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Lucy Parker has another winner on her hands with Battle Royal, the first book in her new Royal Insiders series and also her first novel published under the Avon Imprint. I’ve enjoyed all her books so far and have loved quite a few of them; they’re stylish and engaging and wonderfully romantic, featuring three-dimensional protagonists with chemistry that leaps off the page, strongly developed relationships, well-depicted settings and the sort of clever wit and humour that I adore.
Battle Royal is, I’m pleased to report, very much in the same vein. It’s a beautifully written grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers romance between rival bakers, packed with the vibrancy, fun, witty repartee and sexual tension that characterises her work, but there’s also a kind of gravitas here that sets it apart from her previous novels. I don’t mean that the book is heavy or gloomy – far from it – just that some of its underlying themes are weighty, and the bittersweet overtones they lend to the story add layers of complexity to the characters and the plot that take the novel to another level and make it feel like so much more than a contemporary romance or romantic comedy.
Four years earlier, Sylvie Fairchild was a contestant on Operation Cake and was doing fairly well. Her bright and breezy personality caught the attention of the viewing public and her tasty, imaginative bakes were getting good marks – despite the view of stern judge – and London’s premier baker – Dominic De Vere that her creations were mostly style over substance. She had reached the semi-final stage of the competition when disaster struck, and an unplanned cake explosion landed a ton of glitter in Dominic’s hair and catapulted a cake-smeared unicorn hoof into his forehead. Needless, to say, that was Sylvie’s last appearance on the show.
Since then however, she’s set up the Sugar Fair bakery/patisserie – which just happens to be on the same street and directly opposite to De Vere’s – and now, she’s been invited back to Operation Cake, but this time as one of the judges.
Favoured by the royal family and something of a British institution, Dominic De Vere is hugely talented, brilliant and dedicated, but where Sylvie’s work is all heart and her colourful decorative style reflects her sunshiny, open personality, Dominic’s coolly aloof perfectionism favours classical, minimalist elegance and neutral tones. As bakers – and individuals – their approaches and outlooks couldn’t be more different, something the producers of Operation Cake are clearly hoping will play well on television. An extra layer to Sylvie and Dominic’s rivalry is added when a royal wedding is announced – and they’re both determined to secure the contract to supply the wedding cake.
I loved so much about this book. It’s perhaps a little slow to start, but once it gets going it became impossible to put down as the complex, multi-layered story the author is telling begins to unfold. At the centre of it all is the opposites-attract romance between Sylvie and Dominic, which is simply gorgeous. Their chemistry and mutual attraction crackle with sexual tension from the get-go, but the way their relationship develops is an exquisite slow-burn, fuelled by longing looks, flirtatious banter and glancing touches. (Oh, the touches – *sigh*) Dominic is, at first glance, your classic stuffed-shirt hero, emotionally distant, icy-cool and brutally honest, but as we get to know him, we discover a genuinely caring man beneath the world-weary exterior, one who longs for connection but fears rejection. Sylvie is outgoing and vivacious and seems to be a complete contrast to Dominic, but it turns out they have more in common than either would have thought. Both have been profoundly affected by events in their pasts which continue to inform their choices, meaning they hold themselves apart – from people, from emotions… even from life. The depth of the affection that underpins their interactions as they learn about and support each other in slowly coming to terms with their pasts is both genuine and heartfelt.
One of the things I most liked about the relationship is that although Sylvie and Dominic are business rivals, there’s never any pettiness or sense that one is prepared to sabotage the other’s chances. It’s clear that while they may not see eye to eye aesthetically, they respect each other’s skills and capabilities, so that their (initially) begrudging co-operation on their research (for the wedding cake tender) never seems unlikely or out of character.
There’s a lot going on in this book, but Lucy Parker pulls her various story threads together extremely well and balances everything out both credibly and satisfactorily, never forgetting to keep Sylvie and Dominic’s romance at the forefront of the action. As well as the TV show and the rivalry over the wedding cake, there’s a storyline involving Dominic’s younger sister Pet who’s decided to work for him in hopes of developing a relationship with the brother she barely knows; there’s a sleaze-bag café owner who keeps stealing Sylvie’s ideas, and a charmingly poignant love story from the past that emerges as Sylvie and Dominic search for inspiration for the royal cake. I was pleased that the author chose to create a kind of AU royal family which bears little to no resemblance to the present incumbents, and the portions of the story that look at the toll taken by the weight of duty and living constantly in the media spotlight on even the strongest, most loving of relationships are thought-provoking. There’s also a lovely exploration of the concept of family – both biological and found – and how shared DNA is meaningless without affection, and a superbly developed secondary cast who all have important roles to play. Bubbly, loving Pet is delightful, Sylvie’s assistant Mabel – a woman of few words – is a terrifyingly no-nonsense hoot, and I really hope there’s a book coming for Sylvie’s long-term best friend and business partner, Jay. My only quibble overall is that there’s one overly dramatic plot-point near the end I could have done without (especially in such an already jam-packed story!)
