This book is 100% excellent and sexy (you’ll understand once you read it).

Rosaline is a single mum who’s just been accepted as a contestant on Bake Expectations, a British baking show. We follow her as she tries to stay on top of her everyday obligations, her self-doubt and mom-guilt, all while she’s busy trying to win the competition and fall for the wrong person.

I could not love this book more if I tried. Most stories have a few stand-out parts, but every single line of this one was completely delicious. From Rosaline’s hilarious banter with the other characters to the baking scenes which left me feeling warm, cozy, and hugged, to the foul mouth on Jennifer the producer (which literally had me crying with laughter). I will fall for a book with hilarious British slang and excellent one-liners every single time.

Rosaline is relatable, warm, funny, and amazing, and the supporting characters practically jump off the page too. Even the ones you hate are written so well that you’ll love them in spite of yourself.

I actually haven’t seen the Great British Bake Off (I know, I know, I plan on changing that soon) but I am completely addicted to the Aussie show, Zumbo’s Just Desserts. So if you like baking shows you should check that one out.

This book is easily in my top three for the year. I tried to savor every morsel but it was over much too soon.

This book passed the time fine, but will not be a new favourite in this genre for me. Sometimes the writing felt a little bit stilted and I don't always enjoy love triangle types of storylines as was evident in this one. However, I did laugh out loud on several occasions and felt very hungry for some baking while reading, therefore can't complain about any of that! I am still antsy to check out this author's first book & will absolutely do so if it is half as humorous as this one was.

After loving Boyfriend Material last summer, it pains me to say I wasn't a big fan of this one. While I liked that the story looks at bisexuality and class divide, the first 20% felt very preachy, and in general the book felt long and slow-moving. I wasn't a big fan of our main character Rosaline — she was very judgmental and critical of everyone around her, but then just accepted when the people closest to her treated her like garbage. I also hated Alain and it felt like it took forever for Rosaline to see his true colors.

The best parts of this book are the baking competition, the friendships between some of the competitors, and Rosaline's adorable and hilarious daughter. I'm not a fan of love triangles, and the romance felt light overall, but the competition made me want to watch The Great British Bake Off. I did appreciate Hall's questions for reading groups at the end of the book.

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sweet, funny, and neatly plotted, if you've enjoy Hall's previous books this will not disappoint. If you're is your first, get ready to be hooked. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book. it touched on a number of serious and personal issue for me, but with an ultimately light and uplifting hand. Not your standard romance plot but with a well-deserved happily ever after at the end, and lots of delicious baking along the way.

This book had me in stitches right from the start. All of the characters were so quick-witted, even the ones who turned out to be complete arseholes. I couldn’t get enough of the banter between Rosaline, Lauren & Amelie. That’s darn kid was the bee’s knees!!

I knew right from the first meeting with Harry that he was more than he appeared. I love how he really listened and when he messed up he took complete responsibility and then made a concerted effort to be better. He was the real deal!

This was my first read from Alexis Hall and I’m kind of kicking myself for it. I will absolutely be reading more from him.


*I received an ARC from NetGalley for voluntary review

Thank you @readforeverpub for sharing a copy of Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake by Alexis Hall. Find this one in bookstores May 18/21.

First of all, content warnings. There are more here than I think a “quirky rom-com” should have but they include bi-phobia/fetishization, attempted date rape/sexual assault, classism, excessive swearing by one character, mental illness specifically anxiety and I’m sure I am missing some. There is mostly closed door sex discussed but one scene at the end is more explicit.

So, after reading all of that, this one was actually pretty funny. The banter was top notch and I loved the setting. Baking shows are my go to comfort watch so to have a romance set in one was my dream come true.

I did read this one hoping it was going to be fun and cute and lots of happy kissing between scenes, and it wasn’t all I hoped for. But I did love Rosaline. She is a chronic people pleaser with low confidence in herself and I loved watching her grow over the weeks of the show. It did cover some heavy topics but it was also laugh out loud funny at times and the British banter was some of the best ever. So, I think if you go in with a heads up that this one is more than just fluff, you’ll adore it. Much like his first novel, Alexis Hall excels at mixing real life and fun together to defy the usual light everything is perfect and life is all sunshine and roses atmosphere in romances.

Included as a top pick in bimonthly May New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

3.5 stars.

In Alexis Hall's new book, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, a young mother hopes participating in a TV baking competition might be the key to a new path for her future.

Rosaline is a single mother of a precocious young girl. She wants to give her the perfect life, but that’s not easy—she has a low-paying job, and her parents don’t approve of that, nor are they comfortable with her bisexuality. They do provide her financial assistance and babysit her daughter, but they never let her forget how much they're helping her.

