4 stars

You can never go wrong with an Alexis Hall book!! I really enjoyed Rosaline Palmer and was excited to go back into the baking competition world with Paris! And Paris is as awkward as they come in the cutest way!

This book isn’t necessarily a romance book, more of a friendship that develops into more throughout the competition, with commentary on religion and beliefs, things we don’t usually see or is talked often.

Alexis hall has their own set of unique humour and wit and its always fun to see that translated into different characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever spun for the earc in return for an honest review

Usually when I start a new Alexis Hall novel, I devour it as quickly as possible, making poor life decisions like staying up too late at night or reading during work hours. But for the first time with an AH book, I found myself reluctant and almost afraid to read each chapter.

The reason for this surprising (and disappointing) reaction is obvious from the first page: Paris Daillencourt is a complete and utter mess. And not in a "cute" way (see Luc in Boyfriend Material or Ardy in How to Bang a Billionaire). Paris is plagued by toxic self-doubt and anxiety. He can barely bring himself to speak to Tariq, the cute, gay fellow contestant on Bake Expectation, and when he does it's 90% apologies for existing.

Somehow Tariq finds Paris appealing enough to start dating him, but that third act breakup is foreshadowed in every interaction and every thought in Paris' head. This is just a sample from Paris' train trip to visit Tariq:

"Mostly it was the legroom that bothered him. He'd inherited height from both sides of his family, and public transport almost always required him to bend his legs in ways that were a recipe for cramps and - eventually, probably - deep vein thrombosis.

But it was too late now. Or maybe it wasn't? Maybe he could just make his way up to first class anyway, and then ask for an upgrade when the conductor came round? But if that didn't work he could be fined and while he probably could afford a fine he might also have to go to court and then he'd have a criminal record.

He made his way up the aisle, trying not to go too fast or too slow, or to hit anyone with his overnight bag, looking for the least objectionable space, and panicking in case the real least objectionable space turned out to be the one he'd just walked past and now couldn't go back to."

Did that make you crazy? Multiply that little excerpt enough times to fill 80% of the book and see how you feel. Of course the relationship with the charming Tariq is doomed; Paris can't get out of his head long enough to really care about anyone else.

This sequel to Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is entertaining when it's not focused on Paris. It features an assortment of interesting secondary characters who are vying for the top spot on the show, and it has its humorous moments, most of which involve the cheerfully profane producer Jennifer Hallet. Rosaline is referred to but not seen, although an unforgettable secondary character from her season does make a cameo appearance. I liked the fact that, unlike last time, we get to see the recording AND the broadcasting of the show, which allows for Hall to include plenty of opinionated Tweets (are there any other kind?) as the contestants are eliminated week by week.

The book becomes more engaging and less horrifying after the breakup, when Paris finally admits he has a problem and takes steps to be a better, healthier person. I liked this version of Paris, and I could finally understand what Tariq saw in him. But it was a long slog to get to that point, and it didn't make up for the excruciating majority of the book. YMMV if you have never experienced anxiety and can live inside Paris' brain with more detachment than I could manage.

ARC gratefully received from Net Galley in exchange for objective review.
1 like

I just finished this book 20 minutes ago, and I could not wait to talk about it.

If you like romances with real substance, struggle with anxiety and/or love Great British Bake Off, this book is a must-must-must read. Must. Read.

Paris Daillencourt is terrified to be noticed or looked at, but his best friend entered him to be a contestant on Bake Expectations and here he is. And when he meets another baker, a man named Tariq, he is intrigued. But as always, Paris is worried he'll be too, well, Paris, and Tariq will realize he's not worth the time or effort.

Can he find success in baking, sorting himself out, and building a relationship with Tariq? Or will it all crumble like an over baked pastry?

Interesting, captivating, and the anxiety that Paris feels came across as so real to me. I constantly worry that I am too much for everyone, to the point where it can end relationships so I very much relate.

More like a 3.5

I loved the writing and humor as expected from Alexis Hall, and I really really enjoy the whole baking show setting. I just wouldn't call this one a romcom though, it had less romance than the first book, and for me it's more of an exploration of character as it goes a lot into mental health and Paris' anxiety. The other thing regarding the romance is that i didn't think this was a very good couple at all, they are such different people and I honestly don't think they would last together very long. I still enjoyed the book but the author definitely has better works.

