DNF @ 30%

I did receive an ARC of this from Netgalley.

I just was not feeling the story or the writing at all. I tried. I really did. So many uses of the word “bougie” right out of the gate. I didn’t really buy into the chemistry between Jada and Donovan, and the fake dating was so sudden. I don’t know. I wanted to like this more than I did, but I just couldn’t keep going.

Such a cute, light-hearted book! It combines romance and humor. The racial additions could definitely been left out. I received an ARC copy from NetGalley.

If you're going to write a book that is in a bakery, please consult an actual professional baker. Holy hot fucking mess.

Buckle up, this is gonna be a freaking rant. Also I dictated this review so I just want you to imagine me sitting here ranting into my phone like I am spilling all the drama to my friend, because that's the vibe that I'm going for.

All right so I legitimately have a list of things about factual inaccuracies regarding the baking and kitchen elements of this story and I'm going to put those at the end.

Let's start with a brief summary of the book. We have Jada, who is intensely unlikable. She is judgy and rude for absolutely no reason, is a spoiled rich kid in her mid-twenties who has the audacity to complain about her parents cutting off her credit cards and not paying her bills. (Don't forget that she doesn't pay rent because she lives in a condo her parents own) She just left a reality television show where she turned down a marriage proposal and boohoo she's getting some shit online for it. She goes into this cupcake shop, this random cupcake shop she's never been into before, and has the fucking balls to stand in line and complain about how awful it is without having eaten a cupcake or been there before. Then her billionaire grandma comes to the rescue and ends up finding her a job at this very same cupcake shop because guess what? Grandma owns the football team that the bakery owner is a part of. Yeah wrap your head around that.

Then we have Donovan. Donovan who I expected to be a little bit of a cinnamon roll but he's actually kind of a possessive problematic jerk. Not only does he outright confront Jada when she criticizes the bakery, which I can almost get behind as a baker, but he is it super irresponsible. He ends up hiring her basically as a favor to the grandma who owns the football team he's part of, and on Jada's first day he leaves her alone in a kitchen. He also has absolutely no sense of what health code means or safety procedures which is dangerous. He is super super possessive. There are multiple moments in this book where he literally growls at other men just talking to Jada. At one point he's watching the television show that she was on and getting all up in arms about her talking to another man when she didn't even know him! I mean nothing happens on page but that is a red freaking flag bro.

Okay so basically these two hot messes end up fake dating and I don't even understand what the timeline was for this book. It was a day and then it was a week later than it was the next day but then it was a month later and then the epilogue is 8 months later but then it's actually the day it's very confusing. There is a lot of unnecessary drama that is kind of half fleshed out and never fully dealt with.

I can truly say the only thing I liked about this book was the fact that we got dyslexia representation. That's literally it.

Okay now for the baking. For the record I'm a professional baker and have been for 10 years. Most of these things that I'm about to list are things that could have been easily googled or just consult an actual professional baker. Commercial baking is not the same as baking cupcakes once at home because that's the vibe I get from the author. It feels like she maybe made one or two things one time at home and then googled fancy cupcake flavors and figured that was good enough.

• No kitchen would ever allow anyone to work in the kitchen with heels on. This is unrealistic and a safety issue. This happens on Jada's first day at work she wears " appropriate " 3-in wedge sandal heels and he just lets it go.

• find me a kitchen that has their recipes on a tablet and not an actual recipe book. I dare you. Not only is this not functional for an actual kitchen but it also is not sanitary and the health department would absolutely shut that shit down.

•baking is a science and professional bakers will always weigh their ingredients versus using volume measurements. This is almost one of the main things I notice in baking books where you can tell an author did not do any research.

• Cupcakes are not going to be burned after 20 minutes in an oven. Not even if your oven was set to 500°. Basically on Jada's first day they make vanilla cupcakes, a stupidly small batch and they crack the eggs wrong, and Donovan leaves her alone in the kitchen, which is a whole other ballpark, and she decides to put them in the oven and set multiple timers yet somehow there's a smoke alarm and black coals in the oven where the cupcakes should have been. No cupcake will be burned after 20 minutes unless they're minis but even then they're not going to be burned there's going to be over baked. I feel like this is super super basic and that even someone who does not professionally bake would know this. Who the hell edited this?

• crack your eggs on a flat surface folks. Not only will it prevent shells getting in your eggs but it's also better for bacteria and reducing the spread of bacteria. Pro tip.

• If you work in a cupcakery, your batches of cake batter are going to be more than just a two egg batch.

• follow up, if you work in a cupcakery, that only sells cupcakes, you're going to sell more than 150 cupcakes a day. This absolutely boggled my mind that it sounds like they just came up with a random number and ran with it. For reference, I work at a bakery that is in a small Midwestern town and is about a half an hour away from any city, and I had a par level of almost 600 items today. You're telling me that this bakery in San Diego California, that has a bunch of seating and three full-time bakers, makes 150 cupcakes a day? For real? Not to mention that they also talk about having dozens of flavors and also selling cupcakes by the half dozen dozen. Do you not understand how math works friend?

