I recently binged all of the Great British Baking Show seasons, and this book was exactly what I needed to come out of that!
Sylvie was a contestant on the hit British baking show, Operation Cake. She was eliminated after an unfortunate incident involving an exploding cake, unicorn hooves, and surly judge Dominic. Dominic is a well known baker, favored by the royal family & traditionalists all around. Sylvie, who now owns her own bakery across the street from Dominic, is back on Operation Cake as a judge. The two could not be more opposite - Dominic is quiet, reserved, and the "mean" judge. His baking is all creams & whites, with traditional patterns. Sylvie is bright & colorful, in both personality & her baking. She favors all the colors, rainbows, unicorns, and wild concoctions.
When a member of the royal family announces their engagement, both Sylvie & Dominic submit proposals to be considered for the wedding cake. The battle begins ...

I absolutely adored this book & thought it was so much fun. Enemies to lovers is hands down one of my favorite tropes, and when you add in all the baking (and baking show!) references, it just makes a book delightful. I thought the characters were all so great, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. My only gripe was that a conflict that came to a head at the end of the book seemed very out there. It had been hinted at, but I feel like it wasn't necessary to the story. I still very much enjoyed the book, though, and will be recommending it to many people!

An fun enemies to lovers, baking competition baking romance. This took a while to get into, but once you got to know the characters, it was all banter, a fun MC, and baking shenanigans.

3.5 stars *spoilers to follow*

Lucy Parker is one of my favorite authors and an instant auto-buy, but this one sadly did not work for me as I had hoped it would. For a baking romcom, it’s rather stuffed to the gills with plot (baking show drama, royal engagement drama, cake sabotage, leaked news to the press, family drama, secret doomed romances from the past, grief of loved ones, best friend’s unrequited love, a secondary character gets stabbed and ends up in the hospital… A LOT for less than 400 pages 😅) I went into this expecting a frothy, sweet romance with Lucy’s trademark heart and depth, with a steady thread of humor throughout. We do get that, but there’s so much plot that it honestly gets rather overpowered. By the end of the book, Sylvie and Dom’s romance seems to fall in shadow of just about everything else, which made the ending ring a little hollow for me.

I definitely still love Lucy’s writing and will continue to look forward to her stories, but I do hope future installments in this series will focus on the central couple a bit more. What we saw of them here was lovely, but I was ultimately left wanting more.

Battle Royal follows two bakery shop owners as they battle it out for the opportunity to make the wedding cake for the biggest royal event of the year. Though the two get off to a rocky start, their time spent together brainstorming cake ideas brings them close. The book's premise promises a light romantic comedy, but surprises with moments of emotional intensity and gravity.

Oh wow. From looking at the cover you'd think you would be getting a fluff story. But there were some deep moments between Dominic and Sylvie. This was very good. I loved all the cake talk. The side characters were wonderful. And overall it was a great love story

This sweet book had just the right amount of spice. I loved getting to know Sylvie and Dominic, along with their orbiting characters. Pet was absolutely precious, and I truly hope she's involved in some way in the sequel. I giggled out loud at multiple points during this story; it was a joy to read!

A super cute and fun romcom. Anyone who loves the Great British bake off, all things Royal, friends the enemies trope, and food related books will love this one. At times it read a little like gbbo fanfiction, mixed with Gordon Ramsay fanfiction, and I'm not complaining about it. My complaint would be that everyone had a very tragic backstory, which obviously gives the characters depth, but I don't think it's necessary for every character to have had that. Otherwise a quick and fun read.

I didn’t feel very invested in the characters stories but the last 25% of the story was very entertaining. Interested to see which characters the next book in the series follows. And as always with any baking romance I want all the food.

Went into this one with pretty high expectations because 1) I love GBBO and 2) I love anything royalty-adjacent in my romances, but this was honestly just okay for me. I didn't hate this book or anything, but multiple times while reading this I found myself either zoning out or thinking that it just felt... long???? I never really connected to Sylvie or Dominic so I especially struggled to care about them as a couple and this just didn't really do much for me. I've heard really great things about Lucy Parker from people who's reviews I really trust so I do think I will try something else from her in the future, but unfortunately this one just wasn't the right one for me. Womp!