But she has a plan. She’s going to compete on Bake Expectations, a television baking show, and she hopes the exposure—especially if she wins—will change her life and her daughter’s for good.

Of course she’s utterly unprepared for the rigors of a television show, and with baking requiring the utmost focus, she worries she’ll be quickly eliminated. She also finds herself in a relationship with fellow contestant Alain, who is handsome and talented with a definite arrogant streak, while she becomes more curious about Harry, another contestant, a salt-of-the-earth, sexy electrician who’s not quite politically correct.

I loved Alexis Hall’s last book, Boyfriend Material, so my expectations were pretty high for Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. There were things I really enjoyed—I’m obsessed with cooking/baking shows, so I loved that element, and wanted more, in fact. I love the way Hall treated Rosaline’s bisexuality, as there aren’t many main characters out there who are bi, and I also loved the book's acknowledgement of anxiety-related issues.

I did think, however, the book was way longer than it needed to be. I’m not a huge fan of love triangles when one character is particularly odious, and I felt the parental disapproval seemed a little one-dimensional. And while I thought Rosaline’s daughter’s view on the world was adorable and refreshing, a little goes a long way with precocious children.

Still, I had fun reading this and really enjoyed my buddy read with my friend Phil. (He loved it more than I did.)

NetGalley and Forever provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

I really enjoyed this romance. Rosaline was such a delightfully, unapologetic person which I really appreciated. The baking sections along with characters she meets really make this story really special. I cannot wait to see the next book!

3.5 stars

This was such a fun read! I can’t tell you how hungry I was while reading about all the deliciousness these characters bake up. Definitely don’t read this one on an empty stomach! Halfway through, I was overcome with the need to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies (no complaints from my family LOL)

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake had lots of laughs and also serious moments too. I thought it was balanced really well and the format of breaking the chapters into the weeks of the competition was a great detail. The secondary characters were absolutely wonderful and I especially loved Anvita, Lauren, and Amelie. They stole the show any time they were on the page and little Amelie had me laughing so hard. I really enjoyed the mix of romance tropes (single parent, forced proximity, friends to lovers), but the real love story was between Rosaline and herself. I appreciated and found her struggles and challenges so relatable and was rooting for her the entire way. Her reckoning with her parents was especially moving. I did feel that the pseudo love triangle between her, Alain, and Harry went on for far too long however, and would have preferred more time be spent on Harry and Rosaline connecting. Their romance showed up so late in the book that it felt awkward and unbelievable. Overall, this was an entertaining read and I look forward to seeing what's next in the series.

CW: gaslighting, attempted sexual assault, biphobia, anxiety, classism

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

3.5/5 💫
I ended up having mixed feelings about this one. I loved the entire premise of the book ~ baking, a food competition and romance are themes that complement each other perfectly in my opinion. The author did a good job in blending all of these elements together. There were some truly amazing conversations, laugh-out-loud moments and I adored them with my whole heart.

The characters, especially Rosaline, our protagonist turned out to be unlikable. I love reading about characters with insecurities who grow throughout the course of the novel, and Rosaline was one of those people as well. I admired her self-confidence and the ways in which she stood up for herself. What rubbed me the wrong way was Rosaline being incredibly judgemental about the people around her, since she has many flaws herself. It got on my nerves a lot of times, and yeah. That took the joy out of the story from me cause I kept putting the book down. 🥺 The book became very preachy in the last few chapters too.

I didn't expect a love triangle from RPTTC, but I was pleasantly surprised in how it was executed! I think this book falls under the Women's fiction genre rather than romance, as romance wasn't the main part of the book.

Definitely recommend if you're a fan of books with a foodie theme. ❤️

Rosaline Palmer has just gotten a spot on a popular baking show and she is ready for the challenge. She is a single mom, determined to win the competition to help give her daughter the life she deserves. But when she gets to the competition it’s easy to get distracted by her competitors, two of whom show an interest in her right away: Alain and Harry are opposites in every way, so which one will win her heart?

Wow, I loved this book so much. I’m a huge fan of The Great British Bake Off and this book reminded me so much of that show. I was here for it. This book focused mainly on the baking competition, and I was so invested in Rosaline’s success and also quickly became attached to other contestants. I loved Rosaline as a main character. I felt she was really relatable and it was so easy to root for her. I also loved her confidence and ownership of who she is, and the various scenes where she owned her bisexuality and stood up to anyone who did not respect her identity were empowering.

This book didn’t focus as much on romance as I expected, but I honestly didn’t miss it. I could have used less Alain, as I didn’t like him and would have loved to see more Harry. But other than that, I have no complaints about this book!

