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.

Don't come here looking for a romance, this is not a romance. Marketing went rouge for sure. The dynamic between characters didn't work for me, making this one really hard read. Overall, I thought there was a lot that didn't get discussed when in fact religion and sex were hiccups in their relationship.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: fiction, M/M romance
CW: extreme anxiety, homophobia, racism, online bullying (tweets), panic attack (in public, on page), inept/absent parents

The second book in the 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘭 series sees the return of our favorite judges and crew as they welcome a new season of contestants. Paris, who has crippling anxiety, was initially entered by his roommate. He second guesses himself at every turn. There are mishaps, awkward and funny moments, interesting characters, and a potential love interest as the competition wears on.

I needed a few days to think on this. As a reader, I saw that Paris needed therapy, stat! So it was frustrating that neither his best friend of many years nor Tariq recognized that. Also it’s uneasy to be privy to Paris’ POV the entire time because it gets overwhelming. But that’s the point - a glimpse inside the mind of someone who lives this daily. I was relieved that he does eventually seek help and begins the road to self-care, learning the skills he needs to function better.

The romance here is minimal and feels more like background noise to Paris’ struggles. Tariq’s beliefs on relationships is something new for Paris to navigate. Hall’s writing is as ever wonderful, and while not my favorite of his books, I value the insight it’s given me. It’s a harder read, for sure, and one that requires patience and extra gentleness if you’re a reader facing these issues.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴.

Thanks to @netgalley & @readforeverpub for my ARC. This is my honest review.

This one was less fun rom com and more messy person trying to figure their life out. I think that the marketing for this book is really misleading. There's so much casual racist and antisemitic comments just dropped in here that I think were wholly unnecessary to the book, plot, characters, everything. I was really disappointed in this book. If someone is looking for a light romance-filled book, this is not it.

Paris Daillencourt has found himself on a reality baking show. He has a passion for baking, but his anxiety runs his life. His roommate submitted his application for the show and Paris is so far out of his comfort zone. He has a degree and advantages in life from his famous and wealthy parents, but it’s been a year since his parents have responded to any messages from him. Paris has tried relationships before, but once people past his pretty face and get to know him, most find he’s too much to handle and Paris agrees.

While Paris thinks he is doing absolutely terrible in the competition, he wins the first week and also catches the eye of fellow contestant, Tariq. Tariq has the kind of confidence Paris figures he will never have, but still the men find themselves on a first date—until Paris’s mouth gets the best of him. Then, the show’s online fans come after Paris in the way he used to be bullied in school and any confidence he was trying to build is rapidly swept away. But with support from places Paris didn’t expect, he slowly looks at his issues and begins to realize he may just deserve a sweet ending to his own story.

Paris’ book follows Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake in the Winner Bakes All series. The book is appropriately named with the title Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble and Paris is constantly on the edge. The book is told from Paris’ point of view and his head space is an intense place to be. Whether you like Paris or not, or ultimately want to spend time in his head or not, is a personal choice, but Hall does provide the feeling of exactly what it is like to walk around as Paris.

At first, Paris is funny and self-deprecating, but with longer time spent with him, his full personality emerges. Paris is filled with anxiety—the soul sucking, life altering kind of anxiety—and, after a while, it was a lot to be in Paris’ head. I then had mixed emotions when I wasn’t always empathetic to Paris’ profile. While Paris has material comforts, his life hasn’t been the easiest, at least by his own standards. His parents are famous, with his mother a super model and his father a designer, and they have left him to live in an extravagant flat. Yet, it’s been a year since Paris has heard from them and they will not respond to his texts and Paris spirals every time a text goes unanswered. He also had the best schooling, but it was filled with bullies, and the men Paris has dated only see his beauty on the outside and can’t deal with his emotional inside. But Paris is so wrapped up in himself and so deep in his issues that it becomes his only personality trait. He can’t be happy for someone else because all he sees are his inadequacies and for me it began to make him less empathetic, not more.

The competition follows the same format as the previous book with one challenge a week and most of the staff on the show are still awful. The baking should be the fun part, but again, I was underwhelmed. One week’s theme was Jewish desserts and another was American desserts and the contestants did not rise to the challenges in the spirit to celebrate these cultures, but rather seemed to mock, loathe, or disdain them and that was unacceptable reading to me.

Mixed in here was Paris’ relationship with fellow contestant, Tariq. Tariq is Muslim and gay and proud to be both. He is at first attracted to Paris’ outside and quickly gets offended by what’s on the inside. Tariq is the first person, however, to suggest to Paris that he may have a mental health issue, much to Paris’s shock and dismay at this revelation. This book is not specifically a romance, but the story of Paris with romantic elements added in.