CW: death of a loved one

Perfectly Delicious!

I’m not saying this made me finally pull the trigger on watching GBBO, but I’m not not saying that either.

I loved everything about this book from the grump/sunshine dynamic, the secondary royal love story, the behind the scenes baking fun, and of course the wonderful sexual tension and intimacy.

I highly recommend the audiobook as well!

Currently DNF but could consider re-reading. This story is cute, fluffy, and if you like light-hearted bakery romance rivals give it a go.

Lucy Parker, an already beloved romance author, hit gold with this GBBO inspired romance! Battle Royal is a heavier romance that explores grief and moving on. But it also has some beloved tropes like grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers. It's a book that contemporary romance fans can't miss!

Spoiler alert: This book was AMAZING!
Lucy Parker is an author whose backlist graces almost every bookish podcast that I listen to, yet after reading and just liking Act Like It, I kept pushing her books to the backburner. Can we please consider this my public apology? It wasn’t Lucy, it was me. I wasn’t prepared for her greatness on my first encounter!
Battle Royal is such a great sunshine heroine grumpy hero romance. Sylvie is absolutely hilarious and is planning on using her charm and quirk to design the cake for the Royal Wedding. However, Dominic, the very serious, Paul Hollywood (SWOON) of the novel, knows his cakes are the best. The Royal Family has been using his bakery for generations for a reason. When the two are pitted against each other, both flour and sparks fly!

Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1). By Lucy Parker. 2021. Avon (ARC eBook).

Grumpy Dominic and sassy Sylvie’s rivalry is fun and their growing relationship is intimate with a nice little bit of steam. The side stories had heartwarming elements and overall, Battle Royal was a sweet, well-written story. This, I believe, was my first time reading Parker and I look forward to reading more by the author.

I was definitely interested in this story because of the general premise, but was worried it might be too cheesy for me. Yet, it totally surprised me ad I ended up really enjoying it!⁣
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This part of the summary said it best: “Beloved author Lucy Parker pens a delicious new romantic comedy that is a battle of whisks and wits.” ⁣
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Read if you enjoy⁣
🧁Enemies to lover trope⁣
🧁Grumpy/sunshine trope⁣
🧁Baking shows!!⁣
🧁Royalty aspect

I have high expectations for a Lucy Parker book and this was one of her best. I expected the banter and the heart — but I didn’t expect to find myself ugly-crying over a miniature glass deer sculpture, or ravenous for the sequel that’s being set up. There is a lot of plot and it’s all to the good: you feel you’ve lived a whole journey in the space of a single book. Highly recommend.

If a book involves baking and romance, you know it will be a winner. Add in royals and really, you can't go wrong. By hitting all three of these (and throwing in a Great British Bake-off like tv show), Parker wrote a novel that you didn't want to put down. The different candy stores truly came to life and I felt like I intimately knew each of the characters. Battle Royal left the ending open to a sequel and I hope Parker takes it.

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker
Contemporary romantic comedy. Set in Notting Hill, London.
Professional bakers Cecilia and Dominic meet again as judges on a TV show competition. Their attraction to each other plus a shared opportunity has them spending time together. Of course, that leads to a romance but they have plenty of obstacles to deal with before their HEA.
It was a sweet and enjoyable light contemporary romance. I quite liked the main characters, but I didn't feel as much chemistry between them as I would have liked - not as much as in Parker's earlier series.

The fantasy British royal family idea kinda worked, even though it's not a concept I would usually like to read about. Ditto the reality TV series. It's not my jam, but the writer did this aspect of the book quite well.

This was my first Lucy Parker read. I was really enjoying reading the book when I started it, but it lost my interest towards the end. I really like the idea of the premise of this book.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it! I would have loved more sexual tension, but maybe it just didn't translate via audio. Some of the side plots didn't interest me. I just wanted the baking and the romance. I'll read more Parker