That niggle apart, this book is an utter delight and one I’m happy to recommend without reservation. Sylvie and Dominic are perfect for one another and their romance is laden with affection, tenderness, and sexual tension as yummy as the patisserie. Touching and emotional yet whimsical and optimistic, Battle Royal captivated me from start to finish, and I’m sure fans of the author’s and of contemporary romance in general will love it.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 16/08/21
Publication Date: 08/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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This book wasn’t for me – it took me 8 days to get through it! I’d preordered it because I’d read and enjoyed all of Lucy Parker’s backlist last year, then discovered that it featured three of my least favourite things – royalty, weddings and cake shops – so I realise that much of the disconnect is down to me!
I really liked the two main characters and how their relationship evolved, the Uncle Patrick storyline and Pet but, apart from that, I found it pretty dull, especially the first few chapters.
Also, and this is a really big peeve, if I’m reading a book about English people set in England, I don’t expect it to be written using American spelling and terminology. Is it really necessary to use center and flavor, for example? They don’t change the meaning, but using pissed to mean ‘annoyed’ instead of pissed off does. If English people are pissed they’re drunk! Others that annoyed me (hee!) were Sylvie getting something out of her purse instead of her handbag and a character being referred to as an Asshat – An ASSHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That pisses me off, too – I see it so often but if I mentioned it in every review, it’d be endlessly repetitive. I received a book from an author recently – a British author, a book set in the UK in which, in the foreward, she says she’s used American spelling. WHY?? It’s a book I’d looked forward to reading but that put me right off. I’ve got plenty of other books I could read – why bother with one that’s going to annoy me?
This American is assuming the British equivalent to asshat is arsehat? :-)
I don’t know why anyone would think they needed to change the spelling, or not use British terms. It didn’t take me long to understand “ass” means a donkey and the word slang word in Great Britain is “arse.” I’m capable of understanding colour means color. And while I sometimes have to look things up in reading contemporary romances set in Great Britain, I don’t mind because I learn things. I’m really glad authors like Lily Morton don’t Americanize their books. It’s a big part of the charm for me.
Absolutely! That is part of the fun of reading from someone else’s point of view – new vocabulary!
Actually, in this case it isn’t the arse vs. ass thing, it’s that asshat/arsehat isn’t a word we use here. We probably have a much more colourful vocabulary of swears ;) “Dickhead”, “wanker”, “tosser”, “bell-end”, “arsehole” etc. would be much more likely.
Thank you for the review, now that I have read the book, I agree. You hit my major spots, too, both high and low. My emphasis is lightly different, though.
The one point I loved, that you do not mention, is the maturity & age of both MCs. The act their age, in a certain grounded no- nonsense practicality. I do not remember whether their age is mentioned, but they both feel and behave like people above 35, maybe 40. I enjoyed that, the romance sparkles and feels big and shattering, in the best way. It also acknowledges the breaking apart and rearranging that is needed when you have a good life and love comes into that – how to make a good life better is more interesting to me than young people just starting out, at this time in my life.
Like you, I enjoyed that these characters had a bit of deeper backstory to work through, and did that, beautifully, while remaining upbeat and fun a lot of the time. That is a difference to previous books I enjoyed a lot.
In all, I recommend the book wholeheartedly, and I am very happy to see LP going deeper with her books – still great fun, not quite so candy-flossy as previously, which was getting just a little bit old. ( I reread all books just now, and still like them a lot, for light summer reading, they are all great. At a more serious moment, I was hard put to deal with the incessant soap comedy of Headliners.)
