I really like Alexis’ writing style. It’s quirky, funny, and really engaging. I will admit I don’t love single-person perspective stories. I like really knowing both characters, that being said, Alexis crafts a really good story.

Paris has anxiety. And there is no hiding from it in a single POV story. Through the wild antics of Paris going on a baking show, coping with dealing with people, his own insecurities, and the world of internet people, you cannot escape his anxious thoughts and self-doubts. It actually borders on uncomfortable. And though you feel for him, at times you can’t help but sympathize with Tariq when he at times is frustrated with Paris. But let me say this…it makes the 2nd half of the story extremely satisfying. And the ending, more so.

The self-growth both characters go through is very gratifying and really makes you really believe these two will go the distance.

I loved that this brought me back into the GBBO like show. The anxiety rep was very real and painful to get through at times. In the end I appreciated Paris's growth but I felt as though a few things were unresolved

“It was slowly dawning on him that maybe he wouldn’t go home. Which was good. Except it was also bad, because it meant he would have to come back.”

Listen, the way that I love Alexis Hall is borderline out of control. I have not read a book of his that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. His sense of humor is right up my alley and he has this incredible ability to write characters that I just adore.

We’re back with Bake Expectations with a brand new cast. Paris is a bit neurotic and a chronic over-thinker, and when his roommate signs him up for the show, he’s a bit terrified. He starts strong, but is convinced it’s just a fluke. He’s constantly apologizing and unable to interact well with the other contestants.

He meets Tariq, who’s confident in himself and has a clear understand of who he is. Tariq and Paris have several really beautiful conversations throughout the book, and these always surprise me in Alexis Hall’s books because I’ll be laughing one minute and feeling my heart ache the next. Their relationship feels realistic and they need to put in the work on themselves before they can be with each other. I think the way they discuss their world views, and specifically Tariq’s feelings on being gay and Muslim is incredibly important. They have his beautiful conversation about how these two huge facets of his life intersect and I think it helps make Paris overall more understanding.

Paris has incredible character growth throughout the book. He realizes what’s important and that he needs to get help to deal with the trauma of his absent parents. He’s such a sweet person, but has put up mental blocks that prevent him from reaching his true potential. Tariq is pivotal in how Paris realizes his need for therapy and help. And by the end, Paris is just where he needs to be.

As always, the supporting characters are outstanding and always add so much chaos. I laughed so much reading this, and while some scenes felt like they went on a bit too long, it didn’t take away from the overall story. It’s as fun as it is heartwarming, and I expect nothing less from Alexis Hall.

I do normally love a book from Alexis Hall, but have to admit to not loving Rosaline Palmer. I re-listened to it again immediately before reading the ARC of Paris Daillencourt (I know, same series but 100% standalone - more so than most times when a series says that!), to see if the year+ since my last read would change my opinion or in case there was anything I’d pick up to help with book 2. It didn’t help in either case… Rosaline Palmer still remains very problematic (plot and the Alain character just makes me so angry), and nothing to help prep for this one.

Paris Daillencourt was a breath of fresh air after book 1! Yes, he’s a ball of undiagnosed anxiety, with his internal voice constantly trying to sabotage his entire life, but he does OK with doing the odd thing out of his comfort zone - like going on Bake Expectations when his roommate Morag signed him up because he once said he might like to try. When he meets Tariq in the worst meet-cute imaginable, on the show (fridge door, bloody nose), they sort of hit it off, until the anxiety monster rears her ugly head.

Like many of Alexis Hall’s books, this is a clean romance (there’s some kissing), and does focus a lot on Paris and his anxiety, as well as the baking competition - much like in Rosaline Palmer it focused on the baking and her relationships with the jerk Alain, and navigating through his betrayal and her friendship with Harry and her being bi as a huge focus. Although, whoa - for a clean one, the male anatomy is mentioned a few hundred times … so I suppose not completely clean!

It’s significantly a better story (IMHO), and I can definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys an anxiety, cross-culture, LGBTQ romance that has no more than kissing! And, cute nicknames like Angel Cake, endlessly patient partners, cute Egyptian named cats, and mouthwatering recipes.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and this is my honest feedback.

TW: actually this book contains amazing TWs in the beginning!
Rep: general anxiety disorder, gay MC, gay bangladeshi muslim LI, lesbian SCs

Alexis Hall is a complete hit or miss for me.
This one definitely was a super hit!
I loved everything about this, starting with the amazing style of writing, the humour of it, the amazing characters and the amazing anxiety rep.

