ARC Review: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

“…it’s certainly a fun “chic lit” with a bisexual lead character who is on a journey of self discovery and then a small side of romance.”

~ Under the Covers

It’s time for a little book review rant. Marketing a book the right way and to the right audience is such an important part of a readers’ experience. Over the last few years I’ve seen women’s fiction and chic lit being marketed as romcom. And that’s great, there’s probably quite a bit of crossover and a good chance a romance reader will enjoy one of those genres if there’s a satisfying enough HEA. Certainly not all romance readers, though.⁠

See with women’s fiction and chic lit is more about the journey the characters go on. Whether is a serious or funny one. The focus isn’t on the main couple or the romance, even if there is one. As a reader of all those genres, you need to go into a book with the right mindset and expectations. ⁠

It’s such a disservice to a book when a reader expects a rom com and ends up getting one of the other two. Not because the book isn’t good but because that’s not what you thought you were getting. ⁠

I know it’s tempting to slap a popular style cover to appeal to a wide market and categorize the book a certain way for sales, but think of the after effects. If readers are let down with the experience, they may not pick up another one.

All that to say, I enjoyed ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE by Alexis Hall. But it’s certainly a fun “chic lit” with a bisexual lead character who is on a journey of self discovery and then a small side of romance. In fact, if you go into this with the romance book mentality you’ll be immediately ticked off because there’s a love triangle and the heroine does sleep with someone other than the hero. But if you have the right mindset when you pick it up, it’ll be a great experience! I was fortunate that I was able to switch gears quickly and it didn’t take away from having fun listening to this audiobook (which I certainly recommend). Rosaline isn’t perfect and I actually really liked that. She’s made mistakes, many in fact, she’s not a perfect person now and she’s still trying to get a handle on her life. But she’s trying her best to be a good mom and her daughter is adorable.⁠

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