Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble: by the author of Boyfriend Material (Winner Bakes All Book 2)

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It is tender and dark and funny and poignant, story of two young gay men finding their place in the world (separately and together). I'm going to air a theory I've been ruminating on for awhile: I think Alexis Hall secretly hates romance. I've noticed a trend in a bunch of his books recently where he seems to like making things almost impossible for his MCs, not like a hard-fought HEA but like a HEA that doesn't seem likely or even plausible. Again with this book- it is not a romance, nor does it deserve to be a romance. These two guys are a horrible match, mismatched in so many ways that it's actually hard to articulate. If the one Bangladeshi in the competition goes out because a white guy hit him in the face with a fridge I will be... completely unsurprised. #bakeexpectations

But then there was Tariq who was all light and brightness and glitter and carried the promise of fun, the possibility of love. I loved how Tariq wasn’t the perfect curer of Paris’ ills. He made huge mistakes and he admitted to them. That was one of the best lines she got. I am not sure who these books are aimed at, but its not women, non white people, nor romance readers because the rep of all of these people was bad. The baking competition setting still works really well and I was generally impressed with the structure. Grace is a treasure and the other contestants were fun. And yet, not only does he impress the judges and win week one’s challenge – he also catches the eye of fellow contestant, Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also incredibly cute with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have.Well. I honestly had quite a difficult time with this book. If you're looking for a cute romance, I would not recommend this. read in anticipation of publication day November 1, 2022 - and edited review with a bit more detail - 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. Hall does it again with this scrumptious, quietly subversive rom-com again . . . Hilarious, heartwarming, and grounded, Rosaline’s story proves that happy endings look different from person to person’ Publishers Weekly The writing is witty, and [the] chemistry is irresistible, but it’s Hall’s insights about trust and self-worth that set the story apart. This is a triumph’ Publishers Weekly

In 16% AJH managed to squeeze in comments about Nazis, Jewish people, Muslims, ancient Greeks, Egyptians, people from Glasgow, hippies, the French, penises, various political parties, and public schools (UK version). I have no idea if these were meant to be funny or AJH's incessant need to use his widely published books for half-baked social commentary and I am not going to waste any of my time trying to parse it out. Either way it shouldn't be in a light-hearted romcom aboutThe writing is witty, and [the] chemistry is irresistible, but it's Hall's insights about trust and self-worth that set the story apart. This is a triumph' Publishers Weekly This is not a romcom! I repeat this is not a romcom! Think of a gay Bridget Jones like Henry Fry’s First Time for Everything. The books have the same kind of vibes. Because on the one hand....I don't think this is a romance novel?? And I'm not trying to be that gatekeep-y "oh a romance has to end in a HEA and 2.4 children in the epilogue" person. It's just that, well, this is coming of age story of a young man with severe (and I do mean severe) anxiety, who just so happens to go on a baking show and meet a cute guy there. And I realise that Rosaline Palmer was kinda breaking the romance formula in a similar way, in that the first book of this series was just as much about the heroine's personal growth as it was about eventually deciding who she'd like to date. But the personal growth part of the narrative feels much more urgent and dominant here, since we are literally in the mind of a person who is the living embodiment of the Mr Struggle meme.