So, I think if I read the first book in this series I would have had a better time with this. I did love the emphasis on Paris’ anxiety, as someone who struggles with depression/anxiety myself. However, it reached a point where it felt like the author was relying solely on his anxiety to propel this story further. I spent the first half of this book not even sure if Paris liked Tariq because of how Paris is written. Tariq was also a bit of a miss for a character too. His storyline is an important one, but I don’t feel like he was anywhere near as understanding of Paris and his mindset as he should have been. The shining light of this is Morag, who is a literal goddess, and did not deserve the very mean scene towards the 3rd quarter of the book. Another highlight was Joy, a woman whose anxiety manifests in a fear of spending money. This is something I’ve dealt with for a long time, and it was refreshing to see it reflected back to me in a book. I kind of wish the ending was different, to be honest. I don’t think Paris and Tariq are good for each other, but it wouldn’t be a romcom without an HEA

Book Review
Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble
By Alexis Hall

The Baking Competition journey that began with Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake continues with Season 2

Paris was entered into the competition by his roommate. He finds cooking relaxing and enjoys making complex dishes with nuanced flavours.

Tariq entered this competition as a way to build his brand and hopefully get his own show.

Paris is anxious, self conscious, and in a constant state of self doubt, questioning every choice, every ingredient.

Tariq is confident, relaxed and takes chances. He never plans too far ahead and his baking reflects his easy going attitude.

A perfect recipe for disaster or the ingredients for a happily ever after?

This book addresses some heavy issues including undiagnosed anxiety and the challenges facing LGBTQIAP+ relationships.

Overall this book was enjoyable but felt like a repeat. I became bored with the premise and did not feel connected to the characters. Maybe it was just not to my taste…

Thank you to @Netgalley and @readforever @grandcentralpub for my gifted copy in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own

So quirky and fun! I honestly loved this book and Alexis Hall really never misses. I am so lucky to continuously receive arcs that I love. I really liked Winner Bakes All #1, and thought it was quite fun and flirty. This is no exception. All I could picture as I was reading this was the Great British Bake Off show, and it honestly was super fun to read it this way. Would recommend this for anyone looking for something super cute and fun!

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
🌟🌟🌟🌟

I really enjoyed this latest in the Winner Bakes All universe. Paris is a 20 year old college student with severe anxiety whose roommate signs him up to participate in a very popular reality TV baking competition. He meets another contestant on the show, Tariq, who is also a 20 year old college student, and their relationship develops over the book.

Paris’ journey in identifying and learning to manage his anxiety is a big part of this book. Some of his thoughts felt overwhelming at times, and I think that is both purposeful and is likely a pretty accurate representation of what that kind of anxiety is like. Paris doesn’t have many people in his life, and I just wanted to wrap him in a comforting blanket for most of the book. I would also like to punch his parents in the face.

Tariq is much more confident in himself, and the book also explores the ways in which his identity as a gay man and a deeply religious Muslim coexist, and how he faces different forms of judgment and prejudice. I loved the scenes with his family, in particular the laser tag!

Their relationship develops slowly and organically, and I really loved the way that Tariq invited Paris into his life. This being an Alexis Hall book, there is plenty of humour and banter, and side characters and big group scenes that sparkle to go along with the romance. He also likes to challenge some romance conventions, and this book is no exception. Tariq does not believe in sex before marriage, which we learn fairly early on, and it was interesting to read a romance where that was clearly off the table. Their story was still plenty romantic!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC!

CONTENT WARNING: undiagnosed anxiety disorder (diagnosis is made during book), panic attack, religious and racial microaggressions, xenophobia, mention of bullying (off-page), online bullying, excessive profanity

I’ve only read one other book by Alexis Hall (A Lady for a Duke), which was a historical fiction, but I’ve heard people raving about Hall’s other books, so I jumped at the chance to read this book. And it honestly wasn’t quite what I was expecting … at all.

Let me start with some good stuff. Hall writes beautifully, and has a knack for really pulling readers directly into the head of a character. And that’s exactly what happened with this book. I was pulled right into Paris’s head, and while that’s an incredible skill, it also turned out to be one of the things that I liked least about this book. You might be asking why?

Let me continue to explain. As someone who spent a significant period of time working with people who had severe mental illness, I had Paris’s diagnosis nailed down early on in the book. And while Hall portrayed this so, so well, being in the head of someone with this kind of crippling anxiety is, honestly, exhausting. The circular and repetitive nature of his doom-spiraling thoughts was tough to get through for much of the story. But more importantly, it was hard for me to empathize with Paris when he could be such a jerk sometimes. He was self-centered for a lot of the book, and he was often hurtful to the people close to him, even if he didn’t mean to be. And he was completely blind to his privilege, often insisting that he wasn’t rich when all of the evidence was RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF HIM.

