointed than me that this book didn't work for me. Its funny, and Alexis is an excellent writer, but I'm not in the headspace for a book thats more women's fiction than romance, for a book that has a love-trianglish situation.