Title: Cake Walk
Author: Douglas Bell
Publication Date: March 6, 2026
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Male
I have to be up front about Cake Walk - this was a difficult read, and not just for the difficulties of racism, transphobia, and homophobia that Douglas Bell deliberately wove into it.
This is the story of Bryan, a black professional in an industry that thrives on the old white boy network, and Nadia, the white trans woman who loves him. Theirs is a complicated romance that crosses lines of gender, sexuality, race, and class. There are so many forces trying to drive a wedge between them, most notably Bryan's family and coworkers, that it seems a relationship doomed from the start. For all of that pressure, however, it's Bryan's own fears and inhibitions that present the biggest threat... and that leads me to the other difficulty I alluded to.
Bryan was, for most of the novel, an extremely difficult character to like. He's selfish and self-centered, more worried about the attitudes and opinions of others than the woman he loves. While I get it, and understand what Bell was trying to do by internalizing so much of the story's conflicts, it felt like too much. Bryan had so many opportunities to rise above himself, but instead he repeatedly fails everyone around him. There are so many moments where it seems like he's ready to grow, on the cusp of a personal revelation, but instead he doubles down by saying and/or doing the wrong thing.
While Bryan does finally come around and begin to make amends, even that feels incomplete. Bell allows the man to mend things between individuals, but never closes the circle by allowing the figure to achieve real social change - and both his company and his family need that change.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀
Title: Love Cake
Author: Douglas Bell
Publication Date: July 17, 2026
Genres: Romance
Protagonist Gender: Male
Despite my issues with Cake Walk, the last 6 chapters were absolutely stellar, closing strongly enough to give me hope for the sequel. Unfortunately, and it pains me to say this, but Love Cake faltered more for me than the first.
Honestly, this rubbed me the wrong way from the opening chapter, where we see Sophia's Cupcakes has suffered so much financially that it's been turned into a secret strip club for trans women and their admirers, which is especially troubling since we don't get to see many trans women allowed to be happy and safe in polite society. We get some context later, and while it explains why Bryan allowed it to happen, it still feels like an unfortunate choice.
From there, we flash back three years, to the beginning of realizing Nadia's dream. She and Bryan were lovingly committed at the end of the first book, so I really expected to see this reflect more of a balance between them, but it becomes even more of a Bryan book instead, and one that ships Nadia off-page for multiple chapters. His internalized issues have been put behind him, which is fantastic, but he finds new ways to be selfish and preoccupied.
As much as he's grown, though, Douglas Bell still doesn't allow Bryan to resolve his family issues or achieve real social change - until the end, that is, which I'll get to in a moment. He does come around and accept his son's gender fluidity, which is probably my favorite part of the book, and we even get to see Lance's drag performances. His daughter, though, remains estranged to the point of becoming hostile, and rather than bringing them closer together, she... well, without getting into spoilers, she gets an ending that seems unnecessarily cruel.
Bell promised in the Author's Note that he rewrote this edition to be more aspirational, especially in the ending, but I didn't feel that. The story is honest about the challenges facing the community, especially coming out of Covid and into the Trump era, and it forces us to confront the hateful violence of not just protesters but everyday customers. It's exhausting, and it should be, but the final comeuppance is so heavy-handed that it feels wrong, with several characters thrown under the bus out of aspirational convenience.
I really wanted to love these two books, because we don't see enough trans-amorous main characters in romance, but I'm afraid the best I can do is say I liked them enough to read through to the end.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀
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