This was a cute YA novel. (It's marketed as a romance but I would say that there is more of a romance subplot.) It took me a little while to get into it but it picked up quickly and ended up having surprising depth. Despite a small suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy a book about a reality show, Shireen's challenges felt real and relatable in many ways. The Bangladeshi rep was expertly centred and some issues around racism and fatphobia were dealt with head on in a really accessible way. It never felt forced but it always felt top of mind. I listened to the audiobook and it was well narrated but I have a big question - the book takes place in Ireland. Shireen was born and raised in Ireland. But the narrator is clearly American. So Shireen, Chris and Fatima's accents all sound American, while everyone else's are Irish (or British, as the case may be.) I'm going to make a guess that the narrator was selected because she was better rep for Shireen overall but it is an interesting choice.

You will love this book if you love Jaigirdar's other work

This book has all the hallmarks of Adiba Jaigirdar's writing: a queer South Asain protagonist, a quirky yet familiar setting, and a healthy romance subplot.

However, it also runs into the same problem I have seen in Jaigirdar's other books, where they are marketed as romances or rom-coms, but aren't. Yes, there is a romance subplot, but to call it the main plot would be laughable.

All in all, The Dos and Donuts of Love is a coming of age story first, and a well-written one. But what you see if not necessarily what you get.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say about this book. I really thought it was cute but I also thought she was naiive. I didn’t like that she was ready to believe everyone instead of going with her gut. I think it would have kept her out of a lot of trouble. But anyways……. Other than that I really liked it.

So first things first, the best thing about this is the puns. I don’t care what anyone says, the best name for a bakery ever is You Drive Me Glazy. The rest of the book is also filled with those puns and I loved them all. I don’t usually like puns, but when they’re baking ones, and in a book this cute, I’ll allow it lol The rest of the writing style was good too. I couldn’t stop listening to it. I was up till like 2 both nights trying to finish this. It was definitely worth the late nights. I did feel like the pacing was off tho. Like it was really slow and then the big thing happened and then it was over. I think it should have had some bigger events. At the very least like let her win something.

The romance was super cute. I’m not a huge fan of second chance romance, but since they were also now rivals to lovers, I knew I had to get my hands on it. And sure enough it was super cute. I loved it so much. I was a little annoyed that she was being that way just to make room for someone else that was terrible. As usual tho, I did wish there was more of them together, but LOL what can you do. IDK authors heard us say don’t do insta-love, so they just said ok and didn’t give us any romance until the very end. I just need a healthy balance.

The food in this one was also cute. I remember wanting donuts immediately after. So basically remember to have a snack on hand when you’re reading this too because otherwise you will be SOL. And you don’t want to be like me. I had no donuts and had to make due with a different kind of sweet. It was a crazing I just needed at the time.

The characters were the reason I wasn’t exactly sold on this tho. I just wasn’t into the way Shireen was. She was like a real Mean Girl. She might have just been acting out because she was just mad, but yeah no she was just mean.

This was another book that was actually more deep than the cover and the plot let on about it. The people who were watching the show weren’t exactly nice. They did like all people on social media and left hateful comments. I hated reading that, but it was accurate. That’s how keyboard warriors do. There was also some instances where the hate was front row and center and I REALLY hated she had to go through that. I was literally yelling at everyone in the book. Including Shireen.

This book is so cute and I really hope y’all read and like it as much as I do. It’s so much more than just a cutesy rom com! I enjoyed this immensely.

I am so happy the publisher approved me for this audiobook. I finished it in 2 days! I was a nervous itchy mess trying to see how the last 15 percent of the book would end.
A plus-size Bengali teenager trying to get over her awful breakup with her girlfriend, Chris finds out she's going on the first Junior Irish Baking show... with said ex being one of her competitors. Then the shenanigans begin; who started the food fight, and why is half of the Irish Twitter going after Shirin and Chris' ethnicity when the show is centered on whos the better baker?
TROPES:
Great British (make it Irish) Baking Show setting
Lesbians meet dealing with ex in the worst setting
store rivalry meets romance
love triangle
descriptive food concoctions
Bengali culture
I adored this book; I am a Shirin STAN. Also, Fatima is portrayed so well that even though she was the best friend overseas for the summer, she was still very present throughout the book.

