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Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1)
Lucy Parker
397 pages | Avon Books
The Set Up: Sylvie was a fan favorite on Operation Cake, and now she’s accepted a job to return to the hit TV series as a judge to help supplement her bakeries income. They could use a boost in sales, and Sylvie has her eye on winning the commission of a life-time: the cake for a royal wedding. She quickly learns that her competition for the job is none other than Dominic from the revered bakery across the street. Dominic is now her co-judge on the show and has made it clear he thinks her style of baking is all style and no substance, but Sylvie is determined to prove that her bakery can compete with the best of the best.
This is a great book to read if you need a bit of Great British Bake Off vibes during the off-season (bake off is my sports). It’s a sweet story with a flair for the dramatic, and while there was A LOT going on, it held my interest.
The plot needed paring down and rearranged a bit, in my opinion. I thought Jay’s plotline came out of nowhere, the party drama at the end felt WILD, and then adding in the side story about the Rosie’s uncle… it just all felt like a lot. Dominic and Sylvie’s stories were enough for me.
What I struggled with the most though was Lucy Parker’s writing. It felt very wordy, and I often lost focus halfway through sentences. I’m interested in reading more from her, though, since the story was fun and her characters were great.
I genuinely liked Sylvie, she was a kind character with such a big heart. I did want more from Dominic earlier on - it felt like we barely got two words out of him for the first third of the book, but eventually I did grow to love him. I’m excited that there’s a second book about his sister, Pet, and I’m adding it to my TBR!
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