If you love books about rival bakers falling in love where one is sunshine & the other is grumpy, then you should pick this up! There's lots of amazing cake mentioned, also a reality show and a royal wedding to bake/battle for(?)

Thanks to the publisher and the author for an eARC!

a fun and heartwarming book filled with tension and banter. i loved following the character's stories! full rtc

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me. I like watching baking shows but reading about baking is another matter, apparently. Beyond that, there was almost too much going on here - the reality show, baking for royalty, a side plot about said royalty, a shifty shop across the road stealing recipes, estranged family navigating new relationships. It was just A LOT.

★ ★ ★ ★ / 5

This book combines delicious, mouthwatering sweets with a heartwarming, but spicy romance between bakery rivals!

I love a good rivals to lovers and this book delivered on so many fronts. The contrast of Dominic and Sylvie in not only their personalities, but also in their baking styles was hilarious. It made the moments when Dominic succumbed to Sylvie’s ways so much more enjoyable and heartwarming.

I really enjoyed all the different dynamics going on in the book and how they were balanced. There was the commission for the royal wedding cake, filming for Operation Cake, and also their day-to-day lives and problems. Each plot point was given its due diligence and everything blended together in the end so well.

Additionally, I really enjoyed how Lucy Parker handled the topics of grief, loss, and toxic households in this story. It’s meant to be a lighthearted romance so I wasn’t expecting extensive dives into emotions, chapters upon chapters dedicated to healing, but Parker still managed to weave the bits of sadness throughout the story in a way that made sense and paid respects to each character’s set of experiences.

Lastly, I absolutely love the writing style. Dual POVs can be hard to do if you don’t have enough understanding of your characters and don’t do a good job distinguishing between them. Lucy Parker had absolutely no issue with this. Sylvie’s erratic, bubbly personality was easily distinguishable from the cold, logical Dominic and it made the switches between the POVs both easy to follow and super enjoyable to read.

If you’re on the fence about this book, I say try it out! UK Royals, baked goods, rivals to lovers, what could really go wrong?

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for sharing the ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

If you love competitive baking shows, a peek at royalty and a rivals-to-lovers story - read Battle Royal. In Lucy Parker's upcoming novel that kicks off her Palace Insiders series, we watch as two bakery owners with a history of their own be forced to work with and against each other. But after being forced to spend all this time together, will they learn just how well they get along?

I'll admit that I'm not the first person to jump at present-day romance stories, but I just couldn't ignore that idea that Dom and Sylvie meet on a Baking Competition show. And in the first few paragraphs, I wasn't disappointed. Dom is a serious contemporary baker/judge who isn't thrilled with Sylvie's overuse of glitter.

The dynamics between Dom and Sylvie are fantastic as they start to learn more about each other. Parker does a great job of slowly pulling back the layers but also keeping the story moving forward. And what's even better is how mature the characters are.

A normal romance trope that has been grating my nerves as of late is the idea that a character won't share how they feel or hide something just so it makes a huge issue. In Battle Royal, both have their moments but then open up and trust each other! It was a refreshing change of pace.

So if you love baking, love and lots of humor I'd suggest adding this to your reading list!

Thank you Netgally for the advanced reader copy!

4.5-star!

This is my first time reading Lucy Parker. It did take me some time in the beginning to get used to her voice, and as I'm not familiar with some British slangs and humors. they probably took some of the joy away. This story is about two rival bakeries across the street from each other, competing for a royal wedding cake contract. Two rivals, completely opposite artistic styles and personalities, come together for the experience of their lifetimes, and their romance slowly ensues...

Dominic De Vere first met Sylvie Fairchild four years ago when she was a contestant on a reality baking show and he was one of the judges. Fast forward, they're now sworn enemies in the same neighborhood. Not only that, Sylvie is also invited to become Dominic's co-judge on the same show. Dominic is all about classy, elegant, yet perfect style, while Sylvie goes for all glitters and sparkles. They're both talented, with great artistic skills and excellent tastes. So going head to head to compete for the biggest contract of their careers proves to be a great challenge for both.

