More of a 2.5 rounded up. The set-up, judges on a Bake-Off-esque television show in an opposites-attract romance, is decidedly winning, but the execution is a bit of a soggy bottom. The main characters are appealing but they're not served by overstuffed side plots and slips into melodrama that distract and drag things out. Parker's London Celebrities series is a favorite of mine, and this hasn't removed her from my automatic read list, but it doesn't live up to the warmth and sparkle and genuine depth of her other titles.

I was so excited to see that Lucy Parker is writing a new series! I adored Parker’s London Celebrities series (if you haven’t read it yet, run, don’t walk to snag a copy of ACT LIKE IT for a delightful romp in the West End), and was stoked to meet a new cast of a characters.

A few years ago, Sylvie was the creative fan favorite of Operation Cake, a Great British Bake Off style reality show, until a baking disaster resulted in her elimination before the final. Undaunted, Sylvie has worked tirelessly to realize her baking dreams by establishing Sugar Fair, her whimsical Notting Hill bakery. One small problem: Sugar Fair is right across the street from Dominic De Vere’s very serious and traditional bakery. Dominic De Vere is of course the pastry chef and Operation Cake judge who was never charmed by Sylvie’s creations, and was the deciding factor in voting Sylvie out of the baking competition. When Sylvie agrees to be a co-judge on Operation Cake with Dominic, she dreads working with her nemesis. What starts as reluctant teamwork between Sylvie and Dominic evolves into a deliciously slow burning romance full of twists and turns that will keep you swooning to the end.

I just love how Parker crafts such dynamic, realistic characters.. Even supporting characters are fully realized, and play important roles in the nuances of Sylvie and Dominic’s growing attraction. BATTLE ROYAL is an awesome choice for anyone who loves baking, celebrity adjacent stories, and enemies-to-lovers romances.

Review posted on Goodreads (June 22, 2021)
Review Linked

3/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review!

This book was super cute. I really liked both of our main characters and I loved the premise. I am a huge fan of The Great British Bakeoff and so it was fun to see a romance that was loosely based off of that show. I did find myself liking this book more in the second half of the story. The first half was a bit slow for me, and I found myself not really falling for either character until the last half.

If you love baking and romance, then I recommend this book!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker was a really sweet romance! It was a rivals to lovers, opposites attract, romance between bright, charming Sylvie Fairchild and, grouchy, stoic Dominic De Vere. Four years ago, Sylvie was a contestant on the baking show Operation Cake, on which Dominic was a judge. Her elaborate and sparkly creations made her a fan favorite and won over everybody but Dominic. In the penultimate episode, when her unicorn cake malfunctions in a major way and literally blows up in Dominic's face, she is booted off the show. But her skills and her popularity give birth to her own store, Sugar Fair which she just happens to open directly across the street from De Vere's.

In the present, Sugar Fair has established itself as a popular store. Its magical fairytale-esque atmosphere is the exact opposite of De Vere's elegant designs. To describe it like cakes, Sugar Fair is like a rainbow cake with sprinkles and glitter, while De Vere's is like a rich chocolate or classic vanilla cake with simple but delicious icing on top. Their clientele is vastly different and they don't always clash on their orders until, a royal wedding is announced. The tender for the royal wedding cake is the biggest they've seen in recent times and both bakeries are vying for it. At the same time, Sylvie heads back to the screen as a judge on Operation Cake along with Dominic himself.

It's been a while since I've read a contemporary romance, and it took me a little while to get used to the writing. The book had a unique way of starting each chapter with the location and a tiny anecdote/quote about the location. At first I wasn't a big fan, but it grew on me and towards the end, I was actually looking forward to these introductions.

The book was dual POV, which always makes me enjoy a book more. Getting to see the book in both Sylvie and Dominic's perspectives really helped me understand each character better. It also really highlighted their duality and differences. But it also made the moments where they came together that much more intense and special.

The book runs on strong emotions, especially painful ones like grief and loss. The characters truly connect in these moments and while there were some heartbreaking moments, it was written in such a way that it didn't feel out of place in a book as sweet as this one. The flow was really good and I loved the parallel's between the various couples in the story.

This book wasn't just about Sylvie and Dominic, but also about Princess Rose and her fiancé, and also her uncle Prince Patrick and his relationship. All of these love stories came together really well and I really liked the way the author incorporated these stories into the main relationship.

There was a side element of a little mystery which was a little predictable but enjoyable nonetheless. I really liked the secondary characters of the book, specifically Dom's sister Pet and I can't wait to read her story next!

I'd definitely recommend this book if you're looking for a slow burn, contemporary enemies to lovers romance, with some wonderful cakes and equally sweet moments throughout the book!

