After turning down a proposal on a reality dating show, Jada wants nothing more than to avoid the spotlight and prove to her grandmother that she can be a mature adult. However, when a reporter mistakes her and her new boss Donovan as being in a relationship, she’s thrust back into the spotlight to help Donovan rehabilitate his struggling bakery.

Fake It Till You Bake was a cute, lighthearted read. The bakery was the perfect setting for this story, which at its heart, was all about subverting expectations. Jada wanted to prove that she wasn’t just a reality TV star, and Donovan completely shucked the toxic masculinity often associated with athletes by owning a bakery and even reading a romance novel for Jada’s book club.

The whole cast was diverse and well developed, and the relationships were a delight to read. I especially loved Jada’s relationship with her grandmother.

My only complaint is that it was a little fast-paced, and the last-minute separation felt forced. However, the chemistry between Jada and Donovan was great, and the writing was a great combination of heartfelt and fun, which made for an overall good read.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes I find it really challenging to review books that I wind up feeling very just okay about and this is honestly one of those times. This book was good, but it had the potential to be great and I think that's the part that left me off kilter. But for this book to have been great for me, it would have had an entirely different vibe so that's not really fair for me to say maybe. Essentially, what this boils down to is that Fake It Till You Bake It has a lot going on that, in my opinion, should have led to a book with a more angsty tone.

Essentially, Jada is hated by much of America after rejecting a proposal on national television in a Bachelor inspired reality show and we literally see it affect her in real life. (There are at least two encounters while in public where Jada is confronted about her actions.) Jada also has an extremely strained relationship with her parents and feels like they've never once thought she was good enough. And, certainly, it's totally fine to not really dwell on these things, but it almost feels like the book will but still with this super light tone that just created a lot of dissonance for me. Plus, after being cut off financially (aside from having a nice apartment situation provided for her), Jada gets essentially coerced by her grandma into working with Donovan at the cupcake shop. And maybe it's because of things going on in my own life, but the stress of financially supporting yourself is intense for me, so I found this whole set up to be anxiety inducing and then it never really goes anywhere. She's just presumably making enough money to continue living the life that she's accustomed to? I mean, good for her, but if I went from living off of credit cards my parents paid for to suddenly having to actually think about how much my groceries cost, I would have struggled a bit more.

Also, the fake dating with Donovan plot was definitely fine, but I really didn't love it. My favorite part of this book was the set up for the secondary characters and I hate when I wind up feeling that way. It's so aggravating. Let me feel invested in THIS storyline. And there were things I liked! I enjoyed Jada setting up these incredible events for other people and I wish we'd gotten to see more events, honestly. But overall, this book just really wasn't for me.

I really loved the cover of this one and I am so glad the story inside lived up to it! It was a really cute romance and loved how the story played out!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher for a review copy! Any book is a precious little baby that hours and hours of love and time and energy were poured into, and I am honored to be trusted with anyone’s baby, but I would spartan kick this baby off a cliff. I didn’t like it at all. It was a slog to read through thanks to poor editing and very poor sentence structure, and the characters were clown cars for tropes. Russian nesting dolls of tropes. I tried explaining this book’s synopsis to a friend and ran out of breath explaining the effing tropes. It just keeps on going and going and going.

Overall not the worst book I’ve ever read but also, no thanks.

A wonderfully sweet romance that will leave you with an epic cupcake craving by the end!

This is a very fast-paced romance that I read quickly and overall enjoyed. I did have some difficulty relating to our main heroine, as at times I felt she was acting too brashly or like things were beneath her. Overall though, I thought this was fun quick read!

Ahh what a great mix of sexy and sweet! I loveedd the two main characters tension from the very beginning. The setting was great and such an enjoyable background for the relationships and friendships. I love all the tropes in this book, fake dating and enemies to lovers, and it was such a fun read. The character development was great. I'm so glad there was also a "love to hate" character in Jada's ex. Some of my favorite characters though have to be the background ones like Donovan's friends and Jada's family, they gave the heartwarming feel throughout the book. Overall this was cute and enjoyable!

I absolutely loved this book! I loved that there was so excitement, fun things in the book. I will definitely look for other books by this author. I also would definitely recommend this book!

I want to lead with this, this book really was not for me, so I don't want to say much about it. I think for other people, this would be a great book, I just didn't vibe with it, and that has nothing to do with the book itself.

Jada is a disgraced reality tv contestant who goes home to lick her wounds and Donnovan is a bakery owning, pro football player. When a reporter mistakenly believes that Jada and Donnovan are an item, they decide that a fake relationship just might be the thing that can fix both of their problems.

I think the premise is interesting and I love that Donnovan is a football player who also own a cupcake bakery. Points for originality there.

That being said, the beginning rubbed me the wrong way, just the dynamic that Jada and Donnovan established in the first couple interactions, and I just couldn't get that out of my head, and it colored my entire opinion of the book. Go read some other reviews, because I think this book wasn't bad. Just not for me.

