Donut Fall in Love

Romance blossoms between a baker and a movie star in this bland romance from Lau (The Professor Next Door). Up-and-coming actor Ryan Kwok stumbles into Lindsay McLeod’s Toronto bakery and promptly knocks over a tray of fresh doughnuts. Beneath the quippy exchange that follows, there’s a current of attraction that leaves them both dazed as they part ways. Ryan is so enchanted by Lindsay that when his agent books him on the celebrity cooking show “Baking Fail” he hires her to be his baking teacher. Through their lessons, they realize that despite leading very different lives, they have a lot in common, including shared grief over losing a parent, and their growing bond pushes their initial spark and casual, flirtatious connection into becoming something much more. But Ryan’s life in the public eye has Lindsay worried that she won’t be enough for him. Though Lau bolsters the story with appealing subplots about Ryan’s and Lindsay’s careers and loved ones—including a timely exploration of Asian American representation in film and TV—the romance itself feels thin, predictable, and laden with undue angst. There’s great potential, but much of it is wasted. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Oct.)