Fans of contemporary romance and the Great British Baking show, this book is for you! It follows Sylvie and Dominic both very talented bakers but with totally different styles. Sylvie is known for her fantastic creations which are colorful, daring, and have copious amounts of glitter. Dominic on the other hand, runs his own bakery that is known for their classic flavors and style, along with decadent chocolate. Four years ago, Sylvie was a contestant on Operation Cake, a popular cake baking competition and Dominic was a judge. After a small mishap with an exploding unicorn cake, Sylvie was eliminated from the show but she never forgot the harsh judge who cost her the competition. Now Sylvie is back on Operation Cake, but as a judge who now has to work with her sworn enemy Dominic. As the show progresses, Sylvie and Dominic enter their own competition, fighting for the opportunity to bake the wedding cake for the next royal wedding. As they are forced to work together on the show and spend more time on their proposals for the wedding cake, their hate for each other starts to turn into something else, maybe even love?

With the witty banter between Sylvie and Dominic, the inclusion of a royal wedding, and a great set up for book two this book should be on all TBRs!

Went into this very much in the mindset of “oh this looks super cute and fun - a nice light read”. Left it having cried multiple times and absolutely fully in love with it.

It is cute and fun but it’s also heartwarming and has emotional twists that hit you out of nowhere and leave you crying. With everything happening in the story - the various singular character dramas plus the relationships and the bakery dramas - one would worry that it’s almost too much but it’s not. They’re all so finely woven together into the story and they build off of each other and it’s so great - so well done.

I absolutely loved this and I CANNOT wait for the next one. Can definitely see myself rereading this for the cutesy comfort potentially and highly recommend it.

Lucy is an auto-buy author for me, and this book was was funny sweet romp that did not disappoint. I loved the MCs and was thrilled to watch them banter.

A pretty traditional and old fashioned romantic comedy with some fun dressing laid over the basic structure.

Sylvie and Dominic are both high end bakers but his style is elegant and reserved whereas her’s is all about the unicorns and glitter. They’re both competing to supply the cake for a royal wedding and they’re both judges on Operation Cake, a Bake Off style TV show.

We know pretty much from the first page how this chalk and cheese relationship will develop and it does so with a few minor bumps along the way. Both Sylvie and Dominic have challenging family backgrounds (albeit in different ways) and are building their own away from their biological ones. We also see the romance of Princess Rose and her fiancé, the floppy-haired dimwitted Johnny Marchmont (this fictional royal family is not related to the actual one) as well as a long ago one of Rose’s uncle.

There’s some baking shenanigans but not as much food interest as I was hoping for and the Operation Cake subplot sort of fizzles out. The royal romances give some oomph to the plot though I was really hoping for the uncle to be gay, but this is just not that sort of book.

Sylvie and Dom are pretty predictable. He has a severe, uptight, bluntly honest front which, of course, hides a heart (and other parts - this is a modern romance in that sense, at least) of gold. She’s all girly and fluffy on the outside but, well actually she’s also that on the inside too. In a nod to the 21st century, she has her own business though the businessy stuff is done by her partner, a man.

The support characters keep the novel bubbling along: Petunia, Dom’s previously estranged sister, is the token young person who knows about social media, there are some snooty royals though Rosie and Johnny are down to earth real people even if they appear to change personalities over the course of the book, the staff at the respective bakeries are quirky and offer opportunities for the lead characters to show their true compassionate selves.

Having said all that, I enjoyed my time in this fantasy sugary world and, while I wouldn’t seek out future romances from Ms Parker, I’d be happy to read one if it fell into my lap.

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for the digital review copy

CW: [discussion of grief (death of family members, including a vivid memory of a death scene in a hospital), parental neglect of child (memory), attempted knife attack (hide spoiler)]

“Are you going after the royal wedding contract? Literally the cake of the year?” He hauled Sylvie’s chair around and leaned close. She widened her eyes at him innocently, and he clapped his hands together, a booming slap that made her jump. “Oh, hells yeah. Judge versus judge. Neighbor pitted against neighbor. The kitten taking on the lion.”

I adore Lucy Parker's contemporary romances, but I can't help but unfairly grade her romances on a slight curve. While I enjoyed myself, BATTLE ROYALE isn't my favorite of the author's work. Standard LP trademarks make the book wonderfully familiar with acerbic snark, grumpy/sunshine repartee, and meltingly-gooey feels. Still, there are enough irritants that make me downgrade to four stars. I definitely think the author's fans will love it and I recommend that they purchase/devour the book (devour in more than one sense of the word. You must have desserts on hand or the text will cause severe hunger pangs).

