A little bit of everything in this one. Romance, Reality television, sports, pretend relationships, and more.

Jada is stinging after turning down a proposal on that show that you are supposed to say yes to. Let’s just say she is now the villain in the tale. Time to go home and hide. Instead, she finds herself working at a cupcake bakery for a pro football player, Donovan.

They are in no way romantically involved. Far from it. But when the press finds her and assumes they are an item, they just go with it. It will help her reputation and promote his bakery.

Faking something has a nasty little habit of becoming reality. Sparks will fly!

NetGalley/ June 21st, 2022 by St. Martin’s Griffin

A light, feel good read with humor sprinkled in. Great beach read. A story of being supported, gaining confidence to make it on your own.

Sometimes you need a story that makes you laugh and let’s you just relax and read it from cover to cover. This is one of those books. I loved how the big bad guy is so worried about the details of his business and how the others all enjoy making him stress over little things. HEA and all that but it’s how you get there that really counts! Loved it and plan to reread it again to make sure I didn’t miss a bit of it!

Before I begin with my review, can we appreciate the perfection that is this cover? I’ve been obsessed with it since I saw it for the first time. I definitely need a physical copy so I can appreciate it in person!

This story is the perfect beach read: light, funny and sweet (literally, I need a chocolate peanut butter cupcake as soon as possible). It was also a very fast read because once they started fake dating, I was super hooked onto the story. Jada was a bit hard to love at first, but I ended up loving her character. Donovan (and Nicholas and August) was totally my type of hero: sensitive, sensible, and a bit grumpy. I think his personality and Jada’s were a really good match.

I was debating between 3 and 4 stars, and the closer I got to the ending, the most certain I was it was going to be 4 stars. However, the third act break up was really forced and it felt anticlimactic. It was clearly included just for the sake of the formula, and it makes me sad because it was directed to a perfect ending.

If August comes next, I am super ready! He was so mysterious, and his interaction with Sloane got my attention…

Rating: 3/5
Steam: 1.5/5

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for my ARC!

Cupcakes
Fake dating
And an enemies to friends to lovers story line.

SIGN ME UP!

This was an enjoyable read for me. It reminded me of me and my husband, I’m impulsive while he’s calculated and organized.

Characters were well developed, plot threshed out and a lovable ending. I look forward to more from this author!

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 sweet stars!

[My review will be posted on my blog and Goodreads closer to the publication date.]

TL;DR: This was such a delightful romance and while I did have some issues with it at the beginning, I’m so glad that I ended up loving it as much as I thought I would! Jada and Donovan were such a great couple and their romance made me so giddy. If you love fake-dating, great banter, fun playful chemistry between H/h, and A FOODIE ROMANCE, I would recommend picking this up. Also, prepare to get hungry and crave cupcakes while reading this because all the flavours sounded *exquisite*! 🤤

Jada and Donovan were simply too cute for words and their romance had my heart swooning! I’ve been excited about this book ever since the cover was revealed and I was over the moon when I got invited to read an early copy so I’m even more pleased to say that I really enjoyed this book. This was a sweet and delightful romance between two imperfect characters who, it turns out, are simply perfect for each other! 😉

Fake It Till You Bake It admittedly started off on a slightly rough note for me. The writing was a bit choppy and repetitive at times and I found I didn’t particularly care about either Jada or Donovan; if I’m being honest, I wasn’t sure if I was feeling any chemistry between them! I’m glad that I kept reading though because once this took off for me, I found myself quickly falling in love with the romance, the banter, the friendships, and the cupcakes, too. If you find yourself feeling the same way as I did at the start, let me just say hang on because things get exponentially better and I sped through the book in the span of a few hours!

