Bite Me, Royce Taslim by Lauren Ho - a hilarious and heartwarming story about love, family expectations, and finding your own path

A lovely YA read which is a lot of fun - and it’s rivals to romance! Agnes and Royce are interesting and realised characters, and Agnes especially is super relatable at times.

Loved the witty banter - didn't fully feel the romantic chemistry. This was an okay read for me.

arc via netgalley

I wasn’t able to finish this book. I expected it to be a funny rom-com but my expectations weren’t met.

I liked the story of this book, but I didn't completely jive with the writing style. I liked how Agnes was able to develop her other interests after the books inciting incident, and the way her friendships unfolded as she was figuring out who she was. However, I feel like the romance wasn't as compelling as I hoped it would be, and it would have been awesome to see more of Agnes's relationship with her mom. Overall though, this book was a fun read.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the digital advanced copy!

I loved Lauren Ho's adult books so was eager to read her new Young Adult novel, Bite Me, Royce Taslim. I enjoyed the insight into the stand up comedy world, but for me, I wasnt fully invested in the characters and the book was too easy to put down and take a break from. I hope others enjoy it and I will look forward to reading whatever the author writes next!

Thank you to Lauren Ho, NetGalley and the the publishers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Lauren Ho’s adult novels I knew I wanted to give her YA debut a try and I’m so glad that I did. Bite Me, Royce Taslim is a heartfelt, funny and tender enemies to lovers YA novel which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Agnes didn’t plan on getting accidentally run over and to lose all her hopes of a track scholarship but that is what has happened. Not only that but the only person to witness the humiliation was her archnemisis Royce.

When Agnes finds a new answer to her scholarship predicament in the form of an international stand-up comedy contest, the last person she expects to be up against is Royce. But behind the scenes, Royce’s flawless facade fades way and reveals someone Agnes never expected. As the competition heats up, so do things between them both. But, will the pressure to win be too much for them to handle or will Agnes get the last laugh?

I adored both Agnes and Royce. Agnes is so determined despite the big life changing accident she has just been through. I’m sure she will be relatable for so many people especially as she is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. She is also hilarious and cares so much for those around her. Royce seems tough on the exterior but as we get to know him we find he is extremely caring and hardworking. He is also trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life, just in a slightly different way to Agnes.

The romance between the pair is wonderful and at times hilarious. I loved seeing how Agnes views towards Royce change throughout the book as we see them interact more. Then, this leads to some adorable moments between them which were so lovely to read.

I enjoyed how this book tackles the topic of classism. We have some upper class, rich people and then those who are struggling to have enough money to last them through the month whilst trying to follow their dreams. It brings up important discussions and it really gets you thinking.

I hope that Lauren Ho will be releasing more YA books in the future as this one was a lot of fun. Her writing is hilarious, heartfelt and keeps you entertained. I can’t wait to read more of her books in the future.

Overall, Bite Me, Royce Taslim is a cute, heartfelt and joyful YA book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would highly recommend giving it a read!

While reading, I realized early on that I am not fan of Bite Me, Royce Taslim. The two main issues I have with this book are based entirely on personal preference. I still recommend this book because you may love it. In fact, I hope you love this more than I did because it's such a fun concept.

I thought reading about serenades was awkward until I started reading about stand-up comedy.

Simply put, I did not enjoy reading about Agnes and Royce performing stand-up. Reading about stand-up is like trying to be a part of a conversation taking place on the other side of the room. You can somewhat understand, but there isn't enough context to laugh with everyone else. There is an energy that comes with watching comedy that is not replicated in this book.

In the end, I decided to give Bite Me, Royce Taslim three stars because of the beautifully detailed setting, the entertaining dual POV, and the candid discussions about wealth inequality. If you're looking for a book set in Asia about silly teens figuring out their personal and romantic lives, this is the one for you.

I enjoyed this quite a lot, but there were a few moments that I wished were written a bit differently. Aside from that, this is a solid ya read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

So, I need to start this review by saying that I hated Agnes. She was a horrible person with a horrible attitude, and I found myself actively rooting against her.

Now, you're probably wondering why. Agnes is a Chinese-Malaysian high schooler whose dream is to go to the University of Maryland and compete in the NCAA for track before hopefully becoming the first Malaysian gold medalist at the Olympics in athletics. This all comes crashing down when she gets hit by a car and breaks her leg—suddenly, she needs to figure something else out, fast.

She also has a rivalry with Royce Taslim, the rich boy captain of the boy's athletics team at her school. It's important to note that he's rich because Agnes's friends at this school are rich. After all, it's an international school. So there's basically modern-day Malaysian royalty there. Royce Taslim's family are billionaires in Indonesia/Malaysia, whilst Agnes' best friend, Zee, is the granddaughter of one of Malaysia's founders. She's surrounded by rich people, and the only reason she's attending is because her mum married Stanley, a Haitian-American who has been teaching at the school.

