Review: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall
It is completely wonderful when you pick up a book knowing you will love it, and then it meets and exceeded all of your expectations.
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall is a rom-com following Rosaline Palmer, a bisexual single mother whose life has taken many unexpected turns, and she is in an uncomfortable financial situation. The book begins during her first week of filming Bake Expectations, which is a fictionalized Great British Bake-Off, where a meeting with her daughter, Amelie's, teacher causes a string of events that lead to Rosaline not only having to take a different train and ending up completely missing the introductory night before they begin filming the next day, but also having to spend the night with Alain, her architect competitor who was stranded at the same train station. When the show begins, Rosaline meets Harry, an electrition fellow baker on the show, and must confront whether she wants the life her parents paved for her or if happiness lies elsewhere.
I absolutely loved this book. It made me laugh repeatedly, I cried four times, and I had all the wonderful feelings that watching Bake-Off elicits. I don't think you need to love Bake-Off to love this book, any structural element is simply explained on the page, and it doesn't spend much time focused on any technical elements of baking. Still, if you love the show, there are little jokes and show parallels hidden all over for you!
As tracks with my previous experience of Alexis Hall's work, this book is wonderfully at crafting compelling character arcs. He really crafted Rosaline's story beautifully. Throughout the book, she has to confront what she wants out of life, facing the idea of her future hoisted on her by her disapproving parents, and that plays out wonderfully through the love triangle in the book. I adore when a love triangle is used, at least in part, as a representation of the main character's central conflict. Alain represents stability and the life her parents dream for her, a life that included going back to university to become a doctor as was her original plan before she got pregnant and dropped out. And Harry is kind and anxious and represents going after a different dream, one that she is constantly told is less important. Both men are well fleshed out and active parts of the plot in their own rights.
The world isn't just filled with baking show contestants. Rosaline's ex-girlfriend and best friend Lauren is incredibly active in her and Amelie's life. She supports Rosaline while she is filming by babysitting when she does not want to rely on her parents and is a delightfully chaotic and witty character. Amelie is a precocious kid with an excellent vocabulary drawn to a new intense interest every few weeks as many kids are want to do. The final two non-television-related characters of import are Rosaline's doctor parents. Both are incredibly high achieving and want their daughter to follow in their footsteps; they are doting grandparents but are at times rather clumsy in their own parenting abilities and are outright judgmental of Rosaline at times. Rosaline desperately wants them to be proud of her.
This book addresses some serious topics mixed in with baking-related wonderfulness. Classism, in particular, is addressed throughout this book. Rosaline has to confront her own classist thought processes, as well as dealing with some of it herself and watching it play out mostly through how people treat Harry. The book also deals with biphobia, sexism, and briefly with sexual assault.
Hall builds the tension in this novel so skillfully. You will fall for Alain despite some minor misgivings alongside Rosaline but will be going bananas over Harry well before Rosaline realizes she is also very into him. The baking competition also kept me on the edge of my seat. I was so invested in who was going home. By the end, I was genuinely a bit sad that I would not be able to see the final edited version of the show.
I would also like to make sure I emphasize that I found this book very funny. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading and once had to put the book down for a moment to regain composure. I had an excellent time being delighted by the witty banter, the situational ridiculousness, and the oodles of baking (and non-baking) related puns throughout.
I finished this book so excited about the rest of this trilogy. I am also excited about Hall's follow-up to Boyfriend Material and interested in reading some more of his backlog. I gave this book five stars. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves a rom-com, to Bake-Off fans, to anyone who wants more bi rep, and to folks who could like to cackle as they read.