I didn’t find Jada or Donovan particularly likeable characters at the start. I wasn’t hitting it off with Jada’s bougie attitude and even though I know that a lot of it was bluster to cover up her own insecurities, it took a little getting used to her chaotic whirlwind energy. I eventually came to appreciate her for the things that I wasn’t keen about in the beginning. She’s sharp, witty, full of determination, and I have to admire her grit because no matter how many times people put her down, underestimated her or villainised her simply for being a human in the public eye, she never stopped trying. As Donovan loved to say: she had gumption and I really loved that about her character! In contrast to her wild energy, Donovan was a calming force. He might come across as a little stodgy at the start but I related so much to his need for logical processes and orderliness, and I respected his need to feel in control of what was happening around him. He had a playful side that he rarely let show but the more he loosened up around Jada, the more we got to see it and I absolutely loved the resulting banter between the two of them. I will say that I was surprised that although he's a football player there's very little football in this book; it didn't really bother me but if you're expecting a sports romance, you won't find it here.

Their meet-cute was all kinds of meet-awkward and resulted in a strong mutual dislike and distrust which made the fact that they had to work together all the more uncomfortable. Their romance starts off as hate-to-love and starts changing slowly when they start fake-dating and this is really when the fun began for me! The book club and clinch cover recreation that they did was hilarious AND hot. The talk show appearance was incredibly swoony! With each situation that tested their relationship, their undeniable chemistry only grew stronger and I rooted harder for their HEA. Their exchanges were so fun and playful and they were so disgustingly cute with each other that if I didn’t love them so much I’d probably hate them (stealing Rose’s words because accurate)! 😂 Ugh, seriously, their interactions had me feeling ridiculously giddy and I found myself giggling a lot!

I thought we’d make it all the way through without a third-act breakup and I was honestly a little disappointed that there ended up being one because I thought it felt out of character. However, that disappointment was reeled back once I realised just how important it was for them to have that moment for themselves. I loved that they addressed their separation with the same reasons that I thought felt out of character and that to me indicated their growth—it was a little angsty at first but found it made perfect sense in the end! Overall, I had such a fantastic time with this book and I really hope that the epilogue ending means that August is getting a story next because if it is, you’ll find me over here fangirling in excitement cos I know I’m gonna love it!

After turning down the final proposal on a bachelor type show, Jada is a very hated woman. Since her parents have cut her off, she heads to her grandma in hopes of getting her trust fund early. Her grandma has different ideas though. She will work for one of her players, Donovan, at his cupcake shop. The two start off hating each other, but when a reporter stops by and Jada pretends to be dating him, the two are thrown into the spotlight and Donovan decides fake dating might not be so bad for the bottom line of the shop. the chemistry between the two however, is off the charts.

Note: have cupcakes on hand while reading this book! A hate to love, fake dating book, set in a cupcake shop? Yes please! I thought this book was so adorable. Donovan was so uptight, and I loved how Jada started to bring him out of his shell a bit as the book went on. I also really loved watching Jada go from a bougie rich girl to finding herself through her work at the shop and her growing relationship with Donovan. This was a super fun, quick read!

I loved the premise of this book. Fake boyfriend trope plus a bakery owned by three NFL players plus a former Bachelorette-type show contestant. Perfect for vacation reading!

Unfortunately, this story was more of a supermarket vanilla cupcake with American buttercream than a chocolate stout cupcake with whiskey ganache and an Irish cream Italian meringue buttercream.

If you are going to use the fake boyfriend trope, it has to last longer than 1 chapter. The couple pretends they are dating and they fool no one around them because just days later they are in love!