Add this to your list if you haven’t already. This book had me laughing out loud and it really was such a fun read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake has been among my most anticipated reads of the entire year, and I won’t pretend I’m not thrilled that it is as delightful as I’d hoped it would be. I laughed and cringed (in an into the story way, not the other kind), and even blushed a little here and there. It’s impossible to avoid the obvious clichés, given that it involves the baking of sweets, but this really is a sweet tale of second chances, and one that I enjoyed tremendously.

Content Warning: I feel obligated to add a warning here about a scene involving non-penetrative sexual assault between two of the female characters. While completely non-gratuitous, as well as being both brief and purposeful, it did involve the violation of boundaries. “No” and “Stop” were unambiguously expressed and summarily ignored, and some unforgivable gaslighting immediately followed. Ultimately, repercussions happened and lessons were learned, and I don’t see how it could have been handled any better.

Though I’ve ordered the paperback for my favorite bookshelf, I read the ebook version of Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake for this review. I don’t usually document my reading journey so precisely, but I sort of enjoyed doing so in this case, because it was so much fun. At 22% I was hopeful, but with a side of niggling doubt. At 34% my opinions were shifting so hard my neck twinged. By 57% through I’d officially arrived at the “oh HELL no” stage. And by 73% I was undeniably in love, just nowhere close to my initial suspicions. And it was fairly perfect.

One of my favorite elements of Mr. Hall’s stories is that they don’t so much make me think about things as they provide me with plenty of reasons to desire to, which seems to me a very generous means of storytelling. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is the same in several respects, but there’s a particular conundrum that I especially appreciated. It concerns wanting—the difference between what others expect us to want, what we believe we’re supposed to want, what might be wrong with us if we don’t want those things, not having any idea what we really want in the first place, and, if we’re lucky, finally figuring out what it is we truly do want. Immersing myself in those questions from Rosaline’s perspective turned out to be highly rewarding. Of course, satisfying those wants turns out to be another crisis entirely.

Unsurprisingly, the author has filled Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake with characters that very nearly live and breathe on the page. Rosaline is a sharp, captivating work in progress, and I loved watching her come to the realization that she is a being of potential. Also amazing are Rosaline’s daughter, Amelie, her ex-girlfriend, Lauren, a number of her co-contestants, and so on. Even the scenes involving her parents provide a valuable point of view that might not have had the same impact had they been seen from memory or flashback. As for Rosaline’s current love interests, I have no doubts whatsoever about either my loathing of one or adoration of the other.

In summary, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is one of my new favorite stories of the year so far. There’s so much more I’d really like to delve into. Rosaline’s bisexuality is among the most important aspects of the narrative, but is better left to the pages it’s found on. Another is realizing that needing and/or accepting help should never make us feel we’ve forfeited the right to reject it if that assistance becomes an obligation owed. I also now have an entire folder of bookmarks dedicated to “Rosaline’s Recipes and Things.” And on it goes, as a well-loved story does.

One more thing: please don’t miss the recipes at the end. I can’t decide between trying the “Cheesy Bites” or the “Shortbreads”/“discrimination biscuits” first. Either should be safe. And, though I’d never attempt to actually make anything with them, I do, in fact, know what ceps are now.

In this romantic riff on The Great British Bake-Off, prepare for all the cozy, feel good moments that make the show so comforting with an equal portion of behind-the-scenes drama to stress you out and excite you to equal degrees. Rosaline Palmer is our protagonist and baking contestant. She wants to take her hobby to the next level and earn some much needed money to provide for her daughter without having to seek help from her stuffy parents. A single mom who gave birth to Amelie as a teenager, Rosaline has to face a lot of negative assumptions about her life from others as she fights for the top prize. In and out of the competition, she is finding her way in life in a relatable, halting manner and must decide what she wants and from whom, very complicated and frustrating questions in my experience.

The book had a lot of big picture strengths. It takes on classism and how we are taught to measure our own success and that of others by certain social and economic metrics that are downright snobbish. The story made me think more deeply about what it means to have a fulfilled life and who gets to be included in that. It was some soul-searching but uplifting reflection. Second, Rosaline deals with a lot of biphobia and willful misunderstanding about what it means for her to be bisexual. I love that her identity was front and center, but I also wanted to warn people that there may be some triggering content related to her experiences in addition to a sexual assault that takes place later in the story.