A few disorganized thoughts:

1) I was cautious to see how the royal storyline would be handled, and I'm glad to report that I liked it! It's a tricky situation; UK royals yield VERY strong opinions amongst folks. I went into the story with an open mind. No, the book didn't tackle the institution's history with colonialism and racism, but I didn't expect that, lol. I'm not a stickler/expert in royal wedding cake protocol, so take my word with a grain of salt. Obviously some things are made up to add flair, but everything seemed plausible in a fantastical way.

BATTLE ROYAL is smart to invent a set of British royals that isn't comparable to the real-life family tree. The bride is Princess Rose, second child to the second son of the king. Her father is the Duke of Albany (wiki says this title used to exist, but no one's held it since 1918) and that family branch lives in St. Giles Palace (invented, I presume it's a Kensington Palace equivalent). So Rose, eldest granddaughter to the king, is important enough to merit a high-profile wedding with tabloid attention, but isn't the heir to the throne or anything. The Archbishop of Canterbury still officiates the wedding, Rose's uncle is still the Prince of Wales, the traditional wedding cake is still fruitcake, etc. But enough details have been changed and I think the AU mostly works if you accept the fantasy. There's some discussion about obligation and what the spotlight does to royal family ties, but it's pretty basic (I think the truth is less optimistic and a lot more fucked up, lolsob).

2) Love, love, love the repeated theme of found family importance and how biological ties are meaningless without affection. Can't say more without spoiling.

3) I hate to say this, but I think there's too much plot. The royal cake competition, the reality TV competition, Dominic's relationship with his sister Pet, Sylvie's annoyance with the enemy café stealing her ideas, the spoilery royal-related storyline (there's TWO of them!). Not to mention, you know, the romance.

For most of the book, I think the balancing act worked. But it hurtles toward a very bouncy/all-0ver-the-place final act because everything had to be resolved. Compared to the other storylines, I think the reality TV competition needed more attention (and I was pissed about how the show ended). Plus, there was a last-minute reveal at the 80% mark that I did NOT like (it needed more resolution if this complication had to be introduced! And I maintain that it did not! Dislike!). The last couple chapters did resolve the romance very nicely, but I was super tense/dissatisfied during the process. There was a lot of plot that needed to be resolved, and the attempts to do so were not compatible with my brain.

One-sentence summary: excellent romance, quibbles with too much plot resolution during final act, everyone should read it anyway.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was so so pleasantly surprised with this book. As someone who loves a good Reality TV competition (although I’m more Project Runway fan than Top Chef), this book delivered the sass, drama, and backstabbing highs and lows that I love about reality tv. Throw in a mix of two strong willed bakers in a hating you/ loving you trope with a little royal competition, and this story had me hooked. Parker did a great job developing the characters of Sylvie and Dominic. I especially love a good gruff, brooding male lead, and she delivered. I was also impressed with the backstories of many characters; Rosie and Johnny, Per, Dominic, Sylvie and even Jay. Perhaps a little predictable at times, but maybe that’s because this is a romance, therefore we get a happy ending? I hear there’s a second book in the works and I will definitely be checking it out. I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Avon, NetGalley, and Lucy Parker for this copy.

A fun book that gives the vibe of a hallmark movie but unlike how we hardly see them doing things they are passionate about we are brought into the character's world to a degree of feeling as though we are in the same room as them.

It is a quick and fun read, with all of the best tropes of a romcom rolled up in the story. This is my first book by this author but it won't be my last.

Fun, cute romcom. I loved the characters and the interactions. It was so much fun to read this book. I love the back and forth. So so so good.

Rating: 3.75/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fiction
Warnings: Death of a parent, abuse (in past)
Read if you liked: The Great British Baking Show + Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

Ahhhhh I love a food romance, after reading Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake and Accidentally Engaged in the last year I knew I needed more foodie + competition romances. It did take be a bit to get into this book, it was slow in the beginning but by the end I was in love with the MCs and the additional romances sprinkled in within the story.

Things I loved: All the foodie references. A grumpy/sunshine moment…Sylvie and Dominic were really sweet together. Pet was adorable and a gem of a side character. The bakery staffs really do respect their respective bosses and I loved to see them work together in a crisis. Love a royal appearance. A grumpy cat!

Things I didn’t care for: We had a lot of mini conflicts, I could have done without so many (employee gone wrong, drama on the cooking show, love confession, fake cheating scandal, bad family history)...I would have rather had one or two with more detail. This could just be a factor of me reading an ARC copy, but the writing was a bit choppy at times and there weren’t clear transitions.

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.