2.5 stars rounded up because if this becomes a trilogy, I'd still love to see how love finds August and Nicholas, Donovan's business partners and teammates.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at St. Martin’s Griffin for an ARC of this adult rom-com in exchange for an honest review. Fake It Till You Bake It is about a socialite and a professional football player/baker. Defensive lineman Donovan Dell knows that football careers don’t last forever so he opens up a cupcake shop with two of his teammates. It had a modicum of success in the beginning, but now their sales are slowing down. But things start picking back up again when he and Jada Townsend-Matthews are trapped in a fake relationship thanks to social media chaos. Will they both get what they want in the end? Or are they just faking it until they bake it? Fake It Till You Bake It is out on June 21st and is available for preorder now.
I’m going to do the thing I hate which is starting my review with the negative. And that’s just to get it off my chest. If you don’t know, my husband and I have done three seasons of a sports and books podcast together so I’ve been learning a lot about the ins and outs of different sports over the past couple of years. When I saw this book I thought it would be good for me because 1. I love to bake, 2. Sports are now a thing for me apparently, and 3. Did I mention the fake dating? But almost immediately I was getting nervous belly about how the sports were going to be represented in this book. At the 11% mark I noted that: An NFL player was saying that he’s one of the lowest paid athletes in sports. I swear to god I almost threw my tablet. The NFL is one of the HIGHEST paid sports in the world. And then at the 15% mark I noted that someone had said that the main male character was one of the best defensive ends in the league. And he’s supposedly one of the worst paid players in professional sports??? A quick google search shows that LA Rams' Defensive Lineman Aaron Donald is the highest paid Defensive Lineman in the NFL and that he makes $22.5 Million. It really is that easy to find out about contracts in the NFL. How is this a major plot point about his struggles to keep his business afloat despite being a professional athlete and yet zero research happened here? Yes, a defensive lineman makes less than a quarterback but that doesn’t mean he gets nothing.

(Wow that was a rant. Sorry.)

Another thing I struggled with in this one was that the writing wasn’t the best. The main thing I can reference is when the main characters are together and getting physical. The narration describes it as him “sipping” on her lips. Which just gives me a lot of weird imagery. I know what the author is trying to say here, but my brain does not like the way it’s being said. Something that I think gets better over time in this one is the characters. I found the socialite, Jada, to be annoying in the first 15% to 20%. I think she does develop and become a better person as the story goes on which we all love to see.

I really enjoyed Jada’s grandmother as a character. I know there are often teams passed down through families and it was fun to see that. She kind of reminded me of the Chicago Bears owner. And I am excited because I think there’s a chance that this will end up being a companion series with romances for the two business partners at the cupcake shop. I thought Nicholas was hilarious and I’m interested in finding out more about August. I hope if the author does continue that she’ll dive more into the football side of their lives. And I will say that this was a quick and fast paced read. I was always ready to see what direction this story was going to go in. The third act conflict was a little rough, but I enjoyed seeing the characters take their lives into their own hands and didn’t just go with what other people wanted for them.
I think, overall, if you aren’t going to be like me and aren’t going to get tied up in the ins and outs of the sports side of the story, this could be a solid romance read for you. It’s fast paced and fun with solid character development.

Adorable. Baking A+, characters A+, romance A+, pacing A+, writing A+. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. It has fake dating, great character development, a quirky book club, and a funny grandmother. What more could you want?

Ok so I did think I would like this! I just thought the book cover was beautiful and I love seeing colored people on covers as well. I went in blind and didn't know that there was a tv show involved or that it would be a fake dating trope either but I enjoyed it. I thought this was a nice light heart read. Definitely a comfort read and I can't wait to have a physical copy because I will definitely will be rereading this hidden gem.

Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and Fake It Till You Bake It has it. Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. Coming 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. Fake Dating + Slow Burn + Wicked Banter had me swooning in the best way.

I came into this book very excited to read the play on the typical cupcake shop occupation, though I maintain cupcakes are the most overrated dessert item (especially from shops, because they are always dry af). Unfortunately, this book was just okay. I think the author tried to cram as many tropes as possible into the pages and really missed the mark on giving a satisfying read.
The first several chapters felt a bit formulaic with the descriptions and backstory, like a friend would say something then the author would insert two pieces of backstory, then an MC would reply and the author would insert one more. And yet the only thing we knew about Jada by the end was that she liked clothes, and that Donovan liked to bake (though we see him do it twice all book). It made for a very info-dumpy first act that felt sloowwwww instead of snappy.
I also felt frustrated that Jada had to find her ~passion~ at age 25 and not just… get a job that she doesn’t care much about and pays decently like the rest of us? I worried that Jada wasn’t going to be a sympathetic character—I mean, how bad can you feel for someone who needs to bridge 6 months of work between having her parents pay for everything and a multi-million dollar trust fund? 
By the end, I felt that the dyslexia rep was a nice reason for her to have a bad relationship with her parents, but it didn’t do much for my sympathy levels. Again, she literally needed to just get a job to pay for her groceries and utilities. And that’s it. And she couldn’t manage it. For seven years? I’m glad she decided to “be on her own” to grow at 92%, but it didn’t ring very true with her, you know, living in a free condo?
Things started taking a positive turn around 50%, but the fact that they moved from strangers to fake dating into him loving her in about a week really made it hard for me to believe in the couple. I think the characterization could’ve been stronger, and existed before the halfway point—there could’ve been some really beautiful growth had it not been crammed into tiny morsels like it was. This wasn’t a terrible book—just aggressively mediocre.
Honest review provided in exchange for a free digital ARC.

