Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1) by Lucy Patker

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Beloved author Lucy Parker pens a delicious new romantic comedy that is a battle of whisks and wits.

Ready…

Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild charmed the world as a contestant on the hit baking show, Operation Cake. Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers…and a princess.

Set…

Dominic is His Majesty the King’s favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He’s brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can’t stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.

Match…

When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they’re both determined to come out on top.

The bride adores Sylvie’s quirky style. The palace wants Dominic’s classic perfection.

In this royal battle, can there be room for two?

*Source: NetGalley; ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

You know anything that comes from Lucy Parker is going to be adorable. It's generally a safe bet. Battle Royal delivers on the sweetness and silliness but also gets real that it can be a bit disconcerting.

Sylvie has been doing well for herself since she was last on national tv and made a complete mess of things before she was booted off the show. Her bakery is a hit, her creations are phenomenal and now the show, Operation Cake wants her back as host. Sounds good but she'll have to judge alongside Dominic who was literally the recipient of her messy baking mishap on live tv. Their creative styles are drastically different, their approach to judging different, so what on earth could they have in common? How about the fact that their bakeries are down the same street from one another and that they're both asked to submit cake design proposals for an upcoming royal wedding. Soon these two enemies become cohorts of sorts on a mission to produce the best cake possible. Success for both of them would mean thriving businesses and a chance to gloat at the other.

As always, Parker writes some of the best zingers and ridiculous situations. Sylvie is one of the most disarming characters, full of love and ready to champion anyone. Dominic appears gruff on the outside but he's honestly a teddy bear on the inside. Sylvie brings that out. The two of them working together is unexpected but fun. 

The touching aspect of Battle Royal is the element of grief. It's pervasive throughout. All the main characters have suffered some sort of loss or abandonment, and their souls are deeply marked by it. It's this that has me thinking that Battle Royal isn't the typical rom-com that readers of Parker's are used to. It's still good and I enjoyed it but I think anyone dealing with grief should be aware that it is a general theme of this story. That and the notion of a found family. They've all had their hearts broken by family either through rejection or disappointment, but it's the ones that they've fostered and nurtured that's become what a family should ideally be. Not going to lie, this hit kind of hard because I understood it so well. 

I will read anything by Lucy Parker because her stories are always entertaining and touching. I think she pushes herself here to explore some complicatedAny fan of Great British Bake Off and romance in general will love this. Battle Royal appears to be a good start to a new series!

~ Bel

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

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This is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

Source: ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Fredrik Backman has this remarkable ability to conjure up stories about every day people and present them in such unique ways. In Anxious People, he takes a bank robber who wishes to steal a specific amount of money but when the robbery itself goes awry, the robber runs and winds up at an apartment viewing that seems to have attracted the strangest people ever. Each person, including the bank robber gets to express their story where Backman delves into their background, showing us how they got to be where they are. It's through masterful storytelling that he puts in to perspective human behaviours. With this random group of socially-awkward individuals and by the author's description, idiots, the greater the insight.

One character in particular, Zara, stands out to me. She comes off to me as a cross between two of Backman's most beloved characters - Ove and Britt-Marie - but definitely way more prickly and blunt to the point of rudeness. I was so frustrated with her yet compelled to know more about her. Her sessions with her psychiatrist are so trying that they border on comical because Zara is who she is and even at her worst, she has the most remarkable observations about life. 

Anxious People requires a bit more concentration because there are so many characters and POVs, and the chapters tend to jump around so much. I usually have a harder go at reading stories set up like that but it's Backman, and I know he always has something good in store. The payoff is worth it when connections start making sense. This novel is a testament to his craft as he develops mini stories within a grander story and eventually has all the pieces mean something and fit together. The reader wonders what obsucre events have to do with anything but it all becomes clear at the end. Backman also includes a slight twist that deserves a tip of the hat.

Anxious People will have you run the gamut of emotions from anxiety to grief to forgiveness. As with some of his previous works there is mention of suicide. Yet the tone is balanced against all of the quirky details and tangents throughout the story. (Oh, just you wait until the rabbit comes into it!) Backman is simply incredible and he's gifted us with another impactful novel. All these characters feel real and I know they've resonated with readers who feel that there's a bit of them in here. As for me, I was charmed by everyone in the end, none more so than Zara.

~ Bel

A Change of Heart (Bollywood #3) by Sonali Dev

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Dr. Nikhil 'Nic' Joshi had it all—marriage, career, purpose. Until, while working for Doctors Without Borders in a Mumbai slum, his wife, Jen, discovered a black market organ transplant ring. Before she could expose the truth, Jen was killed.

Two years after the tragedy, Nic is a cruise ship doctor who spends his days treating seasickness and sunburn and his nights in a boozy haze. On one of those blurry evenings on deck, Nic meets a woman who makes a startling claim: she received Jen’s heart in a transplant and has a message for him. Nic wants to discount Jess Koirala’s story as absurd, but there’s something about her reckless desperation that resonates despite his doubts.

Jess has spent years working her way out of a nightmarish life in Calcutta and into a respectable Bollywood dance troupe. Now she faces losing the one thing that matters—her young son, Joy.  She needs to uncover the secrets Jen risked everything for; but the unforeseen bond that results between her and Nic is both a lifeline and a perilous complication.

Delving beyond the surface of modern Indian-American life, acclaimed author Sonali Dev’s page-turning novel is both riveting and emotionally rewarding—an extraordinary story of human connection, bravery, and hope. 


If you ask me which book totally surprised me this year I'd say it's this one. A Change of Heart about a grieving widower whose life is in shambles after witnessing his wife's death, is a masterful mix of mystery, romance, murder, political intrigue and a perilous descent into the world of black market trade. I couldn't have imagined it possible to write such a story that incorporates all these themes but here it is!

Things start out vaguely: Nic's a barely functioning cruise ship doctor who prefers to be in a drunken stupor most of the time. Jess appears out of nowhere with a cryptic message about his late wife, Jen. It's a bit confusing to understand at the beginning but it sets the tone. Jess has an urgent agenda that can only be completed with Nic in full control of his faculties which means she has to insinuate herself into his life more than she's already done so. Despite his apprehension, he's desperate to cling to anything that can help him understand what happened to Jen. Jess' motives are revealed in brief snatches but we are given enough to know that someone else is pulling the strings and she has much at stake. It's impossible not to get emotionally wrapped up in Nic's grief or Jess' distress. There is a sinister undertone thanks to some gruesome elements, and the more they uncover about Jen, the more dire their situation becomes. 

"This man, for all his brokenness, was a healer."

~ A Change of Heart, p.95

Nic and Jess are hugely complex individuals yet these two who are so broken develop this strange synergy between them. Somehow they get through to each other and as unlikely as that is, I liked their impact on each other. While Nic and Jess run hot and cold, there's police officer, Rahul, who serves as the story's moral compass. As someone investigating Jen's death, he's the one shining beacon of integrity in this entire story. 

I couldn't have imagined how much I'd love A Change of Heart and I promise you that you will run the gamut of emotions as you read it. You'll also be amazed by how cleverly the details are ultimately woven together. I clung to every word and felt all the anticipation and frenzy as it reached its climax. Dev writes emotions into something that I can see and even now months later I find myself thinking back to particular scenes. This is certain to be my first of many Sonali Dev books that I will read. 

~ Bel

Note: I didn't realize until I was done that this is the third book in Dev's Bollywood Series and I'm happy to say that it can be read as a standalone. The fourth book, A Distant Heart releases in December.

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

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Following her pitch-perfect debut Open Road Summer, Emery Lord pens another gorgeous story of best friends, new love, & second chances.

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Review:

I admit it.  I haven’t read Open Road Summer.  I’ve heard all the good things about it but there are so many books and so little time.  You know how it goes.  But based on everyone’s reaction to Emery Lord’s debut I went ahead and requested her second novel from NetGalley.  And wow.  If you read any of my reviews you know that friends to lovers is one my absolute favorite tropes in romance.  I mean, what’s better than falling in love with someone that truly knows you?  So it’s no wonder that I fell hard for this story.