• liquor licenses are a thing. Jada hosts a book club at the bakery and starts to serve these people wine but I don't think that the bakery has a liquor license and you can't just serve alcohol because you want to. That is not how that shit works.

• there's another scene where they're baking at home and they talk about putting multiple pans of cupcakes in the oven yet they were only making six cupcakes. What kind of cupcake pans do you have? Did you put three cupcakes in each pan? In what world?

• Oh I almost forgot about this one It's a doozy. So Jada wears heels for like the first hour and a half of her first day right before she runs away crying because she burned cupcakes, anyway the next day, when Jada and Donovan are still virtually strangers, he pulls her into the office and shuts the door then proceeds to KNEEL DOWN at her feet and take her shoe off without any prior discussion or consent. Then he pulls out these new shoes that he bought for her because "he could tell that she was in pain." So not only do we have a sexual harassment suit in the making, we also are still glossing over the fact that you can't wear sandals high heels in a kitchen. Not just because it's uncomfortable but because it is unsafe. Then he proceeds to give her a demerit while still on his knees. I listen to this part with my mouth hanging open because I cannot fathom how the author or the editor or the beta readers or LITERALLY ANYONE decided that this scene was okay. I mean I know it's a romance book but they are still strangers and they have a power dynamic of employee and boss and that is not sexy I don't care what you say.

• This is another one of my favorites. They go on this talk show and they of course do a cupcake demonstration because why not? They make vanilla cupcakes. Guess what's not in the cupcakes? Fucking vanilla. Like they literally put that recipe on the page and there's no vanilla. There's also no leavening so not only are they going to have cupcakes that don't taste like vanilla but they're going to have cupcakes that aren't going to rise. And you're telling me that your hand whipping butter and sugar and it's becoming frothy? Do you know how ingredients work? Even if your butter was melted, it's not going to be frothy. The disaster that was the scene is too much for me.

• So then in that same television segment, they make a comment about how decorating the cupcakes is the easiest part? Have you ever picked up a piping bag? I don't think this author has or this editor. One of my biggest pet peeves about being a professional baker and showing people what I do for a living is that people will turn around and expect that they can do the things that I have trained specifically for and pick it up in a day. Like decorating cakes and cupcakes is not something that you just know how to do. It takes practice and skill and it sure as fuck is not the easiest part of cupcakes.

• Oh also don't put cold water on a burn. That's not how science works.

Well I think that that's it. Yeah this book was a disaster. Not only was it not interesting but you had unlikable problematic main characters and absolutely atrocious baking elements.

📖 Fake It Till You Bake It
✍️ Jamie Wesley
💞 Romance
#️⃣ 336 pages

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley + St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

What happens when a serious, goal-oriented football star/cupcake entrepreneur meets a confident yet impulsive former reality star? Opposites attract in this short and *sweet* rom-com from Jamie Wesley.

I always have so much fun reading #foodieromances and this one was no exception. Do I think I’ll remember much about the story a month from now? Probably not…but I really enjoyed the time I spent with these characters while reading this one. I will say this is a verrrrry slow burn, but once you get to the romance part of the romcom, it’s on 😅 you’ve been warned.

🧁 Open door romance
🧁 Football star MMC + reality star FMC
🧁 Strangers to enemies to lovers
🧁 Fake dating
🧁 Slow burn
🧁 Lifestyles of the rich and famous
🧁 Foodie vibes
🧁 Epilogue

#caitsquietplace #caitsquietplacereviews #cqpromance #stmartinspress

Really loved this one!! It was definitely a fun concept, a pro player and amateur baker and the girl who America hates because of her involvement in a bachelor style dating show gone wrong.

The relationship between Jada & Donovan was so well written!! You could tell that they genuinely didn't really like each other at the beginning and the tension, whew!!

I loved the relationship that both of them had with Jada's Grandma and she was a great addition to the story. I'm a sucker for any book that involves food, and Jada's baking attempts were hilarious.

The fake dating aspect was really well done and I like how their relationship progressed throughout the fake parts and loved the friendships in the story too.

I had a really good time reading this book. Jada and Donovan are full of so much laughter and love. I need Netflix to turn this into their next rom com movie soon so I can have them in real life. Can wait for a possible follow up.

When Jada turns down a proposal on a reality TV show, she returns home for a reprieve. Instead, she finds herself working at a fancy new bakery, which is owned by professional football player Donovan. When a reporter assumes Jada and Donovan are a couple, they decide to use the misunderstanding to their advantage. They think it will help Donovan’s bakery and repair Jada’s tarnished image.