This book had the set up for everything I love in a romance. A football player who was also sweet and liked to bake?! Faking dating and did I mention Black Love? This had the set up to be amazing and swoony but I kind of fell flat for me at the end, I will say the cover of this book is beautiful and I have no regrets purchasing it. This book was so good until the 3rd act breakup. I have said multiples I dislike 3rd act breakups/Conflicts. The miscommunication trope all together. With that being said this was still cute and I would read it if your looking for and open door, hallmarky, faking dating black romance that will give you the warm fuzzies. 3.75/5 stars.

A romance book with great chemistry! These two will leave you wanting more. This would be the perfect book for a sequel to continue there passion further! Loves this read!

This felt like playing Episode in the best, most fun way possible and delivered such a refreshing summer read! The romance seemed a bit rushed at the beginning, but ultimately I really enjoyed experiencing the budding relationship between Jada and Donovan. Cute, witty, steamy, and fresh--this was such a fun time!

A spoiled woman trying to make her own path in life. A footballer that owns a cupcake shop. A semi haters to lovers story. The insta love was a bit eye rolling.
I did enjoy this one. However, I get easily annoyed with the break up trope of when one of the main characters feels as if they aren't good enough for the other and breaks up with them. It's been way too overplayed

Donovan craves stability. He wants nothing but order and logic and he’s been successful both on and off the football field. But when his cupcake shop is floundering he’s left trying to figure out a way to boost sales numbers for the long term.

Jada doesn’t have a clue what she wants to do with her life. After a disastrous proposal rejection on NATIONAL television, chaos reigns in her choices and she rarely sticks to anything. Mostly because of her fear of failure and disappointing others, she knows she loves looking cute and that she can talk to people but other than that, no clue. When her Grams puts stipulations on how to earn her trust fund she finds herself in a sticky situation.

Donovan and Jada strike a deal: fake date to boost sales and keep Jada’s reality show “fame” from damaging her more. But can they keep it strictly business, or will the undeniable attraction win out?

This was so cute and I loved Jada and Donovan’s wit and humor together. They balance each other out well.

Fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, employee/boss romance. This book hits all the fan-favorite tropes!

Jada is returning home after a disaster of a "break-up" on live television. She finds herself working at a bakery owned by professional football player Donovan Dell. When a reporter, mistakenly assumes Jada and Donovan are together, they realize this might be the perfect distraction to get Jada's name cleared in the headlines and create some more buzz for the bakery. This plan is fool-proof, and everything can remain sugar, spice, and everything nice, right??

Fake It Till You Bake It is a great read for any avid romance reader. It's cute and light-hearted story that would be great to throw in your bag for the morning commute. The ending seemed like we might get more books in this series, and I hope that is the case, because Jamie has got me hooked!

-I was in love with the juxtaposition between Jada and Donovan. He knows what he wants out inflicts, and she is still searching. :she opens his eyes to things he never thought about before like “ambienance”
-it was nice having a bougie Black woman as a heroine
-the interactions between Donovan and Jada were entertaining
- I loved the premise of this story. Jada had to prove to her grandmother that she can stick to a career for more than 6 months in order to get her trust fund. Her grandmother recommends she works for one of the players if her football team who owns a struggling bakery.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego's newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell.

When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada's image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

Fake dating and enemies and lovers all wrapped up in the perfect summer read! The story was a slow build, but it ended up getting really good halfway through.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This ended up being a sweet one! I had a hard time starting it - I felt like it started slow, even though there was a great meet-cute! But with the entrepreneurial elements as well as the attraction in this book, I ended up loving it!

It’s a delightful romance, but nothing too exciting.

Jada’s social media cachet has taken a serious dive after she said no to Dr. John on a dating show. Her grandmother sets her up with a job at a cupcake store co-owned by NFL player, Donovan. A rumor starts on social media that the two of them are dating and they decide to run with it.

My biggest peeve with this book was that the author used the word “bougie” quite a lot. I had to look it up, and from what I can tell it’s not a very flattering term. Now, I don’t know if I understood it wrong, so feel free to help me out, but I didn’t get a good impression whenever Donovan referred to Jada as “bougie”. And this is such a distinctive word, that it did get to be too repetitive after a while, even if I misunderstood the meaning behind it.

Other than that, it’s a sweet enemies-to-lovers romance. The love was a bit too insta, but I did enjoy the interactions between Jada and Donovan.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a good read. Great characters along with a fun storyline. Even if you know they will get together, its a fun story to enjoy along the way.

This book made me desperate for a cupcake. Specifically one from Sugar Blitz though, their flavor combinations were legendary.

I really enjoyed this one. I think that Jada and Donovan were delightful and I look forward to seeing more pairings in this world.

A weird thing about me- I adore romance with football players. I think it is something about a man being rough and tumble on the outside and being a gooey mess for his lady on the inside. This 1000% has that vibe so I was desperate to get to read it.

This book starts with sassy Jada coming off a reality show, where she did what was best for her life and made a good choice but made the world hate her. She is jaded and lost not knowing what her next step is. She needs a gig and is forced to work with Donovan in order to secure her future.

Donovan is a football player on the outside edge of his career and he owns part of the bakery Sugar Blitz. He is dedicated and motivated but equally struggling with the business not doing so hot. Taking on Jada as an employee may be his best decision yet.

The two of them are an unlikely pairing but sparks fly as they learn about themselves and develop a relationship that is both sweet and spicy.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity

Highly recommend!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to check this one out!