Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Book Series: Bake Expectations
Book: Paris Daillencourt Is About To Crumble (Book 2)
Author: Alexis Hall
Number of pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary fiction, romance, LGBTQ+
Attended Audience Age: Young adult
Medium Type (physical, digital, audio): physical
Book rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Summary:
Paris Daillencourt, a wealthy single child with crippling anxiety and absent parents, is pushed into the television show, Baking Expectations by his roommate. Putting his fears to the test, Paris, to his surprise, bakes exceptionally well and wins multiple times. But when the heat kicks up a notch in the competition, so does the attraction between Paris and Tariq, another contestant on the show. Pushing through, Paris finds himself second guessing himself and his relationships, his parents, and his health as the show becomes more than he bargained for.
Qualities:
Prose: The novel is written in third person perspective with a comical, but practical language that makes the novel feel approachable and realistic.
Character Development: The novel follows Paris Daillencourt’s personal and public life style as he juggles being in university, the public eye, a blossoming relationship, and unwelcomed anxiety. Through his personal challenges, they become small leaps of hope and betterment as he finds the support he needs.
World Building: The world building follows Paris Daillencourt through his personal life in England, his wealthy home, and the television set for Bake Expectations.
Recommendation:
I recommend this book to someone who is interested in baking, comedy, witty conversations, and contemporary romance. It resembles the television show, The Great British Baking Show, but with a twist. It provides a sneak peak behind what really happens behind a televised baking show, how the people interact, what they do in their free time, and how the crew acts when they aren’t on film. The book is a nod toward people struggling with anxiety, abandonment, depression, and self-worth.
On another note, I think the book would have benefited if it provided a back story to Paris’s relationship with his parents and what brought on his anxiety. His roommate and friend should have also been mentioned further because she is a strong motivator for Paris’s wellbeing and success. Overall I think the book had a lot of components that needed to be flushed out and were not executed as well as they could of been.
Notable Quotes:
- “Paris was going to have used salt instead of sugar , or rabbit droppings instead of chocolate chips, and Marriane was going to try one and then say don’t eat that, Wilfred, which was the worst thing she could possibly say” (p. 28).
- “He lived in a world that was simple. Where you could decide to do something and do it. Or decide to feel something and feel it. Or decide to be something and be it. It was like a window into a place Paris used to know. But that was the problem. It was a window, not a door” (p. 215).
- “Exhausted, he turned the page, trying to trap his anxiety like ants. Although, much like ants, he could still feel them crawling. On the paper and in his head” (p. 313).
Related Music:
- Unwell by Matchbox Twenty
- Man I need by Olivia Dean
- Stay by Justin Bieber
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