TW:
FATPHOBIA
ASIAN HATE ONLINE AND IN PERSON

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I recently read Ruby Ramos's Recipe for Success and I was afraid this was going to be similar to it, but I'm glad the similarities were few. Moving on, I LOVED the portrayal of the POCs. I loved how the queerness was not the centre of the whole plot, it was baking. And it was so well written.

I can not bring myself to criticise this book even if I want to, I love everything about it and can not wait to get my physical copy.

This was such a great audio book, the narrator did a fantastic job and so did the author.

Right from the start I was extremely invested in Shireens story and while she may have been a bit self-centered at times, she was a very likeable MC. I also really loved the positive fat rep with her.
I was unsure about both her love interests though, as I knew one of them would betray her. Neeve seemed the obvious choice, but Chris had kind of already done it and both had strong motivations.
Eventually, someone did betray her, of course and even though everything was cleared up, the way it was done was a bit disappointing, not only to Shireen, but for me as a reader as well. But such is life, it was realistic, after all and I liked who she ended up with in the end.
The baking was great too, it made even me hungry and I don’t have a sweet tooth at all and mainly avoid sweet foods.
Also, I really loved the chapter titles, I really want to get the print copy, so I can appreciate them more, because I’m quite sure I missed a few listening.

Spoilers from here on out!
While I wanted to see Shireen win the baking competition, I was glad that this wasn’t some invulnerable MC, who in the end got everything they wanted. She did not win, but she still made some of her dreams come true and handled the “defeat” really, really well.
Neeve. What the actual fuck? I’m still not sure what to say about her. What a racist piece of shit, who tried to make herself the victim (I actually think she believed all the bullshit she was saying). She actually went and tried to reverse racism Shireen, like what the actual fuck?? In the beginning, when she tried to downplay the hateful comments online, I was hoping she might have some growth over the course of the book and learn a thing or two about racism and privilege, but nope, it was the complete opposite. Ugh. What a garbage person.
Shawn did surprise me in the end. He may have been a prick, but he seemed to come around at least a little bit by the end. Who would have thought?

All in all a great book, I was invested from start to end.

I love this book! Everything about it was so cute, especially the puns at the beginning of each chapter. I liked how they didn’t ignore the racism that would be there in the real world. I’m also so happy that Shireen is a plus sized person who does not make her weight all there is to her.

I'll be honest, when I saw the cover I thought this book was going to be a middle-grade story, just because the illustration style is quite young-looking and it's SO colourful - and also when I hear "Junior Baking Show" I think the contestants are all going to be around 10-13. I was quite surprised when reading it to find out the characters are all 17, and had to keep reminding myself that they were 17, because to me the story felt like it might have worked better if they were younger.

I also have a pet peeve when it comes to reality TV show books, in that I haaate when it feels like the author did absolutely no research on how tv shows are filmed and the production time for them. There's usually about a year between filming and when the shows get aired, for example. You can't talk about how reality TV producers love to create narratives in the show and make some characters villains, and then have a show air immediately after filming - it's impossible for a show to create narratives like that if they haven't already filmed the whole show in advance and have the ability to pick and chose what shots to include in the edit of every single episode of the season so it creates a cohesive story! You can't decide ep 1 that this character is going to be the villain, and then they get voted out the very next week!

In this book's case it felt like the author specifically chose to just ignore all those rules about how tv is filmed to suit the narrative, WHICH IS FINE, but I wish there'd been something near the beginning along the lines of "this show was filmed differently than other reality tv shows, in that each episode was aired the same week of filming". Just adding in that information would have helped me with my suspension of disbelieve a LOT.

