Battle Royal (Palace Insiders #1) – Lucy Parker

Published: 17th August 2021

Source: Purchased

Genre: Contemporary romance,

My Rating:

Ready.

Four years ago, Sylvie Fairchild charmed the world as a contestant on the hit baking show, Operation Cake. Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers and a princess.

Set

Dominic is His Majesty the King's favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He's brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can't stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.

Match

When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they're both determined to come out on top.
The bride adores Sylvie's quirky style. The palace wants Dominic's classic perfection.
In this royal battle, can there be room for two?

Battle Royal was one of my most anticipated reads in 2021 but the world had gone to shit (seriously, why is it you think it's as bad as it'll get and then it gets worse?). I spent a lot of last year and the year before in a reading slump and in the end, I didn't read this, or any of my other most anticipated reads, until long after their release. I was also absent from blogging so I didn't really see the reviews that came out for Battle Royal before I read it. I vaguely remember seeing people talk about it but the reviews didn't stick in my mind so I essentially got to go into this book blind just knowing there were cakes involved and it was written by one of my favourite authors, Lucy Parker. I’m glad I did it like that because I really went in with no expectations and just with the knowledge I’m reading something new from an author I know.

I know this was her first book with a different publisher and one thing which immediately stood out is there was a slightly different vibe to this book than the London Celebrities books. It was still obviously a Lucy Parker book but I think the steaminess levels were lower and it almost felt like this book should have been a spin off of the London Celebrities world but wasn’t. I weirdly expected to have one of her previous characters pop up but they never did, I did finish the book questioning if it had originally been planned to be a spin off but it really didn’t matter, just an idle thought on my part. Even though there was a slightly different feel to her previous books, it felt a bit tamer but it was still brilliant. You still got the same sass and banter between characters and one thing I always appreciate is that you are given a full cast of characters, even the secondary characters stand out and shine and no one fell flat. I definitely want to read more set in this cake baking version of London and cannot wait for the next book whenever that might be.

Anyway, I loved the idea of this book. Dominic was a judge on a baking show, a sort of far more shabby Great British Bake Off style show, and Sylvie was a former competitor on the show. They were opposites in so many ways, but especially in their banking style. Dominic was minimalist and classic with his cakes whilst Sylvie threw all the glitter and colour at her bakes and they sounded fabulous. Since being on the show Sylvie had established herself with her own store, opposite Dominic’s, but what she really needed was the contract for the cake for the upcoming royal wedding to really solidify her place in the baking world and continue to draw customers. The two were in competition straight away and I loved it. Then Sylvie gets to be a judge on the show she was previously a part of, I’m always a fan of characters being forced to spend more time together. There was a perfect balance of banter and competition to grab your attention and it made me genuinely believe they were falling for each other.

The big thing which worried me was that the royal family was featured as part of the story as I hate seeing royals in my romance (apart from Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals), thankfully they were only secondary characters and they were well written but it was the biggest turn off for me here. Surprisingly, I ended up being really intrigued by the dynamic in the royal household and loved how the princess was a total rebel against the royal traditions. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them.

The biggest drawback is I wanted more of the romance. As I said, much less steamy than her London Celebrities series, which isn’t exactly sex on every page, and I felt like we were focusing on the side plots a lot rather than Sylvie and Dominic falling for one another. It was there and you got romance but I suppose that was the big thing I noticed and wished for more of. I’ll still end up rereading this one again… but maybe not as many times as I’ve read Pretty Face or Act Like It.

If, like me, you are a massive fan of baking shows, then this romance will definitely cause a few smiles and have you debating baking something delicious. Just prepare yourself for a slightly tamer romance which focuses a little more on other things than just the couple. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it and I know there are more good things to come.

Have you read this book already, what did you think? And please tell me your favourite cake because writing this review made me rather peckish, I don’t even talk about cake and the book reminds me of it.

It's a late update this week. I think this is the first week where we've got to the weekend and I've felt properly exhausted in a long while. I went into the office twice this week and then had a third day of going to the office after work to join my team for a work meal so I’ve not spent too much time at home. It’s both why I’ve not blog hopped much this week and also why I’m now behind on blog posts. It’s annoying as I’d started with the best of intentions but you really forget how much the commute and socialising in the office takes it out of you, don’t you? I said to someone at work how tired I was after only 2 days in the office and they said how crazy it is we used to do it 5 times a week. I know going into the office more regularly is going to be the norm soon enough but until then I reserve the right to have a slight grumble every time I do so.