I turned out enjoying the side characters so much more than Paris. Tariq’s character was way more interesting to me, and I think that I would have found it more enjoyable to see some chapters from his POV, plus it would have helped break up the monotony of Paris’s constant anxiety. One of the coolest parts of the story was when Tariq explains how he personally reconciles the different aspects of himself, as a gay British Muslim man, who makes it a point to adhere to his religious beliefs. Even Morag, Paris’s roommate, made me laugh, with her personality that combined tough love with not caring what anyone thinks, and more than a little sass. And I would be slacking if I didn’t mention the hosts of the baking show, who were great—they provided comic relief, and I loved seeing what was going to happen next.

Overall, this was definitely not what I was expecting. While it’s billed as a sweet rom-com, it was more of a contemporary fiction, with some seriously heavy topics and a side of romance. Paris’s mental health took over the story to the extent that everything else was sidelined, and I was honestly praying for him to finally get some help. It wasn’t until the last 20% that Paris actually started making some changes and improving, and it was such a relief that he did actually grow during the story. I was also relieved to see Tariq make some changes, and grow through this experience, and the way it wrapped up was beautiful, although there was still one loose end that I was curious about by the end of the book. I’m still intrigued by the rest of this series, but in the future will probably do my best to stay away from books featuring a character with untreated anxiety that’s this bad, simply because it’s so stressful of an experience for me as a reader, although it makes me even more in awe of the people who go through this in reality on a daily basis.

Unfortunately my favorite things about this book were: 1. The cover. The rainbow cake, the little skyline at the top, and Paris looking cute AF... and 2. When it was over.

This book is not a romance. This book is not a comedy. This is..... A slog. It's entirely too long and I personally felt like a lot of fluff could have been edited out.

Paris was SUUUUCH a disaster queer that he was kind of hard to read. I felt for him, but also like omg wow. I was glad when he finally started some therapy and kind of got his shit together.

Tariq was fine but not too memorable.

Overall this book AIN'T IT ☹️ it deeply saddens me to say this because I absolutely adore Alexis Hall and Rosaline Palmer!! But I just had a v bad time with this one...

Great book. I loved the main characters. In most LGBTQ romance novels, there can be a little growth ,but this book had realistic and substantial growth by the characters. The story had many laugh-out-loud moments along with moments of real poignancy. Recommended.

Huge shoutout to Negalley and Forever publishing for letting me get my hands on an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review ♥️


I’ll be honest, this was very okay. It reads as any typical queer romcom does for me - and that’s quickly (I finished it in 2 sittings). Alexis Hall has a knack for writing funny and witty relatable characters. I found myself adoring Tariq, and that’s not just because my precious bean was a baker like myself. The boys really had to grow in this book which was refreshing. Relationships are not perfect, they are complicated but in a good way.

One of the key points in this book was Paris and his struggle with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It’s hard you guys, trying to overcome unease and things that genuinely can give you the heebie geebies, so seeing a character recognize they may have some issues (after denying it for a while, because who does that 🫣)as opposed to letting it slide under the rug was really nice. I will say I think I’m with my girl Libby on this one and I agree this isn’t Alexis Halls BEST work, but it was still a cute read and it gave me a taste of the baking shows I grew up watching which was nice.

Look for this to hit shelves in November! I think it’ll be a cute read for while the season changes to get you in the baking spirit.

The one thing I admire about Alexis Hall, above all else, is the scathing realism of his writing. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to read, but that’s exactly part of what makes his stories so spectacular and why I get so attached to his characters. Also, I respect the amount of Happy For Now endings he writes. Not every romance calls for a HEA. The HFN that Hall wrote for Paris and Tariq leaves readers with a strong sense of hope that I honestly find more satisfying than a “case closed” HEA. It’s also refreshing to read something different sometimes- like say, a romantic relationship in which sex has no part. There was so much stuff going on here that I feel introducing sex into mix would’ve been such an utter disaster. Taking that out of the equation put the focus squarely on the actual people in the relationship and their character development.

As expected, all the characters are written wonderfully and I want to befriend Tariq, Paris, and Morag. . . . Is that a thing I can do? Please? No? Ah, well. Ok, then. Back to the review. . .

This story is just as much about Paris’ journey of self-awareness, and the beginning of his life as someone who can and will actually do something about his mental health, as it is about the romance between Paris and Tariq.