I felt that the story started out a bit slow, and their romantic sparks didn't really start until about 35-40% of the book. But as the story went on, it's become more emotional, and I enjoyed seeing the changes in Dominic when he slowly opened up his heart. I loved seeing how the sunshine Sylvie brought out the sweetness and tenderness in the grumpy Dominic. It has a great cast with interesting side characters, including the royal couples. It's also feasting your eyes and imagination with cakes and chocolate and all the delicious baked goods that will make you drool while you read! I'm looking forward to the next story in the series!

*Special thanks to Avon Books for sending me the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

For all fans of The Great British Bake-Off, Battle Royal will tide you over until the next season! If you're a fan of the royal family, Battle Royal will tide you over until the next royal wedding! A fun read, full of romance and delicious concoctions!

This was my first book by this author. I really love books centered around cooking, plus who doesn't love a good enemies to lovers rom-com with great sex scenes?! This book was the perfect Saturday afternoon read. It was quick with a crazy fun storyline. Dominic and Sylvie were one of my favorite couples ever. I highly recommend this one. The writing was solid with great character development and conflict. I can't wait to find more books by Lucy Parker to read. Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Battle Royal is centered around two rival bakers as they compete to create a cake for an upcoming royal wedding, and I ate up every second of it. This book is perfect for fans of rom-coms and The Great British Baking Show.

I loved the enemies-to-lovers trope and grump/sunshine dynamic between Sylvie and Dominic. At first glance, I thought this book was going to be all light and fluff. But don't let the cheesy cover fool you - Lucy Parker surprised me with the amount of depth behind her characters, and she did not shy away from addressing heavier topics including grief and the loss of loved ones.

I will say that the book was slow to start, and it took me a while to get invested in the characters. I also thought there were too many micro-conflicts scattered throughout the book, and would've preferred if the author honed in on one or two conflicts instead.

But overall, I still enjoyed this book a lot and will definitely be checking out Parker's other works!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Battle Royal by Lucy Parker will be released on August 17th, 2021.

Romance readers and Great British Bake Off fans will both rejoice with the release of Battle Royal, the newest romance by Lucy Parker. In this delectable romantic comedy, two baking enemies find themselves suddenly becoming more than friends as a baking competition heats up.

This was the first book I have read by Lucy Parker and I enjoyed everything about this book. It is an enemies to lovers slow burn story that has everything I love in a book including some mystery.

Two rival bakeries that are across the street from each other are also judges on a baking show and do not get along, they also have past. What else could go wrong?... they both could be competing to bake the wedding cake for the big royal wedding.

I loved Dominic and Sylvie’s characters a lot. They were both witty and fun and I loved the way their relationship progressed!

The secondary characters were perfect too! Lucy Parker knows how to write characters that are a lot of fun! I cannot wait to see who the next book in the series is about, even though I have a guess! I would recommend Battle Royal to anyone who enjoys a fun witty romcom.

Thank you Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for granting me this digital Arc for my honest thoughts. I absolutely enjoyed this book so much!

The perfect mashup between romance and a cooking competition!

I love cooking competitions because you never know what is going to happen so Battle Royal is the perfect mashup between romance and Operation Cake!

Sylvie Fairchild had known Dominic (Dom) De Vere since she competed on Operation Cake, and he was the tough judge four years ago who wasn’t her fan especially after the hoof incident and now she returns as a judge. Sylvie specialized in sugar craft and Dom was the master of flavor with their storefronts across the street from each other. Now they are competitors for the contract to make a wedding cake for the royal rebel, Princess Rose and her fiancé.