A classic “opposites attract” type story. Jada and Donovan are so different (so they think), from one another it was a bit predictable but cute seeing how their story played out. I don’t usually go for rom-coms so it took me a little bit to get into this one, but I’m glad I did. It was a light, refreshing read and sweet as a cupcake 🧁

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC! “Fake it Til you Bake It” is out now!

OBSESSED is the best word I would use to describe my feelings towards this book. I honestly didn’t think I would like it. But I was hooked from the very first freaking sentence. This is my new comfort book and when everyone asks me why I’m reading it again and again and again, I just flip them a special finger of mine. Everything about this book is so sweet and romantic and amazing I have no words. Give this a try and thank me later.

3.5 *
thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review
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This book was way beyond adorable. I loved the bakery setting and the cozy scenes of baking. Fake dating is one of my fav tropes and obviously this one did not disappoint. I love how close Jada and Donovan became in such a short time and how even though their relationship wasn't the easiest (especially with others always watching) they always faced their problems together and never gave up on each other. I can definitely see this book becoming a comfort read because of how sweet and fluffy it was.
read if you love
- enemies to lovers
- opposites attract
- main characters of color
- football player baker
- reality show aspect (very small)
- fake dating
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I've been plowing through rom-coms like it's my job, and if it has a happy ending, chances are I'm going to like it. But occasionally, one stands out, and Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley hit that sweet spot. A disgraced reality tv star and a cupcake-baking NFL player fake-date in this delicious romantic comedy. Donovan's cupcake store needs more customers if they're going to make it, and Jada needs to convince the public she isn't a heartless witch, so theirs is a mutually beneficial match made in fake-relationship heaven. But when fake dating leads to real feelings, will the sweet turn sour?

This relatively low angst romance was super sweet. Jada came across as a little immature at times; she's 25 but she acts like she's still fresh out of college. The good thing about Donovan is that he's a little older and a lot more mature, so he helps ground Jada, but she also helps him loosen up a little and embrace a little chaos.

If you're looking for a light-hearted rom-com to read by the pool or on vacation, you should definitely pick up Fake It Till You Bake It. This was my first romance by Jamie Wesley, but it won't be my last!

Fake It Til You Bake It is a great summer read. Donovan Dell is a professional football player who loves to bake and owns a bakery called Sugar Blitz with his business partners, teammate and best friends. Unfortunately, sales have declined since the bakery opened. Jada Townsend-Matthews is a reality show star who has received bad publicity after turning down a marriage proposal. Half of the viewers pretty much hates her.

Jada and Donovan’s first meeting leaves a lot to be desired when Jada insults Sugar Blitz, not liking the place. Despite that, there is an electric shock when Donovan provides Jada with a cupcake. He finds himself seeking her approval. A little while later Jada and Donovan have to spend a lot of time together when Jada is forced to work with Donovan to satisfy her Grandmother. Donovan’s business partner Nicholas (who is quite the ladies’ man), notices the attraction. Somewhere recipes and close contact, the two almost kiss. Things really get interesting when Jada needs Donovan to fake a relationship with her until the dust settles from the reality show debacle. Donovan finally let Nicholas and convince him that the fake relationship could help their bottom line. Fake or not, their first kiss is very real and the “best first kiss” Donovan ever had.

Fake It Till You Bake It is an interesting spin on the “Fake relationship” trope. Despite a passion for baking Donovan, Nicholas and their friend and teammate August are as masculine as men can get and have features that would attract any woman. I really enjoyed the scene where Jada’s friend has her book club meeting at the shop. It is very realistic and also puts Jada and Donovan in the hot seat. I also thought it was interesting how Ms. Wesley tackles dyslexia and how one of the characters manages this condition. Overall, this story is as sweet as the cupcakes and will make the reader smile. I’m interested to see what’s next by this author.

3.50 stars
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TW: Sexual content, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia
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Jada is currently the most hated woman after refusing a proposal on a reality tv show, she spends her days trying to find her next passion and get her life back together. In comes Donovan, a hot football player and co-owner of cupcake shop Sugar Blitz, Donovan will do anything to get his business booming as failure is not an option. After a common link lands Jada a job in the shop, the two of them get mistaken for a couple and both realize that a small lie could benefit the two of them. Shortly, business is once again booming, and Jada is able to convince fans/foes that she turned down a proposal for a reason.

I'll start off by saying it was so nice to see a male-owned business; Nic and August (co-owners) brought a lot of humor to the plot. That being said the story was a bit rushed, Jada was obnoxious most of the time and the only "struggle" we encountered was around 88% into the book. The fake romance wasn't ever put in danger of being revealed, although loved how genuine the chemistry was. Definitely was looking for a little bit more spice, or even have the cupcake shop involved a bit more in some steamy moments.