Paige’s very first boyfriend died in a terrible drowning accident and ever since, Paige has been hiding from the world.  Depression and fear will do that to a person.  Particularly a young teen.  But her junior year is about to begin and Paige has decided that this is the year she starts living again.  She even makes a list.  

1.  Parties/social events – because she has avoided anything other than small group outings with her friends.
2. New Group – She wants to put herself out there by doing an extracurricular activity during the school year.
3. Date – She hasn’t had a boyfriend since Aaron passed away.
4. Travel – She desperately wants to go to a summer program in New York over the summer.
5. Swim – She became deathly afraid of water after Aaron’s death. 

Paige musters all the courage she can and completes the first two things on her list pretty quickly.  Party?  Check.  Join the Quiz Bowl team?  Check.   Now for the dating.  She has her sights set on one Ryan Chase.  Her crush from years ago.  To her amazement, Ryan and his cousin (Max), naturally become part of her group of friends.  What she doesn’t expect is how quickly she and Max connect.  But Paige is a teenager and is so completely focused on super cute Ryan (who she has nothing in common with) that she is completely oblivious to the romantic possibility in Max.

It may take Paige forever to realize the possibilities in Max but it will take the reader only a hot second.  Max is totally the guy I would have crushed on in high school.  He is kind of perfect and perfectly kind.  I’m going to make a list a la Paige naming all the reasons I love Max:

1. Adorable nerd with glasses.  I’m always a sucker for this look/personality
2.  Firefly fan.
3. Total Beta hero.  My absolute favorite.
4. Firefly fan.
5. Read Pride and Prejudice.
6. Did I mention he was a Firefly fan?

But I digress.  Enough about my list and back to Paige’s.

Completing the things on her list doesn’t happen quickly.  There are a few other things going in Paige’s life that require her attention.  One of her friends is struggling with an older boyfriend, she isn’t connecting with her younger sister, her divorced parents are dating again and her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s is progressing.  But even with all the chaos, all three adults in her life (parents and grandmother) and her all of her friends (old and new) continue to be an amazing support system for Paige regardless of the complications in everyone’s lives.

As the school year progresses, Paige, along with the help of her friends (Max in particular), slowly learns to address her fears and ultimately the three final things on her list.   

The few contemporary YA books I’ve read this year have been simply fantastic.  But this might be might favorite so far.  I love a friends to lovers romance and this certainly fits the bill.

Nat

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

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When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.

Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.

Promises get broken.

Rules get shattered.

Love gets ugly.

Ugly Love ascended to the top of my TBR pile after many glowing recommendations I’d read in a forum. I couldn’t resist the idea of a complicated hero falling in love. And honestly, I was expecting the complicated hero to be an arrogant one since that’s how it usually goes with these types of stories. That so wasn’t the case.

Tate's moving in with her brother temporarily while she begins her studies to receive her Masters in Nursing. On the day she's moving in, she comes across some guy passed out in front of their apartment. She assumes this drunk guy is some vagrant but he’s actually Miles, Corbin’s neighbour and fellow airline pilot. Nice start. As a favour to her brother, she lets Miles stay overnight on the couch. Not exactly the way she had imagined things going on her movie-in day. The next morning doesn't go any better thanks to their unusual start. However, she can pause to appreciate Miles' physical attributes which spark all kinds of lusty thoughts in her mind. As fun as these thoughts are, they’re also a pesky distraction from working towards the future she has mapped out. Miles’ personality is baffling, turning hot and cold within minutes. Trouble is that despite his hard-to-read demeanor, there’s no mistaking the growing attraction between them.  They go back and forth with the awkwardess until they can’t take it anymore. When they finally decide on an arrangement, Miles’ only rules are that she not ask him about his past and that she not expect a future from him.

At the time it seemed like an easy request. They’re both consenting adults who supposedly know what they’re doing. Even with rules in place, they do begin to have an affect on each other. Miles starts to loosen up somewhat while Tate falls just a little farther for the guy who won’t say much but feels intensely. She can’t help but wonder what tragedy could have occurred in his past to make him be so sad and unwilling to fall in love. She promised that she wouldn’t ask so she tries hard not to force the issue.

