'All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes' was not appetizing

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] wanted to love All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes, I really did. Sadly, I only felt frustration towards the book. And I say sadly because this book had so much potential. First, the cover is awesome. I love covers with food and pink and cute, cursive fonts. And then there's the best friends-turned-lovers plot which never fails to please me (up until this point, more on that later). And food. I've read a few books with main characters who like cooking or baking and I've always loved those. So when I saw this in NetGalley, All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes really seemed like the type of novel that will go straight to my "favorites" shelf.

So what happened? A list comes in handy in this case.

I liked...
1. The alternating POVs - It showed me what was going on in Kat and Lucas' minds. When it comes to romance, I like knowing what goes on in a guy's mind.
2. Cupcake Combat - The reality show element of All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes gave excitement to this book. When I look back to it, Cupcake Combat was actually the single, exciting thing in this book. The twist in the results was unexpected and like Kat, I felt anxious about every round.

I disliked...
1. The over-introspection - This book was brimming with introspection and pining and insecurity. Kat is a very insecure woman, which she blames on her family's background and lack of support from them. But I think she just really misunderstood her family and assumed the worst from them. Both Kat and Lucas did a lot of thinking and less action, which bored me to tears. It would have been okay if their thoughts and feelings weren't the same throughout the book but from the start, I already knew that they both like each other but are afraid to be rejected. It was redundant and unexciting and boring.
2. Kat and Lucas' unwillingness to talk and the lack of dialogue - Again, too much introspection and not much action. There were very few conversations along the way, and most of it were frustrating. At one point, I asked myself, are these two really best friends? If so, why are they not talking?! Friends talk, you know. And even when they don't talk, if they really know each other well, they'd get clues about what the other is feeling. So it seemed a little unrealistic for me that with so many years being friends, Kat and Lucas didn't have a clue that they're both in love with each other. Lucas even bought a land and a house for Kat and yet he didn't even know that Kat is in love with him. What's up with that?
3. The pacing - A lot of time would have been saved if only Kat and Lucas actually talked about their feelings to each other. That said, this book is so frustratingly sloooow. And unnecessarily so. Somewhere along the middle of the competition, something big happened between Kat and Lucas. I thought things will pick up and start getting exciting. But nooo. It's like nothing happened and they got back to being their old, pining-but-never-talking selves. The ending was good, but because of the long wait, I found it lackluster and I was just happy that the torture finally stopped.

All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes was a case of wrong assumptions and jumping to conclusions. If you ever decide to read it, make sure you have lots of time and patience.

---

As a reader and reviewer, I aim to write fair and honest reviews, both on this site and on Goodreads. Please read my Review Policy here.