Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reading copy via Netgalley. Review contains my own thoughts and opinions.

When Jada turns down the proposal on a Bachelor-esque show, she doesn’t expect the public outcry and ridicule. Her grandma has the perfect solution - work for Sugar Blitz, a cupcakery. Grams is also the owner of the local football franchise, and the restaurant is owned by three of the team’s players, including Donovan Dell.

Jada and Donovan start off on the wrong foot, but soon enough the chemistry starts to leap off the page. It was a quick and enjoyable read and perfect for summer, especially when you’re craving something sweet!

Even better, it seems to be a setup for a trilogy, with future books featuring Donovan’a friends and fellow business owners.

I did feel the conflict towards the end and resolution felt a bit rushed; I would have loved to see a few more chapters dedicated to it.

I recommend you pick this one up if you’re interested in:

🧁 bakery owned by three professional football players (but how did they have time for both?)
💋 fake dating
💕 enemies to lovers
🙌🏻 dyslexia rep

This was just too stinkin cute!! I really loved this book; I'm always a sucker for the fake dating trope. This book had everything I love in a romance: cute characters, a fun storyline, some spice, and, of course, a happy ending. Fake It Till You Bake It is definitely one of my favorite romance reads of the year and a perfect Summer read if you were looking for something to pick up. My one an only complaint was the final conflict between Jada and Donovan. It just seemed, pardon my football pun, out of left field. It just didn't add to the story and seemed like a desperate attempt for conflict that wasn't really needed. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and if you're a fan of sweet, fluffy romances I highly recommend you pick this one up.

Also, the author totally set this up to be at least a trilogy. Can't wait to see what shenanigans August has gotten himself into in the next book!

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel!!!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5) / 🌶🌶 (Spice Level 2)

Rep: black romance, dyslexia rep

TW/CW: Sexual content (18+), toxic parental environment, mentions of gambling addiction, harassment on social media (cyberbullying)


Do you like?: black romance, enemies to lovers, fake dating, workplace romance, and mutual pining

If so, then I highly recommend this book for you!!

Fake It Till You Bake It is a black romance novel following Donovan and Jade. Donovan Dell is a professional football player for the San Diego Kings and co-owner of Sugar Blitz, a cupcake shop he co-owns with his teammates/best friends. With the appeal of the shop coming to a plateau, he must figure out a way to bring a steady line of customers back into the business. Jada, an impulsive, go-with-the-flow woman whose public enemy #1 after turning the proposal of an eligible bachelor on the nation’s hottest reality dating show. After not being on the best of terms from a ‘stale’ introduction, Jada is given the opportunity to prove herself to her grandmother and gain her trust from her grandmother. What does she have to do? Work at Sugar Blitz as an employee under Donovan’s authority. But things go sour when a tabloid comes into Sugar Blitz asking Jada about the turned down engagement and she pulls Donovan into a fake relationship. The two must pull off the perfect fake relationship to not only save Jada’s reputation but get business in Sugar Blitz booming again. Can these two pull it off without ripping each other’s heads off? Or will they finding out that the heat their feeling is not from the kitchen, but from the burning passion they have growing for one another?

This was definitely the read I needed to pull me out of my 3 month long reading slump! The biggest pro of this book was that we got see a professional athlete heavily involved in a business endeavor that he is passionate about. I loved the banter between Jada and Donovan. As a fellow woman who likes to keep men on their toes. I love reading a woman who can make a man flustered. I also loved that we got to see representation of how adults handle dyslexia and even Jada giving some tips on how to copes for some disadvantages she may have. Donovan was such a refreshing male character. I loved how much of a family man he was and the relationship he had with the women in his family. My favorite characters were Jada’s grandmother, August, and Nicholas. I’m really hoping we can get love stories for Nicholas and August in the future. That would be amazing!!!

Jamie, you did the thing with this novel and I cant wait to read more from you!!!

Due to technical difficulties with the NetGalley shelf app, I am unable to review this book. I will have to wait until release day to read it. I am still very excited to read this, and will post a review on Goodreads.

A football star who opens a cupcake shop? Sign me up!

I feel like I've been reading so many books that make me want sweets. With this and the cupcake mysteries I need to make a batch of cupcakes!

We had a great meet cute for Jada and Donovan. It got them definitely more on the lines of enemies to lovers. They butted heads right away. It doesn't help that they are total opposites. Jada is very much a free spirit and Donovan is very into control.