If you liked Rosaline’s book, the structure of the competition is the same here. Hall was able to convey what it was like to be Paris, but there were also other factors that affected my enjoyment of this book overall.

This was a very cute read. I really enjoyed the baking show aspect of this book - I'll be honest I was hoping for a little bit more in that setting. I appreciated the representation of general anxiety disorder in this as well. Overall, this was a fun, sweet romance.

Started reading this on my lunch break one day and quickly realized that was a terrible idea. Forgot how damn funny Alexis Hall’s books are. I can’t count count how many times I legitimately laughed out loud. I never thought I would enjoy a romance novel where the main characters literally never have sex, yet here we are, and only Alexis Hall is capable of doing this. As someone who lives with what I lovingly refer to as soul crushing anxiety, Paris is way too relatable. He is a hot mess and I love him. Super accurate representation of how people treat those with anxiety but I’m really happy that it didn’t fall into the love cures all trope. I mostly loved Tariq, until I didn’t, but then I did again so it’s fine. I would very much like to play laser tag with his dad. My only real complaint is that I wanted some sort of resolution with Paris’s parents. I need to know what their deal is.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Okay, I have absolutely loved everything that I’ve read from Alexis Hall, but this just was not for me. It really wasn’t a romance, which is fine, except that it’s marketed as a contemporary romance.

I felt for Paris and I really like Tariq, but Paris’ mental health struggles does not excuse the blatant all around racist, anti-Muslim remarks that are throughout this book. Plus the not respecting Tariq’s boundaries just because he couldn’t understand him. I get that Paris grew throughout the book, but I could not get past those things.

Love the baking competition element and I’ll read another book in this series, but this just was not for me at all.

Take a baking show and BL and this book is your cup of tea.. or in this case a plate of cake!

Paris Daillencourt loves baking but his life is a disaster in of itself. His roommate decides to enter him into the tv showBale Expectations, in hopes to help him. Shocked he’s passed the fist competition he starts to gain some confidence and it also helps when there’s a fellow cute contestant, Tariq. But can he get over his constant fear and grow in love as well?

I haven’t read Alexis Hall’s other books but I’ve heard of them. This book was funny and deep. Paris had a lot of self hate in anxiety and I can see why some people didn’t like his character, but I felt for him and his growth that the story displays. This book definitely had The Great British Baking feel and add in the pressure of trying to bake perfectly while pushing through insecurities is what the main point is really about. It always had the two polar opposite’s attract appeal.

All in all, I really enjoyed the story and the complexity of Paris.

With a cake on the front cover, I knew there would be lots of talk about food. Paris had many quirks. He worried excessively and thought of all the worst case scenarios. He approached life in a roundabout way, avoiding things that would make him anxious or uncertain. Nothing was ever spontaneous for Paris. He apologized a lot for things that needed no apology. So when he beans Tariq Hassan in the face with the fridge door on set, he incessantly apologizes. Tariq and Paris were opposites, but somehow balanced each other out. The banter and the witty phrases had me laughing out loud. As the author warned, Paris had an undiagnosed anxiety disorder that gets diagnosed within the story. Finally getting a diagnosis for his idiosyncrasies, things start to fall into place for Paris. Learning how to. live with generalized anxiety disorder gave Paris the opportunity to view life and how he lived it in a different way. I like how the author described this mental health issue realistically which made Paris' character relatable. I didn't read the first book in the series but did not feel lost in any way so this can be read as a complete standalone.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

This will be brief. I quit pretty early on in Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble. Paris, our main character, has severe anxiety. When he dropped to the floor, curled into a ball, and covered his face/head with his hands, I knew I couldn’t go too much further.

Reading is escapism for me, and reading about a severely anxious character doesn’t help my own mental health currently. So instead of struggle through and force myself to read more, I did what was best for me and I quit.

But hey, Paris did inspire me to bake.