I suppose you could argue that Paris’ anxiety is the tiniest bit exaggerated here and there, but actually- I really don’t agree. Is Paris over the top, or is it just that difficult to be so ruthlessly forced to consider your own reflection? There were times when it got to be a bit much and I had to skim a bit, but it wasn’t down to Hall’s writing or Paris’ anxiety reaching wholly unrealistic, caricature levels. It was because everything felt way too painfully real to me. At first, I kept laughing out loud because, absurdly silly as some of those thought spirals were (I mean… worrying about unintentionally making genocide biscuits… wow), they were still so true that I just had to laugh. Of course, as the story went on, and everything snowballed for Paris, I wasn’t laughing anymore. That’s just it, though. Other readers can argue all they like that Paris is overdone, but speaking as someone who was first diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder as a tween, I’m telling you this book hits. hard. with a pillowcase full of Truth bricks. It will take you for a ride, but ultimately drop you off at a really good place with lots of potential.

Time for me to pull out one detail and marvel at it! I appreciate how this wasn’t a story about the anxious bean and the perfect characters that have to deal with him. Hall made sure to point out the ways that Tariq and Morag failed Paris miserably, even while they thought they were helping him. Tough love (like signing your bestie up to appear on national television, to get them out of their own head) is not an appropriate way to support a friend that you feel might have something serious going on. Especially if you’re not certain what exactly is going on in your loved one’s brain to make them the way they are, you should not take it upon yourself to try to fix them in whatever way you see fit. Which brings me around to how Tariq let Paris down. However good the intentions, however you frame it within your own head- people are not projects. No-one wants to be loved or romantically pursued because of their fixer-upper potential, and really no-one deserves that. There’s a difference between viewing/treating someone as a pet project and giving them the loving support they need as they improve themselves. Good on Morag and Tariq for not only realising where they’d gone wrong, but for acknowledging it and making an effort to do better. Good on Hall for making sure this all got addressed!

In closing, I’d just like to share one more thought: Tariq is adorable and fabulous and thinking of him Tigger-bouncing Paris all the time makes me happy.

Thanks to Net Galley and Forever Publishing for providing an ARC!

This is a tough one.... On one hand I loved so much about this book - the delightful dialogue on the show, descriptions of food, and relationships amongst the contestants, but on the other hand I really did not enjoy the main plot/relationships.

This will DEFINITELY be the right book, even a favorite, for many readers! It's cute (overly, at times), witty, and an easy read. If you like these things, as well as baking/The Great British Baking Show then you will probably enjoy this. However, the main character irked me throughout, without enjoy redemption or good things to counterbalance it.

For so many people, this will be a loved book and I look forward to getting into other books by Alexis Hall.

I was really looking forward to this as I’ve enjoyed Alexis Hall’s books in the past. I’m not sure what this book is trying to be. It isn’t a romance (which would be fine if it wasn’t marketed as such). The cheerful cover and premise set you up to think it will be a romance. There is basically no romance in this story. The main character was a challenge to spend time with. I appreciate the attempt to address anxiety but it was very difficult to read his crippling self doubt over and over. He would have driven me mad on that show if I was a contestant. It also was very slow to get through and I found myself not wanting to read. It has a very Bridget Jones diary type of humor which I loved, and was one of the bright spots for me.

Alexis Hall is my most hit or miss author. Some books I love, others not so much. This is tragically a not so much book.

I have never read a book in which the two main characters have less chemistry. It was unclear through the entire book why these two characters were together as they had nothing in common and had almost no interactions that didn't end in someone annoyed or frustrated. It seemed that they just found each other hot and that was it? That works in fanfiction (which I suspect this book might have some roots in) because readers don't need to be told why the characters are meant to be together, that is understood from the beginning. But in a book, when you've just been introduced to these characters, you need people to understand why they should be together.

I was also increasingly frustrated with the treatment of Paris throughout the book. Every single character treated him abysmally and yeah, they eventually apologize for it but even in their apologies they indicate that they felt entitled to treating him badly because he was rude (because his clinical anxiety made him seems rude).

The best part of a sequel is cameos from the original cast of characters and the only cameo was Alain. ALAIN?!?! of all the people (I guess aside from the Bake Off people). Harry and Rosaline were right there.

Anyway, I would recommend those who like the first in this series to stay away from this book. It's not worth it.

After not reading the first book, I fell right into this deliciously baked confection of a novel. Full of sweet romance, rich lust, and steamy baked goodness.

This is a rough one for me to write, because I've loved this authors other works this one just didn't hit the mark for me.

I want to start by saying how much I absolutely loved Morag, her dryness and the levity she brought to this story. (As well as some of the other side characters from the baking show, I would absolutely come back and read a book about Morag on her own! )

That being said I absolutely hated Paris for 99% of this book, I absolutely understand what the author was trying to prove with his anxiety. However, he came off as self-centred (with cause, I get it I promise) and inconsiderate of absolutely anyone else's feelings around him. Through the whole book I was screaming at Paris at least show some respect to any (even a single one would have satisfied me slightly) of the characters and it just never happened.