I appreciated Agnes' determination to succeed at first - she had the odds stacked against her and was the underdog. But then she met Vern, and she just became an awful person. Vern was vile. He's from the same background as Agnes, and they used to go to the same school before she transferred to the international school. But he's filled with anger, rage, and venom that he spills into Agnes. He's got a bone to pick with all the rich people in Malaysia, and he doesn't hesitate to fill Agnes' head with all his crap.

Don't get me wrong, Agnes deserved to have another friend who wasn't rich to give her some good balance. But Vern was just poison.

Royce was an absolute darling - you could tell he had the biggest crush on her from the beginning, and quite frankly, Agnes did not deserve him. He should've turned around and walked away from her after she hurt him the first time, but instead, we have a story where she CONSTANTLY hurts the people closest to her who genuinely care about her. Her best friend, Zee, never made Agnes feel bad about their class or money difference, and she actively wanted to be part of Agnes' life, but it was Agnes who kept her away. Who kept pushing her insecurities onto her friends and ran the very real risk of losing everyone.

You could argue it's because she was the odd one out in school, but we're shown that it's actually just that Agnes is a terrible person. There's a moment where she tries to reconnect with her old teammates and they have a moment of brutal honesty where they basically tell her that she's an awful person who makes everyone around her uncomfortable and unhappy. They literally point out that she bullied them to the point they were scared to beat her or not do well enough. They even point out that their coach is now much calmer and relaxed now she's gone!

So it's very clear that the problem has always been Agnes. And she doesn't learn! She listens to the dumb stuff Vern tells her and she spouts it out and causes absolute chaos, then acts upset when it blows up in her face. Royce is open and honest about his mental breakdown with her, and she feels sorry for him before just...continuing to act petulant. I get she's a teenager, but the level of childishness was unreal. There's a moment later where she very nearly destroys Royce's life - literally, he's getting death threats because she was a petty child.

A lot of this was due to Vern, but there was a LOT that was all Agnes. There's a moment where Royce is telling her about his mental health issues and how everyone treats him like an unexploded bomb, basically, and she even makes the connection between how she treats her mum. Because her mum had depression at one point, and therefore Agnes has forever treated her like a fragile child who can't handle whatever life has given her. I get the need to appease her mum and make her mum happy, especially surrounding her birth circumstances, but she acknowledges how she's being unfair to her mum and then...continues to do it? Even when it's made VERY clear that her mum would probably be supportive.

Again, Agnes needed another friend of her class/money level because it ended up a weird scenario where you're rooting for the rich folk and demonising the poor. Royce and Zee were amazing and caring friends, but Agnes really did need someone on her level. Someone who was not the venomous Vern.

I'll say it again - Royce deserved better than Agnes, and so did Zee, frankly. Zee forgave Agnes for all her crap way too easily.

♟️Rating:2/5⭐

----------------------------------------

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review!

Well, where do I even begin? I picked up this book as the cover looked enticing enough but let's just say that the writing did not live up to it. Honestly speaking, I was largely disappointed by the execution of the plot as well as the portrayal of certain characters. 


The plot started out shaky at first and had trouble deciding what it's supposed to be. I went in largely blind (I blame myself for solely judging by the cover) and thought it was sports rivalry at first but it switched to comedy which I was cool with since it made sense. However, the author started branching out into many other things such as classicism, privilege, mental health issues and even toxic controlling relationships. There's just so many ongoing things that each subject wasn't explored deeply but instead in a superficial, almost stereotypical, manner. I wished that the author spent more time diving into the clearer topics related to this book (privilege, class disparity). Also is it me but some of the jokes in this book just don't really make sense to me. Some of the jokes came off as ‘outdated’ or should I say doesn't fit gen z/modern humour?


Moving on to the writing style, some parts made me cringe especially at the author's feeble attempt at incorporating slang into the conversation. There's one part where Zee said something using the word ‘smol’. Not a text conversation. But an actual conversation in real life with people talking to each other. I'm afraid that's not how it works. As such, the dialogues came off as inauthentic and immature (think adults trying to write a Disney teenager show). When will people realise that teenagers are perfectly capable of voicing their opinions in an eloquent manner? Some of the adjectives and analogies came off weirdly as well. Thus, the flow of the writing was quite distracting at times and I often find myself just glazing my way through.


