Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble (Winner Bakes All, #2) by Alexis Hall

#mmromance #netgalley #notaromance 

I feel like I should get a gold star for finishing this one. I don't know why it wasn't edited to remove a couple of hundred pages, but it really needed it. Also, this is not a romance. It has subtle whiff of romance, but this does not end with a HFN/HEA.

This book also had a heck of lot of racist words, ideas, and thoughts. I will not focus on them as others have done a much better job that I could have. But how in the world could this happen in the year of 2022?

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

If Tanya doesn’t win this whole thing I’m not paying my licence fee next year #bakeexpectations

im just gona say it paris can hit me with a fridge any time #bakeexpectations #gotohornyjail

A Muslim drag queen talking about the environment is peak BBC. #bakeexpectations

Spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

Alrighty, onto to the story. Apparently this was based on the great British baking show, which I have never seen so most of that part flew over my head.

In this one we have Paris who seriously should have had help years before this book happened. Someone at his boarding school should have noticed and gotten him help. He was not just anxious, he had serious mental issues. I mean, he could not even speak in full sentences. Being that this was only in one POV, we could only see things from Paris' view and he was an unreliable narrator at best. His parents abandoned him, he lived in this expensive flat with a woman who was supposed to be his friend, but did nothing but torture him, and a cat that deserved better. And I need to mention that the phrase "Because she was a cat" was typed out more than once, and drove me batty. Of course she is a cat, you told us that many many times!

It was not only that cat that was done wrong, let's talk about the roommate. It may be that I did not want to read about vagina cookies, but that opening was rough. The only one I liked from the beginning was the naked guy who ate the vagina cookies.

“Everyone’s attracted to you.”

“Well, I’d say that’s because I’m a fat Glaswegian sex goddess, but mostly it’s because I fucking ask them if they want to have sex with me.”

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.

Now Paris was entered into this baking competition by this roommate and went through with it because he had mental issues. He meets Tariq, who he tries to be in a relationship with. It does not work out. Now I want to put in here that this was in a 3 month time frame. He did the show, met the guy, got broken up with, and fainted due to anxiety all in 3 months.

After he fainted, he was told he had to go to group therapy and get some help. So he does. And it actually seems to be working. He tries to get back with Tariq, but the other guy doesn't really want to be in a relationship but Paris actually pushes on this and he gives in a little bit and decides to be his friend.

I am not going to lie, all the way up to 80% was a freaking slog. It got a little better after Paris started working on himself, but I went into this thinking I was getting a romance. I did not get that here. And it honestly had nothing to do with the lack of sex. If had to do with the fact that at the end of the story, Paris and Tariq are not together. Did they talk about getting back together? Somewhat, but it was iffy. There was a kiss, but a kiss does not make it a romance. At the end Paris was alone, but doing better, which is awesome, but not what I was expecting.

I got this one from netgalley

GR Link