Jada has had a rough go of it after appearing on a Bachelor-like show. She made it to the end, but rejected the lead's proposal. And literally everyone hates her. This seemed a little unrealistic since people can get fired up about reality TV, but would they really shame her and attack her whenever she goes out in public? Idk maybe that's just me.

Jada ends up lying to the producers, saying she had someone back home which results in her and Donovan lying about being in a relationship. But honestly it felt real from the beginning. Their chemistry was there right away.

Donovan was such a book boyfriend. He always stood up for Jada and was her biggest supporter. And he bakes so win-win.

There was a cliff hanger with one of Donovan's friends and I'm very interested to see where that goes and another story in Sugar Blitz.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley and Jamie Wesley for the ARC copy.

I hate giving poor reviews, and I was very thankful to be asked to read a copy of Fake It Until You Bake It..... but I just didn't like this book. Honestly, if I wasn't reading an ARC, I probably would have DNF'd. This book was just not good. It was soooooo cheesy, the fake dating to real dating felt incredibly forced, the characters were annoying, and the concept didn't really make sense.

For example, how did 3 professional football players playing in the NFL have enough time to run a cupcake restaurant? It kept making references to the fact that they were there constantly at the store, so I don't understand how they had the time! I also didn't like the knock off Bachelor idea. It seemed copied, and I didn't love it. The whole end "problem" was stupid too. Sorry!

I did enjoy the diversity and representation this book gave, and I liked the cupcake descriptions, but other than that, this book was too long, super cheesy, and one that I mainly skimmed.

Hopefully this is just a me problem and others will love it, but in terms of romance books. this was far from my favourite.

Thank you again though for the ARC copy. I appreciate it!

A cute romance, but not much substance. Great representation and diversity. It had a slow start, chemistry felt forced between the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Donovan is a football player with a struggling bakery. Jada is an impulsive wanderer who, after becoming reality TV's newest villain and being cut off from her parents, needs a new job to show that she’s serious about life.
This was a slow-read kind of book. I'm typically a fast-paced kind of reader, so this was new to me. This book felt very detail-heavy and it dragged. Donovan's caring and reserved nature and Jada's outgoing nature made for a great pair, and I wish we got to see more of their relationship develop. There were few deep emotional connections, just a general sense of lust and desire. I liked that they knew how to communicate and that there were no misunderstandings in their relationship, and I loved the constant banter and teasing. But the only scene that stood out to me was the affirmation scene. 😍
Overall, I wish there was more depth and connection to the plot for both the characters and the reader.
I tell you, I was craving cupcakes the entire time I was reading the book. Especially the Smores cupcake! I was salivating 🤤
Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley, for this galley for an honest review!

Jada Townsend-Matthews is public enemy #1. Turning down a marriage proposal on a reality dating show will do that. She’s back home trying to put her life back together and pick herself up after the negative social media storm that has been her life for the past months. She’s coerced into working for San Diego’s newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, owned by the mightily attractive professional football player, Donovan Dell. Word gets out and a reporter comes by mistakenly believing Jada and Donovan are a couple. After a rush of positive social media comments and an uptick in cupcake sales, Jada and Donovan decide to keep up the dating façade. Rules are set. Fake dating begins. And good publicity is the result. But no one expected love to grow.

This was an enjoyable read. The beginning was a little slow and I wasn’t sure I would like Jada (she seemed quite the spoiled rich girl at the beginning). But after a while the story picked up and caught my interest. And Jada redeemed herself with her desire to do actual work and not just mooch off her rich relatives. Donovan is a straight-lace hero who doesn’t know how to handle Jada’s chaos. Until he does and realizes he needed some chaos in his life. The fake dating trope was done well and the ease into a real relationship wasn’t filled with miscommunications or annoying angst. Once you get past the slow beginning, the pacing was good. There were fun characters. A great epilogue and teaser to a second book which definitely intrigues me.

If you like a fake dating trope, professional athletes, cupcakes, and a slightly meddling grandma, then pick this book up when it releases on June 21st.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this book. All opinions are my own.

Donovan Dell and his two best friends don’t just play professional football, they also bake and own/operate a cupcake bakery called Sugar Blitz. After refusing a proposal on a dating show, shown across the world, Jada Townsend-Matthews can’t escape the anger of the fans. When she starts working at Sugar Blitz, they are mistaken for a couple which they realized could benefit them both professionally speaking; help boost sales at the stop and help improve Jada’s reputation. What could go wrong?



