This was my first Jamie Weasley read, and it was a good introduction. It follows Jada and Donovan, who are both lost and looking for big changes in their life. I feel like the characters came across very 2-dimensional. In the end, I wanted more from the story. I needed the plot issues to be more pronounced like nothing felt super urgent like all the issues were easily dismissed. I enjoyed the book overall, and will likely pick up the next book in the series.

football players & cupcakes - sign me up!✨

*thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked the concept of this book and the tropes throughout it. The slow burn was just a little too slow for me & almost seemed to drag and make the book less engaging.

I liked the second half of the book more than the first half & really enjoyed the ending. I will say… the banter between the two MCs was top-notch!

This book was similar to Donut Fall in Love & just wasn’t a stand out for me. It is a cute fluffy, hallmark style rom-com. If you like cupcakes & football (especially the players), you might really love this book!

A fun, light, easy read that makes you feel good.
Many thanks to St Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received this as a Netgalley arc from St. Martin's Press. Adorable! This was such a light and fun rom-com. Absolutely what I needed. I loved this. When an author writes a man this well it's hard to want to return to real life!

Jada was on a reality TV show, where she rejected the proposal and now the internet hates her. She stumbles into Donovan's cupcake shop one day with a friend and doesn't realize he is also a football player she should recognize (had she ever paid attention to sports). He plays for the San Diego Knights and used his logic and planning to get the business going so he wouldn't have to rely on football forever.

I won't add too much more so you can experience the fun interwoven moments of these characters, but the fake dating, and slight enemies to lovers that are in this book are SO GOOD. I really enjoyed this book. All black cast, dyslexia rep, and set in my favorite city, San Diego.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is still reeling from her time on the reality dating show, My One and Only. She’s laying low after making it to the final round and turning down the marriage proposal. Unsure what to do, she ends up with a job at a bakery, Sugar Blitz, and working for the no-nonsense and pro footballer owner, Donovan Dell. After a surprise visit by a reporter, Jada realizes the way to get America to stop hating her is to begin a fake relationship with Donovan. The two see the benefits of capitalizing on the power of media and work together to fix Jada’s image and help Sugar Blitz get more customers.

This started out a bit slow for me. I wasn’t sure if I liked Jada or Donovan as characters. They each had their own flaws that couldn’t get me to relate to them. Perhaps it’s the fact that one is a trust-fund child and the other is a professional football player. While these descriptions fueled the media/virality storyline, it definitely made connections with the book a bit harder for me.

As the plot moved on and I got to know Jada and Donavan more, I grew to like them. Seeing their interactions with customers and side characters, Nick and August, brought a warm feeling to the book. Though they did not overpower our main characters, the side characters helped push the character and relationship development and paced the story nicely.

The fake dating trope is one of my favorites and this did a good job. It wasn’t as steamy as I anticipated, but I actually enjoyed that more. It gave depth to the characters as they found confidence and independence. The fake dating trope did make the story a bit predictable, but this wasn’t an issue.

I was a bit disappointed by the resolution. Everything seemed to be wrapped up very quickly without much conflict. There were some plot holes and overall, the story wasn’t very realistic – two very privileged people having the time to run a bakery alongside their other responsibilities… Despite this, it was a light read that was a nice escape.

I loved the representation and the fact that characters of color could be themselves without needing every moment to be educational for audiences. Overall, this was a pretty good romance featuring POC. If you get past the first few chapters when our protagonist is still developing, you’ll enjoy a fun read that has you craving cupcakes all day.

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley is a contemporary romantic comedy. Combining romance and humor, it features 25-year-old Jada Townsend-Matthews and Donovan Dell. Jada has recently experienced social media hate after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. Donovan is a professional football player and co-owner of a cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz. When her parents cut off her credit cards, Jada ends up working for Donovan. A reporter mistakenly believes they’re a couple, and they decide to take advantage of it by faking a relationship. What better way to help the business and improve Jada’s image?

