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A review by ninegladiolus
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Paris Daillencourt objectively has a lot going for him: a degree, a cool cat, an awesome bestie, and a lot of baking skills. He also has a metric megaton of anxiety and self-doubt. So when he ends up on Bake Expectations thanks to his best friend entering him, his anxiety is the fiercest competitor, undermining both the competition and his growing relationship with fellow contestant Tariq.
I’m going to be frank in this review; the only reason I didn’t give this book one star is because I finished it. I have read and loved other works by Hall, but Paris Daillencourt was very firmly not the book for me.
As someone who has anxiety, I understand how debilitating anxiety can be. Maybe for some readers, the novel-length anxiety attack that was Paris’ character would be affirming or entertaining in some way. For me, it was a big miss. It’s hard for me to root for a protagonist who in no way, shape, or form roots or advocates for themself. Like. At all.
The only thing more jarring to me than Paris’ self-deprecation was his unexamined privilege. There was just… an extreme cognitive dissonance in the way Paris moved through the world that was never challenged enough in the narrative for me. The few sections that brush up against Paris’ ignorance are clumsy at best, and that’s being generous. He behaves in really crappy ways; some of them can be explained by anxiety, but some of them are all him, and he never really takes accountability for it.
Most of all, I didn’t buy into the romance between Tariq and Paris, which is kind of essential for a romance novel. Is being tall and cute truly all it takes for allosexuals? Because that’s about all I ever remember Tariq mentioning about Paris. Maybe my aspec self is just too far disconnected from the typical dating experience to empathize. Beyond that, Tariq is warm, loveable, and far more patient with Paris’ behavior than I would be in his position. And while we’re at it, Morag deserves better too.
In short: This one was a huge, overblown mess for me and won’t be a book I recommend. As always, maybe it will land better for other readers.
Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
I’m going to be frank in this review; the only reason I didn’t give this book one star is because I finished it. I have read and loved other works by Hall, but Paris Daillencourt was very firmly not the book for me.
As someone who has anxiety, I understand how debilitating anxiety can be. Maybe for some readers, the novel-length anxiety attack that was Paris’ character would be affirming or entertaining in some way. For me, it was a big miss. It’s hard for me to root for a protagonist who in no way, shape, or form roots or advocates for themself. Like. At all.
The only thing more jarring to me than Paris’ self-deprecation was his unexamined privilege. There was just… an extreme cognitive dissonance in the way Paris moved through the world that was never challenged enough in the narrative for me. The few sections that brush up against Paris’ ignorance are clumsy at best, and that’s being generous. He behaves in really crappy ways; some of them can be explained by anxiety, but some of them are all him, and he never really takes accountability for it.
Most of all, I didn’t buy into the romance between Tariq and Paris, which is kind of essential for a romance novel. Is being tall and cute truly all it takes for allosexuals? Because that’s about all I ever remember Tariq mentioning about Paris. Maybe my aspec self is just too far disconnected from the typical dating experience to empathize. Beyond that, Tariq is warm, loveable, and far more patient with Paris’ behavior than I would be in his position. And while we’re at it, Morag deserves better too.
In short: This one was a huge, overblown mess for me and won’t be a book I recommend. As always, maybe it will land better for other readers.
Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.