I didn’t think I’d say this, I actually quite liked going into the office, though. I think it was just nice to see people I work with in person and have the chance to chat and do the usual office gossip and lunch time small talk. We had a meeting with the US which is why we were encouraged to come in to be part of the afternoon call in the meeting room rather than everyone on Teams and it actually was weirdly nice to meet in the office and see the managers in person! I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve met my managers in person so it’s weird seeing them but nice. I’m hoping to have some positive news work wise which will be nice. Then Friday we had a team meal celebrating year end (I know, us finance folk celebrate the weirdest things) and it was a good time. The cocktails were interesting and I managed to avoid getting drunk. I wish the food had been a little nicer but what can you do? I was home before 11pm and it reminded me I should do more evening stuff in the city because the journey home really isn’t that bad. Might suggest it to my friends we have a nice meal out sometime since I am chronically single (and totally fine with it).

Apart from work I’ve been boring just watching TV and chilling, with a lot less reading this week. I watched all of Business Proposal on Netflix and although the ending was a touch abrupt I really enjoyed it. Both couples were brilliant and the show had me crying in laughter at times. I really feel like western tv could learn a little from Korean dramas. I realised as I was watching that k-dramas are so good at romance and just characterisation in general because they don’t just do what you can see to create tension but you often hear the characters thoughts or they add in details so you know their thoughts. I’m catching up on some k dramas I hope, I’ve hot Hometown Cha Cha Cha on my to watch list forever and I think now is the time, and also Twenty Five Twenty One.

What I’ve Been Reading

This was a week of me reading books I didn’t expect and it’s not a bad thing. The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate was a freebie for me, I got it a while ago and had thought it was a DNF when I couldn’t get into within the first few pages but when I picked it up again as part of my quest to conquer all my new purchases of 2022 I kind of really got into it. It was OTT and high drama at times but that then led me to rereading the first Ice Planet Barabarians and finally reading the second. I then decided to reread Snowspelled and then we ended up with me getting back to reading the Stage Dive series. It was a weird meander through my mood reading.

New To Me

Only one purchase and that was the third Stage Dive book which I began reading straight away. I think I’ll be buying the final one straight after and then maybe it’ll be time to read another 2022 purchase. I do need to get to a couple of ARCs, though so we’ll see.

How was your week? Anyone else been back to the office recently? Please give me any k-drama recs as well as I need more to watch.

I read the Penelope Blue series a few weeks ago now (I know, I seriously need to get better at reviewing books at the time of reading them) and I knew I wanted to tell you about the series as soon as I finished because I loved these books but also I didn’t know how to do it without spoiling things completely. As such, I knew the only way to tell you about it was to give you the highlights of the books for me.

Stealing Mr Right - Tamara Morgan

Published: 7th March 2017

I'm a wanted jewel thief.
He's FBI.
What's that saying? Keep your friends close...and your husband closer.
Being married to a federal agent certainly has its perks.
1. I just love the way that man looks in a suit.
2. This way I always know what the enemy is up to.
Spending my days lifting jewels and my nights tracking the Bureau should have been a genius plan. But the closer I get to Grant Emerson, the more dangerous this feels. With two million dollars' worth of diamonds on the line, I can't afford to fall for my own husband.
It turns out that the only thing worse than having a mortal enemy is being married to one. Because in our game of theft and seduction, only one of us will come out on top.
Good thing a cat burglar always lands on her feet.

The characters

Not just our main couple, Penelope and Grant, but also the secondary characters from Penelope’s little gang of thieves, to her step mom and family. All of them were spectacular. I don’t think a single character felt underdeveloped. I don’t want to say too much about all of the characters because they could lead to spoilers but they were all amazing. Obviously Penelope Blue was going to be my favourite. She was funny and sassy and she wasn’t in anyway full of herself. This was a woman who had grown up stealing and was a skilled jewellery thief, but she just thought that was normal. She didn’t have an ego or come across as cocky but instead she was just a normal woman and that was her job. She wasn’t living in the lap of luxury and she wasn’t wasting her money on frivolous things. She wasn’t really spending her ill gotten gains on anything. She was the most normal jewellery thief known to man. And her hang go thieves? Yes, they definitely raised a few eyebrows with some of their hobbies but they were friends she’d had for years and they had her back, even if she occasionally forgot that. She had made her own family and these guys always had each other’s backs.

