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emily_mh's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book revolves around two concepts: a romance and a baking competition, and both were pretty solid.
I enjoyed the romance between Shireen and Chris. It had a couple of my fave tropes, namely second-chance romance and the MC not realising that the LI is in love with them when it is very obvious to the reader. The dynamic between Shireen and Chris was great - they had a lot of healing to do, but you could see that there was so much love there. Their interactions got sweeter and sweeter as the book went on. I do wish we had gotten more of a feel for WHY Shireen was in love with Chris - like, what was it about her in particular? Even though I liked the romance, my favourite relationship in the book was actually between Shireen and her parents. Her parents were so lovely and supportive! I enjoyed their interactions so much.
The plot being focussed on the baking show was downright entertaining, as the fictional show had all the drama you expect from and love in the real thing. I loved that the judges’ names were puns of Mary Berry, Gordon Ramsey and Paul Hollywood. Admittedly I sometimes had to suspend my disbelief regarding the details of how the show was run, but this wasn’t too bad.
A theme that emerged as a result of the baking show was about how being fat and Bangladeshi impacted Shireen’s experience, not just on the show, but in life, too. She faces a tidal wave of online hate with little support from production, and is accused of special treatment at one point when she IS shown a tiny bit of support. In that way, the narrative explores how white people will cry “unfair treatment” when all that’s happening is the playing field being levelled (and in this case, it was more like a smidge of dirt being levelled). In her regular life, Shireen observes the difficult position being both fat and Bangladeshi puts her in, as Bangladeshi culture is one centred around food yet also obsessed with diets. Reading from Shireen’s perspective was insightful in many ways and gave a new angle, especially on reality TV, that is unfortunately uncommon in YA and in literature in general.
Shireen had great development as the MC, as she learns to temper her all-or-nothing thinking as it comes to failure and love. As the story progresses, she really settles into herself. As a side note regarding her character, I wish we had been shown and not told about her passion for baking. We see little of her baking process, and even less of her emotional response to this.
Rep: Rep: fat Bengali Irish-Bangladeshi lesbian (word not used but implied) MC, lesbian Irish-Taiwanese LI
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Body shaming, and Xenophobia
Minor: Racial slurs, Ableism, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Homophobia
Minor: colourism
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