Aubrey Choi has a very successful Bakery shop called Comfort Zone. She loves it and, is considering expanding. Problem is that she works so much that she has no private life. Then, one night she meets a man at a local brewery and, has a glorious one night stand. Problem is that she not only never does that, she has never had the feelings she STILL has with anyone that she has with Landon Kim. Mr. Kim was not only th perfect one night stand, he is also a well known food critic who just happened to stop by Comfort Zone the day before he met Aubray but, he made the mistake of deciding to eat the Chocolate Bundt cake that was filled with chopped up gummy bears that he almost choked on. He gives a scathing review, not realizing that the part time help gave him the wrong cake.
Landon has a reputation to keep and, has never retracted a review. However, because of his review, Aubrey may very well lose her business. Landon was just as affected by his one night stand as Aubrey was so, he decides to bring her onto a friend's cooking show, not only to help her with money but, because he needs this woman close to him.
What to do when the heat factor is off the charts but, the couple each has a reason not to trust that love will last?
You'll have to read the book to find out!

Interesting characters, a difficult situation, an intense attraction and descriptions of mouthwatering desserts ensures an enjoyable read. Due to a young employee giving Landon the wrong cake, he nearly destroys the Aubrey's bakery's business with a scathing review. When Landon realizes that Aubrey is a very talented pastry chef and the woman that he spent an unforgettable night with, he wants to fix it without ruining both of their reputations. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgallery. Both Audrey and Landon are both strong likable characters. I really liked that Audrey knew what she wanted in life and was willing to fight for it. I liked how the author showed both of their vulnerabilities and their emotions. Beware there are some steamy scenes and descriptions of heavenly desserts. I enjoyed reading this book.

Cute book! I don't think I will re-read this anytime soon, but a nice, easy, mindless read. There were some parts that kind of needed a bit of tightening up, but that might come with the editing process.

This was a quick and easy read that I managed to finish with a day. I was eager to read a sexier NA romance because the two I’ve read previously simply failed to deliver there. While yes, this definitely was a bit more hot and heavy than the others, I still wanted more.

After Landon and Aubrey’s one-night stand, I was really trying to figure out if the two actually had a connection because the events that followed felt…too cute and too cheesy. Perhaps I felt a little distant because I struggled with Aubrey and Landon as individuals. Not that they aren’t great separately. I can appreciate two people who are career-driven though each for very different reasons but I also thought they seemed a little…bland–a bit two-dimensional. Maybe this stepped from Landon’s “plan to help save her business” didn’t feel concrete enough. Maybe I would have been okay with a little more in this area, too. I do, however, loved the idea of Landon and Aubrey in a villa by themselves while trying to not tear each other’s clothes off because their attraction, I think, was very genuine as the story progresses. There were some moments I thought Aubrey was so bold and tempting, I’m surprised they seriously did not rip each other’s clothes off right then and there, lol.

You can also tell that both Landon and Aubrey are fiercely loyal to those they are close to, something that can be seen in Landon and Aria’s friendship, though that too didn’t feel wholly there. (I do, however, approve of Aria’s ways to bring Landon and Aubrey closer together.)

Then the author introduced an plotline that I just couldn’t really get with. Perhaps because of my own personal preference regarding this subject, but it made me think if Landon and Aubrey would have even chose to remain together if this one thing haven’t happened. I’m not quite convinced but I see slivers of possibility since they did seem to genuinely like each other, though it also seemed like a bit of a whirlwind romance.

Of course, I do love that Landon and Aubrey are both Korean, though I thought I would see a bit more of the at least Aubrey’s parents since the synopsis mentioned her getting “away from her strict Korean parents.” Daddy issues abound for both Landon and Aubrey, let me tell you. I did get a good giggle when we were introduced to Landon’s mom because it was like my own mother and mother-in-law (both of whom are Korean) were speaking to me, lol.

Also, let me just say the good descriptions in this book were to die for (or drool over)! I also thought it was so lovely that Aubrey owned a bakery. That’s like an odd pipe dream for me even though I have no talent whatsoever!

After the ending, I can definitely see a companion novel about two other characters coming out of this series, which I would be interested in reading if it actually did happen. I will say that the last few chapters seemed rush, and the whole book seemed to go by rather quickly but maybe that’s my own fault because I read it fast!

Celebrity food critic Landon meets local baker Aubrey at a small town bar, which leads to a one night stand, a fling, though either secretly hoped it wasn’t. When Landon releases a negative review on an accidental cake he was served from Comfort Zone, he had no idea Aubrey is the master chef. And, Aubrey didn’t recognize Landon either. To save their reputations and make it up to Aubrey, Landon invites her onto a cooking show, filmed in Bosque Verde, where there sleeping arrangements would be to share a villa. So, was it a fling after all? Or could the close proximity transform their attraction to something deeper?