Paris is an incredible baker and cook, so his roommate decides to enrol him for his favourite TV baking show.
As fate (and his skills) have it, he actually gets a spot and now has to take part in a baking competition every weekend.
The thing is, Paris is not good with people. He’s extremely awkward, strange and unknown places freak him out. So maybe being on TV in a stressful situation, baking unknown dishes surrounded by strangers in a time limit isn’t the best idea?!
But Paris hasn’t always been like that, so he can definitely do this! Or can he?

I hated seeing how Paris was getting worse and worse the more pressure he felt. I just wanted to go hug him and look for a nice therapy place for this poor guy.
It all felt uncomfortably relatable from time to time.
The situation with his parents and his inability to stop imagining more and more horrible scenarios making him unable to participate in any kind of relationship made me hurt so badly for him.
All the attention and the social media stuff on top were just the last drop.
What this book especially made me realise: maybe the people crying on TV shows all the time and the people being mega stressed and crying over a test and getting an A in the end aren’t actually annoying asshats. Maybe they’re just under a lot of stress and their mind is telling themselves horrible things. Maybe we should be a little more understanding.

While I hated everything happening to and with him, it was all done in such a realistic way and still with so much humour I loved reading about it. Simply because it was extremely well done.
Paris was a complete mess, yes. And it’s just the way how you feel and think and in the end act with a disorder like that.
Realising you need help and actually finding the will and motivation to seek it are no easy tasks! Being told you’re mentally ill is no fun I’m telling you out of experience!
Also being able to find help so quickly is not normal. Paris was in an extremely privileged position, please mind this!
Sometimes it takes months to get a place in therapy!

We need books like this! Especially romance books. Being mentally ill and finding love aren’t exclusive.
I loved Tariq. And while I can’t say anything about how well his rep was, I loved reading about his culture and his family.
I liked how realistic their relationship was portrayed, the ups and downs and the open talking.
I loved how Tariq wasn’t the perfect curer of Paris’ ills. He made huge mistakes and he admitted to them.


In the end this book was simply hilarious, heartwarming and still hit you right in the feels.
It was a very realistic portrait of how it looks and feels to have a mental health issue and live with it.
I loved everything about this and can’t wait to read the other books in this series now.

Seemingly sold as a m/m romance but was more the meandering thoughts and discovery of Paris Daillencourt’s self while in the midst of a baking show.

What I liked:

As always Hall brings fun banter, that induces laugh out loud moments in this case the MC wasn’t the one making me laugh but the side characters, particularly Paris’ roommate Mortag.

Mental health rep surrounding anxiety was great and easy to relate to.

I enjoyed the baking show premise.

What didn’t work:

Editing, editing, editing, there was only so much of Paris’ POV I could take, this could stand to have a dual POV or some serious editing back, it felt very repetitive at times. The book didn’t really excel until Paris began doing the work on himself.

The romance was an after thought, which was too bad because I liked Tariq a lot and this book is advertised as such.

I love mental health rep in books but at times this felt like it became too much of an excuse for some really awful behaviour, there needed to be a line between anxiety and just being a bad person and it became really blurry.

I love Alexis Hall as a writer and will continue to read his books this one sadly was just a miss for me.

2.5 rounded down.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

This was one of my highly anticipated reads for the last half of 2022 and ultimately I'm not sure what to say about it. I liked it just fine but the reading of it was stressful. Paris is a very anxious and awkward main character and many of his interactions with other people are painful to read. The majority of his relationship with Tariq is spent apologizing for inconsequential things and not apologizing for for important things. There's also very casual islamophobia, which is addressed in the author's content guidance note at the beginning of the book. It's marked as 'challenged' and even though it was in a way, I don't think it really needed to be in the story. Overall, it was fine but I didn't really enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake but after almost half this one, I'm afraid it's not for me.

While I love the Bake Expectations setup and queer romance, I'd say the focus here is on Paris' personal journey with anxiety. PARIS DAILLENCOURT IS ABOUT TO CRUMBLE certainly isn't a romantic comedy.

I also didn't realize from the synopsis how young Paris and Tariq are -- college students implied to be 20 or 21 years old. I found Paris' intrusive thoughts to be an important representation of how anxiety can manifest, but I didn't love how either character communicated with the other. I didn't see any chemistry or connection between them, besides Tariq calling Paris pretty a lot, which made me wonder why they're saying they're in a relationship (after one date) in the first place?

Not to mention I think I'm just not reading what's supposed to be fun banter the way it's intended -- it seems not nice or boring to me. Additionally there's some casual bigotry on display and I think I'm supposed to be like, "oh haha this character thinks that messed up thing," but instead it just feels like, "yikes, do more to contradict this message if you're putting it in your book."

