Battle Royal

Four years ago, on a Bake Off-type show called Operation Cake, Sylvie Fairchild was eliminated after her sparkly unicorn cake accidentally threw a hoof at icy judge Dominic De Vere's head. Now, Sylvie has her own bakery, called Sugar Fair, right across the street from austere, traditional De Vere's. And now, both Sylvie and Dominic are bake on Operation Cake, this time both as judges - but soon, they may be competing in real life, as a royal engagement is announced and a royal wedding cake is in demand. Sylvie and Dominic both want the commission for the money and the prestige, to keep their Notting Hill bakeries afloat and support their employees. But as it happens, they go from competitors to collaborators - personally and show more professionally. Secondary characters, including Dom's younger half-sister Pet (Petunia), and Sylvie's lifelong best friend and Sugar Fair co-owner Jay and their terrifying employee Mabel, add to the story; Pet looks to be the main character in Parker's next romance. Young royals Rose and Johnny also have an interesting dynamic, and Rose's relationship with her late uncle Patrick leads Sylvie and Dominic on an interesting research project, as everyone weighs love against the costs.

I would definitely want to visit both these bakeries IRL.

"Honesty is a more palatable virtue when paired with tact." (Operation Cake host Mariana to Dominic, 285) show less

One Sentence Summary: Four years ago, Sylvie and Dominic became firm baking rivals and the intense dislike was mutual, but now, when they’re competing for the contract to make a royal wedding cake, they end up working closer together than they ever thought they would.

Overall
Battle Royal pits baker against baker as two rivals go head to head battling for the contract to bake a royal wedding cake. This is an incredibly delicious read that had me constantly thinking of cake. But it’s also a seriously romantic novel with so many great love stories woven through it. While it almost felt like there might be too many stories, I thought it was actually balanced really well. I loved that it was serious as well as sweet, that it really show more focused on the characters and what they were feeling. Battle Royal is sweet and serious, delicious and romantic, and had me dreaming of cake and gorgeous chocolates.

Extended Thoughts
Four years ago, Sylvie was a contestant on Operation Cake and a minor miscalculation sent her packing, simultaneously earning her the eternal dislike of Dominic, one of the judges. Sunny and glittery, Sylvie wasn’t one to let Dominic stand in her way, and set up shop right across the street from his long-standing family’s bakery. For four years, the cold rivalry was alive and well.

But now Sylvie is a new judge on Operation Cake, alongside Dominic. It’s not ideal, but both their bakeries could use the additional income. When news of a royal engagement breaks, they both see a chance at claiming the limelight for their respective bakery. Unexpectedly, the royal couple would like to see a proposal from both of them, following some very vague and interesting requests.

The competition is tense, both on screen and off, as Dominic and Sylvie puzzle through how to make the bride and groom happy, pulling them closer and closer as old and new love stories swirl around them. Perhaps even their own.

I expected Battle Royal to be absolutely delicious and sweet. With cake being an unofficial third main character, I thought I was in for a fun, sweet story full of delicious cake. Instead, it had a surprisingly serious overlay as both Sylvie and Dominic struggled with their histories and overcoming them. It was absolutely sweet, but not quite of the light and fluffy kind.

Battle Royal surprised me in so many ways. There’s more than one love story, none of them perfect and beautiful, but it was so incredibly lovely the way love tied each couple together. They all felt realistic and, in their own ways, they all made my heart ache for them. I loved how deeply and how sensitively they each were handled, how emotions played such a huge role, and how clear it was that, despite all the roadblocks, these couples really were made for each other.

I loved Sylvie and Dominic to pieces. They’re rivals with very distinct and different personalities, but they ended up blending perfectly. Dominic is very serious and dour, very much the stereotypical critical judge on and off screen. His bakery was his grandfather’s and is an institution in London. He also comes from a family with very little love and care in it, so of course he’s quite standoffish. Sylvie, in contrast, is everything bright and magical. Her bakery is a veritable fantasy dream and glitter is a must. But she, too, has pains from her childhood stemming from the early loss of the woman who raised her. On their own I loved Dominic and Sylvie, but, put together, they were so much fun and played off each other so well. I wish there had been more of an enemies to lovers story, but I also understood there were a lot of other smaller stories and a lot of threads running through the book, and I couldn’t wait to find out how it all turned out, so, while I wish they had battled a little more, I ended up feeling quite happy with their relationship. There’s a bit of a love triangle, but it’s not a major component of the story. I suppose it could have been removed, but it felt completely natural and was handled with such maturity by the characters that I actually really liked it.

All of the characters were wonderful with distinct personalities. I loved how the bakery staffs really upheld the rivalry and, if I could pluck Mabel from Sylvie, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Outside of Sylvie and Dominic, she’s definitely my favorite. She isn’t seen much, but she absolutely makes use of every on-page moment. Then there’s Pet, Dominic’s younger sister. I couldn’t help but think of her as a quivering young woman, bouncing from a ball of energy to wanting love and approval so much it almost hurts. But she’s so strong, so competent. I loved her dearly, and can’t wait for her to get her own story.