If you're looking for an easy-breezy rom-com, that's not this book. But if you go into the book not expecting that, you just might like it. What to expect from the book:

* A story about a main character struggling with anxiety. Really struggling with anxiety. If you don't feel you can handle really being in the head of someone with anxiety and really seeing what that's like, this isn't the book for you. If you are interested in really seeing this struggle and how Paris realizes that he does have a mental health issue and that he does need to (and can) seek help, then this is the book for you.

* A romance on the side. Although the relationship between Paris and Tariq is an important part of this book, it's really not the main point of the book. And although there are some tropes that the book follows, if you are mainly looking for a romance, this is not the book for you. If you want to see two young adults who each have issues to work through before they can have a fulfilling relationship, then you might like this book.

* Baking content. If you like baking competition shows, you'll enjoy the parts of this book that revolve around the baking show. It's a lot of fun (though some of that gets lost through Paris's anxiety), and I enjoyed the second part of the book that goes week to week with the baking show episodes and shows the social media commentary.

So I did enjoy reading this book, though I'm not entirely sure that I fully liked Paris. Because of his parents and his wealth, he comes across as completely out of touch (and that has nothing to do with the anxiety). But I did like seeing his growth at the end of the book. And it really highlights the importance of seeking help if you are struggling with a mental health issue that is severely affecting your life.

This was a tough one for me because I think Alexis Hall is a talented writer (absolutely hilarious!) but Paris was a character that I struggled with - it was increasingly difficult to spend the entire book inside his head.

Conceptually this was fantastic but the execution was a little off for me. However, I think there are a lot of readers who will be able to identify with Paris and will "feel seen" by this book, which is never a bad thing.

This book was full of Hall's trademark humor and quirky characters. It was tough to be in Paris' head the entire time, but I did enjoy the exploration of his mental health and his journey over the novel. I also enjoyed Tariq as a character, but I didn't particularly love their romance. It was fine, but this feels much more like a character study of Paris and his mental health - how it interplays with his privilege, how it impacts his relationships with everyone else in his life, etc.

3 ⭐️

I have been wrestling with this review. I have loved Alexis Hall and the books they write and the queer romances that we so need. I do not think this book is a romance book. To me this is a contemporary LGBTQ2S+ fiction with a romance subplot.

Majority of this book is about Paris and his journey to getting help and recognizing that he has anxiety. As someone who has anxiety at times this book was really hard to read. It felt like being in my headspace and I read to escape my headspace that this book was hard to get through.


Okay - now for my issues with this book:
1. Tariq was kind of a jerk. The way that he treated Paris by mocking the way he dressed and the way Paris was hard on himself was mean and I honestly have no idea how this couple would have made it.

2. The tweets making fun of Paris pre everyone knowing he has anxiety were brutal. I know people can be mean behind a screen but as someone who suffers from anxiety it felt just wrong and yucky to keep pushing on the narrative that Paris is somehow this whiny, crying baby. I personally just feel like it continues to add to the stereotypes about us and it really added zero benefit to the entire book to have any of the tweets in there.

3. I wish we got to see more or Paris getting help sooner and then a Build to a relationship with Tariq. How this book is written now I honestly do not believe they can be a Couple.

More a 3.5⭐

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble is my first Alexis Hall book, though I have a few in my TBR, and wow, was it a ride. When reading the synopsis, Paris seemed like a quirky guy who catches the interest early on of another contestant, Tariq, and about their relationship. In reality it was definitely more than that. It was definitely more about Paris and his relationship with himself, or at least understanding himself better, without getting into spoilers.