Battle Royal is enemies to lovers between Sylvie and Dom and a little bit of a preview of the next book that I’m looking forward to reading.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

CW: mentions of death of a parent, mentions of abusive parent, mentions of child neglect, vomiting
⚠️SPOILERY CW: ************attempted harm by usage of knife
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I will already start this review by saying, this is well worth the read.
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I took up Minor in Culinary so this book naturally caught my heart instantly because it took me back to those days. This instantly became special and memorable to me with all the business and baking topics, and is already one of my favorite reads this year.
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"Battle Royal" is story of two individuals, one a contestant on the baking show and the other a judge, who started off hating each other then finds out that they will be competing to create the perfect cake for a Royal Wedding, and later develops a deeper relationship with each other despite their clashing personalities as well as develop touching relationships with others as friends and as family, as they go around dealing with loneliness and grief.
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I absolutely loved how the dynamics between the characters worked because of how they came to understand and relate to each other in deeper levels as the story develops. The story is uniquely told as if you really are tuning in on reality TV and broadcasted baking competitions. Other aspects I loved about it are: how the characters are in their late 30 somethings who are just navigating through life and love; the casual representation of a disabled supporting character with a stutter, an asexual Japanese supporting character, and sapphic Black side characters.
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I would say that this book has great balance of plot and characters but I can see it not being favored to those who look for stories that are heavy on characters because it does lean more on the plot. It was also a very light atmosphere but when it gets emotional, I really feel it deeply. I rarely laugh in books but this one made me laugh on several occasions. Definitely a story that will stay in my head for a long time.
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I highly recommend this first installment if you would stories with baking and romantic comedy, and if you enjoy watching baking competitions!
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I will be posting the review on my social media platforms a week before publication date!

Have you ever read a book so perfect that you just get hit with the appreciation for literature all over again? Because this book reminded me of why I love reading so much. This book was amazingly perfect, heartwarming and wholesome. I can't get enough of these two.

Grumpy/Sunshine, opposites attract, rivals to lovers, found family, long lost family and older couple (late 30's). Dominic, ever want to just hug a character and never let go? Dominic is an emotionally distant character, he is blunt, harsh with criticism, has trouble expressing himself emotionally and physically through touch. His style of baking is classic, traditional and colorless. Slyvie is a bright sunshine character. She is colorful, her cakes are covered in glitter with characters and color, unique and nontraditional. They are polar opposites. Their businesses are across the street from each other making them rivals.

Though Dominic struggles with physical touch, his love language with Slyvie is physical touch and wow it's beautiful. It's so beautiful and romantic. I normally hate slow burn but there was no lack of intimacy, touches can be quite intimate and it was so romantic.

I adored the side characters as well, each and every one of them. Their mini arcs were important to both Slyvie and Dominic and made you love these two even more. Trigger warnings for child neglect and parental loss. The found family and long lost family trope is important to the plot and is handled beautifully. I really don't have anything negative to say about this book.

I truly love this book and am so grateful to have received this eARC ♡

Lucy Parker has quickly become one of my favorites. I can always count on her books to make me laugh and feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Battle Royal was the perfect enemies-to-lovers story. The fact that the main characters are rival bakers and are competing to bake a cake for a royal wedding adds even more layers to this lovely story. Highly recommend!

This lovely book ticks so many boxes for me.
Grumpy/sunshine.
Neighboring businesses in competition.
Baking show.
A very believable and legitimate reason for the hero to be so icy and standoffish.
Incredible, memorable side characters (who will hopefully get their own books in this series).
One of the most satisfying and believable enemies to lovers arcs I have ever read, with plenty of time and development at every stage of the transition of their relationship.
Insightful and profound with moments of pure hilarity. So well balanced in tone that the highest highs are grounded and feel realistic and the lowest lows are edged in hope.
This is exactly what I was hoping to find when I signed up to receive ARCs, loveliness that many people haven’t seen yet, that I can help push out into the world. Pick this one up as soon as you can.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, it does not influence my opinion in any way.

Battle Royal is the first book in the Palace Insiders series, and it shows that sometimes the thrill of rivalry can just be too sweet to ignore.
A quick rundown: Sylvie and Dominic are mortal enemies. While competing on the popular competition show, Operation Cake, Sylvie's final bake goes awry and hits Dominic, causing him to vote her off (the glitter covering Dominic probably didn't help his attitude). Four years later, Sylvie has a successful bakery called Sugar Fair... Directly across from Dominic's bakery, De Vere's. Sylvie's success with Sugar Fair and overall likability on Operation Cake makes her the perfect alumna judge. When the country's princess finally gets engaged, Dominic and Sylvie are thrown into a competition to book themselves as caterers for the royal wedding. The seemingly constant interaction has both parties wondering if their initial feelings for each other were on point or if they were just half-baked (I'm sorry it was too good not to use).