While the book cover and marketing are proclaiming this a “romantic comedy“, I wouldn’t really classify it that way. Paris has deep deep deep anxiety issues which constantly and vocally rear their heads. I want to be very clear, I am not in any way disparaging people with mental health issues. I have multiple mental health disorders myself, several of which are anxiety disorders. So, to borrow a term from the Brits, I was totally gobsmacked when it wasn’t until 44% into the book that it was suggested by Tariq to Paris that he might have an actual mental health “thing“, to which Paris replied “I don’t think so, I think I’m just a bit of a mess“. Ummmmm, WHAT?!? In this day and age I cannot imagine that there is a grown adult who has so little self-awareness that they fail to recognize anything about themselves. It’s just mind-boggling.
My other issue with this book is how much Paris disrespects Tariq, directly or indirectly. Tariq is Muslim, therefore he doesn’t believe in premarital sex. Paris is so thrown off by this, like he can’t conceive in any way that there is a gay man alive who doesn’t want to have sex with him. I can get that he would be a little surprised that there is an adult who is a virgin for religious reasons. What’s not okay is that Paris keeps needling him about it. As Tariq is explaining his reasons, Paris keeps going yeah but…okay but…I just…,etc. Religion and sex are both really personal things, and not really up for debate, whether you agree with it or not. I’m not a religious person at all, but if someone said “I don’t do such and such because of my religion“, then that’s that. Right? The other disrespect comes in the form of lack of support in general, i.e. it’s always the Paris show, and not the Tariq show.
The portions of the book around the cooking show itself were fun, but that’s about all I enjoyed of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I have never wanted to both protect and strangle a character as often as Paris. Our boy has issues- full stop. You will note I did not log this as a romance even though that’s what the publisher is trying to do… there is some romance and some truly sweet moments, but the undiagnosed anxiety, the need for his emotionally unavailable parents’ attention, and his fear of how others see him/ will react to him make a good 80% of the book all about Paris. The side characters, especially Morag and Tariq put some much needed humor into what could have been a very oppressive book. Living in Paris’ head is… exhausting- and this coming from someone with anxiety and depression. I wanted him to get help- from chapter one it was obvious that something was wrong. The way both Tariq and Morag finally started talking about Paris having an issue seemed like very real reactions and true to each character.

Let’s dive into Morag- I loved her for Paris, who often needs to be told when he’s being… well… crap. Our foul mouthed, body positive, take-no-prisoners bestie is everything. Paris doesn’t need someone to coddle him, he needs someone that can tell him off, point out mistakes, and love him anyway. I mean, don’t we all? In all seriousness, though, I fell in love with Morag in chapter one. While I don’t agree with her entering Paris into a televised baking competion, it came from a place of love and a desire to help.

Tariq is a wonderful character, but the boy’s got his own issues. While he is bright and charming, he also has a bit of a chip on his shoulder at times and can jump to conclusions. He makes up for it later, when he can calm down and think everything through… but it was an issue and I am glad that he seems to be working on it towards the end. What I didn’t like- and made me leary of the romantic aspects- was that I rarely heard Tariq talk about anything positive about Paris except how cute or beautiful he is. Is that all Tariq likes about him? It seems terribly shallow. Plus, his way of life and system of beliefs are vastly different from Paris’. If the two grow together, we could see something really strong- I mean, the chemistry is there… but we only got about twenty pages where the two were together without misunderstandings (or Paris pissing him off). Then there was the whole aspect of Tariq wanting to “fix” Paris, but not always understanding the core issues. I refuse to consider that a romance. That said, if we were to somehow check in on the duo in Winner Bakes all book #3 (hint, hint Ms. Hall), well, I would really like to see how their relationship holds up.

You’ll note that before the book even begins the author has several warnings attatched to this book. There’s a lot of mental health issues due to Paris’ (in the beginning) undiagnosed anxiety disorder and his abandonment issues. There are definite racial and religious microagressions and some Islamiphobia. Oh, and there’s a ton of cyberbullying because some people on the internet are trash. Then there’s the specter of homophobia that a lot of reviews are talking about. I can see where someone just reading a scene might see Paris’ inability to not worry about worst-case scenarios or how others might react as him being weirdly homophobic…. but it’s more than that. Because of how he grew up and what he’s seen in media, he believes -truly believes- that the outside world might hurt him or Tariq solely on account of their sexual orientation. Part of me wants to scream that it’s 2022 and people aren’t going to attack them just for holding hands… but this is part of the anxiety and it’s not always sensible… in fact it often isn’t. I am not saying that Paris doesn’t have a lot to think about as far as his world views, and his view of his own priviliged life… but I don’t think it’s fair to label him this way. The fact that the fool even has to wonder if he’s antisemetic… not that’s a problem. I know it’s just his head going to the worst case scenario over some trivial thing… but that’s weird and he needs to really think about that. Ugh… rant end.