I remember full on laughing out loud within the first five pages, especially due to Morag, his housemate, who is the one that entered him into the competition. The banter between them was fantastic, along with some of the secondary characters. Other laugh out loud moments involved Tariq's side of the world, who may have the coolest dad. It's what probably kept me going because partway through the novel it started to get really repetitive for me, in terms of Paris'behaviour, words and actions, and I am not the type to typically DNF any book, so I persisted but I almost hit that point because Paris was definitely grating on my nerves. In the end, I still don't know if I like him all that much but was glad to see his improvement and made me root for him and Tariq. I also appreciate that the author was trying to match the character with the writing style, and as the reader you have to experience the bottom with the character before you can get back up. It was just so annoying at times, especially when other parts of the book sparkle so much. All in all, I enjoyed it, and wished there was a bit more sparkle even while the crumbling was happening.
Excuse me while I go try out the biscuits roses de Reims.

This book is a wonderful romance! People who enjoyed this author’s other books will love it but so will many others. It has a wide and lovable cast of characters which may be confusing for some but all together brings it to be a great ensemble piece!

Alexis Hall is on my top 10 go to authors list. There is so much depth to everything he writes. I love this British bake off inspired universe where he has created some of his best supporting characters! Our protagonist Paris is a sweet, adorable and supremely annoying character who is dealing with generalized anxiety. As somebody who also deals with anxiety I felt very represented and understand how you’re anxiety can affect your relationships. Tariq is wonderful without being too perfect. The way these two characters relate to each other and learn how to build a relationship with one another was beautiful to read. As with everything Alexis Hall writes, I completely recommend this book to everybody!

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In true Alexis Hall fashion, Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble is a wonderfully crafted novel that will make you laugh, cry, swoon, etc all in the space of a few pages. Please check the trigger warnings in the beginning of the book before proceeding. Paris is perhaps the biggest hot mess that starred in any book I've read so far, and yet he totally owns it. His character development throughout the novel shows sincerity and an inherent sense of goodness in him, that an outsider might not expect from a privileged wealthy white London man. On Bake Expectations, the fictional reality baking competition readers were first introduced to in Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, Paris accidentally finds himself competing. With his mind a jumble of emotions, a cute boy showing an interest in him, and a string of good luck in the beginning, Paris just knows it is all about to crumble! I loved this book and if you've read anything else by Alexis Hall, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble is the second in Alexis Hall's Winner Bakes All series. You do not need to read the first book in the series to read this one, there are some recurring characters and a couple of callbacks, but overall it doesn't affect this story.

This is marketed as a romance, but the romance elements definitely take a back seat to Paris's mental health journey. As a person with GAD, I found that the mental health aspects were thoughtful and well executed, but it could be triggering for others, so be careful and only read if you're in a place where you can.

The romance boped between being sweet and unhealthy for both parties. I feel like it was really well done an nuanced.

There are three recipes from the show that are written in both UK and American measurements and I cannot wait until summer is over so I can make these!

Alexis Hall has an amazing way of writing realistic characters that are complex, slightly awkward, and wholly loveable. I’m not going to lie, this book was extremely hard for me to get through because Paris’ journey to self discovery and self work was rough, to say the least. It was very challenging to be in his head constantly with no reprieve of a dual pov switchover… but having said that and knowing a lot of folks in my life who have anxiety and take medicine and see therapists… that is kinda the whole point of making Paris the mc. It was brilliantly done even if hard to read. It makes me even more appreciative of the constant work that folks with anxiety have to do. That being said - Tariq and Paris had a lovely, funny, heart-wrenching love story and I so appreciate the messiness that it was. The beauty is in the mess, and their HFN ending was so true to them and such a perfect cherry on top to the hard work they put into themselves and being enough of their true, slightly better selves for each other.

Another masterpiece and I can’t wait for the next season of Bake Expectations!

This was not for me. I appreciate the representation, but I live with anxiety and I definitely don't need to experience the fictional excruciation on top of it. Paris is exhausting. I'm glad he's working on himself but he's got a ways to go. And I don't think the central relationship is gonna make it past grad school.

It's a good story, but not what I'm looking for in a kissing book.

My oh my, do I have some conflicting thoughts about this one.

First of all, I don’t think this book is a romance and I think if I hadn’t gone into it expecting it to give me that, then perhaps my opinions would be different regarding said romance in this book. No, this book is not a romance, this book is about Paris Daillencourt finding himself and healing himself, which I don’t think is a bad thing necessarily - I just wish it would have been marketed as such.