My thoughts: I could not get enough of this book. One of my favorite tropes, known as "Grumpy x Sunshine," fits Dominic and Sylvie perfectly. Their dynamic really pushed the plot forward and kept it entertaining. I found myself giggling, blushing, feeling my stomach drop at more dramatic bits, and crying. I also loved the detail that Parker included in the writing itself, creating a completely immersive world, I even found myself craving the sweets she described. I found the story layered and complex, with the romance occasionally taking a backseat to familial relationships, friendships, or even intrigue and subterfuge. This book seems to end in a slight cliffhanger, which means audiences will get to spend more time in the Palace Insiders series.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 (rounded to 5)

Battle Royal will be available for purchase on August 17th. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf. Also, be sure to check out Lucy Parker’s website!
I was lucky enough to be able to read this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Lucy Parker has another winner on her hands with Battle Royal, the first book in her new Royal Insiders series and also her first novel published under the Avon Imprint.   I’ve enjoyed all her books so far and have loved quite a few of them; they’re stylish and engaging and wonderfully romantic, featuring three-dimensional protagonists with chemistry that leaps off the page, strongly developed relationships, well-depicted settings and the sort of clever wit and humour that I adore.

Battle Royal is, I’m pleased to report, very much in the same vein. It’s a beautifully written grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers romance between rival bakers, packed with the vibrancy, fun, witty repartee and sexual tension that characterises her work, but there’s also a kind of gravitas here that sets it apart from her previous novels.  I don’t mean that the book is heavy or gloomy – far from it – just that some of its underlying themes are weighty, and the bittersweet overtones they lend to the story add layers of complexity to the characters and the plot that take the novel to another level and make it feel like so much more than a contemporary romance or romantic comedy.

Four years earlier, Sylvie Fairchild was a contestant on Operation Cake and was doing fairly well.  Her bright and breezy personality caught the attention of the viewing public and her tasty, imaginative bakes were getting good marks - despite the view of stern judge - and London’s premier baker - Dominic De Vere that her creations were mostly style over substance. She had reached the semi-final stage of the competition when disaster struck, and an unplanned cake explosion landed a ton of glitter in Dominic’s hair and catapulted a cake-smeared unicorn hoof into his forehead.  Needless, to say, that was Sylvie’s last appearance on the show.

Since then however, she’s set up the Sugar Fair bakery/patisserie – which just happens to be on the same street and directly opposite to De Vere’s  - and now, she’s been invited back to Operation Cake, but this time as one of the judges.

Favoured by the royal family and something of a British institution, Dominic De Vere is hugely talented, brilliant and dedicated, but where Sylvie’s work is all heart and her colourful decorative style reflects her sunshiny, open personality, Dominic’s coolly aloof perfectionism favours classical, minimalist elegance and neutral tones.  As bakers – and individuals – their approaches and outlooks couldn’t be more different, something the producers of Operation Cake are clearly hoping will play well on television.  An extra layer to Sylvie and Dominic’s rivalry is added when a royal wedding is announced – and they’re both determined to secure the contract to supply the wedding cake.

I loved so much about this book.  It’s perhaps a little slow to start, but once it gets going it became impossible to put down as the complex, multi-layered story the author is telling begins to unfold.  At the centre of it all is the opposites-attract romance between Sylvie and Dominic, which is simply gorgeous.  Their chemistry and mutual attraction crackle with sexual tension from the get-go, but the way their relationship develops is an exquisite slow-burn, fuelled by longing looks, flirtatious banter and glancing touches.  (Oh, the touches  - *sigh*) Dominic is, at first glance, your classic stuffed-shirt hero, emotionally distant, icy-cool and brutally honest, but as we get to know him, we discover a genuinely caring man beneath the world-weary exterior, one who longs for connection but fears rejection.  Sylvie is outgoing and vivacious and seems to be a complete contrast to Dominic, but it turns out they have more in common than either would have thought. Both have been profoundly affected by events in their pasts which continue to inform their choices, meaning they hold themselves apart – from people, from emotions… even from life.   The depth of the affection that underpins their interactions as they learn about and support each other in slowly coming to terms with their pasts is both genuine and heartfelt.