Though the story started Korean-American characters, it had only a few cultural references. There was still plenty of heart—by way of their fast-track relationship and their motivation to pursue their dreams—and humor. I liked the brief glimpses into their relationships with their moms and how they had similar daddy issues. Overall, I enjoyed Landon’s and Aubrey’s journey of making their Sweet Mess work, and there was begging. Lots of begging in the end, as it should. But most of all, I was in for all the delicious descriptions of food! From pretzel bread pudding to sweet buns, from wine-infused strawberry shortcake to Moscato sorbet cookie sandwiches.

A Sweet Mess comes out on 07/14/20! (I told you I was trying to stay on top of my ARCs. 😊) I got a copy from @netgalley that I read last night. This is a super cute romance about Aubrey and Landon. Aubrey owns a bakery in Wheldon, and Landon is a famous food critic. When a flat tire strands Landon in Wheldon, the two have a one-night stand. Landon writes a bad review of Comfort Zone (after been served a birthday cake that wasn’t meant to be sold). In order to make up for all the bad press, Landon gets Aubrey on a cooking show. During the filming, sparks fly - but will Aubrey get burned again? (Cooking pun... get it?) I thought it was well-written - the dialog was great and it was just steamy enough. I enjoyed it, and I think you will too.

I love foodie romances so I was pretty sure this would be a hit for me.

However, I found the narrative super confusing between the abrupt POV changes and even the order of events. There was a month ahead time jump that I somehow missed (despite re-reading several times).

The food descriptions are great, I loved Aubrey's bff Tara and if you're looking for sexual tension but fade to black sex scenes, this might be a good choice even if it didn't quite work for me.

Frankly, this book was up and down for me.

It starts off with a promising premise - a mix up with a cake, unknown identities, one night stand, accidental betrayal, followed by a "just one villa" situation that thrusts the MCs into close proximity. Plus there's baking! I love baking.

While I had a perfectly fine time reading this, for the most part, the more I think about it, the less it coheres for me. There are a lot of parts to this story which are maybe less developed than they could have been. And then there's the fact of a trope in the final third not being my favorite, which I won't reveal here because it's spoilery. I was actively bothered at the end of the book when the grovel is achieved in basically one scene. I wanted the heroine to demand better from the hero.

The "just one villa" part was the most successful section of the book for me. Although this book didn't work perfectly for me, I'd read more from this author.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really wish that I enjoyed this one more than I did, but... it's kind of a hot mess. While I was drawn in by the playful cover and the promising blurb, there were issues that prevented me from connecting to what should've been a fun rom com. I can't say that I loved the writing style, with its confusing perspective changes from one paragraph to the next or its strange times jumps. I also can't say that I loved the plot, with a push/pull relationship that becomes frustrating and an ending that I found all kinds of problematic. So, unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

The story follows Aubrey, a baker, and Landon, a food critic. They share one steamy night together that leaves both of them with a touch of regret that their fun couldn't continue. But a bad review brings them back into each other's lives, and it's not long before they're fighting the chemistry between them. Insecurities and work conflicts prevent them from jumping into something real, but that doesn't stop the attraction.

There was the potential for something good here, but I just couldn't get into the writing style. I did read an ARC so it's possible that some of that was fixed after another round of editing, but the issues I had would've required extensive revisions to fix. While I do love that the book was dual perspective - that was definitely needed here - it would jump from one character to the next without any notice (among other problems). There's also the matter of the ending, which... I really had a problem with. The choice of conflict was not to my taste AT ALL, and I don't love the reason they got back together. I won't spoil the storyline, but I can say that the final act is the reason why my rating is so low. All in all, this should've been right up my alley but ultimately didn't work for me, and I'm kind of bummed about it. I appreciated receiving an ARC (and am voluntarily leaving a review), but I'm not able to give this one a wholehearted recommendation.

A Sweet Mess centers on Aubrey Choi, a young woman who owns a brand new bakery, Comfort Zone. Aubrey has an intense one night stand with a hot stranger she meets at her best friend's brewery -- a stranger who turns out to be famed food critic Landon Kim. Prior to meeting Aubrey, Kim received the wrong order from Comfort Zone and after nearly choking to death on gummy worms, writes a scorchingly bad review which sends the fledgling bakery into a tailspin. After finding out that Aubrey owns the bakery he torched, Landon embarks on an endeavor to help Aubrey save Comfort Zone from financial ruin while attempting to preserve both of their professional reputations.

This book has a lot of great ideas, but it tries to force too many different plot points into one book. There's family drama, there's an accidental pregnancy, there's a cooking show, there's love at first sight, enemies to lovers, *and* forbidden love elements at different points -- it's just too much. The "will they, won't they" between Aubrey and Landon never really makes a ton of sense, as both characters whiplash back and forth between wanting to be together and believing there's no way they could make it work.

It was a lot of fun to read this book: a funny and engrossing plot, a cast of well rounded characters and a sweet romance that made me root for the characters.
The descriptions of food are mouthwatering.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A sweet story about food, pastry, love, and heartache. Aubrey Choi owns a bakery in a small town and one her employee makes a mistake with a birthday by selling it to a walk-in customer, she now must save the party by remaking the cake. Not simply because inside of the cake is to be filled with peanut butter and gummy worms a six-year-old dream. When her busy day is over, she heads for her friends’ bar Tara and she has a nice conversation when a stranger sits next to Aubrey. This leads to a one-night stand but she is good with that.
Landon Kim is a food blogger and a very popular one at that. He has turned that into a food critique job at a magazine and he believes what he writes. Because he is always right. So, when he writes a review about a small-town bakery that he liked the cake until his second bit had peanut butter and gummy worms in it and his tender pallet could not handle the combination so he almost choked and then threw away the rest of the cake. When returning from his month-long trip abroad he is asked by his editor to re-review the bakery, he says no. after many, many letters from people in town and from a visit by the girl who mistakenly sold him the cake he still says no. First, he thinks that she slept with him for a good review, but then he gets that thought out of his head. He then comes up with his own idea and goes to her with his idea.
He wants to help her and decides to have her appear on a new T.V. show she agrees and for three weeks she is with him and another famous chief while tasting wine and getting to Landon. He is also getting to know her since they both have daddy issues; they each have other issues also. When the two of them become closer. A problem arises and when she tells him how she feels about him he says nothing, so she leaves. The story continues from there and is actually a little better, but you will need to read the rest to find out what happens. Good characters and just an overall good book.

Baked goods and reading are two of my favorite things, and with A Sweet Mess Jayci Lee, those two loves collide. A Sweet Mess is an adorable love story between a self-made baker and a food critic whose harsh review nearly ended her career - a true recipe (pun intended) for chemistry and drama. This book was light and airy and was almost great – with the exception of its ending and lack of resolution.

The overall pacing and plotting in this book was pretty solid, until the last couple of chapters. For the majority of the book, the author strategically used time jumps to push the plot forward - which definitely helped trim the plot and kept it moving. She also used multiple points of view to add depth to the story - having both Aubrey and Landon's points of view definitely helped justify their actions and democratize the story. The biggest example of this was getting to see why Landon left the bad review of Aubrey's restaurant - without his POV, he would have been a much less likable character.

There is one trope in romances that I really don't enjoy (because most of the time it's used as a quick way to create drama in the third act). This is your official spoiler warning: if you don't want to be spoiled for the third act of this book, skip the rest of this paragraph. Ok, spoilers ahoy. In this book, the two main characters have a big blow up and end up breaking up and walking away from each other. Honestly, they broke up because they both were being emotionally immature and weren't communicating with each other. They are eventually brought back together by Landon finding out about her being pregnant - and though he said he wasn't with her just for their baby, it certainly felt that way. The reason it felt that way was because the book doesn't give proper resolution to their fight and communication issues. The fact that Aubrey is pregnant is the magic pill that fixed their relationship. Because of this, her pregnancy felt like a cheap, cop out ending that undermined any character growth they actually had.

Aubrey was a sassy, independent woman. She walked away from her selfish family and was making her own way in the world. Aubrey was also a very hot and cold character - in a good way. Throughout this book, we as readers, watch her head and her heart fight it out when it comes to Landon. I think this on and off dynamic she had with her feelings towards Landon really raised the emotional stakes in their relationship. The best part about Aubrey was how much she valued and loved her best friend - I love when women support women in romance books. The one hitch in her journey, was the fact that instead of learning to open up and communicate more, she ended up reversing most of her character growth / development at the end of the book. If she hadn't reverted like that, she would have been a near perfect character - though I did enjoy reading about her for the majority of the book. Her and Landon had a ton of chemistry and it was easy to see why they fell for each other to begin with.

Overall, this was a book with a whole lot of chemistry and cute moments - it was easy to get invested in Aubrey and Landon's story, even from the first time they met. Jayci Lee has a real talent for creating good, chemistry driven relationships. However, the reason I can't give this book five stars is because of how the book ended, and the lack of resolution of the conflict between the two characters. However, I do want Aubrey's recipes - the ice cream sandwiches she had with wine sorbet sound amazing.  Looking for other similar romance? Check out The Bride Test and The Friend Zone. 3/5

Thanks to #Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to get the E-arc of #ASWEETMESS for an honest review.
After I finished The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, I wanted to write another Asian own-voice book, and I remembered that I have an E-arc from Netgalley, and I picked it up. Jayci Lee is a known author to the Harlequin Romance community. The truth is this first time I heard about the author and the cover, and the summary intrigued me, so I decided to ask for the E-arc.
The truth for some reason, I had to take a small break from the book because, with all the pandemic situations, my reading got a little bit slower. I am a person who will read the whole book when I have asked the opportunity to read the book. I am happy about the break because when I continued reading the story, I enjoyed it a lot.
A Sweet Mess is a cute romance that was full of all of the angst (even though the two main characters have a one-night stand) and drama (while remaining funny).
I loved how strong is Aubrey's character, both Landon & Aubrey have the family stories that hold them back. But both of them have good friends and mothers that are there to push them and see that they deserve each other.
The truth is I would like to have the recipes of the foods & desserts both Aubrey & Landon made.
The plot has its typical ups and downs, these two weather many storms, but they are true to their feelings and the happily ever after is sweet and just so romantic.

A delightful story, you will fall in love with the book and the characters. I can't wait for more from Lee.

3 Stars
I gave it 3 stars for many moments in the book. It had a cute setup and I like the idea of different cultures and learning about them.

Unfortunately, I had some issues with what they used as conflicts.

A Sweet Mess follows the story of Audrey Choi who is owns a bakery called Comfort Zone. Her bakery is her dream and is a popular spot with the locals. After meeting Landon, a food critic, and spending one night together her world is turned upside down. His bad reviews of her restaurant start to kill her business. Can Aubrey turn things around and can Landon make amends for his mistakes?

The story turns out with a “love at first sight” theme and then switches over to “forced proximity” as they have to share a villa for an upcoming cooking show. Because things went sour between Audrey and Landon so fast they have to work to build trust in each other. They share a lot of quick banter in their conversations which makes the reader laugh out loud and I liked seeing them bond over their love of cooking.

Audrey and Landon cant deny their passion for each other as they lodge in the villa. Its a cozy serene environment where they are hidden away from the world and can work on their (cooking) craft. Audrey is a fiery main character who is confident in her cooking skills. She knows she’s a good baker and is determined to prove to others that Comfort Zone is full of tasty treats. I admired her spontaneous nature and her inquisitive nature of trying new food combos in the kitchen. Landon has a hard exterior on the outside because hes been taken advantage of during his time off. But in reality he has the biggest heart under that hard exterior. That’s why he tries so hard with Aubrey to make things right.

Not only is this is a romance novel but it’s also about the power of food. Food is a source of comfort in many ways and you see the joy it brings to others. Especially when Audrey create special deserts for her customers. She puts a lot of love into her cooking and has the biggest heart. The food descriptions are so mouth watering in this book and I wanted to try all of the recipes described. It’s a lighthearted read with some angst, but overall it was a fun romance.

This was an adorable book about food, love & second chances. I loved Aubrey so much; her drive, her compassion and her love for baking. Landon was overall a great character but went about saying and doing things all wrong alot in this book.
I wish it had more with both of their families and that it would come full circle with that but overall if you love books with baking & food definitely check this one out!

A Sweet Mess is a light and enjoyable romance. The romance is full of tropes but was still fun and intriguing, keeping you interested without feeling like every other romance story you've read before (because let's be honest - this stuff gets exhausting and repetitive a lot). I enjoyed this and would recommend this as a nice lighthearted summer read for anyone looking to get their fill of romance!

A Sweet Mess is a new romantic comedy by Jayci Lee. An unforgettable one-night stand between a baker Aubrey and a food critic Landon quickly sours after a bad review from Landon that puts the bakery in the red. In order to right the wrong he offers her a opportunity she can't refuse even if she wants nothing to do with him. Their physical reaction to each other is hard to ignore and things heat back up between them but are their feelings worth risking their careers for.

This was a fun story, more emotional than I expected towards the end, but overall it was entertaining. Aubrey and Landon were both strong characters but while I loved Aubrey right from the start, Landon really took some time to grow on me and even by the end I wasn't completely sold on him. The sexual tension between them is off the charts and leaves you anticipating the moment they finally give in. The highlight of the book for me was all the mouthwatering food descriptions throughout the book that are guaranteed to make you hungry.

A Sweet Mess is my first introduction to author Jayci Lee and I would be interested in reading more from her in the future.

This is the kind of romance that sticks in your head even when you're not reading it. Aubrey and Landon have so much chemistry you can't help but ship them, and the food writing was great. This was a fantastic weekend read.