The romance

I admit, when I began the series I wasn’t even sure if it could strictly be categorised as romance given Grant and Penelope were married so very much in an established relationship at the beginning of the first book. But as the first book is told exclusively through Penelope’s POV you don’t get to see Grant’s thoughts and feelings and Penelope is convinced that Grant only married her to get close to her. She’s not sure if it’s to arrest her and her friends or if it’s related to her father, who was a master thief as well, but she is suspicious of him even though she knows she cares for him as well. I loved her reluctance to ever admit her feelings for Grant, especially to her friends. It made it hilarious to read that she didn’t love him yet you could see when she was worried or jealous of him.

The plot

Each of the books had a mystery element to it. The first was the mystery of what exactly Grant was up to and told the story through various flashbacks to establish how exactly Grant and Penelope ended up married. And then the next two had an FBI investigation which acted as the overarching mystery which Penelope managed to wrangle her involvement into with some mild reluctance from Grant. Penelope was hilarious and I loved seeing her nose her way into things and acting as detective (even though, sometimes, her actual instincts about people stunk). She had an overactive imagination which meant she often began to suspect the wrong person for rather weak reasons missing the obvious, but that’s what made it fun because you could understand why she had her suspicions about people.

No unnecessary relationship conflict

One thing I really enjoyed in the series was that never did it rely on creating unnecessary conflict in the relationships, be that in the romantic ones or platonic. Even in the later books when the relationship between Grant and Penelope was more certain, some long running series can rely upon doubts and mistrust driving a wedge between a couple and you didn't see that here. I hate when you have a couple doubting one another when in the previous book you saw how solid their romance was because that just makes me not believe the relationship. It was the same with Penelope and her friends, yes their relationship changed and developed through the series but when the conflict was resolved between them it wasn't revisited adnauseum. I think the thing I hate seeing is a lack of trust being played upon as a cheap plot device. You can use it once and it has to be convincing. It worked through the first book as Penelope's job wasn't exactly traditional or garner a lot of trust for people considering she was a jewellery thief. But that couldn't be used forever.

I can't really say there are any negatives to this series. Sure, sometimes I guessed the twists but it still managed to keep me on my toes and I was never bored reading them. It never felt repetitive as you saw the characters develop as the series progressed. Penelope's doubts were a focus for a while but they changed in each of the books as she found her place with Grant and with her friends.

I don't really feel like I've done the series justice but I really enjoyed it and I feel like these books really flew under the radar. I didn't see anyone talking about them when they came out and it's a travesty. Hopefully this might encourage someone else to read them too.

Have you read these books or have I convinced you to check them out?

This is a post I've been planning to write for a while, ever since I saw a tweet from Nick a few weeks ago which felt like it was targeted when she was actually doing her usual thing of calling out readers on their terrible habits :

Alright bookworms (read: hoarders), it's March. What percentage of the books you've bought/hauled this year have you read already??? pic.twitter.com/mkzmtnBItF

— nick (@nickofthebooks) March 10, 2022

On my spreadsheet I can see that I have 52 books on there. This includes my preorders, borrowed books, and any ARCs I've received as well as the books I've purchased. If I remove out the ARCs, borrowed books and preorders (since I don't have them yet can't judge myself for not reading them) and that leaves me with 38 books. I can actually remove out a few more books from those purchases, though, some I actually have bought a second copy of as I wanted a physical copy too or I've bought my own copy after previously reading an ARC or borrowing from the library. If I remove those books out That brings me down to 31. That's not so bad right? Surely I've read about a third of these books because I'm a new reformed person who reads samples before buying and will hold off on impulse purchases to really consider if it's a book I want to read or just one I've seen everyone talking about.

How many have I actually read?