I do wish there had been a better balance between Operation Cake and the race to put together the perfect royal wedding cake proposal. I felt the proposal overtook the story and, by the end, the TV show was just seriously anticlimatic. I expected being immersed in it as I would any other baking competition, but it all felt so strongly skewed one way that it became boring. So I guess I’m glad most of the story didn’t focus on it? I did love how Dominic and Sylvie had to puzzle out the royal couple’s specific requests. It was a ton of fun and made me laugh a few times. But it also led to even more romantic stories that just made me swoon. Overall, very sweet and seriously romantic.

Battle Royal was a little predictable both in terms of the main story as well as some of the subplots. I easily picked out what was going to happen, which usually bothers me and turns me off from romance. But the journey the characters go on in this novel was so interesting and the characters so much fun that I really enjoyed how it built up to the inevitable conclusion.

Battle Royal is a very sweet, very romantic read that’s surprisingly serious. The characters tend to be older, so the relationships are a little more mature. There isn’t as much angst as one might find in a true enemies to lovers story, but it’s still fun and there’s so much going on that there’s always something new and different to focus on.

Battle Royal is all about love and family, both blood and found. It’s sweet and beautiful, and all about fighting tooth and nail for the one you love. Oh, and there’s absolutely a ton of delicious (and some questionable) cake!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own. show less

This has been a year where I have only wanted to read books that help me escape the reality around me. Because honestly, life in 2021 sucks. Hard. The world seems to think that everything should be back to normal by now, that masks aren’t necessary, that yelling at people in the service industry is totally okay, and that they can be generally assholes to women. Couple that with my own personal hellish year and, well, it should come as no surprise why I just want to read light hearted fiction right now.

If you love baking, spunky heroines, haters to lovers tropes, and then a solid romantic relationship that isn’t troubled by random unnecessary drama, delightful sisters, and a touch of royalty, then this is the book for you! Sylvie and show more Dominic are not unlike Olive and Adam (The Love Hypothesis) in that we have a fun and spunky heroine dealing with some grief from the loss of their mother figure and a strong, silent, brooding but loving type in their romantic lead.

Both are surrounded by a cool cast of secondary characters and friends and you can’t help but anxiously anticipate the next in the series that will focus on Dominic’s delightful little sister. There’s a bit of culinary espionage, a veritable culinary wonderland, delectable descriptions of mouth watering chocolates, and a baking competition, which despite the description’s emphasis on it, really takes a back seat to everything else in the story. Our royal couple have their own challenges, as do our bakers, and it all mixes together to make the lightest and fluffiest chocolate cake of a book that you could possibly imagine.

And yes, because I’m obsessed with it, this book does pass the Bechdel test. show less

Sylvie and Dominic, fellow baking-show judges and owners of neighbouring businesses, are competing to be chosen to bake a royal wedding cake.

I enjoy Parker’s characterisation, her humour and the way her characters show that they care about each other. I really like how she writes! But my favourite of Parker’s stories are the ones where I’m fascinated by the setting and by the characters’ professions. Probably I’d have liked this book more if I was interested in baking shows or royal weddings.

He started work as early as she did, and he was frequently still across the road when she tottered tiredly out the door [...] In fact, he often stood outside the door of De Vere’s practically ticking with annoyance and impatience, and show more waited until she’d safely made it to her car. In that one singular area, it was surprisingly decent of him. Jaw-droppingly decent of him. [...] She assumed that once she’d driven off in the early hours of the morning, he went back inside, plugged himself into a power outlet, and recharged his cyborg battery. show less

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sylvie Fairchild was a contestant on a baking competition show, Operation Cake, where her tasty and whimsical bakes clashed with the uptight and proper style of judge Dominic De Vere. She was about to make the finals when her unicorn cake exploded and Dominic got a hoof to the head, he not so surprisingly voted her off. Four years later she has a patisserie shop called Sugar Fair right across the street from established De Vere's and has been asked to be one of the judges on Operation Cake. The friction is still there between Sylvie and Dominic but with the grumpy and sunshine clash, there is show more a gruff and soft attraction. With a reality show to judge, a royal wedding contract to win, bakery espionage, family drama, and other life realities to live, Sylvie and Dominic keep finding themselves drawn by outside and inside influences.

And just for that instant, beneath the unflappable chill, she saw a flash of startlement and something...else.

Battle Royal is first in the Palace Insiders series and that is why I'm going to cut it a little slack on the amount of story here; a new universe for readers is being built. Usually, romances seem to want to build the focus to be the destination, our leads finally being in love. This is much more about the journey. Yes, our leads have a romance you follow, see build, and eventually find their way to love but the destination doesn't have that firework or finally feeling to it, it's much more subdued. Now, the journey, that is where all the emotion is but again, kind of subdued and your enjoyment of this story and it's characters is going to depend on if you like quiet everyday (in the fiction sense) falling in love.

Powerful chemistry was quite a ride.