Where do just begin about the characters. Agnes was often too naive and clueless which gave rise to her toxic behaviours in lots of instances. This is definitely not a good look for a romance MC since we're mostly rooting for the MCs. Agnes was so easily manipulated by Vern to the point of it being almost comical due to the sheer absurdity of how gullible Agnes was. There was also a lack of growth in her character as seen in her constant dumping of her friends and trusting of Vern even after ‘realising she messed up’. Let's talk about Vern. Writing Vern as a toxic and manipulative character with an agenda to ‘get back at the rich people’ came off weirdly to me. The more I think about it, the more problematic it feels. Vern came from a poor background and had to work hard in order to achieve his goals. Clearly, Vern was supposed to be the antithesis of Agnes’ richer friends like Zee and Royce. However, the problem is villianising Vern while making Zee and the richer characters (the ones close to Agnes) are kind and caring people who have suffered at the hands of the media for portraying them as villians. There's no nuances and the problems weren't tackled or explained properly. Everything is almost explained in a black and white manner. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth since you can actually write a novel about class disparity without resorting to these stereotypical means. It just makes people with similar backgrounds like Vern seem petty, manipulative and jealous of others' success. Listen, you do not need to write a bad/toxic second male lead in order to make your male lead come off as charming. If anything, that just makes your male lead seem bland, which is the case for Royce. Agnes did not seem relatable to me like Sadie Wen or Alice Sun. Here's the thing about poverty and privilege, you can’t really pinpoint it. It's subtle and hides under layers of things. What Ann Liang managed to do but Lauren failed was that subtlety.


Overall speaking, I wished the author had done more research on class disparity and delved deeper into these issues. This book has a lot of potential and a strong start. The characterisation needs more work as well as a stronger plot to tie things together. Thank you once again for the free ARC!

Bite Me, Royce Taslim is a rivals to lovers story centred around stand-up comedy. I was really looking forward to this one since I love the premise of a woman in the comedy scene, and the performance elements are a lot of fun. That said, I struggled with the writing style as the author uses a lot of unnecessarily fancy vocabulary which I found distracting, and I felt like the story has a bit too much going on. However, this is still a fun read with some interesting themes, and fans of the enemies to lovers trope will enjoy it.

Bite Me Royce Taslim serves up a delicious blend of rivalry, romance, and self-discovery against the vibrant backdrop of Kuala Lumpur's elite scene. Agnes Chan, a former track star whose dreams are shattered by injury, takes an unexpected detour into the world of Malaysian stand-up comedy, where she crosses paths with her infuriatingly perfect nemesis, Royce Taslim.

As Agnes and Royce navigate the cutthroat world of comedy and vie for a coveted spot in an international competition, sparks fly and tensions rise. But beneath the banter and competition lies a deeper exploration of themes like inequality, mental health, and toxic friendships.

Absolutely heartwarming, BITE ME, ROYCE TASLIM is a winning read from Lauren Ho. Recommended for all YA fans!

“Bite Me, Royce Taslim,” by Lauren Ho begins with a rivalry between the two main characters, Agnes Chan and Royce Taslim. The story feels, to begin with, a little bit like Pride & Prejudice – we have a wealthy character who seems to be perfect in every way and a character who comes from a more modest financial background striving for recognition based on a skill set. When an accident prevents our female lead from continuing on with her star-running career, the plot takes off – in a direction that felt both interesting and convoluted.

It is likely that this particular book just wasn’t for me. I thought the premise was interesting and that the characters had avenues for growth throughout the book. However, I don’t feel that those avenues for growth were fully explored or realized by the end of the story. Agnes, in particular, seemed like she really hadn’t learned much from her experiences. She makes mistakes throughout the book, as any teenager might, especially when faced with a charismatic older friend who, in all reality, seemed to be grooming her (another aspect I found unnerving, given she forgives this character in the end and there seem to be no real repercussions for him). With each mistake, we see Agnes dig her feet in and justify why she’s in the right – almost up until the very end. By the time she willingly admits to her mistakes and starts making her apologies, they seem almost insincere due to their rushed nature.

The romance between Agnes and Royce felt like a natural fit at the beginning of the book – two high-achieving rivals who admire one another and their drive to be their best. As the two learn about the deeper complexities of the other’s personality, we see them admire one another even more – and yet, there is always something getting in their way. While sometimes these obstacles felt realistic – Agnes’ feelings on her place in society versus his and the reality that his family might not approve of her, her own complicated feelings surrounding her relationships with her wealthy friends, etc., there were other obstacles that felt solely contrived to throw a wrench into the romance. So, when the two finally get together officially, which occurs only in the last few pages, their overall “romance” feels very rushed. Some of the connections revealed between the characters that are supposed to feel like fate seem very forced and unrealistic.