Miles’ story is told in almost dreamlike flashbacks. It feels ominous from the get go because you're anticipating that moment when it all falls apart. It’s hard to not be heartbroken for this decent guy who has experienced some unimaginable pain in his young life. His emotional isolation has prevented him from feeling pure happiness and love.

Their arrangement can’t keep going this way and at some point they have to admit that they feel more for each other than they let on. It’s scary for both of them especially Miles who is so terrified of wrecking the lives of the people he cares about, but this is where they’ll have to decide if what they have together is worth the fight.

I was all over the place emotionally as I read Ugly Love. The story tugged at me many times as I got to the sadder parts. But the sadness was balanced by the lighthearted elements in the story like the friendships between the guys, their apartment building's elevator guy who had all the funny quips, and the chemistry between Tate and Miles which was incredible! I admired Tate’s patience and kindness towards Miles and she did this without compromising her own needs. She gave him the reassurance and encouragement he desperately needed to resurface from the depths of his own despair. And Miles, the grief-stricken man with the weight of all that guilt… yeah, you’ll fall in love with him. You'll also want to give him the longest hug ever.

~ Bel

   

     

    

Undone by Cat Clarke

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Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she's learning to live with it.

Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online ... and he kills himself.

Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down.

A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal from a bestselling author.

When I start to read a book like this, it’s usually with trepidation. There’s no way to know without reading through it how it’ll go, if by the end you’ll be shred to bits or filled with a glimmer of hope. I found out that Undone did both.

Undone begins in such a dark and grief-filled place with Jem so distraught and unable to bring herself to face life without her best friend, Kai. She relives their many moments as she’s holed up in her bedroom shutting off the world. She sees her best option is to off herself as there’s no point in going on without him. The day she decides to do it, she’s interrupted by Kai’s younger sister Louise, who was instructed by Kai himself to deliver a package to Jem. Within it are 12 letters, one for each month that Jem is directed to open on the 23^rd of every month.

As unlikely as it seems, this whole exchange between Jem and Louise is rather funny. It basically wakes her up from her long grief stricken stupor. Jem’s internal monologue drips with sarcasm and dry humor. First, she’s deciding between the pros and cons of a sandwich or ordering Chinese takeout as her last meal, then her disappointment with her suicide attempt being thwarted and Louise cutting into her valuable suicide time. It all caught me off guard and I loved it.

So Jem reenters the world and unexpectedly becomes part of the in crowd or as she calls it, Team Popular at school. It’s at this point that she hatches a plan to seek revenge for Kai’s death. Of course, it’s not quite that easy but in Jem fashion which would be snarkiness and social awkwardness, she makes some serious headway with plenty of goofy moments too. There are also the somber moments when she reads Kai’s letters, filled with unconditional love, affection and jokes that come with a lifetime of knowing someone so well, that may have you reaching for a tissue. But even his letters can’t deter her from The Plan, as screwy and misguided as it may be.

The story proceeds through the next few months and Jem makes progress in her own personal life but revenge is never far from her mind even as her relationships with certain members of Team Popular get complicated. It's ironic that during this entire time she's finally participating in life as opposed to watching on the sidelines like she used to do with Kai and it doesn't even register with her. No, she's still planning her impending death. By the end, things come to a serious head and Jem is faced with choosing between what she has wanted for the past year and the potential for a future that she has never allowed herself to contemplate.

Undone is written so well and there were a few moments where I was reminded of another of my favourite books, Saving June, also about the aftermath of a suicide.  Whereas the latter’s story is much more heavy, Clarke manages to relate Jem’s story with compassion and humor. Things do get serious toward the finish and I was absolutely stunned silent by the end. Whether or not Clarke intended to, my personal belief is that the end is open to interpretation which I appreciate because I am still going back and forth between what I think happened, what I feel the author wants me to think happened and what I hope happened.  

Read Undone. It's outstanding and well worth it!

~ Bel