So, I was kind of distracted with how the rules of this baking show actually worked for most of the book. But honestly I really liked the end of the story and how everything wraps up, and the ending definitely pushed this from a 3 star to a 4 star for me. It tackles a few difficult topics - there's some fatphobia in here, but it's not TOO heavy, which is great (the author even says in a note at the end that the book was originally going to be VERY heavy on the fatphobia and she decided to tone that down a bit) - Shireen never has to deal with any fatphobia from her friends or family, and there's 0 homophobia in here at all.

Racism definitely plays a big roll in the story. Shireen and Chris both deal with racism from the audience of the show, and Shireen deals with microaggressions like the host of the show not pronouncing her name correctly, or being called Indian when she's Bangladeshi. And one character even says to Shireen that being called ginger is similar to a racial slur. Um, no the fuck it is not.

I wasn't hugely invested in the romance elements of the story, to be honest, but I was kind of annoyed to see the alternative cover of this book that only has 2 characters on the front instead of 3, which totally spoiled the love triangle element of it. But, I was not mad about how the romance played out, and like I said, was very satisfied with the ending.

[to the tune of “Shots” by LMFAO] puns puns puns puns puns puns puns!

This was full of puns and baking and teens being angsty and teen-y and I had a lot of fun reading it. Irish bake-off, but for teens, sprinkled with a bit of coming-of-age and navigating friendships and dating.

There were some things I didn’t much care for (the MC is a bit.. selfish, the way the show was created made no sense and some things that ought to have very real consequences simply didn’t?) but the story itself made up for it - I love Adiba’s writing, and I loved the way she seamlessly weaved in Bangladeshi culture and cuisine in a very Irish setting; and I especially loved how racism and fatphobia was tackled within the story.

I listened to an ARC of the audio and really enjoyed the narrator - the pacing was spot-on, and the accents were neatly done.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Have you ever wanted to read a queer book about a reality tv baking show competition? If so, look no further!

The Dos and Donuts of Love is about Shireen, an aspiring baker who works at her parents’ donut shop. She becomes a contestant on the Junior Irish Baking Show in order to prove herself and help promote her family’s business. The only problem is she must do so alongside her ex-girlfriend!

The Dos and Donuts of Love is delightfully punny, and perfectly emulated the reality tv show vibe it was going for. While generally lighthearted, it manages to tackle important issues such as racism, white fragility, fat phobia, and issues in relationships well. The author explains at the note at the end that she wrote this story to be the kind of story she needed to read when growing up, and that love and mindset shines through.

The only problem is that it will make you hungry for donuts!

I absolutely loved this book and it is probably my favourite that I’ve read so far this year, The story was so much fun, a cute sapphic love story while also being a story of friendship and self love. This is the kind of romance book that I wish I had as a teenager. I loved Shireen as a character and all of the baking was so fun to read about, as well as the parts about Bangladeshi culture and food.

I listened to the audiobook and the one thing I was disappointed about was that the narrator had an American accent, I think it’s a shame that they did not have an Irish accent as so much of this book is about culture and identity and being set in Ireland is a big part of that, obviously that is not criticism for the book itself though and I still enjoyed the audiobook

Who doesn't love donuts, competition, and... well, love?

If you're a fan of The Great British Bake Off, coming-of-age novels, and sapphic love stories then The Dos and Donuts of Love should definitely be on your to-read list.

This story is too wholesome for its own good. If you're anything like me you're going to instantly fall in love with both of the FMCs. Like any coming of age story, there are some parts of the story that will make you cringe, but then you get to see the growth of the characters(together and separately) and that makes all of it worth it.

Dive head-first into this sweet novel filled with a love triangle, sabotage, first loves, forgiveness, anxiety, and so so much more. This is a book that I wish that I had in my hands when I was in high school, if only to see that everyone(including fictional characters) makes really stupid choices at times, but if you own up to it then you can change the narrative of your future.

Ooo a sapphic love triangle set at an Irish kids Bake Off!
It sounds super fun and it was…
I just found the main character to be lacking some self awareness? And harder to root for. But the puns were plentiful and the drama was high.
It was fine and an easy quick read.
I very much enjoyed the narrator and will definitely look up more audios from them.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ALC.