4

I've bought 31 new to me books in the first few months of the year and I have read just 4 of them! That's embarrassing. I know you guys won't judge me because we're all book lovers and I know there'll be others who may even be in the same boat as me in not reading what they buy. But this is how I keep ending up with so many unread books! God, that tweet really was a personal attack on me and I need to do everything in my power to prove it wrong. It's like my own personal mission now. Screw my original plan of buying less books than I read and reading more books that I already own. I still want to do those things, but it's time to also focusing on reading more of what I buy in 2022. I think that's half the reason I've only bought one book in April so far, despite there being a few decent books on offer right now. I know that I need to focus on reading not shopping. But we all know when the pressure is on to read something I will want to anything but read that book. The issues of being a mood reader and an awkward bitch I suppose.

I've got 27 books (so far) to focus on reading the next couple of months, along with all of the other books I own as well. I do like to make things interesting. Including April (where I've read just 5 books) I'm averaging 15.25 books a month so it's not totally unfeasible to get these read in a couple of months at least. But I still want to carry on focusing on my reading challenges and clearing my shelves so we'll see what happens. I think if I get ambitious next year I'll make plans on only buying a new book when I've read so many but that is very ambitious and not something I'll be doing this year.

So what books do I need to focus on reading? I'll show them for you below:

Of these, which am I most excited to read and have been putting off for unknown reasons? Probably The Intimacy Experiment, Something Fabulous, The Ex Hex and maybe Rosaline Palmer?

Wish me luck! How many books have you bought this year and have you read them? I want to know if you, like me, buy things with some vague intention of reading it one day or if you're strict with yourself?

I made it through covid and am finally out of my covid isolation! I was so happy to get outside seeing people again because that week at home had definitely left me craving human contact. What was brilliant is it was perfectly timed to coincide with the Easter bank holiday weekend here in the UK. I got out on Thursday and it meant I could actually go out during the 4 day weekend and do stuff. What were the things I did? Mostly seeing my family and Milo and I went to the pub. It was really nice, though. I think I got lucky because we've actually had some really sunny weather for the weekend, which is not guaranteed for a bank holiday weekend and here in the UK that means the pub gardens have been full and everyone is trying to drive to the seaside. I've just been sitting in my mom's garden reading and hanging with Milo when I've not been one of the many at the pub anyway.

I started the week working and feeling a little down about being stuck at home so I'm glad I could end it with some positivity. I did find myself getting all introspective at home thinking about how we're acting like covid is over and it frustrated me, but I am glad I had the freedom to be able to work from home and avoid contact with people. I'm sure many people's employers are much stricter about working from home and with the mandatory requirement to stay home many probably have no choice but to go to work sick and spread covid. I got more frustrated by it all when the government is saying infection rates are dropping in England but considering we've ended mass testing and the UK government says not to report the results of the free tests anyone might have left, of course, the rates are going down. We have literally been told not to tell anyone if we have covid.

Anyway, enough about covid. I've spent a lot of time reading and outside this weekend since we've had some nice weather. It's amazing how much the sun can lift your mood. Sadly, being out in my garden also reminded me I seriously need to sort the weeds and I need to figure out shifting the gravel in my 'low maintenance' garden and lay some turf down so I can have grass once more! I should have really used the long weekend to be productive as I'll potentially be in the office twice next week so less time for blogging, but potentially more time for reading with the commute. Instead, I'm trying to spend it outside reading in my garden or my mom's, my preference is my mom's as less outdoor guilt and a nicer garden to look at.

What I've Been Reading

I didn't read too much at the start of the week. I decided last weekend to tackle the books for my monthly reading challenge and picked out books from my shelves to achieve it which led me to read The Little Shop of Happy Ever After. I don’t think I’d have gotten around to it for a long while if it wasn’t for the Buzzword Reading Challenge prompt, which is silly because I’ve enjoyed every Jenny Colgan book I’ve ever read. The only problem I had is that I picked up One Last Stop for the 2022 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge I wasn’t really in the mood for it so my reading of that book was slow. The sun came out Thursday and I think that helped me power through and finish. I then picked up The Ex Talk to read in the sun and flew through it in 2 days. It wasn’t my favourite but it approached a few things I found really interesting and I definitely need to buy her next adult romance.

New To Me

I didn't buy a single book this week. I will have a post going up next week which might help explain why but I'm trying to focus on reading what I own… as well as a few Kindle Unlimited reads because you have to find something new somehow, right?