Now, I’ll be honest, I had to skim some of this book. That is simply because being inside Paris’s head for the entire book is absolutely exhausting. And listen, I ALSO have generalized anxiety disorder, so I get it, but reading every single intrusive and worse case scenario thought that crosses Paris’s mind - my god, no wonder I’m tired all the time!
It was one anxiety inducing scene after another with no reprieve! I think cutting out 100 pages of Paris and having another POV (though I know that isn’t Hall’s style) would have really saved this book and given my brain enough of a break between Paris’s spirals so that I had some energy left to give Paris empathy as a reader.

I’ve found that Alexis Hall tends to be rather hit or miss for me as an author. I really enjoy their more campy work, “Something Fabulous” was the perfect combination of outrageously absurd, historically inaccurate, and heartfelt for me - it just worked. Whereas “Boyfriend Material” and its more serious subject matter fell flat. Unfortunately I feel this one fits into the second category for me.

Note: Please check the trigger warnings on this one!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I greatly appreciated that this wasn't in first person - it definitely made the reading experience easier, especially with the way some of the writing was. This fell a bit flat for me overall, there wasn't quite enough of everything - not enough romance, not enough development, etc.

I have reached the end of my attempts with Alexis Hall - I believe their writing is simply not for me but I can see the appeal of this for other readers.

I was laughing out loud throughout the book and really enjoyed it. The first half of the book was harder to get through, and it felt more heavy handed with the points it was trying to make.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC.

Anyone in the Alexis Hall fan club knows that the writing is going to be superb, the characters are going to be clever and the issues will be tackled head on. This second in the Winner Bakes All series does all this and more. Digging into religion, queer issues, racism, problematic family, found family, mental illness and more, Hall has crafted a fantastic romance meets coming of age story. The romance, while heartwarming and delightful, plays almost second fiddle to Paris’ quest to recognize and live with GAD. Hall’s view into Paris’ mind will feel almost painfully well-articulated to fellow GAD sufferers and the quest to treatment is hilariously accurate. The character arc perfectly straddles that fine line between “mental illness is not your fault” and “managing your mental health is your responsibility.” While this book feels like an entirely different animal to Rosie Palmer Takes the Cake, it makes for a great continuation in what I hope will be an ongoing series.

I think it’s important to have realistic expectations before reading this book. This is marketed as a rom-com, but (similar to Rosaline, the first book in the series,) I’m not sure I would call it that. As stated in the title, Paris Daillencourt is actually, literally, about to crumble. This is written in third person, but the reader closely witnesses Paris’s thoughts as he deals with overwhelming anxiety. PLEASE MIND THE CW! They’re available on the author’s website. When I read the CW, I thought I would be fine because I don’t have personal experience with anxiety disorder or panic attacks, but it was A LOT to bear witness to Paris’s slow path toward crumbling. I wanted to reach into the book and give him a hug, reassure him that he was okay, and encourage him to seek therapy ASAP. Are there funny bits, light moments, banter, and flirting? Yes. But keep in mind they are encircled by the dark cloud of Paris’s anxiety, much like how he experiences life, I imagine.

I also think it’s important to realize this book stretches the boundaries of what gatekeepers would consider a romance. Alexis Hall is always challenging norms with his writing, and I believe he challenges, intentional or otherwise, the norms of what is considered a romance novel with this book. Does romance play a central role? Yes, as seen through the cloud of Paris’s anxiety. Does it have a HFN/HEA? Yes. In a way that is very realistic for these two young men.

I liked this book, and I look forward to re-reading on audio when it’s released. Paris evoked such empathy from me, and I loved getting to see him work through his crumbling and get to the other side. This book subverts norms, of the genre and heteronormativity in general, and does it with such care for the characters and readers. I recommend it for readers who are willing to experience what this book has to offer, without trying to force it to follow cookie cutter conventions.

Note: You do not have to read Rosaline before you read Paris. There are a few returning characters (hosts and staff at the tv show), and there are a few references to things that happened during Rosaline's season on the show, but they do not negatively impact the reader's understanding of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my unbiased review.