Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - Розалина снимает сливки

rosaline palmer takes the cake is a funny, (mostly) lighthearted story, which made it a really easygoing read. i especially liked harry - he had the ideal personality for me personally. the development rosaline made was also really nice to witness. i liked that the book did have some sort of message, the one rosaline learned, but it brought it really lightly, if that makes sense.

had a fair hard start with this book though, hence the 4 and not a 5. it took some time getting used to the chapters, which were weeks divided into a few days, since some were really long and others short. i did however, after a while really liked this, since it gives you a sense of time and involves you more with the characters in a way. the story wasnt that interesting to me in the start either, but after a while i warmed up to rosaline and mostly amelie and harry.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I was laughing out loud at parts (mostly towards the beginning), it was a fun tongue in cheek take on The Great British Bake Off.
However, ultimately I really was upset by some Things that happened to our lovely Rosaline because she's bi, and also because we spend so much time with that relationship, I felt the ultimate romance to be a bit lackluster (can't really say more detail without spoilers).

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elenushka8's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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jackiepreston's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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? No

3.5

This is such a an odd book to rate for me. Everything I saw or heard about this book told me it was a romance, but it's much more of a women's fiction/quarter life crisis kind of book that uses romance to drive that point home.

We spend so much time with Alain as the main love interest for Rosaline and he sucks. I wasn't suspicious of him at first, because he just seemed like a guy with a kind of mean sense of humor, but as it went on and his true colors came out it was so obvious that he sucked and there was nothing to do but get through it. The tension of their terrible relationship and sex life wasn't fun to read, especially when combined with her terrible parents.

In the end I did enjoy this book, mostly because of Rosaline's daughter Amelie, but it did take some pushing to get through.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE features Rosaline, a single mom on a British baking show, falling for her fellow contestants and doting on her anglerfish-obsessed daughter. She needs the money, and hopes the resulting spotlight will lead to a lucrative cookbook-writing career. This is the first book in a series which seems slated to have different protagonists in each entry, with a fictionalized version of a particular British baking show as the connecting thread. This means that while I'm sure some sort of connecting lore will develop, I can, at least, assess this as if it's a stand-alone book. It isn't trying to leave anything in particular to be resolved later (except that there will be another season of the show), and this story wraps up on schedule.

I was very glad to read about a bisexual protagonist who gets a narrative which doesn't treat her identity as a spectacle. Rosaline does, however, have to deal with some biphobia and some truly awful behavior. One of the potential love interests slowly becomes more and more unpleasant as the show continues, in a way which allows for several possible moments where a reader can realize that something is wrong and this isn't just a choice between two perfectly fine relationship options. I don't want to spoil how things go, but the slow escalation of toxic behavior is a really great example of how this kind of person can stay in someone's life well past the first warning sign, depending on what other pressures and stressors are in play. I've seen some other reviews which were upset at Rosaline for not realizing how bad this person was much earlier, and this frustrated me, because they seemed to not understand the narrative arc and her growth as a character. The book would have been dull and half the length if she'd immediately known who to end up with and just gotten there fast. Instead, her slow realization highlights how insidious classism can be, particularly the way that this person got past her guard because he engaged in the "acceptable" forms of bigotry. By not having Rosaline perfectly clock this person as a socially-adept asshole, there's room for her to have an arc of realization and struggle over how to deal with this new information.

Part of Rosaline's story off-camera is renegotiating her relationship with her parents. They have this idea of who she could have been which is incompatible with who she is, and she's felt bad that she didn't have the career they envisioned because she had Amelie instead. She doesn't regret her daughter, and doesn't particularly seem to long for a career in medicine, but it's hard to be settled and confident in the life she actually has when there's never enough money and her parents don't let her forget for an instant how much they've done to help her make both ends meet.

Things I love, in no particular order: Amelie and her various interests (I also loved anglerfish when I was a kid); the process of filming the baking show; the other cast members; Rosaline's relationship with her ex-girlfriend/best friend.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

5.0

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