Donovan loves to bake. He establishes goals and works to meet them. He’s driven, calm, and controlled. Jada doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and things don’t seem to be working out well for her. She’s confused, uncertain, and insecure as well as being impulsive. Both characters are relatable and likeable and show growth during the course of the novel.

Reviews seem to be all over the place with this book. While some of the novel was a little over the top and the romance progressed rather quickly, I went with the flow and enjoyed it. The chemistry between Jada and Donovan creates a fun dynamic that also amplifies the story line. Besides romance, there are some deep themes ranging from gambling addiction to the impact of social media on lives to blackmail to teamwork to how parents’ opinions and actions affect their children even as adults.

Overall, this was an entertaining and charming novel with some humor and laugh out-loud moments as well as some pivotal emotional times. It’s well-written with a great setting and extraordinary characters from very different backgrounds.

St. Martin’s Press – St. Martin’s Griffin and Jamie Wesley provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for June 21, 2022.

Fake it Till you Bake it by Jamie Wesley 🧁

Genre: contemporary romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 6/21/2022

This was such a cute, delightful story! I adored how charming Donovan was and how truthful and outspoken Jada was.

This story follows Donovan, an NFL player who has a cupcake side gig, and Jada, a reality tv star scorned looking for something new.

•a smidge enemies to lovers
•fake dating
•resilient characters
•funny banter
•spice

Really enjoyed this book! It was so fun! 💞

Thanks to Netgalley, the St. Martin's Press and the author for this ARC!

I’m not sure why Fake It Till You Bake It has mixed reviews, because I really enjoyed it. Yes, Jada can be recklessly impulsive, and yes, Donovan seems too good to be true. But I felt like this story was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed seeing a romance where the male protagonist was completely supportive and respective to the women in his life without worrying about how it reflected on his masculinity. In all fairness, when you’re a football player that owns a cupcake store with two of his teammates, you’re already a confident person. Jada is a bit of a brat at the beginning of the book. She’s dissing Donovan’s store, and hoping her grandmother will give her early access to her trust fund because she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life. But being forced to work at the store gives her the opportunities to see her strengths, ones that her parents never fostered because it didn’t align with their own personal passions. The social media aspect of the story may be a little over the top, and Jada’s “revenge” on the reality show producer that made her public villain number one is a little silly, but social media having a negative effect on people’s lives when things go viral is a thing, and I’m willing to stretch the truth some for two characters that I really enjoyed seeing fall in love with each other. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Fake It Till You Bake It was such a fun and sweet fake-dating romance! Jada, an ex-reality star, and cupcake-baking football star Donovan clash in this enemies to lovers, fake dating romance. After being mistaken as a couple in Donovan’s cupcake store, the two use it to their advantage to both increase sales at the store for Donovan and to help Jada escape the social media hate after her run on a reality dating show. The one part that didn’t click so much to me was Donovan’s football career—it felt disjointed from the story but I have a feeling it was to help set up some future books and it was a fun addition. But outside of that, it was a great and very fun read. Jada is trying to find her footing and I loved her boughie attitude and her spark. She’s never afraid to back down and I loved her reality star background, her relationship with her grandmother, and her journey to finding what she was passionate about. And Donovan was sexy and confident and romantic and a great romantic lead. Their chemistry was wonderful and I just loved their partnership throughout the story. They stood together, even in their fake dating and it was just sweet. And it’s a cupcake shop setting, with a romance book club involved! It has all the ingredients for just a wonderful rom com!

4 stars for a refreshing, sweet, feel-good type of romance~

This was the perfect romance novel to read to get a little escape from reality for a little while.

Jada, freshly known for turning down a suitor on a reality show, is now back at home to sulk for a little while. Meanwhile, she meets Donovan, football star and baker extraordinaire. When worlds collide for these two, they need to come to terms with whether or not the recipe works~

I really enjoyed reading a romance with fresh and fun characters and really loved the dynamic of having two very different worlds come together.

Thanks again to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed the story, Fake it Till You Bake It, was a fast read, with characters you enjoy.