If you are looking for a baking theme, cute, punny, sapphic love triangle then look no further. Mainly focused around a baking competition while also having to work around and with an ex from an under wraps relationship. I love that the main character is comfortable in her plus size body and isn’t afraid to love food especially sweets. The audiobook drew me in with the narration and story. It was so cute to me but also mysterious since not even this baking show is as sweet as it seems. This is definitely for someone that is looking for a contemporary sapphic romance with a side of dessert. Recommend to read with lots of baked goods.

OMG this book was so cute! I don't even LIKE romances and I loved this book! I really enjoy learning about other cultures when reading fiction. I loved the growing that happened in this book between pretty much all of the characters! This was my first read by Abida Jaigirdar and it most definitely won't be my last! I am off to add her entier backlog of books to my TBR!

#TheDosandDonutsofLove
#NetGalley

Audiobook Review - The Dos and Donuts of Love is an adorable YA love story centering on teens competing in and Irish backing show. The diverse cast and likeable characters make this a must have for all teen collections. Highly recommended!

[spoilers]

The Dos and Donuts of love is a very sweet and adorable story.

I loved Shireen and Chris’s relationship. I really liked that Shireen and Chris both made mistakes but also apologized to each other, and Shireen admitted that she was wrong as well. I really felt like Shireen became a better person at the end of the book and that her relationship with Chris was much healthier now.

The baking show plot sometimes felt a bit rushed and I hated that Shireen didn’t win the competition, but I’m happy she still got to participate in the finale.

Overall, a 4 star read.

I've read two of Jaigirdar's other works - Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating and The Henna Wars, the latter of which I particularly enjoyed. The Dos and Donuts of Love is a strong follow-up - another charming F/F young adult contemporary. Our main character Shireen is a keen baker looking forward to competing in the Junior Irish Baking Show. She has high hopes of proving herself and winning the prize money to help prop up the family doughnut shop, not to mention her favourite chef is one of the judges. Among the other competitors is her ex-girlfriend Chris, and a girl called Niamh.

I listened to an ARC of the audiobook from NetGalley. The main character was born and raised in Dublin, and yet for some strange reason she was narrated with an American accent. I suspect it might be because the narrator seemed to be incapable of doing a decent Irish accent. She tried for various characters, and it was unconvincing at best. I don't think she's a bad narrator altogether - she was good when using American and South Asian accents - but her Irish accents were inconsistent and inaccurate to the point that it distracted from the story.

The Dos and Donuts of Love is a good read, but I suggest you read the book rather than listen to the audiobook.

"It's the end of the summer, but ... it feels like the start of something new."⠀
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Adiba Jaigirdar, The Dos and Donuts of Love⠀
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The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar is the perfect recipe for a wlw cozy romance. Shireen, Chris, and Niamh are all appealing characters who each seem to have strong fighting spirits. As the Junior Irish Baking Show competition heats up, so does the drama between the MC, her ex, and her potential new love interest. I ate up the descriptions of all of the baked goodies and the shops that the girls worked in with their families. I adored all of the punny names for their donuts!The cultural foods and traditions were very interesting and I liked the honest conversation regarding fat phobia and racism. The story focused on pursuing dreams, supportive friends and family, and second chance romance and the dialogue was fast-paced and witty. The Narrator had a soothing voice that seemed to naturally adapt to the different accents. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a sweet, queer, summertime romance! ⠀
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Representation: Bangladeshi, fat, lesbian, queer, Taiwanese
Content/Trigger Warning: cyberbullying, fatphobia, racism

Romance is still a new-ish genre to me. It's something that's in books I read, but never the main theme. Anyway, this is one of the first lesbian romances I've read, and I loved it! I loved that the main character's parents didn't treat her negatively because she's fat. They didn't criticize what she ate or push diets on her. As a fellow fat person, that was just very kind to see. I loved the drama between the exes, as well as the drama on the show. I kind of hope there's a part two. Can't wait to read more from this author :)