Let’s talk about Paris’ glow up. As he gets diagnosed and begins a treatment plan, he’s slowly trying to put himself in order and to see where he wasn’t best in his relationships. I love that. I also like that he wasn’t magically “cured”- therapy and medication made his world easier but it’s hard work- this is a realistic outlook and one that I am glad the author adopted. He’s still Paris-with-issues, but he’s Paris with more manageable issues- a Paris that wants to change. I respect all this and it definitely made me like Paris better. I mean, I never disliked him… but his was always an inconsistent narrative, and (let’s face it) he was a hot mess and often exhausting.

Still, the side characters made the book for me. I especially loved the crew from Bake Expectations. I actually read this book before the first in the series (when I requested it I hadn’t realized that there was another book in the series). Besides a nod toward book one’s main character it doesn’t really talk about the previous book- and you can read this as a stand alone… but these are reaccuring characters and they are fire. I ended up reading Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake almost exclusively because I wanted to see more of the crew. Well… that and I rather liked Hall’s writing style.

For me -unreliable narrative and sometimes unlikeable main character aside- this is still a four star book. I loved the humor and character interactions, but I also loved that they didn’t shy away from heavy topics.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
On the adult content scale… holy crap where do I begin? There is terribly explicit (not to mention creative and colorful) language, cyberbullying, mental health issues, religious and racial microagressions and the spectre of homophobia. It’s a lot to unpack and I wouldn’t feel completely comfortable giving this one to a young adult. There’s some sexual content too- mostly Paris noticing things about Morag’s one night stand (including bruising)- they don’t actually go into a sex scene, but you know what happened. There’s some making out between Tariq and Paris, and talk about sex… but that part may be the least problematic on the adult content front. I firmly believe this needs to be for an 18+ crowd.

I was lucky enough to get an eARC of this book courtesy of Netgally and Forever publishing in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

The book comes out November 1st- who’s ready?

Thank you so much to Alexis Hall, Forever & NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!

I will be honest, I was nervous about reading this one as I enjoyed Boyfriend Material but it wasn't my favorite and felt like it dragged. But this exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved this. I did not get a chance to read Rosaline's book first but I felt that it was okay not to have read it first? Not reading it did not take away Paris's story.

"My advice to you is to stay calm, try to enjoy it, and remember at the end of the day it's only baking."

Paris Daillencourt is selected to be on the next season of BBC's Bake Expectations. He starts off strong but slowly his anxiety and need to feel perfect slowly starts to overtake and he begins to struggle on the show. While on the show he meets Tariq Hassan where they instantly connected. Tariq acknowledges Paris's anxiety and works with him but ultimately knows that it is beyond what he can do to help.

"I just don't - I don't know how to not be terrified all the time."

I think the reason why I enjoyed this so much was how I related this to Paris. I don't think my anxiety is as bad as what was detailed in this book but I similarly have these thoughts daily. I am constantly worried about saying the wrong thing, posting the wrong thing, just being judged by everyone around me whether I know them or not. It definitely comes through when I am packing for a trip or trying to plan an outfit. I think but what if it's this, but what if it's that. I will share my thoughts with my husband of all these things and he just looks at me and I say I know its exhausted being in this brain. I am not sure how my husband puts up with it but I think he has learned to just let me work through it and is there for some stable ground when I need him. I just wanted to give Paris a big hug.

"I just wish I could be half as...everything as you are."
"Honey, I wish I was half as everything as you think I am."

I really LOVE Tariq. He challenged Paris in so many ways and wanted Paris to be the best version of himself that he knew he could be. And I also really liked that he didn't just go back to him when Paris showed he was getting better. He waited and gave him more time to work through his treatment. In the end he could not turn off the charm that is Paris. I loved his family and the role that they play in his life. I also thought it was refreshing to have a male love interest who isn't willing to give up his beliefs for anyone. He knows who he is and isn't going to compromise that. I also loved that he recognized that their relationship could be a showmance which I feel like is very common among reality tv relationships - kudos to Alexis for including this.

One item that we wished we had more resolution was Paris's parents. I wanted to know more about their story with being neglectful and why they are choosing to ignore their only child. I understand there are parents who choose to do this and it makes me so angry. I hope through therapy Paris stops reaching out to them and carves his own life away from them (which I guess that is what he does). I feel his need to be perfect stems from his need to get the attention from his parents. He is constantly to try to prove he is worthy and exceeding in life.

Another reason why I enjoyed this so much is because my husband and I went through a phase and binged watched all the seasons of the Great British Bake Off during the pandemic. It took me back to those episodes and the cheekiness of the hosts with the contestants.

I love that Alexis included recipes featured in the story at the end of the book. I love these added bonus elements that authors will include - recipes, playlists, etc.

Bravo! I can't wait to go back to read Rosaline and see what the next book in the Bake Expectations beholds.