I don’t think this is a book anybody but Alexis Hall could have pulled off. This is a romance and a book about a baking competition, yes, but it’s also a book about a person with severe anxiety, and what that anxiety does to his relationships with the people around him. Paris isn’t an easy character to like, and his story isn’t an easy ride. But it was worth it!
Paris Daillencourt ends up on Bake Expectations because his flatmate secretly put him up for it. Paris is a wonderfully talented baker, but his mental health doesn’t make him the ideal candidate for any part of being on a reality show. And yet, here he is. And here also is the handsome and sweet Tariq, who seems to like Paris for some reason, and who wants to date him. Things of coursse go awry. Publicly.
I just really admire the way that Hall walked these fine emotional tightropes, both for Paris’s mental health, and for the people around him. It’s been two months since I’ve read it so I don’t recall the details any longer, but as always the character arcs felt human and real, all the while his prose makes you laugh (and sometimes cringe). Also as always, I wanted to eat all the desserts described.
[4.5, rounding up to 5 stars]