The pace of the book felt fast, but also slow at the same time. It had me wanting more, as often the plot was repetitive (a lot of customers just wanting to take selfies with the hottest it couple), I love how the epilogue set up for a possible sequel. I'm assuming we will get another two books to follow August and finally Nic. Overall, this was a cute and fun read, and made me crave ALL. THE. SWEETS.
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I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley is the perfect book for those who enjoy the fake-dating trope with a splash of workplace romance. It can be enjoyed also because of its many funny and swoon-worthy scenes coupled up with the main and secondary characters.

Jada and Donovan start their story with the wrong foot right from the beginning since they seem so opposed in character from each other, both having strong opinions and not being afraid to speak their minds around one another. Even though they have this animosity around them, they are forced to work together in order to resolve some of their problems. Obviously in need of one another, they will have to learn to get along for the sake of their careers and future. But, nothing is as easy as it seems because feelings always get in the way!

This was a simple read that had much potential, but in my opinion the breakup scene kind of ruined the development that the story and the characters as a couple were having. It didn’t make a lot of sense to place the breakup scene just for the sake of having one as all the romance books seem to have. All in all, the author caught my attention and I will have my eye on her future releases!

*ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

this book is a sweet (pun intended) romance featuring a judgy family, a fake dating scheme gone wrong, and so many delish sounding cupcakes!

this is definitely the kind of book that you need to suspend some believe to read, I mean a dating reality show finalist and a professional football player meet in a cupcake shop? yeah that's a bit much but was the sweetest meet cute.

I do appreciate how the conflict of the book was focused on external factors rather than miscommunication between romantic partners. it was a bit insta-lovey, but the love interests honestly seemed to admit that as well so that was refreshing.

overall, a nice contemporary romance with some spice. nothing hugely genre bending, but very enjoyable!!

This was not a “BAKEdown“ (get it? Touchdown? Cause football and baking lol I apologize). It started off pretty good but then it became too cheesy and predictable for my liking. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the MCharacters. Their immaturity made me feel as if I was reading YA, and let’s not even talk about their moment of separation 🙄 unnecessary. I really wanted to like this story.. I hope you have better luck!

I did however end up craving a cupcake every time I finished a chapter lol shoot I’m craving one now! 🧁

Hot damn!!! This better be a trilogy featuring August and Nicholas as main characters next time! I can not get enough of this story so I’m not ready to say it’s over! Jada and Donovan’s fresh baked love story is just so cute!! Enemies to fake dating to lovers, and football stars?! What’s not to love!? Ooof but that last minute drama, had me just a little worried. If you liked Alexa Martin’s the playbook series, and love cupcakes, this book is for you. Now just to come off this sugar high…

Jada was on a reality TV show to try and find love, when she rejected the proposal people turned on her. Donovan is a football player who owns a cupcake store with two of his best friends. Who knew a chance encounter would have them pretending to be a couple. He can help her reputation and she can help bring business to the store. She is sunshine and he is a grump, but their personalities blend well together.

I love football and cupcakes so I couldn't pass this book up! While I enjoyed most of the book, some of it didn't seem to flow very well. It jumped from one thing to another, I had to go back a few times because I was confused. I liked Jade and Donovan and their banter, but some of it didn't seem to feel organic. I liked most of the supporting characters, they added to the story with their witty commentary.

Overall I thought the book was good and I will read more from the author!

3.5-4 star

I was drawn to this story because it painted a professional football player in a different light. The author wrote a great story and with a diverse and likable group of characters.

While I liked the overall story I felt like it could have been more. The issues/problems didn't feel like a looming part of the overall problem waiting to be resolved. The presented themselves later in the book, but were resolved in the same or next chapter.

This is my first book by this author and I would read another book from her.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I really enjoyed reading this!
[ fake it till you bake it ] was such a cute book with swoon worthy characters and an enjoyable romance.

This book was what got me out of my reading slump and I'm really thankful for that, however I did get some second hand embarrassment at times from the writing. I feel like in the beginning it was really good but as I continued further in the book, I saw it lacked the consistency from the earlier pages.
There were also a lot of times where I felt like unnecessary dialogue was included that put me off.

In addition, I also had some issues with the pacing because even though I liked their relationship at the end. It was extremely quick paced and very cliche that sometimes I got bored cause I knew what was going to happen.

Although I had quite a few issues with the book I loved a few things including the fact that it was a black romance that showcased black excellence so well, the learning disability rep and the way it is addressed and incorporated that isn’t seen often with female main characters especially in contemporary romance, and the banter and interactions between the two main characters. I also enjoyed how the author took the lighthearted context of the book to address serious topics like things that happen to people who chose to put themselves on social media, and the necessity of having a stable income.

Overall I would recommend this and I'm looking forward to seeing the author’s writing grow.