Overall I think PARIS DAILLENCOURT IS ABOUT TO CRUMBLE will be a better fit for those more interested in young 20something coming-of-age stories. You'll also probably enjoy it more if you jive better with Alexis Hall's humor and go in not expecting a romantic comedy.

DNF at 42%

I love Alexis Hall books, after reading so many, I thought that I would fall in love with this one too.
Don't get me wrong, it was good in its own right, and nothing should be changed about it. Romance and cooking are an awesome pairing. The bake-off is a great idea and the paring is okay. But there are a few concerning factors with this one.

I noticed that I did not care for the characters too much and could not get into the book as much as I wanted. While I loved reading about Paris, I wanted to skip chapters to get to the end of the book. There were so many moments where I felt embarrased and I knew the story wasn't about me.

Maybe it was just about the constant worries of his that rendered me annoyed. Maybe it was the anxiety that he showed, that I am way to accostumed to myself. But I really felt that this was not a romance, I really do not think it should have been labled as one.

It was a hard read to get though. I did it, but I think after this one, I am going to pay more attention to book summaries.

Alexis Hall has done it again! I have been hooked on these books since reading boyfriend material. This book was a page turner from the start. I really liked the main character!

I DNF'd at 37%. I found Paris exhausting. There was no acknowledgement of his anxiety, let alone any attempt to improve. The other side characters (at Bake Expectations) were fun, but not nearly so to make me want to push through. I'll try more of Hall's writing down the road but this was rough.

This book was nothing like I expected it to be. I went into it wanting to see a cute romance set during a baking challenge on reality TV, but instead it ended up being a character study illustrating what it is like to live with crippling anxiety that spirals out of control until you have a complete mental breakdown. The anxiety in this book was intense and seemed to take over the entire story, which was a realistic portrayal of living with the disorder but made for tedious reading at times. I was struck by how demoralizing and isolating Paris's experience of anxiety seemed, and I found myself relating to it in ways that made me quite uncomfortable. In addition to all the anxiety, there was a romance plot, but I didn't really care for it. It didn't make sense to me why Tariq stuck around, which is likely a product of only getting Paris's catastrophizing perspective. It also felt like Tariq was always trying to fix Paris, which I usually don't enjoy reading. I liked Tariq, though, and appreciated his character allowed for the exploration of important ideas related to the intersection of sexual orientation and religious identity. The writing was very stream of consciousness, but it had the typical Hall wit and humor. There were so many turns of phrase that I loved, but it all felt somewhat weighed down by the severity of the anxiety. Many moments I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry because Paris was so horribly awkward, and it was often in a way that made me feel sorry for him rather than something I found funny. Thankfully, both Paris and Tariq grew considerably over the course of the book, and it provided a decent picture of how therapy can be useful while also being a ton of work. I just wish the growth had happened a bit earlier in the book because it felt like most of the story was just Paris spiraling more and more out of control. Finally, the book was incredibly British. I read a lot of books by British authors and watch a decent amount of British TV, but there were still a lot of references and jokes that went over my head. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and it didn't really change my feelings about the book. I just wanted to note it because I think it could be disruptive for others. Overall, this book did a good job portraying the struggle with chronic anxiety, but it didn't really deliver on the advertised romcom. Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars because I liked the realness of the mental health rep and therapy depictions. However, if you're looking for a fun romcom, I suggest you keep looking elsewhere.

Paris enjoys baking but he doubts his abilities so when his roommate signs him up for a baking competition it sends him into a spiral. Every week he thinks he will be voted off, even when he wins the daily challenge. A fellow contestant Tariq is a bright spot in the stress of the days who is full of confidence and owns who he is.

As the show continues Tariq shines, and Paris slowly crumbles under the criticism.

The negative tweets while a part of the world we are in of internet trolls I would have liked a balance of supportive comments as well. It felt like it turned him into a villain and not someone with anxiety.

The thing I love about books is that they can hit people differently based on where they are in life at that specific moment. Everyone experiences a book differently, being someone who struggles with anxiety this one hit harder than I would have liked. I got triggered hard and it poked at my biggest insecurity that I'm not lovable because I am "too much" to handle sometimes. Which is exactly what Tariq did to Paris.

I feel like books like this should show how the world is but also the world we want to see so we get understanding and change. Where is the resilience and strength for going through it and coming out on the other side? I think this book would have done better by having more than a few sensitivity readers, anxiety is a spectrum and not one person has the same experience in how it affects them.