Fake It Till You Bake is a steamy, and hilarious fake dating romantic comedy. Jada and Donovan were great characters, they were so open and raw with each other and just comfortable being themselves. The chemistry was undeniable and believable, and the multiple POVs intensified it. The pace was too all over the place, sometimes it dragged too much and sometimes it went way too quickly and felt rushed which didn’t really do it for me. Overall, it was a good read with great, likeable characters.



Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.



Book hits shelves on June 21, 2022!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This was a sweet romance full of cupcakes and light hearted fun. Jada just finished a Bachelor type of reality show where she publicly refused a marriage proposal. Donovan is a professional football player, who recently opened a cupcake shop. They’re thrown together when Jada’s grandmother, who owns the football team, forces Jada to work for Donovan to help with the shop. Fake dating, chaos, schemes, and romance ensue! This was a little slow paced for me at times and the ending felt rushed, but the relationship between the two main characters were sweet. Overall I recommend this book for fans of fake dating, cupcakes, and contemporary romance.

This book was a quick, cute insta-love romance. I liked the characters and even before that last hint at the end, I was sensing sequels with August and Nicholas as the leads (August and Sloane maybe for book 2) and I hope I’m right - I love the NFL pro/baker bffs dynamic and I’m anxious to read more about these sweet jocks.

The premise of this book was a mashup of old tropes in a kind of new situation. There was one good steamy scene. Some fun banter. What took me out of the story was that sometimes the writing was overly cheesy, even for a rom-com. Also, any romance reader knows the formula and towards the end we are waiting to see what problem will pop up that keeps the characters from being together until they solve it. The made-up problems that aren’t real problems until the characters make them problems get on my damn nerves. I was excited when an ACTUAL problem emerged. But then they solved it in the next chapter and moved onto the fake problem. So that was a disappointment.

I liked this book and I would definitely read more from this author but there were just a few things that kept me from loving it.

Fake It Till You Bake It
Rating: 4 cupcake stars
Series: It is not mentioned that it's in a series, but based on how the book ended I'm sure we're going to see more of these three football players who opened a cupcake shoppe.
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

I'll start off by saying that I was very close to DNFing this story. Jada, our female lead, is a little too much at the beginning. She read to me as a spoiled brat. She can't hold a job and loves to spend her family's money...but I'm very happy to say that I loved seeing her character grow and became this woman who finally finds her calling and that is able to stand on her two feet without her parents support. (Her billionaire grandmother helps but only as mentor.)
The romance of the story was very sweet and I really enjoyed how opposite their personalities were. Donovan was the quiet, stoic and analytical one and she's the loud, outspoken one. They complimented each other very well. I loved their fake dating plan because it was to help out both of them in the dilemma they were in. Their bantering was very entertaining and when they soon realize that feelings are no longer fake the story became even more entertaining to read.
The reason I gave it a 4 star was because the conflict at the end seemed a little off...also the time jump was a little surprising and I hadn't realized it had happened until actual time passed is mentioned by one of the characters. I understand why Jada made that decision but I hope it was not added just to add a last minute drama to the story because I don't think it was needed.

I look forwards to reading more of these football players and see them fall in love.

I have never read from Jamie Wesley before, so I was excited to read her newest romance book, Fake It Till You Bake It. And this book has fake dating and forced proximity tropes!

I can read any fake dating romance book. They are one of my favorite romance tropes to read. And Fake It Till You Bake It excels in it’s fake dating trope when Jada and Donovan help each other personally and professionally.

Jada has been through the wringer when she declined to be with an American reality show favorite on reality tv. I truly commended her. When you don’t feel the spark or the love, then there's no point in continuing a relationship. I know not all people share the same feeling, but life is short. There is no point in second-guess. When you don’t feel it, then you don’t. Plain and simple. And she knows she has an attraction for Donovan whenever they have witty banter over the bakery or events.

Donovan never has time for himself when he plans out everything in detail. It’s kind of surprising yet kind of scary to read. With his rough childhood, I understand the need for control in his life. Yet he is thrown out of the loop when he enters a fake relationship with Jada. He knows he doesn’t have time for any relationship, but it does not stop him protecting Jada at all costs.

Yes, they will have a few bumps in the road. Any relationship does, nobody's perfect. But I will warn you that the chemistry between each other is more telling than their actions. You will understand once you read the book.

