eARC Review – Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

Title: Donut Fall in Love

Author: Jackie Lau

Publisher: Berkley

Publication date: October 26th, 2021

368 pages

3.5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

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.

Review

Fair warning, this book will make you want donuts. Like seriously, with the amount of time spent talking about donuts I think a half dozen should be delivered with each book.

So this book has a actor/normal person romance that I think was done really well – two people with anxieties, insecurities, and experiencing the grief of losing a parent find each other in a donut filled meet cute in Canada. There’s a baking competition, a lot of boba tea, and some spicy scenes. Also, this has Chinese representation, and I’ve been loving Asian romances lately. It’s great to see more diversity in romance books.

It is a dual POV romance which is always my favorite, so that’s a huge plus. But I felt like the conflicts were resolved too quickly. There was just something missing from the story that took some points away for me.

Overall, a solid romance that will have you craving chocolate espresso donuts.

Thank you to Berkley and Edelweiss for an early copy in exchange for an honest review

Happy reading, folks!