This book was interesting, fast-paced, and a fun look into the world of stand-up comedy, especially for youth comics, and if you’re looking for something quick to read, this wouldn’t be a bad choice. For me personally, I finished the book wishing the characters had undergone more growth in their personal character arcs, and that the ending had included less surface-level apologies for behavior that seemed deeply problematic.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Lauren Ho, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Agnes loves track and is thankful t have a scholarship to run in college. That is until she is accidentally run over, loses her scholarship and who witnesses it all? Her main rival Royce Taslim.

Agnes has got to find a new solution to her scholarship problem. She is thankful to find a international teen stand up competition. Who is her main rival though? Royce Taslim.

A fun rivals to lovers YA read!

A tender and heartfelt enemies to lovers, opposites attract YA debut that sees track star Aggie getting injured and losing her college scholarship. When Aggie is forced to face the reality that she needs to reconsider her life plans, she falls into standup comedy and gets caught up in a love triangle with a new friend and the boy she loves to hate as all three are competing for a standup comedy competition in NYC. Great on audio with excellent mental health rep and recommended for fans of books like This will be funny someday and authors like Tashie Bhuiyan. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Agnes Chen is a star athlete an is working her way to the top. She has prospects of going to the states and competing at a University. Unfortunate events take place when she is too busy trying to out talk her supposed rival, Royce Taslim, that her dreams are crumbling before her eyes. Come to find out, Agnes is now in need of raising her grades and in search of scholarships for university.
An opportunity arrives for Agnes to have a chance at snagging a scholarship by competing in an international stand-up comedy contest only to find out that her nemesis, Royce Taslim, is also competing in. As the competition draws near, Agnes finds herself getting to know Royce a little more each day and realizing he isn't who she thought he was. Everything Agnes knows about her arch nemesis seems like an out right lie and maybe her feelings for him could be altering into something more.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a lot of potential. A YA lit that took place in Southeast Asia really intrigued me. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past how whiney the FML was. It really stuck with me until the end and I felt like I was just reading the book to the end just because I had to. I can see a lot of potential and I get it's a YA book, but I live to read YA literature and I know the characters don' t have to be this whiney and immature. Even though in the end, Agnes shows growth as an individual, I didn't care for her overall. I love a strong FML and I love a girl who fights for what she wants, but it just fell flat for me. I've read middle grade books that had more mature characters and I still felt like they were acting their age versus these teen characters who just seemed to throw tantrums for no reason. Can't recommend to my young readers. So many other good YA contemporaries out there.

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for this ARC!

As someone who did improv in college, this book had a familiar sense of community that I wasn’t expecting. Comedy is about throwing yourself on the line and hoping that someone will catch you.

Agnes was both relatable and insufferable - she was filled with so much doubt of her place in the world that she fell into every trapping, rarely second guessing what people told her. However, because it’s YA, it made her an incredible character by the end. Teens have these struggles, especially when you then go and put them on stage!

Now c’mere, lemme talk to you about Royce Taslim. Royce Taslim is the kind of character I aspire to write. Royce Taslim is both delightful and insufferable. Royce Taslim would be delightful to be enemies to lovers with.

I can’t explain to you why they’re both insufferable and I love them dearly, I just can’t, you gotta read it to get it.

Most of the other characters can be summed up by whether or not I love them or want to punch them. And 99% of them are loved. The one who deserves to be punched knows who he is.

I really enjoyed this book, especially because it somehow catered to my exact niche. My favorite part was very early in the book, having Agnes teach Rosie that insults have to be specific. Because that is part of comedy, and it flowed with Agnes’ perspective for the rest of the book, that specificity of fear and anxiety and heart-swooping romance.

Two academic rivals find romance when an accident sets off a chain of events and now bond over participating in stand-up comedy. Agnes Chan is determined to make this year her year, she's determined to get her athletic scholarship and finally beat her number one arch-nemesis, Royce Taslim. Agnes gets into an argument with Royce that ends with her getting into an accident and ruining her athletic scholarship dreams and now she has to find a new answer to her scholarship issue, and the answer: an international stand-up comedy contest. The last thing she expects is to be facing off against Royce of all people. Royce is a wealthy, popular, and privileged. Agnes can't stand him yet the more she gets to know him the more she begins to realize she didn't really know him at all and that maybe she was wrong. The closer the competition gets the more things begin to heat up as well as the relationship between Agnes and Royce... yet can she really overcome her dislike of Royce to make this relationship last? Unfortunately this one was a miss for me, I was really hoping I would love it but I just did not like Agnes at all. I get that she's a teen and that she's going to make bad decisions, but she felt so insufferable and honestly, I have no idea why Royce liked her at all. This book didn't really build up the relationship that well and the romance just didn't feel like it really worked. I think if you were a younger reader (than me haha) and like the academic rivals with lots of high school drama, it would definitely be for you!

*Thanks Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide | Disney Hyperion for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*