Fake it Till You Back it is a cute read. I enjoyed this one so much. Jada is more then she seems. She may be down and lost but she has so much more to give. Donovan will own your heart with his passion for everything he does. I love Donovan and Jada together. There may be a few clashes but there is just something special about them together that puts a smile on your face. I love how Jada is honest and not afraid to speak her mind when it comes to Donovan's business. I love how she grows so much and stands on her own feet. Donovan is just amazing with everything thrown at him as he helps Jada along the way. You are just going to fall hard for Donovan and Jada once you read this one.

Reviewed on behalf of Verve Romance

As soon as I read the blurb for Fake It Till You Bake It, I knew I needed to read it. A cupcake-shop-owning football player with a reviled reality TV star? So. Much. Potential.

Happily, this book lived up to its potential; it’s a fun, light-hearted, enjoyable journey through banter, misunderstandings, book clubs and bachelorette parties, morning TV show appearances to the ultimate end: *dreamy sigh* true love.

Jada and Donovan are adorable together. Once you get past their antagonistic meet-cute and bumpy first few days, that is. It’s enemies-to-lovers lite—the kind of story that doesn’t rip your heart out with jabs and stabs and cruel comments but showcases how their differences can easily be flipped from sniping to smooching.

And the smooching is a delightful reward after the slow burn of their romance. In fact, sign me up for a lifetime of these two cutely kissing, please and thank you.

Wesley is a new-to-me author, and Fake It Till You Bake It the start of a new series. Suffice to say, I will be back for more of the Sugar Blitz crew, especially after an ending that left me wondering . . . what happened to August?!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This was super fun, I devoured it (pun intended) in like a day. Banter was great, character development of hero and heroine was rather strong for an otherwise fluffy read, and it was both funny and heartwarming. The meet-cute and subsequent set-up actually managed to surprise me a little too.
I got the sense the author was setting up a series here, with August as the focus of the next book. Even so, I wish we’d had more development for side characters like August. There were quite a few and our exposure to them was quite thin, even for supposedly very important people in the characters lives. Often it felt like some of these characters served as little more than a plot device (was August only there to give Nicholas someone to make bets with? What was his role in the bakery even? For all we learned about them, Donovan’s sisters could have been just one person if not for the need to mention grandkids while leaving one sister open to be the focus of a future novel, presumably. I felt like I knew more about regular customers in the bakery than the heroines best friend. And yes, we get it, the heroine’s parents and sister are nerdy robots- is there really nothing else to them?) I could go on, but to sum it up I think there could have been some trimming of the characters and a bit more build out for them, even if we’re meant to get to know them more in a future book.
This was my only big hangup with the book though. Otherwise it was great fun!

If you can suspend disbelief that three hunky football players have pooled their money and efforts to open up a cupcake shop, you can maybe accept the rest of the plot. I just couldn’t buy it. It’s the offseason and these three star players spend all their time at the shop baking cupcakes and worrying about increasing their profits.

Add in Jada, granddaughter of the billionaire owner of the football team that the three hunks play for. She has been leading a rather aimless life and somehow decided to appear on a reality show modeled on The Bachelor. But she ended up turning him down when she was the chosen bride and now all the fans hate her. So of course the solution is for her to go work at the cupcake shop where she’ll find her true self and fall for Donovan, one of the football player/owners.

There are several traditional tropes: enemies-to-lovers and fake-romance-turned-real. I didn’t buy any of the somewhat predictable plot, but I could still enjoy it.

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.

Fake It Till You Bake It is a charming light-hearted read. It's enemies to lovers, fake dating, a former contestant of a Bachelor-style show, and an NFL player who can bake. The pacing in the first half was a little slow for me but picked up right around the 50% mark and then the chemistry was so good. I loved Jada's unapologetic nature, and how Donovan didn't back down either. The BIPOC representation is beautiful. The secondary characters are fantastic and I hope to see some of them get their own book!

Rating: 4
Crying Score: 0
Laughing Score: 2

This was my first book by Jamie Wesley and I liked it a lot! I loved the characters in this story, main and side. I loved all of the black excellence in this story AND I loved that three handsome football players owned a cupcake shop. Loved it.

When I started this story, I wasn’t sure how the two MCs were going to meet or cross paths. I liked that because it was semi-unpredictable. I love the fake dating trope and the bits of spice that happened before they got together. I genuinely just enjoyed reading their interactions, and found myself smiling while reading. Overall, it was happy/sweet read.

I’d love for this to become a series. I can see it now, Womanizing Nick finds his true love, and shy and quiet August meets someone who brings him out of his shell.

I’m excited for this book to come out on 6/21. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for an e-arc of this book, it was such a delight.