I loved this book- the banter, the build up, everything. it was witty and fun with an incredible cast of characters that really makes you fall in love with them.

Fake Dating
Baking
Black Love

This is pretty much a perfect combination for an entertaining, satisfying romance story. I loved reading this, it was a quick read and very predictable but the story was very well written, spicy, and just so much fun.

Thank you Netgalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of "Fake It Till You Bake It" by Jamie Wesley. All my opinions are my own and not biased in any way.

Honestly, I thought this book would be full of cliches and just feel very similar to other romance books but it was surprisingly unique. The plot and character traits were really different than books I've read in the past and it felt refreshing. While it did have the classic fake dating trope and some cliche moments, the rest of it was unique. I liked the characters a lot, mainly because they felt authentic to their traits throughout the whole book and didn't just completely change their personalities for each other. The romance was a slight slow burn but it didn't feel like it was pushing it, mainly because the main characters acknowledged their attraction to each other from the very beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, the only reason why I don't give it 5 stars is because it wasn't exceptionally memorable to me. I enjoyed it in the moment and would recommend it to romance lovers, but it wasn't an extremely life changing book for me personally.

I want to say that I love how this is a black character driven book. It’s black love, black dreams just overall everything amazing.

I will say that I feel like it starts off a big sluggish for me, nothing really happens in my opinion. The relationship from the characters in the beginning felt a bit off which then lead to the random uplifting moment between them that got them together.

It does take a moment to get used to the characters but I think in the end you may enjoy it.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchanged for my honest review.

This book is a really cute romance!! Fake It Till You Bake It follows Jada, who has just returned home after turning down a proposal on a reality show, and Donovan, a professional football player that owns a cupcake bakery. Jada needs to prove to her family that she can keep a job, and coincidentally ends up working for Donovan, who is struggling to make a profit with his shop.

I loved the banter between Jada and Donovan, and there were a lot of cute moments and some *steamy* scenes that were enjoyable. The fallout of the reality show leads to an emergency need for the fake-dating trope, which was set up pretty well! Certain elements of the romance were rushed, but overall it was still sweet. The diversity was great as well, it would be great to see more black main characters in romance novels.

It was definitely difficult to connect with the characters; the problems they faced seemed artificial, and there was definitely some cringey dialogue that I feel would never be said in real life. Also, not only was the end conflict rushed, the way they reacted to it didn't make much sense.

Jada did develop over time, and it was nice to see her personal growth influenced by working in the bakery. Fake It Till You Bake It was a light and fluffy read, and overall I give this book 3 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC!

Actually painfully boring. I am so sorry to this author, but it took me so long to get into this story and I didn't even end up caring about any of the characters afterwards. Not sure what happened and where we fell flat on this one.

First of all...AWWWW

The book was super cute. Black Love, Black Dreams, Black Characters. I loved the realness even if sometimes it made me laugh at the corniness but I think it added to its adorableness.

The romance turned away from old troupes around a couple fighting at the last second, or the world finding out. I loved the way the main characters took control of their lives especially when they were about to be "exposed".

I think the characters' internal struggles, especially Jada's, were a little too troupish but not enough to detract from the plot of the book which was Jada and Donovon who definitely have some deep chemistry.

Overall it was cute and I'm excited for it to be out in the world. #BlackLoveforthewin