Truly enjoyed this baking romance with a former football star turned baker and a former reality show star, reviled by the world. Their chemistry was spot on and the banter spicy!

Such a cute romcom - I admit I am always a bit biased when there is a baker involved, but will definitely be recommending this one for a fun read.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't do anything for me. I DNFed about halfway with no interest or care for what was happening or the characters.

*Thank you @stmartinspress for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

This is a super cute story about a reality tv star and a football player who owns a cupcake shop. Yessss, a strong black man who knows his way around the kitchen and is especially good when it comes to sweets. Plus it has one of my favorite tropes in it: fake dating. I’ve also discovered that I have a weak spot for a football player male lead. Note to self: find more sports romances.

Characters: Donovan and his friends were amazing and I loved his POV. They were a close-knit group and held each other accountable when the situation called for it. Donovan was supportive, super sweet, and a grumpy bear. He carries the weight of financial responsibility for his family even though nobody asked that of him.

Jada is an heiress. She's the black sheep of the family, everyone else is successful and she's still looking for what she wants in life. She's dyslexic, yay for this representation, and through her, we see how she struggles with it and how her parents deal with it. She struggles to live up to her parents' expectations and dreams for her. My first impression of her left me with a bad taste in my mouth but I grew to like her the more I got to know her. In the end, I loved her sass which is ironic because her sass is what made me stand-offish with her at first.

I love love loved Grams! (Jada's grandmother)

As far as the overall story goes, I enjoyed it, as I mentioned earlier, it is a super cute story. It's lighthearted and funny. Some spots were repetitive but it doesn't take you out of the story that much. The cover is adorable and I can't wait to add it to my shelf. I am making a point to add more black romance stories to my shelf. Representation matters and growing up there weren't very many for me to read, I don't want my daughter to have to struggle to look for Black love books, in a dream world, all she will have to do is browse my shelf and have all the options. Great debut! Can't wait to read more by Jamie Wesley.

Fave quote: "Show love but take no shit." -Grams

Side note: no matter how good yall make them sound, I will never give in to the Crocs craze.
Tropes/tags: fake dating, sports star, heiress, Black love, chaos magnet x perfectionist, slow burn
Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 1/5

This book gives me "High School Musical" vibes. Football players trying to succeed in something outside of what the typical status quo is. Girl & boy meet & fall in love, etc. So if you are into chick lit, happily ever afters, & that sort of thing, it would be a great book.

I enjoyed it, enough. The main female character drives me a little bit insane because in one scene she is completely oblivious to the main male character having a crush on her, but then in the next scene claims to be really good at telling when a male has feelings for her. (Mind you- she was wrong BOTH times).

Other than that though, it wasn't horrible, just predictable, which I usually expect from this type of novel.

This was a cute romance but I just had some trouble getting into it. This story follows Jada a girl who was on a reality tv dating show as the villain and Jamie a retired football player now bakery owner. When Jada needs a job Jamie agrees to hire her on and teach her. Jadas past catches up to her though as a reporter finds Jada in the bakery and mistakes Jamie as her boyfriend and so fake dating ensues. The story was cute and had a lot of fun banter but some of the circumstances seemed a little to unbelievable and kept me from relating to the characters. I thought the banter in this book was top notch and kept a smile on my face. I would definitely pick up more from this author in the future. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Fake dating and sports?? My fav tropes!!! Loved this from beginning to end, Truly didn't want it to end.

I greatly enjoyed this book. Adorable romance with lovable characters and a great read. Fantastic read.

I enjoyed reading Fake It Til You Bake It and look forward to others that Jamie Wesley puts out.

Jada is a wide known person for one reason: she denied a proposal on reality television. She let him know that she had another man at home who held her heart. Returning home, her grandmother insists she work at Sugar Blitz, the cupcake shop run by football player Donovan Dell.

Donovan loves to bake cupcakes and share food. An owner of Sugar Blitz, he's in the red zone and needs to find a way to save the business. When Jada kisses him to get a blogger to lay off, they both realize this may be the best move. Fake date and help the business? What could go wrong.

I found myself easily flipping through the pages and loving the easy going plot of this debut novel. The dual points of view and well paced chapters were both positives. I do wish Donovan's character was featured more often and wanted more of a backstory on him. Overall, I can't wait to read what Wesley puts out next!

Thank you St. Martin's Press Romance and Netgalley for my arc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a sweet and light romance with heart bringing depth to the whole of the story. It was a cinnamon chocolate confection - spice, richness, flavor, and just the right amount of frosting to set off the flavors. In short, I enjoyed this rom-com and the MCs were likable characters that I found myself cheering on.

I received an ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions and poorly written metaphors are mine.

I am always up for a great enemies to lovers book, and this was no exception! I totally fell in love with this one from the beginning! As a baker myself, I love reading adorable baking books (like A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee!) And this book really hit the sweet spot for me! This easy to read, fake dating trope book hit the spot for me with all of the adorable-ness it brought to the table. I loved all the banter between the characters, and who doesn't love a hot guy in an apron?! Especially a hot, buff football player?! With two swoony black characters, including one bad ass baker babe, we are bound to get the fun, chemistry, and romance we were looking for in this rom-com!! I love the take charge action of Jada, even in the face of all the hate on social media. She was so classy and brave, even when things got tough! I also love Donovan's calm and collected even temper and his can-do attitude. I love his attention to detail and his ability to make a plan and execute it. He is driven and stalwart! This book was so freaking adorable, I could write on and on and on about it!

This book offers lots of fun tropes like enemies to lovers, fake dating, and even a grumpy/sunshine dynamic. I really like the premise. The beginning was a bit slow and the conflict depends on miscommunication which is not my favorite. However, I still really liked the couple and had a good time. 3.5 stars rounded up.

i read this book valentines/ super bowl weekend and between the ties to Football and love shows- I couldn’t have picked a better book choice!
I genuinely enjoyed these characters especially Donovan and his football buddies and were hoping he and Jada would end up together even though she took a minute to grow on me. Throughout the book she definitely made decisions that reflected her her mid twenties age vs his slightly more mature demeanor but she grew throughout the story and I loved her confidence in herself by the stories end.

Baking, Business. Celebrity, and a little sports thrown in. I loved both the lead characters and the book!

The fake relationship trope can go well or be a real let down--in this case, it went pretty well. Jada and Donovan played well off of each other and that made it an enjoyable read. I'm partial to romance with a touch of sports in them, so this was a real treat.

This will be an enjoyable read for many! Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I love fake dating tropes but this well fell short. Donovan and Jada fell in love entirely too quick for my liking and I just couldn’t connect with Jada. I found her to be a little annoying. Overall this was just okay and I hate that for me.

I found the plot of this book adorable. When I do read romance or rom coms, I want it to be a premise that hasn't already been beaten to death on the market. This was a quick, happy, light hearted read that I did enjoy all the way through.

fun and entertaining read, with well-written characters and an engaging plot. The romance between Jada and Donovan is sweet and charming, and their fake relationship leads to some amusing and heartwarming moments

I can't tell if I just don't like the fake dating trope or if this one just didn't do it for me. I find that I just didn't enjoy Jada or Donovan. They both just had a weird vibe & honestly they did not pull off the fake dating well at all. This book was a slow burn but not in a good way.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

This book just lacked chemistry... The characters felt awkward together and never really felt like a true couple. The fake dating was so surface level. The smut scenes were cringy and uncomfortable and honestly the plot didn't make a lot of sense.