The beginning with Sylvie's cake exploding delivered on what I usually think of a cartoon cover, rom-com, but the rest of the story had a more mature feel with an almost ache to the tone. The pace is considerate, with the gradual growing closer Sylvie and Dominic as they spend time together and get to know one another. However, most of the story has the two leads in their heads, I missed some of their connection because of this, I wanted to see the thoughts and feelings expressed outwardly towards each other instead of being told the inner thoughts. There was a moment around the 50% mark that had Dominic texting Sylvie to tell her he was going to be late and making sure she was ok, sort of outwardly showing but we only get a little of Sylvie's thoughts on him checking in. I wanted to “see” them connecting more, instead of mentally getting the feelings from them.

It was probably slightly perverse to feel that growing warmth in his chest as she directed her list of grievances at him.
And yet here they were.
The more Sylvie stared daggers at him, the more inclined he was to pull her in.

I mentioned how there was a lot of story and if some threads don't come back in some way in the series, I'm going to want some edited out even more so that the focus could have been more on Sylvie and Dominic. The reality show they're judging actually shocked me in how much it wasn't in the story, what really took over the time was the investigation work they do in order to win the bid for a royal wedding cake. The royal wedding has them investigating the favored uncle of the princess engaged and this leads to a mystery romance tale involving the uncle, that I thought stole too much of the spotlight. I can see how it ties into the princess and her own situation but again, not the main couple I'm here for, but just expect a sort of secondary couple romance to steal story from our main couple. Sylvie also deals with a rival managing to somehow copy her recipes and frankly, I think this whole thread could have been cut-out, especially the two main characters involved in it. Unless these characters matter latter in the series, they honestly added nothing to this story and, again, detracted from the main couple. There's some family and childhood trauma from Dominic's side but I thought this padded his character nicely and I loved his younger sister Pet (Petunia). There was also some emotional pull from issues involving Sylvie's childhood friend but I wish we could have known him more and seen them together more to pad that thread, definitely could have pulled the rival bakery thread in favor of this.

However, the feeling of absolute faith that when the cracks started to appear, someone else would be crouching at your side, helping to bail out the water, and that you could do the same for them---
Pretty indescribable.

There were a couple times in the beginning that I thought Dominic sunk into grumpy too far but when we get his childhood background, his cold exterior is given depth and the author plants enough little actions by him, like him always watching to make sure Sylvie got to her car late at night safe, even before they start to become friends, to let me warm up to him. This also might be an odd thing to mention but I liked, what I as an American identify as Englishisms (thank you Great British Bake Off for giving me a leg up here), it gave a sense of authenticity that I feel maybe gets changed or edited for American audiences.

So lightly, so easily, she could say things that he'd never forget.

I've read other books by this author and they have a tone and style that I like, it quietly reaches me, not unlike a Sonali Dev or Courtney Milan. This cover says rom-com to me but I would warn people to not go in looking for that tone. This was a mature, more about the journey than the destination, subdued, and quietly reaches you. It veered towards too many threads but maybe they'll play a part in the series. Sylvie and Dominic live up to their grumpy and sunshine and that is what I showed up for. The next in the series looks to be about Dominic's sister Pet and a royal personal protection officer. Y'all, this huge hulking quiet PPO gives tiny bright spirited Pet a teddy bear. SIGN ME UP. show less

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.

I absolutely adored this book. Plenty of humor, easy to imagine situations, a few sexy scenes and some emotionally deep issues cover the themes of everything you want in a romance.

In Sylvie’s opinion, Dominic is too rigid and stoic. Below are a few short thoughts of hers as she gets to know him better.

Excerpts:
“She assumed that once she’d driven off in the early hours of the show more morning, he went back inside, plugged himself into a power outlet, and recharged his cyborg battery.”

“It’s easier to absorb and act on constructive criticism if it’s softened by the acknowledgment of successes. You could aim for one proper compliment every hour. Maybe an occasional smile.”
A fraction of a scowl appeared instead. “Our job is to perform an honest critique.”
“I’m not suggesting you go overboard. We don’t want to stun the nation senseless. Two or three teeth at most.”

Even if he could be surprisingly nice when he was sozzled.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. I also purchased a copy to gift. show less

Sylvia Fairchild has had to live down the embarrassment of accidentally hitting Dominic De Vere, judge on the competition show, Operation Cake, in the face with a unicorn horn, but she finally has a chance for redemption. Not only has she become a judge on Operation Cake, but she and the team at her company, Sugar Fair, are in the running for a lucrative contract to make the wedding cake for a royal wedding. The only thing standing in her way is Dominic and his company De Veres, which is also in the running for the same contract.

The strongest part of Battle Royal includes the connection that Sylvia and Dominic share over the loss of a loved one who cared for each of them during their formative years, leading to some poignant moments. show more Unfortunately, the romance between the two protagonists is the weakest part of the book. Even though the competition for the royal contract should have been a huge point of contention between the characters, it never manifested itself enough to make it interesting. External conflicts with other characters in the book were much more dynamic but did not add to the romance. In addition, much of this book is written like literary fiction, making it difficult to connect with the characters, especially in the beginning. Overall, Battle Royal includes some interesting elements but taken as a whole, lacks the heart to make it an enjoyable romance. show less