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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A fun, quick read, The Dos and Donuts of Love was a treat of a book (ha!).
I really enjoyed the baking competition. I was actually surprised by how everything turned out, but I was not disappointed. It allowed us to appreciate the baking stuff, mixed with Shireen's pride of Bangladeshi flavours and foods, while also exposing the xenophobia and fatphobia of the Internet. I appreciate how people checked in on her and other competitors struggling with the online comments, and also how other characters' true colours are shown through their own reactions.
I wish I got to know the secondary characters just a little bit more. It's very much the Shireen show and while I understand that the book being in her head so much is because she's absolutely in her own head too much, I feel like it didn't give other characters the time to breathe. You definitely feel a lot of Shireen's own anxiety and insecurities as a result, which did make her character number one. I just wish some of those relationships and secondary character traits didn't rely so heavily on how they were relative to Shireen.
I did also love that we get to see the family side of things - the pressures to succeed, the absolute love her parents have for her, the love her friends have for her - it really helped to build my love for her, understanding that Shireen was going through a major rough patch in life and it was all coming to a head as the book begins.
All in all, it was a fun book that dealt well with some heavier subjects (racism, fatphobia, trust in relationships, etc.), while keeping the overall vibe of the book fun and enjoyable.
TW: racism, bigotry, microaggression, xenophobia, anxiety attack; mentions fatphobia
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
eARC gifted via NetGalley by Feiwel & Friends via Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the baking competition. I was actually surprised by how everything turned out, but I was not disappointed. It allowed us to appreciate the baking stuff, mixed with Shireen's pride of Bangladeshi flavours and foods, while also exposing the xenophobia and fatphobia of the Internet. I appreciate how people checked in on her and other competitors struggling with the online comments, and also how other characters' true colours are shown through their own reactions.
I wish I got to know the secondary characters just a little bit more. It's very much the Shireen show and while I understand that the book being in her head so much is because she's absolutely in her own head too much, I feel like it didn't give other characters the time to breathe. You definitely feel a lot of Shireen's own anxiety and insecurities as a result, which did make her character number one. I just wish some of those relationships and secondary character traits didn't rely so heavily on how they were relative to Shireen.
I did also love that we get to see the family side of things - the pressures to succeed, the absolute love her parents have for her, the love her friends have for her - it really helped to build my love for her, understanding that Shireen was going through a major rough patch in life and it was all coming to a head as the book begins.
All in all, it was a fun book that dealt well with some heavier subjects (racism, fatphobia, trust in relationships, etc.), while keeping the overall vibe of the book fun and enjoyable.
TW: racism, bigotry, microaggression, xenophobia, anxiety attack; mentions fatphobia
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
eARC gifted via NetGalley by Feiwel & Friends via Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Xenophobia
Minor: Fatphobia
kitkatsbookden's review against another edition
4.25
This was super cute and a lot deeper than I expected.
4.25/5
4.25/5
charlie_is_amazing_11's review against another edition
4.0
I LOVED this book! I think it ended perfectly! Also it was so fun to read and I just couldn't put it down!
Highly recommend! (this is also one of the few YA books I actually enjoy because most of them try way too hard to be deep and this one was just so FUN!)
Highly recommend! (this is also one of the few YA books I actually enjoy because most of them try way too hard to be deep and this one was just so FUN!)
nisanre's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
The puns in this book were adorable, and the side cast of characters was great, but the rest was just okay. I am grateful for the super diverse cast, though!
delaneybull's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I know Shireen is a teen, but my god this was a self-centered heroine. I did not buy into the love story at all, and was really disappointed she didn't seem to learn anything from her actions.
hydroxicacid's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
saskiajva's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Sweet and wholesome story. I loved that the main character was unapologetically fat and that the story called out fatphobia without the MC feeling bad about herself. I also liked the depth this explores into racism on various levels.
corin_134340's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
sweet, short chapters, lovable characters!
Exactly the kind of book I needed right now. Made me emotional at times, but the good kind of emotional!
Exactly the kind of book I needed right now. Made me emotional at times, but the good kind of emotional!
indiekay's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook.
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.
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.