Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

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Title: Donut Fall in Love
Author: Jackie Lau
Published by: Berkley
Release Date: October 26, 2021
Format: eARC
Pages: 366
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Winter, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

A baker provides the sweetest escape for an actor in this charming romantic comedy.

Actor Ryan Kwok is back in Toronto after the promotional tour for his latest film, a rom-com that is getting less-than-stellar reviews. After the sudden death of his mother and years of constant work, Ryan is taking some much-needed time off. But as he tries to be supportive to his family, he struggles with his loss and doesn't know how to talk to his dad—who now trolls him on Twitter instead of meeting him for dim sum.

Innovative baker Lindsay McLeod meets Ryan when he knocks over two dozen specialty donuts at her bakery. Their relationship is off to a messy start, but there’s no denying their immediate attraction. When Ryan signs up for a celebrity episode of Baking Fail, he asks Lindsay to teach him how to bake and she agrees.

As Lindsay and Ryan spend time together, bonding over grief and bubble tea, it starts to feel like they’re cooking up something sweeter than cupcakes in the kitchen.

My Review:

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

2.5 stars — This book wasn’t bad per say, but it was very very meh for me.  If it hadn’t been a NetGalley, and I wasn’t buddy reading it, I probably would have DNFd it.  I could see a lot of potential, but in the end the word I would use to describe it is flat.  Also, if you are hoping for a rom-com (as this one is advertised), well, I would lower your expectations.

So what was flat?  The characters were pretty flat.  Honestly, I didn’t find either of them that interesting.  They weren’t bad, they were just kind of boring and not as well fleshed out as they could have been.

I enjoyed Lindsay’s passion for baking, but I didn’t connect with her on a whole lot of other things that I really should have (including losing my father at a younger age).  I enjoyed her insights about her life and family and being biracial, and I understood on the surface many of her struggles with relationships and knowing people before and after grief…it just never got to a deeper level.  And when her insecurities started, they rode that line between relatable (which I genuinely love), and annoying…and she teetered over it on occasion.

I think I got a bit more out of Ryan’s story, though it was kind of flat as well.  I did feel for his grief, but not as much as I was expecting.  Like with Lindsay, I enjoyed the insights into his life as an Asian movie star, and the things that he had to deal with with that.  But…I don’t know.  I just needed something a bit more.

And their romance?  Super flat.  I didn’t feel ANY chemistry.  There was no banter, everything felt kind of forced.  It was the definition of tell instead of show.  It probably doesn’t help that I just came off a great show book.  I did enjoy bits of their friendship though, and the way they could connect with losing a parent.

This is not to say that there weren’t glimmers of good stuff in the story…I wouldn’t have rounded up otherwise.  One bright spot was definitely the strange relationship between Ryan and his Dad.  It was complicated, and could be pretty funny, and in the end it provided me with the most emotional connection, especially at the end.

There were some other interesting secondary characters, but unfortunately they had their dull moments to take the shine off (particularly the Mel/Vivian thing).

I could probably go on, but it’s all along the same theme — the book was just missing that spark, that extra.

COYER Community: I buddy read this book with Lillian from Mom With a Reading Problem, and she gave it 3 stars (her review).  I think we felt pretty similarly about this one, and were pretty bummed it didn’t work out better.  But I did get to explain how to pronounce Nanaimo!  *snort*