I felt that the many subplots and side issues were a bit too much, and that would lower my grade slightly. The sister, the best friend, the business rival, the royals and their two plots, the evil contestant, they all came to life but did not really get enough page count or description to satisfy. I guess that this is going to be a series, and LP is excellent at overarching plotting that only reveals itself when you see how small subplots in one book reveal some extra facet in another story. It never disturbs, as opposed to some series where the books are confusing unless you read them all, but it rewards good memory or rereading a series. However, in this book, it was a bit too much. The business rival plot, the evil contestant, the sister all remain hanging a bit in the air which is ok when we look at the main couple’s love story, but irritated me somewhat.
As you said, the MCs remain front and center, the story is about them, and that works very well, so I would maybe lower your grade by half a grade, for that.
I think it’s mentioned that Dominic is late thirties, but that’s all I can recall. I agree that the romance is satisfyingly mature – I just didn’t have space to mention everything I liked, or I’d have submitted a several-thousand-word essay!
Of course.
it was simply more important to me so I wanted to underscore the maturity aspect – your review was perfect, and made a huge difference- I do not like baking, and the blurb was off putting to me.
Will this book make me crave for pastries? I can’t be having sweet dreams (literally) since I’m trying to cut down on sugar! :)
Seriously though, it sucks that the price increased significantly to $10.99 for e-book but if it means more money for Ms. Parker, I’ll pay for it. Glad to hear that it’s still as good as her other ones.
If it’s any help, I read it whilst on an 800 calorie a day anti-diabetes diet ;) I can honestly say that I didn’t crave cakes after/while reading; they sound delicious, but there’s plenty of other things to focus on!
I love all things Lucy Parker (including and perhaps especially her book written as Elle Pierson), but this one was not an A for me, more a solid B. I put it down to the “jam-packed” story. There was plenty of story in Sylvie and Dominic’s pasts, their current competition as bakery owners, their additional competition for the royal cake, etc. But wait there’s more, there’s a recipe thief and employee stuff, and, and, and. So much plot meant less of Dominic and Sylvie together.
I have finally bitten the bullet and have ordered this. I wasn’t too happy with the Austen Playbook and somehow lost trust in Ms Parker. who’s earlier works I all really loved.
And the trend continues with this book, I am totally conflicted about it.
I love the main couple, I love the royal wedding cake story, I am a fan of the GBBO, so I’m even fine with the competition judging …
But: I cannot stand the spying rival subplot. It is so so obvious what is happening there. And it just makes everbody seem dumb for not figuring it out sooner. Every time I hit some of that I have to stop reading and calm down.
Add to that all the other potential story lines in this book (the sister, the business partner, the assistant …) and I’m suffering from literary whiplash.
I do understand that a first book in a series needs to set the scene, but for me this is far too much. I’d probably go with a A for the parts I enjoy and considerably lower (like a D for the spy plot) for the rest. So I suppose a B- overall?
Still on my TBR pile!
The cartoon cover is awful, horrendous, ugly! I hated cartoon covers back in the day, and I still hate them. The Carina press covers for her novels were perfect. They captured the magic of the novels. Loved them! Why did the publisher go from perfection to horror?
Even with ebooks, I judge a book by its cover. I have never liked the cartoon covers for romances. Romances usually have more depth than a cartoon cover can convey. The review for this book definitely shows that the story is more than the zany, crazy, silly story advertised on the cover.
I don’t like them either, but I honestly don’t look at them much any more. We’ve published several reviews recently where the reviewer has stated that the cover doesn’t reflect the book’s contents at all – but they’re the current craze and sadly every publisher is falling over themselves to use them.
Thank you, Caz, for stifling my cupcake qualms. I’ve got it on order.
There are cupcakes (I think), but they are in no way, shape or form, key elements of this story!
It was your previous reply in the Coming Soon that drew me in……I ordered it then and very happy to read your more detailed review. A tangent question. Why do authors switch publishers? This is Avon.
Avon is part of the Harper Collins family, and so is Carina Press (and Harlequin), so technically, she hasn’t changed publishers, she’s switched to another imprint. My cynical self thinks the bigwigs saw how popular her London Celebrities books – published by Carina – were and decided they wanted to move her to the higher profile Avon imprint. (That’s a personal opinion – I have no basis for that guess other than my cynicism!)
I imagine most of the time authors move from one publisher/imprint to another because when their contract with one ends, they’re offered a better deal by another (and a better deal may not just be increased $$$); in some cases, I’ve seen authors dropped by a publisher who then pick up deal with someone else.
Thank you for the kind – and enlightening- reply.
Added to my TBR list; thank you for the detailed review.
Hope you enjoy it!