This one was a struggle for me. First off, this is not a romance. The relationship takes a back burner to all of the other topics being covered. It was a well written book when you look at it from a fiction perspective and not a rom com perspective. There were lots of parts that I liked: the baking competition, the side characters, the banter. But there were also a lot that I struggled with.

I liked Paris' character. I liked his journey with anxiety and mental health and how it was central to the story and really impacted all parts of his life opposed to just being a side trait. We spend a lot of time in Paris' head and it can be a bit overwhelming but that's the point, to really be immersed in what he's feeling and how he experiences the world. I also found his non-existent relationship with his parents interesting. It's probably one of the few books I've read where this relationship didn't exist at all. My problem was even after Paris got help, his relationship with his parents and the impact it most likely had on his mental health was never discussed so it felt like an unresolved plot point. I just felt like it should have been acknowledged or not included at all.

I also liked Tariq's character. He was real in a way that felt new to me. My problem came with their "relationship". I enjoyed the discussion of religion and sex and the differences in opinion. I just felt like the miscommunications and not seeing eye to eye on this topic wasn't fully developed and kind of just glossed over, almost like both characters were just ignoring it. I also felt that were was toxicity in the relationship. Both characters seemed to be trying to change fundamental parts of their partner. I feel like because the characters were only 20 they were too immature to handle and discuss the difficult topics the author was introducing. Overall, I just felt that there were so many unresolved issues between Tariq and Paris that their relationship didn't feel like it would last or that the two should even be together in the first place.

To me, this book was definitely marketed wrong which was a disservice to what the author was actually trying to do with Paris' character. I also think that making the characters a bit older and more mature would have allowed the difficult topics and differences in opinion to be better explored and developed.

- Honestly, I'd read Alexis Hall's grocery list at this point. I adore his writing: the banter is top notch and the characters feel like real, flawed, lovely people.
- PARIS DAILLENCOURT IS ABOUT TO CRUMBLE was a bit tougher to read than other Hall books, though. Reading from Paris' point of view through his intense anxiety was often hard and frustrating, though possibly because I could see my past self in him.
- One of the best things about this particular series is that I'm never sure if the towns and the pastries Hall names are real or if they're satire, lol. Either way, they sound delicious.

This is not my favorite of Alexis Hall's. I was expecting something a little more lighthearted, similar to Rosaline Palmer (not that Rosaline was light, but it was lighter than this). And, truly Paris is really going through something and all that has to conveyed, but at times it was little much and a little triggering. As someone that suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, I could clearly see what Paris was going through and I wanted him to get help, I just couldn't suffer through it with him. I had to stop several times and wait a few days before I could pick this up again. I'm also not a huge fan of lots of arguments in books and this had them in spades, especially between Paris and Tariq. Again, I know why they were there, I just definitely think that people that suffer from anxiety will want to keep their mental health in mind when they read this book, and know to stop as needed. Also, this book lacked some of Alexis's characteristic steam, but again, I understand why and that is plainly laid out in the book, but I definitely feel like it was missed.

First thing’s first - if you’re looking for a romance, this book is not for you. I feel like categorizing it as a romance does it a disservice. Paris Daillencourt is contemporary fiction at its core (much like Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake) and has some romantic plot points. I ended up liking it more than I expected, but it was difficult to get into and stay engaged, especially in the beginning.

Paris Daillencourt is a mess about 90% of the time. I found his character a little hard to read at points - he has an undiagnosed anxiety problem for most of the book and he spirals quickly, his brain going all over the place and jumping to worst case scenarios. He’s from a wealthy family and defaults to being a little snobby and culturally insensitive often, which is definitely off-putting. Occasionally Paris is endearing - his naivety and cluelessness works in his favor sometimes and made me keep reading for more of that. Once he’s diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and starts to seek out therapy, his spiraling decreases and he starts to figure out how to manage his anxiety and that growth made me happy but I felt like it happened too late in the story for any real change to happen.

Paris meets Tariq Hassan while they’re both competing on the 7th season of Bake Expectations. Tariq is unapologetically himself, something that’s a total contrast to Paris since he’d likely feel the need to apologize for even existing, and who is is a well-dressed, nail polish wearing gay Muslim who enjoys baking and cooking. I liked Tariq and the contrast he drew to Paris but I also think he wasn’t very understanding of Paris’s struggles with his health before he got a diagnosis. Once Paris started figuring out what made him spiral and could talk about it with Tariq, he was supportive and helpful and that was great to see, but their breakup before that felt contrived and a little immature to me.

