After devouring Boyfriend Material in one sitting, I was antsy to get my hands on Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. Judging from the premise, this sounded completely up my alley: bisexual protagonist who’s a single mother, a competitive British baking show, and the friends-to-lovers trope? This checked all of my boxes for a good romcom time. But quite like most baking recipes I try out, I wasn’t super happy with the end result.
I have extremely mixed feelings on Rosaline. On the one hand, I loved her as a protagonist. She was so relatable to me and she made such good points about what it’s like to be a single mother who struggles to find the balance between her kid’s life and following her own dreams after having put them on pause once her daughter was born. She doesn’t take shit from teachers who don’t want her daughter to use the dreaded b-word “bisexual” in their classroom and stands up for herself when someone tries to come for her life. There is a lot of underlying resentment in her, despite having gone against her parents’ wishes, she still very much craves their approval. In a lot of ways, this reminded me of Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls, just a more woke version and I loved that aspect of her character.
On the other hand, there were times where I was actually mentally exhausted by reading Rosaline’s thoughts. Rosaline often turns the simplest of comments into a teaching moment—either internally or outright to the person she’s speaking to. The worst thing is that Rosaline makes absolutely excellent points, like when Harry calls her “love” without ever having talked to her, she stands up for herself and tells him that he wouldn’t call the other contestants that. When someone makes assumptions about her being “coerced” to keep her daughter when she got pregnant instead of her deciding to raise her on her own, she addresses the stereotyping of single mothers. There are a lot of instances where she faces prejudice, that’s true. And while I completely agree with all of Rosaline’s commentary on society and double standards, it got a bit tedious to read at times because there is almost no interaction that does not lead into a long discussion of some toxic trait or other. Essentially, this book tried to make so many different—and valid!—points that in the end, I felt overwhelmed with what to take away from the story and felt more agitated than comforted.
I also definitely went into this book with the wrong expectations. This is marketed as a romance but really, it’s more a women’s fiction story that explores Rosaline finding her way in life. Some of the best moments in this story are the ones where we get a glimpse of who Rosaline is, what she wants out of life and where she still struggles—we see her slowly coming to terms with her parents’ and finding a way through that very difficult relationship and we get to see her work out how she is going to follow her dreams while still being responsible for another human being—as someone who was raised by a single mum, these moments were definitely the highlight for me.
The romance aspect was difficult for me as well. Rosaline’s love interest for most of the book is a man I cannot stand at all. This has its reasons as we uncover Alain’s darker motives for pursuing Rosaline later on, and while it makes for great storytelling, it was hard to stay invested in the story when I just could not understand what Rosaline saw in Alain. What I loved, though, was that with the whole Alain/Rosaline conundrum, we really got to see how much Rosaline was still vying for her parents’ approval and how she was blinded to Alain’s motives because she—just like most of us—wants to love and be loved, which just ties into my commentary about going into this with the wrong expectations. The “real” love interest came in very late in the game and had almost no page time—despite being so interesting and really cute!—and their romance thus just fell flat for me.
That being said, I loved the glimpses we got at the baking show and the competition overall and the secondary characters that were introduced really stole my heart. Rosaline’s daughter Amelie is an absolute delight and whenever she popped up, I knew I was in for a smile and a good time. Similarly, Rosaline’s ex Lauren was incredibly fleshed-out and a fascinating character to study. The other contestants also held my attention and I’m excited to see who will make a return in further instalments. While this might have missed the mark for me, I can’t wait to get to read the next instalment in this universe.
With loads of wit and baking-related banter, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake explores a bisexual single mother’s journey to finding herself, perfect for fans of the Great British Bake Off and Hall’s trademark humour.
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 18th 2021.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.
Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory. Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.
Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.