For me it just didn't hit the mark, the internalized homophobia, the islamphobia and everything was too strong and in my perspective edged on the side of slightly too distasteful for my liking. Even the portrayal of a mental health illness was poorly done in my perspective. This book left a really sour taste in my mouth and I am disappointed and how the undiagnosed anxiety disorder was portrayed.

I really enjoyed the last 20% of this book. The first 80% was not super enjoyable for me. I found all of the characters unlikeable and unrealistic for most of the book. It really wasn't until the final part of the book that I saw enough character development, could believe the characters were realistic, and could actually buy into the romance. That said, I still feel somewhat indifferent about the relationship and I think I would have been just as content if the main characters realized they weren't right for each other and moved on with their lives, perhaps with Paris meeting someone who could better understand his struggle. All in all, this book still made me smile enough to earn three stars, and we'll definitely stock it in the store, but I don't think I will be handselling it.

I was really excited to read this one but I found I just had to dnf. I got to about 20% but Paris was just so unlikable. I guess unlikable is the wrong word. All ever said was Sorry, my food sucks, this is going to be terrible, and then the opposite was always true. I read some reviews that said later the book dives into his anxiety, which would make some more sense, but I just couldn't continue.

LONG REVIEW SO TL;DR - I enjoyed everything here except for how Paris’s anxiety is written (you’re not supposed to enjoy the anxiety part though), but take the representation with a grain of salt.

I’m conflicted about this, but I definitely don’t think it’s as bad as everyone else seems to.

A large part of that is because I have a lot of empathy for Paris. I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I quit caffeine because of that. And it sucks. The problem that this book faces, however, is managing to write Paris’s anxiety in a way where this book is still good entertainment. No one reads a book to experience anxiety. And this book swings so hard into Paris’s anxiety, that there’s large, frequent chunks that are not only very difficult to read, but also very tiresome.

But, like I said, I have a lot of empathy for Paris, so I’m probably being more forgiving towards this book than it actually deserves.

That all being said, I enjoyed every single character in this book except for Paris. I laughed (out loud!) several times. I loved Tariq, his family, the Daves, the other show contestants, Morag. All of them. I even liked Catherine Parr - in as much as I enjoyed her making butt-shaped cake pops and the other show contestants talking about how much they hated her.

Paris really came around for me in the last 20%, when he starts getting help, though I’m conflicted about this. As a character, I liked his arc and his friendship with Jennifer and how things turn out for him and Tariq. As representation, I felt like Paris made too much progress in too short a span of time. Like, Paris kept saying, “I’m not cured. I’ll never be cured. I’ll always struggle with anxiety,” (I’m paraphrasing here) but it felt very much like Alexis Hall had to make Paris say that because otherwise there almost wouldn’t be any evidence that Paris wasn’t totally miracle-cured. But I almost have to forgive Hall of this too, because after so much of this book being anxiety so tangible it comes off the book in waves, I didn’t really want to read Paris having another anxiety attack and I probably wouldn’t be giving it as high a rating as I did.

Quite frankly, I enjoyed the ending. I thought it was cute and sweet and I really loved seeing Paris and Tariq figure their shit out.

And in short, yeah this is a difficult book to read and I understand how and why people would not enjoy this book. That being said, I kind of did.

Side note: I did cringe a little when Tariq is telling Paris that saying Paris just got lucky when he won those three weeks because it puts down the winners of other weeks, and then again when Morag is telling Paris that he can’t say Morag has no reason to be around him except for cheap rent and free food without insulting Morag. This is pretty much exactly how I feel when Alexis Hall diminishes his success as an author, and it feels very much like Hall is talking out both sides of his mouth. But hey, what do I know.

Really enjoying this series. I love the GBBO so that’s very fun and the storylines bring up meaningful and interesting topics.

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble was not exactly the romance, in the way Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake was not exactly a romance. The cute cover betrays the fact that this is a messy book, full of messy characters.
Many people will read this and not like Paris, but that was not the case for me. While he was not exactly a likeable character, he was relatable at points, and at others, I mostly felt bad for him. He is a person with anxiety who wants to be better, and many people who have anxiety can relate on some level.

My least favorite Alexis Hall book I have read
-The main character is unbearable to read. The amount of times him talking was describes as him ‘wailing’,,,, And I hate the anxiety rep, this characters anxiety was portrayed as him being childish and racist, which is just. What
-This book is so repetitive,, I had to skim alot because I was just bored
-So many random conversations about antisemitism or racism that just felt out of place in this book
-I felt no chemistry between these characters at all at any point, they just seemed to find eachother unbearable the whole time, idk how they were supposed to be together at all in this story.