In terms of the romance, the flirting is some of the best I've seen written because it's not so smooth as to leave this plane of existence. Yes, it's way wittier than I am most days, but there are awkward moments, misfires, and nerves that sneak in a pinch of reality with all the romcom pixie dust.
The humor covers a lot of territory, from Shakespearean references to blatant innuendo to the pure hilarity of every observation that comes out of 8-year-old Amelie's mouth. I genuinely laughed out loud and hoped I somehow didn't manage to disturb my neighbors when it got too raucous. This book was a laugh and a thinker and a warm hug all in one, so I can't wait to see what the series serves up next.

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Palmer
🐝
This book was delightful, like a perfectly executed and decorated pavlova. Crunchy and sweet for the delectable humour that is not only witty but genuine and smart. Gooey and melt-in-your mouth for the wonderfully crafted characters, from the main characters to the smallest side characters, every single one felt real and human and entertaining, I'm talking to you show-executive Jennifer Halt. I loved Rosaline, I loved her sense of self, even if she feels confused about her dreams and future she remains truly her through everything, through having a child at 19, to being confronted with biphobia at every turn and in ways you wouldn't even think people could be this awful, and most of all how she cares for the people she loves. It was also tart and refreshing by the take this story had on the famous and dreaded "love triangle" trope, because there was no team not debate on who would be better for her we were all on team Rosaline. Even if Alain at first look is the embodiment of what her parents would want for her, we want happiness for Rosaline and her daughter. Harry was such a beautiful human, there was so many times, that I had to pause by the sheer force of my affection for him. At first you don't really realize, he's going to be IT, but slowly and surely he slithers his way into your heart by his kindness and all over wonderfulness so by the end you just want to push them together like dolls and scream: "KISS" like Sebastian in Little Mermaid. And all of it was delightfully covered in just the right amount of sweet whipped cream for the wonderful friendship between Rosaline and her best friend.
🐝
I also wanted to do a gentle reminder, that even if someone who's queer (in this case bisexual), is in a relationship with the opposite sex, it does not make it a "hetero or straight relationship". It is a still a queer relationship, because of Rosaline's queerness.
🐝
Thank you so much to @readforeverpub & @quicunquevult & @netgalley for the Advanced Readers Copy! As always, all thoughts and opinions are and will be honest and my own.

This was so much fun, a heartwarming story about a bisexual single mom competing on a baking show that encompasses much more than meets the eye.

Alexis Hall is so gifted when it comes to creating characters - much like Boyfriend Material, these all felt like very real & realized people, with their own charms & quirks, & I just adored the supporting cast so much, but not as much as I loved Rosaline. Rosaline has to be one of my favorite MCs as of late - I loved the bi representation here & feel like he did such an excellent job with it. I've seen some reviewers say this comes off as preachy, but I respectfully disagree - with her daughter, many situations provided a great deal of teachable moments, particularly through the lens of being a queer parent. & I just loved the slow burn romance here - Harry & his mermaid cakes will forever have my heart. My only critique would be that it was a little bit on the longer side, but oddly enough it was really bittersweet to see this story end - I really fell in love with these characters so, so much.

I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series, there's just so many places you can go with this format! Highly recommend, especially if you're fans of the Great British Bake Off! Thank you so much Alexis Hall, Grand Central Publishing & Forever Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review! (4.5)

I read and loved ‘Boyfriend Material’ last year, so I was excited to get to Alexis Hall’s newest release Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. Though this wasn’t near as good for me personally as ‘Boyfriend Material’ it was still a mostly enjoyable read.

Rosaline Palmer is a 27 year old single mom who has joined a british bake off type of reality show. She doesn’t expect to meet a man there, but she does. A fellow contestant. She also makes several friends on the show, but things there don’t turn out quite as planned.

I truly loved the person who Rosaline ended up with and I rooted for them, but the romance was so… weak for me. My absolute favorite part of this story was any part that Rosaline’s daughter was in. I adored her! Overall, I liked this one but not nearly as much as I expected to.

first off, thank you so much for an arc of this book! i honestly really wanted to like this, since i honestly love to bake, so reading a book about a baking show sounded so cool. but, it was just not it for me.

first off, i honestly really liked Rosaline daughter. i honestly haven't read to many books with the single parent trope, so this was kind of a first for me. but, i honestly enjoyed seeing the daughter, and that she understood bisexuality more then most adults do, so i honestly really liked that part of it. but, at the same point she also felt kind of unbelievable. like, if you ever been around a 4 year old, they can't use SAT words in a sentence, hell even some adults can.

since we are talking about tropes, i honestly did not like the love triangle whatsoever. like, by itself i don't like love triangles, but i literally didn't care for any of the characters, so it just made it so much less enjoyable.

but, i also feel like all the interactions with these characters felt so forced that it sucked. like, all the conversations were so uncomfortable and i just hated it. and they also just all sucked character wise. like they were all bland as hell and did literally nothing to the story, it sucked so much, and the romantic banter honestly was so forced t made me cringe,

and honestly, there should have been more baking scenes, or at least like at a kitchen. because i honestly think that there was so many parts were they were not baking, and doing whatever the hell they wanted to, and i just wish it stuck to the whole baking plot line,

3.5 stars

I have read several books by Alexis Hall that I have enjoyed and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake caught my interest at first with Rosaline as the lead and centered around a baking competition. There were some good aspects to the story, as well as some aspects that were bland, and some aspects that weren’t to my tastes at all, which left me with an uneven read. Overall, I wanted to like this one more than I did.