An enemy to lovers, fake relationship, opposites attracts story that follows Jada (turning down a proposal on a reality dating show) and Donovan (an NFL player who also owns a cupcake shop). When they both work together, magic ignites, and so do cupcakes.

First time reading from this author, and I enjoyed it.

What happens when a flighty but bougie miss bumps heads with a stolid mister? Sparks, laughter, some growing up, and love. Of course. This is a book that made me laugh out loud with compelling characters and bad actors galore. An enjoyable romp of a novel. The vitality of the story is reminiscent of the works of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, aka SEP, with its major league football star who contemplates life after sports pitted against a woman struggling to accept her competence and find a place in the world where she feels accepted.

This book ultimately left me with a lot of questions and no answers. The hero of the book, Donovan, is a professional football player who also owns a cupcake bakery. He loves baking cupcakes. The entirety of the book has him either baking, teaching the LI to bake, or doing…something in his office at the bakery. For a second, I thought maybe he was a retired football player but no, because partway through the book, he takes a call from his agent and it’s made clear that the agent is working on his new contract with his team. And yes, it’s the off season but….should he not be doing football player things - working out, practicing, idk. It seems weird that his entire identity is that bakery and yet, he’s a football player.

The heroine, Jada, is a former reality show star and comes from a wealthy family who has always paid her way but has now cut her off because she’s directionless and has no job or purpose. Essentially they want her to grow up. Her grandmother also happens to own the football team that Donovan plays for and talks him into giving Jada a job there. She makes a series of missteps including almost burning down the bakery kitchen but then proves herself indispensable when lying about how she and Donovan are in a relationship proves to be a marketing boon for the bakery.

The concept seemed ok and I get why Donovan needed to be at the bakery or else how else was he and Jada going to get to know each other and spend any time together. But the pacing seemed off and both of these characters kept making choices that left me feeling baffled. It felt a bit rushed and a lot of the writing felt like it was telling me rather than showing me things and ultimately, I couldn’t figure out how Donovan and Jada fell in love so quickly….or why?

The reality show blackmail subplot with the villainous producer and the ex boyfriend seemed way over the top and unnecessarily dramatic and also, the villains were written as caricatures. The only thing I liked about the subplot was that it didn’t drag on endlessly because Jada immediately tells Donovan and they immediately work together to figure out how to deal with the situation. It was a good moment of teamwork and also a good moment for Jada to shine and realize she was more than capable of handling her own problems. But then, she dumps Donovan and honestly, it didn’t seem like the book really needed a third act breakup - it felt hollow and weak and pointless.

Ultimately, the execution just seemed a little weak and there were a lot of plot holes or questions that I had about the plot that seemed to make no sense. I liked the characters ok and I assume this is going to be a trilogy where each of the bakery owners gets their own book (it’s 3 football players who own a bakery and they do all the baking while being professional football players - HOW IS THIS SUSTAINABLE?!?) Sorry, I am really just fixated on this and I need to let it go.

ARC courtesy of publisher, opinions are all mine.

CW: toxic parental relationships, blackmail plot, secondary character has gambling addiction;

I cannot read any more fake relationship romances. I am tired of them. It feels like lately all I am reading is fake relationship which turns to lovers. I thought the premise of the book was good (football star running a cupcake bakery meets a social media "star") but I really didn't like Jada and thought her and Donovan didn't work. I initially was going to try to push through and finish this but just got fed up. I can feel a reading slump coming on and I am trying to work my way through it. But books like this make it hard.

"Fake It Til You Bake It" follows NFL star Donovan Dell. Donovan is struggling to keep his cupcake business afloat. A woman comes in and insults his decor and his cupcakes (without eating one) and then he challenges her to eat one. The woman in question is Jada Townsend-Matthews who is "hiding" out after social media users have turned on her after she turned down a proposal on a reality dating show. A reporter thinks that they are together, yadda yadda yadda, fake relationship. Both realize that if the world thinks they are dating, it can help improve their own situations.

