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.

In all honesty this was more a 4.5 for me. I savored every page of this romance. I loved the rivals-to-lovers in this. I loved the dry, sarcastic humor and the witty banter.

This was fun from beginning to end. I was invested in these characters and their stories.

If you're looking for a romcom with sarcastic humor, rivals-to-lovers, sexual tension, and wonderful supporting characters then you should definitely order a copy of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon books for this free early copy!

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Well my fellow fluffy rom-com friends, here's another delightful novel from Lucy Parker. She's witty and snarky, her characters are likeable, the plot does contain many familiar situations but there are some twisty-turny parts as well, and the love story is heartwarming and entertaining.

Some profanity and graphic sex.

Can't wait for "Palace Insiders #2... could it be about Pet and the PPO???

The best way to describe this book is overwhelming amounts of stuff going on outside of the romance parts. So much so that I was actually a little confused on who was who and what was what and had to read the first 5 chapters twice to understand what was going on. The baking contest sounded awesome enough on its own so it was a big much to throw in the royal wedding cake thing. And because there was much going on in this book, it was hard to really get to know or like the main characters or really be invested in what happened to them or if they even got together or not by the end. I found myself skimming through this after Chapter 10.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and I am happy to give my honest review.

Lucy Parker is a genius. I love this author's writing and this book did not disappoint. Coming off of Alexis Hall's Rosalie Palmer book, I am 100% here for bake off competition shows. Sylvie and Dom being judges for the show make this so much fun.

Sylvie is a former contestant on a British baking show who gets kicked off spectacularly. She's brought back a few seasons later to be a judge, countering the stuffy, serious judge Dominic. Sylvie has her own pastry shop now which is coincidentally across the street from Dom's shop. She specializes in fantasy and whim while Dom is serious and sophisticated. It's enemies at first glance until they get picked to work on a high profile royal wedding together.

Their shenanigans had me grinning. Their banter was hilarious. Their emotional vulnerability made this realistic and I couldn't stop reading. I love this author and loved this book. I can't wait to read more in the series.

Battle Royale
Lucy Parker

This book feels like The Great British Bake Off meets You’ve Got Mail. You have the intrigue and comfort of a televised backing show as well as the “enemies to lovers” of rival bake shop owners. I would certainly consider this book to be enemies to lovers lite, our main characters are usually at odds in the beginning but it doesn't take long for the reader to realize that its quickly transforming from aversion to interest on both parts.

THe first chapter was a little hard for me to push through. I am not sure why, but the “voice” of the storyteller took me longer to grasp than usual. Once I was truly introduced to the characters it was easy to like them and root for them all. I think the author did an excellent job of making these two characters lives seem full and rich with secondary characters and locations. I loved picturing both of their bakeries and understanding their relationships. I was surprised to find myself teary eyed a few times and that is always a sign that I am truly engrossed in a book.

All in all I thought this was a sweet and charming romance. I tend to like my romance with a bit more steam, but this one was off the charts in charm.

This book was endlessly entertaining and everything I want in a romance novel. I loved everything about this book, from the setting to the characters and plot. It used all my favorite romance tropes (sunshine girl and grouchy boy and enemies/rivals to lovers), plus it was all about baking, which I love to read about. The baking related shenanigans in this story had me laughing out loud and rooting for this unlikely romance.

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker is a wonderful romance novel. I felt the love, passion, care, and character development in Battle Royal. The characters were written well, and the prose was great!

A frankly perfect romance novel from start to finish. Written with all of the sparkle of one of Sylvie's creations and all of the depth of one of Dominic's chocolates. Excited for the follow-up story with Pet, too.

I was just watching The Great British Baking Show and thinking I needed a book with a little of that magic in it. Little did I know that I already had it sitting on my Kindle. I absolutely adored Battle Royal. It is one of those books that reminds me why I love reading. Grumpty/Sunshine and the whole 9 yards. The story, the characters, and everything was just perfect. I hope we get more books from this world. Do yourself a favor and read it. It’s magical.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

Very fun! Fans of the Great British Baking Show/Bake-Off, royal watchers, and British chick lit lovers will enjoy this title immensely. Do not read without dessert in the house. Hard to put down.

Woof, Lucy Parker was coming for my wig: GBBO type baking competition + grump/sunshine + rivals to lovers? So much trope candy for me! I absolutely LOVE the way Lucy Parker does character development... we slowly get to see the layers under the archetypes that she presents in the opening pages, and there's always tons of light, comedic moments that leave me smiling throughout. I did feel this one took a long time to ramp up (which is kind of odd considering how much plot is packed into this) and I'm not 100% sold on the transition from disliking each other to love. The royal storyline also hits different after everything with Harry& Megs has been coming out. But still, I always have fun in these books and this was no different

This is the epitome of grumpy/sunshine, I don’t know if I’ve ever read anything that could encapsulate this trope more. Every book I read by Lucy Parker I think okay, *this* is my favorite, she can’t top it…and then I love the next one more? I don’t know how she does it.