Rosaline is a 27-year-old bisexual single parent. She wants to be the best parent for her daughter, but feels boxed in by life and she’s not sure how to get ahead. When she enters the baking competition, Rosaline feels this might be just the thing to move her life forward. The book centers around the weeks of the baking competition and it seems to have a similar feel to the Great British Bake-Off, but since I have not watched that in depth, I cannot compare the two.

On the way to the first taping, Rosaline meets Alain and he is her love interest for most of the book. It’s clear from the start that Alain is not a particularly good person, but Rosaline does not see that as he fits the model of what Rosaline thinks is a good match for her and what she knows her parents want. She then spends most of the book trying to force a relationship with Alain and missing important notes that Alain is not a safe person for her to be with. There is then Harry, who is not anything like Rosaline expected and she’s not interested in Harry for most of the book, except to think he’s good looking.

The format of the book got repetitive for me. We are moved through each week of the competition and there isn’t anything specifically memorable about any of the weeks. The producer of the show is verbally abusive to the contestants, screaming and cursing and belittling them, and they all took it. I do not understand why this is allowed and accepted as a way to treat people or to allow yourself to be treated and I was over it as soon as it began.

This is not a romance, but a story about Rosaline finding her way as she navigates the men and the women in her life, as well as her disapproving parents. It’s not a love triangle either, as she has no romantic interactions with Harry until later in the book. But I was missing that essential element that truly made me like any of these characters. Rosaline is fine and Harry is presented as a nice, but bland guy, since we don’t learn much about him at all. There also is barely any relationship development beyond a tentative friendship between Rosaline and Harry, as Rosaline really doesn’t want much to do with Harry until they become sort of friends and then move to a relationship and, by the end, there was not enough depth to become attached to them as a couple. The book is also long at almost 500 pages and there wasn’t enough there to create a spark for me through such a long story.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is not my favorite work from this author, but if you enjoy other books by Hall, a new one might be difficult to pass up.

Alexis Hall kicks off the Winner Bakes All series with the fast-paced, entertaining Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. Anyone who enjoys Great British Bake Off will delight over the delicious bakes Rosaline and her co-competitors make. And though it choux is hard to compete with that, it’s truly the characters themselves who are the star (bakers) of the show.

I really liked Rosaline. She’s a single mom with a precocious daughter who she does her best for. Her relationship with her parents is extremely strained but she’s got the support of her best friend (and ex-girlfriend) Lauren and I loved that relationship. Rosaline nabs a spot on Bake Expectations, a Great British Bake Off style show, and she hopes the prize money and exposure will put her on the path toward doing something she loves while still being able to provide for her daughter. I loved Rosaline’s strength, determination, and heart and her flaws made her human. I enjoyed watching her journey over the course of the story and where she ends up was incredibly satisfying.

Where Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake falters for me is the romance. The vast majority of the book Rosaline spends with Alain and it’s frustrating. I understand why she’s with him for quite some time but the red flags will be waving for readers long before they come through to Rosaline. Unfortunately the sheer amount of time spent with Alain became draining and it also meant there was not much time left for Rosaline’s romance with Harry, who I absolutely loved. Rosaline is quick to stand up for what’s right and has done an amazing job teaching her daughter to stand up against bias, but she doesn’t see the biases she herself holds for quite some time. Harry is an electrician whose poor grammar and straightforward outlook on life make Rosaline question her beliefs and the assumptions she makes. I loved Harry; he’s got a heart of gold, is patient, and is so, so kind and sweet. The romance falters only due to lack of page time and had the book been a bit longer it would have really shone.

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake balances fluffy and fun with unpleasant realities. Hall doesn’t hesitate to take on prejudice of all sorts and though I loved that about this book there were also enough “teachable moments” that even someone like me who agrees with every one will be taken out of the story a bit by the sheet number. Still, I really enjoyed Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake overall. There were so many characters and relationships to love and when you add in the backdrop of Bake Expectations how could I not like this story? I cannot wait to see what Hall comes up with for the next Winner Bakes All story.