One of the things I most liked about the relationship is that although Sylvie and Dominic are business rivals, there’s never any pettiness or sense that one is prepared to sabotage the other’s chances.  It’s clear that while they may not see eye to eye aesthetically, they respect each other’s skills and capabilities, so that their (initially) begrudging co-operation on their research (for the wedding cake tender) never seems unlikely or out of character.

There’s a lot going on in this book, but Lucy Parker pulls her various story threads together extremely well and balances everything out both credibly and satisfactorily, never forgetting to keep Sylvie and Dominic’s romance at the forefront of the action.  As well as the TV show and the rivalry over the wedding cake, there’s a storyline involving Dominic’s younger sister Pet who’s decided to work for him in hopes of developing a relationship with the brother she barely knows; there’s a sleaze-bag café owner who keeps stealing Sylvie’s ideas, and a charmingly poignant love story from the past that emerges as Sylvie and Dominic search for inspiration for the royal cake.  I was pleased that the author chose to create a kind of AU royal family which bears little to no resemblance to the present incumbents, and the portions of the story that look at the toll taken by the weight of duty and living constantly in the media spotlight on even the strongest, most loving of relationships are thought-provoking.  There’s also a lovely exploration of the concept of family – both biological and found – and how shared DNA is meaningless without affection, and a superbly developed secondary cast who all have important roles to play.  Bubbly, loving Pet is delightful, Sylvie’s assistant Mabel - a woman of few words – is a terrifyingly no-nonsense hoot, and  I really hope there’s a book coming for Sylvie’s long-term best friend and business partner, Jay.   My only quibble overall is that there’s one overly dramatic plot-point near the end I could have done without (especially in such an already jam-packed story!)

That niggle apart, this book is an utter delight and one I’m happy to recommend without reservation.  Sylvie and Dominic are perfect for one another and their romance is laden with affection, tenderness, and sexual tension as yummy as the patisserie. Touching and emotional yet whimsical and optimistic,  Battle Royal captivated me from start to finish, and I’m sure fans of the author’s and of contemporary romance in general will love it.

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I was very eager to enjoy this book, but it turned out to not be for me. The sense of humor wasn't pitched to mine, and the whole book felt overstuffed with characters and plot that distracted from the romance. When it did come time for talking about emotions, it felt like well trod territory that didn't pull me in. I can imagine people who will love everything about it that I didn't enjoy, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who likes their romance fairly light on the romance.

Delightful! Battle Royal is stuffed full with romance, family dynamics (royal and otherwise), mystery, intrigue, and, of course, baking!

Sylvie is a former contestant on Operation Cake, a GBBO-style British baking competition, who now owns a successful business. Dominic is the seriously intimidating, hard-to-please judge whose established, respectable cake shop is across the road from Sylvie's. They're rivals in business. And now they're going to be co-judges AND rivals for a royal wedding cake.

There's are a couple of lines in Chapter One (in my ARC) that perfectly describe their dynamic:

"He went in for elegant minimalism. She rarely saw an object that couldn't be improved with sequins.

She was, aesthetically, his worst nightmare."

Ah! I love it. Grumpy/sunshine. Rain cloud/sparkle. Minimalism versus glitter.

There's a lot going on in the plot. It might best be described as sprawling. But Lucy Parker carefully balances all the various pieces of storyline while keeping the focus on Sylvie and Dom's growing partnership. And at least four of the secondary characters have emotional journeys that resonate as well. That's a lot in one book.

I'm so excited to see where the series goes!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.