What have you been doing this week? Does anyone else find themselves just generally cheerier when the sun is out, even if they're stuck doing housework?

It feels like forever since I blogged. I actually had a couple of posts drafted to come back last week but then I realised I was going to have a busy week with some IRL stuff and decided not to add another thing to my plate and just embraced another week away. It was sensible and I am very glad I did. I needed the chance to chill and enjoy what I was doing or to work for too many hours before some time off work. Either way, I decided why not come back to wrap up a month when you’ve not seen much of me in?

I admit I needed the time off to just do my thing. I was feeling awful about the war in Ukraine, the news was constantly giving me more things to worry about and so I decided the step back was good. Sadly, the news has not improved but I think my mindset to approach is better. Either that or I’m just becoming desensitised to it, which isn’t exactly a positive.

March was a month of avoidance, but also of me trying to focus on my to-do list. I failed utterly to keep up with my bullet journal or the reading journal I created, but I did read and managed to get some little jobs completed around the house and for that I am happy. My conservatory roof was fixed by my very kind neighbour, and I removed the ancient smoke alarms which were set up by overdone pizza in the oven. I haven’t yet got new ones but I’ll have them soon enough so don’t worry about me. I just need to sort a few more things but I’m happy to say my first full month spent in the new house has been a success. I think this house will work for me.

Music of the Month

I have listened to this song so much since discovering it on TikTok, it’s just so good! I can see why it had blown up, even if the sing itself is from a few years ago. I have listened to other stuff too, but I think TikTok has become the place I discover new music lately.

What I Read

I read 19 books in March. I didn't keep track of the unhauled books in March, I don't think I really unhauled much this month. I just really wasn't focused on trying to read stuff I wasn't interested in. In fact, I reread 10 books. March was the month of rereading but I really loved every reread. I had hoped my Lisa Kleypas rereads would lead into me actually finishing The Hathaways series but I think i fell out of the mood reading it. We'll see, that will be looked at in April anyway so I'll keep you updated, i know you want to know.

5 stars

4-4.75 stars

3-3.75 stars

Reading Challenges

2022 Monthly Key Word Challenge

End, Fall, Loud, Queen, Woods, Nine, Beautiful, Crown

Beautiful + Dirty

This one I thought would be way easier than it was but I was in a reread moment. It did make me want to read the rest of the series but I was a little annoyed the couple here don't get their moment until the final book in the series! I'll be reading the rest sometime soon, though. I have a lot of series I've read lately.

Buzzword Reading Challenge

A book with a location in the title

The Brightest Star in Paris

I'm so glad this prompt finally motivated me to pick it up. It was one of the few purchases I made and read within a few weeks of reading.

Beat the Backlist

We're up to 23 prompts completed, only 29 more to go. I'd hoped to be closer to halfway by now as we all know that prompts get trickier the further in you get but oh well.

What I Blogged

Not a lot apparently, but I was reading. Think of the positives.

February 2022 Wrap Up

Sunday Summary 6th March 2022

TV/Film Highlights

I'm including Bridgerton even though I don't view it as a highlight. I didn't love it, I actually get so annoyed thinking about it. Even if I hadn't been comparing it to the book, the way they did the romance was just wrong, they should have created the tension and conflict between the two in a very different way than dragging her sister in. Kate Sharma was a bad sister and no one can convince me otherwise. But I will not rant more because I don’t want to spoil anyone. Those of you who enjoyed it, I’m glad, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to force myself through another season. Especially when it’s Benedict, whose book I actually skipped in my last reread. Maybe if they completely change it I might convince myself, but I doubt it.

I can say Inventing Anna was 100% a highlight, though. i didn’t like the woman playing the journalist but I actually quite liked Anna Delvey. What she did was wrong but it was impressive she managed to do all she did. It’s truly concerning how easily she seemed to do it though. I was talking with a friend about it and we find it ridiculous how those with the most money seem to get the most free stuff and leniency with money and those truly struggling don’t. But that’s a whole other conversation, it was a good show anyway.

As for films, my highlights were definitely Encanto and Turning Red.

How was your March? Anyone else noticing their blogging winding down a little because I just don’t feel as motivated to blog regularly, who knew building a habit back up would take so long?