So Jada is hard to like. Full stop. She's rude. And I hate it when authors write Black women like we just run around acting like assholes. There's a difference between being strong and just nasty for no reason. When we first meet her she started getting on my nerves. Who rolls into someone's business talking crap?

Donovan being into cupcakes was cute and honestly if it was just him and his friend trying to get their business going I would have enjoyed it more. He and Jada don't make sense and I got tired of reading about them.

The writing didn't work for me and the flow was off so much. I just thought I was reading a very rough draft of a book and not the finished product at all. Also it didn't help that I didn't like the two leads as a couple at all.

I really tried with this book. But I had to give up after the first three chapters. The story was just odd and I was not into it. Sorry!

This was a "sweet" read and a nice way to break up my genres. I really enjoyed that Jada and Donovan were flawed characters, each carrying baggage from childhood and/or their family. Those flaws made them more relatable and made more than just a reality TV star and NFL player. The storyline felt like a slow build until the 70% mark when things really picked up and the ending felt like it came fast (compared to the rest of the book). I loved that you got some answers to where things were going while still allowing the read some room for imagination. Wesley seemed to set up a possible follow on book (series?) which would be fun.

such a cute solid contemp romance.

it has so many good tropes
-fake dating
-set in a cupcake store
-football player
-forced to recreate romance book covers
-main character get with a learning disability
yes please

i really appreciated that the third act breakup was actually justified and used for character development not just a last ditch plot device

I wanted to love this book, but I ended with it being just okay for me. It took a bit for me to buy into caring about the characters or their relationship’s trajectory. There was trip overload and a breakup at nearly the end of the book that seemed out of left field and nonsensical. I wished that we’d gotten more scenes with Jada’s Gram, her bestie, or Donovan and his friends so that the two of them seemed less one-dimensional. There was a lot of repetition of him being “a stern principal” and her being “impulsive!!111” that could have been cut to make room for us learning more about each of them beyond the literary archetypes they were portraying. I assume that the partners in the cupcake shop will eventually get books of their own, but there wasn’t enough about them on page in this one that makes me look forward to those.

Jada, famous for turning down America’s most eligible bachelor on a reality tv dating show, finds herself working in a struggling cupcake shop owned & operated by Donovan, a pro football player. When a reporter mistakes Jada & Donovan as a couple, they realize this fake relationship may help them both.

This was a very sweet story that was fun to read, but for me personally wasn’t much more than that. That’s not to say it was bad, it just felt like it didn’t have as much substance as some of the other romcoms I’ve been reading lately, so it paled a bit in comparison. This was absolutely an enjoyable book that will sure to please anyone looking for a lighter, fun book.

You can expect a bunch of your classic rom com tropes, such as enemies to lovers, fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, and a bit of instalove. If you like any of these tropes you’ll be pleased by this book.

But, as with any of the romcom tropes, you can see the ending a mile away. The journey to the end was fun (Jada is sassy & I absolutely love her snark and commitment to fashion). I also loved her Grandmother, the owner of the NFL team Donovan plays for and Jada’s biggest support system. But Jada’s mission in the book is to make some kind of job (even just part time at a cupcake shop) work until her birthday when she is of an age to access her trust fund.

Her “struggle” from the onset seemed very first world problems to me. However, Jada grew on me as a hard worker and in the end I was impressed by her character. It was probably intentional by the author for the readers to feel this way, as it really emphasizes how Jada grows, but I wish I could’ve seen more of end-Jada’s grit at the beginning.

There’s definitely some steam here too, so if you’re into some spicer scenes you won’t be disappointed there.

All this to say: if you’re looking for a light, fun, enjoyable romcom, this would be it!

This book has so much potential in the premise: a reality television scandal, a pro-athlete with a heart of gold, a fake-dating trope, and a sassy grandmother. Unfortunately, it fell flat. The characters ending up being really unrelatable, the dialogue was forced and sometimes corny, and the build up between the two love interests was non-existent.