Let me just list all the reasons you should read this book!

The Baking Show – Operation Cake is a competition reality show that first Sylvia is a competitor on, and then, fast forward a few years, voila, she is successful enough to become a judge on the show. I loved this aspect of the book because it bakes in fun side characters that we get to see throughout the book, along with dramatic challenges that keep us wondering if they’ll be able to pull off.
Royal Challenge – a second challenge unexpectedly arises when a Princess Rose is getting married. Like, a literal Princess! Dominic and Sylvia end up being the last two in the running for this and the amount of emotion Lucy Parker is able to pack in the *smallest* detail is amazing to me.
The Royal pair challenge the two to come up with a design they will both love, this essentially leads them on a scavenger hunt that brings them closer and closer together. The vulnerability Dominic reveals slowly through the cracks of his armor is just at this achingly perfect pace throughout the book. With Dom and Sylvia doing both the reality show and the wedding cake together there is a very delicate balance to achieve and Lucy Parker masters it.
One note about the royalty part is that this is *not* the main plot of the book and I know that people have extremely strong opinions about royalty. But since this was a background subplot I was able to handwave it away that there was no dealing with colonialism or racism. This royal family is not meant to be a stand-in for the current one. YMMV on this.
The baking! Holy crap, for the most part I don’t care about food in books but wow did l love the baking here. I have a hard time visualizing things in books a lot of times but I watch a ton of baking shows. So I loved the idea of the contrast between the styles Dominic and Sylvia. Dom has the very staid, elegant white look and Sylvia loves color and glitter and FUN. I swear I have seen these two compete before. The descriptions that were included were amazing and I wish the book came with an insert so I could actually see these creations.
Sylvia’s store was so fun and I wanted to SEE everything. I also was imagining sort of a GBBO-esque drawing by everything. But not only did was the baking fun, it really added a lot to the story. The two connected over it and in researching for the wedding design and looking for secret ingredients – I love how it was integrated into the plot and moved things along. This book got all of the details so exactly right and I wish that I could visualize things better!
The side characters. They are just so wonderful. Pet, Dominic’s younger sister just tore at my heart. Lucy has that romance author knack of writing side characters that linger in reader’s minds. Reading about Pet immediately made me think of another younger sister she wrote a few years ago I *still* would love a book about lol! Pet just wants a relationship with Dominic and he doesn’t really get why, not because he doesn’t, but because he feels that he failed her in the past. Their dynamic was so touching throughout and the development of their story was probably my favorite thing after the romance.
The royal couple had their own arc that was romantic. There’s a friendship/workplace arc with Sylvia and her BFF. All of those are fully developed just humming along underneath the main plot.
The emphasis on found family. I love that this is a theme throughout the book and that it’s returned to again and again. And with the emphasis it’s also reiterated that being related is not the everything of being family. This is key to many of the relationships and it’s underlined and italicized in multiple ways.
And that right there is what I love about Lucy Parker’s writing – all of those threads were carefully interwoven and I never felt like any of them were lacking in any way. She has a knack for balancing everything and wrapping everything up in such a satisfying way. I was emotional throughout the book – as both Sylvia and Dominic are dealing with some grief and emotional trauma from their past. There is an emotional weight to the book, even while it’s a joyful book. I just loved everything about this book.

Content Notes: grief, past deaths, childhood abandonment

Grade: A +

I thought this was going to be a typical rom-com about a baking show. Instead it was a complicated interweaving of various personalities and backgrounds into a story celebrating love of all kinds. The baking show was really just a background explaining the meeting of Dominic and Sylvie and pushes their entanglement along, but it really is a minor part of this story. The story really evolves about another love story that involves the royal family (actually two stories one in the past and one in the present), which is actually more satisfying. What i really enjoyed about this book was the subtle touches of humor that is sprinkled throughout a very touching story--such as Sylvie and Dominic's experience with Midnight Elixir. A fun read about love.

i am obsessed with lucy parker. she creates such meet cute books that are quick and easy to ready and make you feel good. she’s up there for me with R.S grey in terms of quick romance books that just make you feel warm inside.

without spoilers— i loved the premise. i love a good and cute rivalry, and sylvie and dominic were just top tier energy and chemistry from the get go. loved this so much!