I’m never going to lie to you all - I am a Lucy Parker fan girl, and there is not a single thing she has written that I don’t love. I was delighted for the opportunity to review an ARC of her latest book, out on August 17th. Thanks to @netgalley @avonbooks and @harpervoyagerUS for the chance to review.

You generally know what you’re going to get with Lucy Parker novels - delightful storytelling, characters with heart, and a grumpy hero who is soft only for the heroine. Sylvie Fairchild is a former contestant on Operation Cake, a successful baking television show, and she used her fame to help her open a bakery that is magical and whimsical, Sugar Fair (side note: there is no place I’d love to visit more than Sugar Fair). Dominic De Vere is the judge who voted Sylvie off the show after her glittery unicorn cake went sideways, and owns a prestigious family-owned bakery, the favorite of royals and classic in every way. Sylvie is invited to replace a judge on Operation Cake, and a royal princess is requesting the two bakeries to compete for the chance to bake for the royal wedding.

Things I loved:
💕 the description of the work. Unlike some workplace romances, Lucy Parker never fails to describe the work as demanding and not for the faint of heart. Dominic and Sylvie fall for each other over long evenings and early mornings, and it’s magical.
💕 the two main characters. They both have suffered hardships but remain kind to each other. Their bakery staff both love and respect their bosses, and the reader cannot help but root for both of them.
💕 the set-up. Baking show + royals + rival bakeries = my catnip.

Overall, I highly recommend this new novel. If you haven’t picked up a Lucy Parker book yet, what are you waiting for? Start with her London Celebrities series set in the West End theater district… you won’t be disappointed.

In a time when I needed a sweet romance, this definitely hit the spot. A combination of The Great British Bake Off and a grumpy/sunshine romance, this book had a lot of heart, and a lot of descriptions of cake!

I enjoyed this romance about chefs trying to get a big cake contract. I loved that they slowly fell in love and that they had a history of working together on a show being judges and working on the same street. loved the romance and all of the other characters. I hope that pet finds love in her new job and would love to see the other cast of characters find love too.

This book was a fun quick read with a lot of witty banter. I enjoyed the plot and had fun reading it!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

Warning: Battle Royal by @lucyparkerauthor will make you hungry. Do not read without a cupcake, or at least a cookie!
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I was thrilled to get this ARC - Lucy Parker is one of my favorite authors. Her London Celebrities series is a total comfort read for me and I totally adore it! (I may have reread it immediately after finishing this, hah)
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Battle Royal is about Sylvie, a trendy London baker, and Dominic, a stuffy traditional pastry chef. They’ve disliked each other since Sylvie hit Dominic with a glittery unicorn hoof on national TV years ago, but they suddenly find themselves working together as co-judges on the baking show where Dominic once judged Sylvie. Amid all this, they’re also competing to design a cake for the next royal wedding. I love a good forced proximity romance, and this book delivered! The relationship between Sylvie and Dominic developed believably, and I adored them both. The side characters were delightful and I hope to see more of them in Lucy’s future books.
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Thank you @netgalley and @avonbooks for this advanced review copy! Now I’m going to go bake!

If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE FAN of The Great British Baking Show and this novel definitely gives me those vibes--with a lot more humor and A LOT more terrible contestants. Everything about this novel that works for me:

*enemies to friends to lovers

*cake

*royal families and intrigue

*grumpy cat

*romance + comedy + with a nice undercurrent of emotion

There's really so much to enjoy about this novel--but especially the evolution of Sylvie and Dominic's relationship from contestant and judge to co-judges to competitors for a contract to friends to lovers. And in Lucy Parker's hands the plot, banter, secondary characters, and overall atmosphere are balanced well. I found myself laughing and smiling a lot--with lots of happy swoony sighs to go along with those laughs. I can't help but hope that we get to revisit this world with some of the secondary characters she introduced--I'm really not ready to let it go and I'm ALWAYS down for more of anything Lucy Parker writes.

This book had everything from baking show, to royals, to "sworn enemies." A delightful and fun read that checks all the feel good emotions.

Sylvie was loved by all as a contestant on a baking show four years ago. Well, almost by all. She was thoroughly disliked by Dominic De Vere, one of the judges and a prominent baker in his own right. Now here they were, years later, with competing bakeries across the street from one another and vying for the same customers, including the latest royal wedding. As they go after this once in a lifetime event, the two of them start to share confidences and grow closer. But will they end up together? Only time will tell.

A compelling, feel good, contemporary romance. A humorous and sometimes heartbreaking read, it's a sure thing for romance readers and foodies.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this digital ARC. All opinions are my own. This review can also be found on my Goodreads page.