Like I said before, this is not a romance story. It’s a story about Paris that just so happens to have some romance in it. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the depiction of anxiety in this book, but being in Paris’s head for the entirety of the book was confusing, frustrating and overwhelming at times. I think this definitely could have benefited from being dual POV to show the reader what Paris’s spiraling looked like from a different perspective. But I felt horrible for Paris for most of this story - his parents essentially abandoned him at boarding school, didn’t come back and didn’t stay in touch. I wonder if they had, if he could have gotten help for his anxiety before he went on Bake Expectations.

Overall this book was okay, but not one I’d recommend to anyone looking for a romcom - there are some heavy topics covered here and it’s not really an easy read. I’m intrigued by the Bake Expectations competition and wish there was more of that in this story and hope the next book in the series will incorporate more.

2/5 ⭐
?/5 🌶️

I ended up DNFing at 8%... I just couldn't get into the story and the characters. I read and loved the London Calling series, but book didn't have the same tone and the humor fell flat for me. There was also a trigger warning for challenged Islamophobia that I didn't know of before I downloaded the book and when I soon after hit a Nazi "joke" that didn't lend context to the story I just couldn't keep going. I'll continue with the London Calling series, but I'm putting Winner Bakes All to bed, at least for now.

Being an unapologetic baking show and Alexis Hall fan, this entire Bake Expectations series is basically my dream come true. And I can honestly say that this installment was truly magical and somehow managed to exceed my wildest expectations.

Our protagonist this season is Paris, a young university student whose outspoken Glaswegian sex goddess roommate submitted him to the show to try to get him out of his own head a bit. Paris likes to bake, but he is convinced it'll all go to rubbish anyways.

Once he gets to the show, he meets Tariq, a university student living in Birmingham who seems to be everything Paris is not -- confident, kind, and unapologetically himself. Along for the ride are returning faves from Rosaline's season Wilfred, Marianne, and Grace in front of the camera, with the delightfully profane Jennifer and perpetually fed up Colin behind the scenes. We also get another wild group of fellow contestants, who may or may not remind you of contestants on baking shows.

This book truly takes you through all the emotions. Being in Paris's head for the whole book gives us some insight into his rather chaotic and anxiety-riddled self, and will make you want to give him a hug. It also does a great job of portraying anxiety both from the perspective of the person suffering it and, in a truly impressive feat, how this can affect the people closest to the anxiety sufferer. I believe it is important to destigmatize mental illness, and to also accurately portray it in media so that others can be better educated. Happily, this book shows the work vs. just waving a magic wand and making everything better. I also think this book did a good job of showing the ways people can unintentionally be insensitive to different cultures and religions, and the ways to navigate through that without placing undue burden on the person from that background.

On the flip side, there were also some truly laugh out loud moments in this book, which had me cackling loudly enough to disturb my cat (who is both more and less aloof than Paris's cat). From indecently shaped baked goods to an entire house full of Daves, the delightful dialogue that Alexis Hall has mastered over the years makes its appearance and is truly delightful.

I fell in love with these two crazy bakers immediately, and rooted for them the whole book. I urge everyone to go out and grab this book!!

CW: anxiety, panic attack, hospitalization, xenophobia, abandonment

Reviewed on my TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@littlebibliophile/video/7158913793739771142?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Review posted to Goodreads here:
Thank you for the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an eArc of this book!

Incredibly minor spoilers below.

I’m really having trouble deciding where I sit with this book.

I think it had a lot of excellent things to say, and a lot of great elements, but something about the balance between them all just ended up off.

I loved the setting. I loved the side characters - everyone in the baking show, Morag, the ridiculously named Cat that my mind keyboard smashed instead of pronouncing every time.

Where I had the most trouble, and what left a strong aftertaste was in the two main characters and their relationship. For both characters, there was so much that was good.

Paris’ character arc was nice to see - I love a pro therapy and mental health realization journey, and I felt his (lack of) relationship with his parents was really well done in that it just wasn’t there and that was that. But both areas also felt under-realized, particularly around coping with mental health and this trauma and interpersonal relationships. It was odd, Paris both took too much and not enough accountability. As someone with personal experience with medication, therapy, and anxiety, I saw myself in a lot of what Paris went through, but also felt a bit… made fun of and sensationalized in other areas.

Similarly, I adored 80% of Tarik as a characters. Anything to do with him as an individual I thought was fantastic and had nice depth. I mean, his family is phenomenal, and his reasoning for being on the show was great. But I felt the mistakes made by both characters in their relationships were under-discussed and swept up too cleanly. Some of the things Tarik said in their last big fight were quite hurtful, and were only vaguely alluded to in the apology.

I still think Alexis Hall is a fantastic writer, and will continue to pick up his future books and backlist, but this book just wasn’t a smash for me.