Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc!

I ended up going through this book feeling pretty neutral about it. The biggest problem was that I went into this book with wrong expectations. I expected a sweet romance. The descriptions sells it as such and the cover definitely made me expect me something very sweet. However, there was a lot of tension throughout most of the story. 

The wrong expectations made me tumble head first into some tropes I really don't like: Love triangles, second chance romance and miscommunication. 

Shireen has a tense relationship with almost everyone around her. She struggles heavily with expressing what she is thinking and feeling and so do the other character. I couldn't enjoy any of her interactions with other characters, which to me in a romance book is essential. But to be honest, I'm not even sure I would say this was a romance. This book was about Shireen and her road through the baking show and the romantic bits were just a part of that. Because there was so much bad tension between the characters, the vibe for a romantic scene was not set. But also her friendship with Fatima did not convince me.

Of course I expected the book to tackle issues of fatphobia and racism. And I really liked the way this book handled it. Shireen was a great narrator for the messages the book wanted to convey. 

I do not think this was a bad book. I think this could be a great book for many people. However, I do not think this was the right book for me. The balance of what the story focused on did not work for me, add to that the tropes I do not like, it just wasn't the right experience. I do have to say, this book made me very hungry and I want t0 try all the Bengali dishes mentioned.

The narrator was fine. The enthusiasm and intonations were a little wrong sometimes, that did throw me off. I really enjoyed the accents. I definitely would have messed that up when I read it myself. Especially hearing "Gordon Ramsay" with a heavy Irish accent was amusing. Not to mention all the names, both Bengali and Irish, that I would not know how to pronounce.