For his part, Dominic is repulsed by Sylvie’s aesthetic-but he also really wants to touch the purple streaks in her hair. Dominic is icy and scary and Sylvie just wants to poke at him (and cover his life in glitter). Sylvie and Dominic have a lovely energy to their interactions. They therefore end up spending a lot of time together as they research details for the royal cake. Also, Sylvie and Dominic are both competing for the bid to make the cake for an upcoming royal wedding. Now, Sylvie has been tapped to join the judging team. They first met four years ago, when Sylvie was a contestant on GBBO, and Dominic a judge she was eliminated when her unicorn cake exploded and whacked him in the head. Sylvie’s cakes look like a unicorn dusted them with rainbows and sparkles Dominic is into classic minimalism. Sylvie and Dominic own dueling bakeshops across the street from one another.

Once I got over my discombobulation about reading a lot more about the love lives of various royals than I was bargaining for, I can say that I really enjoyed this one, with a few asterisks. However, while a baking competition does feature in this romance, it’s more of an aside-the more substantial sideplot that drives the romance is British Royal Drama. I picked up Battle Royal because I’ve heard good things about Lucy Parker, and because the blurb touted this as a GBBO-inspired romance.

Overall: I feel very emotionally manipulated right now this is not *necessarily* a bad thing Plot: Rival bakery owners compete on bid for royal wedding cake (plus a bunch of other stuff)

Heat Factor: A little bit of spice to go with all those sweetsĬharacter Chemistry: The way she makes his eye twitch

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker