Lost in a Good Book

Published: 8 June 2023 (print)/8 June 2023 (audio)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends/Hodder Children’s Books
Pages: 336/8 hrs and 27 mins
Narrator: Priya Ayyar
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Contemporary YA Romance
★   ★ – 2.5 Stars

“Welcome to the first ever Junior Irish Baking Show!”

Shireen Malik is still reeling from the breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Chris, when she receives news that she’s been accepted as a contestant on a new televised baking competition show. This is Shireen’s dream come true! Because winning will not only mean prize money, but it will also bring some much-needed attention to You Drive Me Glazy, her parents’ beloved doughnut shop.

Things get complicated, though, because Chris is also a contestant on the show. Then there’s the very outgoing Niamh, a fellow contestant who is becoming fast friends with Shireen. Things are heating up between them, and not just in the kitchen.

As the competition intensifies, Shireen will have to ignore all these factors and more— including potential sabotage—if she wants a sweet victory!

This is a hard one to review because so many issue I had with it are specific plot points but being vague about the problems is doing it a disservice as well. I’ll try my best to be vague but spoiler free. It begins with an established Romeo and Juliet (or Juliet and Juliet) type situation that’s already transpired, but that isn’t the focus as the post break-up of Shireen and Chris is where we come in.

We learn a lot about Shireen early on, her love of baking shows and baking, her friendship with Fatima and her recent break up. Her parents run a doughnut shop which has a rivalry with the one across the street which is where her relationship with Chris comes from. I enjoyed getting to know about Shireen’s life and it was great to have everything be established without chunks of exposition, Jaigirdar reveals things seamlessly as the story goes on.

I was curious about the format of the Junior Irish Baking Show. The filming and show structure decisions go against what I know from the baking and reality TV world but it worked for the plot and when you create your own made up show you can do what you like. One peculiar aspect was the fact the judges would have more sway than producers, and that the producers would hide cheating, despite the truth being they would jump on that drama and get views out of it or at best be accused of favouritism and unfair conditions for everyone else in the competition if they didn’t act.

There are a lot of confusing elements of this story which, as I said, if I start to unpack I’ll be breaking down the plot points, but Shireen’s relationship with her parents swung between being supportive, to indifferent, to contradictory. They were unsure about her being on the show which was understandable, but then they became supportive, but also never minded Shireen never stayed and watched the show with them or seemed invested to talk to her about it. It may be a cultural thing, Shireen mentions how they display affection a few times, this might be the way it goes in her Bangladeshi house.

The less confusing aspects were just plain potholes. As the story went on the basic structure from the start started to fall apart and things just didn’t make realistic sense. It was already hard to believe that the judges are in charge, but to believe there is no security in the studio, and what security there is so is unfathomably unrealistic. It takes you away from the story because it just would not happen. It’s one thing to put your disbelief aside if the characters and the story is compelling enough, but since the characters were slightly flat and underdeveloped, and the storyline was a little outlandish, there is a point where you can’t drive around a plot hole anymore and you have to fall into them.

Shireen’s selfish and judgemental attitude is easy to pin on her being a teenager, as well as being hurt and lashing out when she is upset. By the end there is an attempt at character development but unfortunately it felt rushed and shallow and didn’t feel much more than her apologising for her behaviour without actually changing it. To her credit she is flawed without becoming unlikable, there is a good balance there.

Chris was a confusing character. She is on the baking show, but has been established as not being much of a baker, but she needs to win, but also doesn’t think she’s good enough to and doesn’t really like to bake. Shireen isn’t her only competition so it was a weird reason to have this cause conflict between them. If we’re supposed to be invested in Chris and Shireen patching up their friendship/relationship Jaigirdar doesn’t give you much to work with. We got so little from Chris on the page it was hard to understand her character at all aside from the few points Shireen mentions on the page.

The love triangle or potential love interest angle was also barely addressed. It hovered in the corner but I never felt it became really viable. The past drama over Chris was more of a focus than diving into anything with Niamh who was also underdeveloped.

There were positives to admire. The representation of Asian cultures was strong and the celebration of their cuisine was positive. The exploration of online bullying, racism, and fatphobia are addressed naturally and with respect. That was one part of the story that felt real. Of course the adults would reach out to make sure the kids were ok it was strange again that it was the judges taking the lead and not an on set counsellor or producer but I understand the connection Jaigirdar was trying to make with Shireen.

Ayyar does a good job at narrating. The accent switches were good and helped establish characters though it was an interesting choice to have an Irish/Bangladeshi be narrated as American when everyone else got their own character’s accent.

There are puns a plenty if that’s your thing and you have to admire Jaigirdar for creating a set of judges who are the unsubtle off brand versions of real celebrity judges. Padma Bollywood is the Paul Hollywood you can put in a book without it being Paul Hollywood. Mary Berry and Gordon Ramsey also get their own alternate selves. Overall, it’s light hearted full of baking and culture so if you are after an easy read this would be perfect, but even light reads shouldn’t throw some parts of reality out the window.

You can purchase The Dos and Donuts of Love via the following

QBD |  Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible