WARNING: The cover does not match the content. This book is heavily filled with multiple incidents of domestic abusive situations as well as substance abuse.

I started this book summer 2020. It was a hard DNF after several items were ticked off that just didn’t seem to be good things for a second chance romance or a non-toxic relationship.

The cover is a trap. It is beautiful, featuring what Abigail does for a living. She is a fabulous and artistic baker with one other employee, Brittany, who is a sweetheart. Abigail has a lot of emotional baggage that still affects her that she hasn’t really worked through. Not that big of a problem, except when history repeats itself or you change who you are for someone else.

Dillon meets Abigail when he crashes into her work van. Later, maybe after the 35% mark somewhere, he admits that he previously had serious issues with alcohol….and he hit her while he was drunk. Ahem, I’m sorry, “hung over”. He also admits that the previous night at their date, he felt she was a shitty date and slept with some rando from the bar!

And Abigail was OK with that! WTF!

NO.

That’s where I ultimately had to draw the line. And she kept trying after that!

And then suddenly it is very “you belong to me – promise it’s just me”. WAAAAAAY too possessive. Such dramatic swings is not a foundation for a relationship.

Up to the almost 50% mark, there wasn’t anything that really indicated a romance at all. Just some like.

The writing was stilted and overall the book hard to move through, even from the beginning. There are multiple stories being told and no clear way that Ackers fully planned for them. There is so much jumping around, back and forth between multiple points in time, that it is not clear or easy to follow.

This book was quite different in tone to what the cover suggested, in my opinion. The hero wasn't appealing to me at all, and the heroine's ex was pretty intense in the narcissism department, so I found it a bit of a hard slog to get through as the story cranked up. The quality of writing, however is great, and the heroine is nicely quirky. My favourite part of all was the supporting character of Brittany.

I expected this to be more of a frothy, light romance but instead, it was a very dark, difficult book to get through with serious subject matter.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I did enjoy this book, it had an interesting storyline with a likeable heroine. I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed but I would definitely pick up another book by this author

Couldn't get into this story, sadly. Based on the cover and blurb, I had been expecting a romance albeit with some depth about past abuse and such. Turned out not to be the case - instead being a very dark and disturbing book that didn't in any way make for a good time reading material.
Also had trouble with the 'hero', Dillon, who seemed like a man who didn't know his own mind and it was too much of him going back and forth between his feelings and wants her/wants her not throughout.
The name of the cake business also raised an eyebrow every time I saw it, making me think of a porn fetish more than cake and then kinda killing the happy, merry vibe of wedding cakes that it was supposed to evoke.

3 Stars
This was a bit of a surprise. I thought it was going to be a little lighter and fun but had a strong and serious side with the character's past and issues. The concerns were important and the way they bought worked through everything was brought to the forefront.

i was given this ARC from publisher and netgalley for my honest review

this book i felt was a heavy read at times that dealt with troubling things but had a nice change to it of humor and romance. the characters are faced with abuse, fear, being lonely, struggling with self worth etc. But even with all these issues they are able to love and be with each other for romance.

This book was a nice change of pace to traditional romance storylines. The two main characters came from very different and difficult backgrounds, and their getting together is seen as very unconventional. You can tell that what storms they weather together are worth it, because the two are meant for each other. While this book was romantic and heavy at some times, there was also a good deal of humor that would leave you smiling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

Reading Have Your Cake has had me thinking about some of those things we all try not to think of too much: abuse, manipulation, fear, loneliness and self worth. The actions of the protagonists in this story are coloured by the impact these things have had on their lives to date.
Abigail, who’s escaped an abusive relationship and recreated herself in a new place, is slow to trust and quick to think the worst. Dillon, financially a huge success, is lost in his world of riches. He’s a slick, showy and successful salesman in his business world but in his own life he is alone and lonely, an alcoholic who drinks and parties to excess but he isn’t a happy man. Both Abigail and Dillon enjoy massive highs and face devastating lows.
These two are a most unlikely couple and their relationship is far from conventional. It’s certainly a rocky road and yet through the cracks shine two people who are perfect for each other.
I loved that their story was set in London, a city packed with quirky and unusual things to do and places to visit. It was fun checking out some of these with Abigail and Dillon. I loved too the fact that while theirs is a challenging relationship, these two still find plenty to laugh about. I ended this story with a big grin on my face.

Ok, so this needs a different cover. From the cover you expect a romance with baking - and although the blurb says it’s a contemporary romance that “touches on issues of domestic violence and substance abuse” this does much more than touches on it. I wouldn’t really count it as a romance at all. It’s much darker and very little romance at all. Really not for me. Really not.

Oh and the details about London and the British political system are frequently wrong and also internally inconsistent. I wish this was better. I wanted a lovely romance with cakes and some redemption but this is not that. Hey ho.

I enjoyed the real-ness of the characters and how everything wasn’t a fairytale for them, but this book was hard for me to get into. There was Dillons current story, Abigail’s current story, their story together, Abigail's past story... it just jumped around a lot and didn’t develop as smoothly as I would have wanted.

Such a great book. I loved the story and the flow of the book. The characters were so well do you find yourself really caring and getting attached to them.

Abigail Mullins is the owner of Boucake, a boutique cake shop that makes all things cupcakes and specializes in cupcake bouquets and centerpieces. She is on the way to deliver an order to a wedding when someone runs into her van and not only is her van destroyed but also all of her hard work. Dillon, the one who caused the wreck, keeps trying to make things right with her and he has fallen for her in the process. But thanks to something in her past her heart is off limits. When her boucakes become a media sensation things from her past come back that she thought were long buried and they threaten the happiness and success she has worked so hard for.
This book was so good. It was told in alternating parts between past and present until the two merged into one. You know right off the bat that the relationship that she ran away from was a bad one but you don't know all the details of what happened, so you get those meted out slowly throughout the book. This is a great book for all those chick lit/romance/just love a good story people out there.

loved it! absolutely loved it! this is the first book I've read of this author and I definitely intend to read more.

Entertaining and well written romance. Great plot, with fun characters. I highly recommend this book. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

This was not a meet-cute. Abigail first meets Dillon when he crashes into her delivery van while out of it from a bad hangover. Abigail has started up a business where she makes interesting cupcakes to use in place of lower bouquets in centerpieces and even for brides to carry down the aisle. Dillon is so mortified to have damaged her van and her delivery for a wedding that he helps her to make a replacement set of cupcakes and then asks her out.

From that unpromising meeting, they eventually start seeing each other and having lovely-sounding dates looking for artistic oddities in her Soho neighborhood. Their romance would have been enough to keep my interest, but there is also an overlay of a plot with flashbacks from the life and abusive fiance that Abigail had fled sex months earlier. The two plots together really drew me in and kept me up late reading until I could find out what would happen.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.