I liked this fake dating opposites attract romance. I didn't find leading lady Jada very likeable in our introduction to her during her first encounter with Cupcakery owner and football star Donovan. She's vocally dismissive of his business when her friend drags her in to the shop, but that changes very quickly once she's thrown into a situation where she's forced to interact with Donovan. Donovan himself is a sweetie despite being the serious planner to Jada's spontaneouJs self. I thought the way the relationship from it's initial antagonistic start progressed very nicely and i liked the way that the pair helped each other to grow - it was also nice that Jada isn't the snobby superficial rich girl that she seems to be in the first chapter. If I had any nits with the story, and i really just had to suspend belief, the fact that Donovan and his pals were active football players (instead of retired) and were hands on in the bakery wasn't realistic - the off season is very short and Donovan and the regular season wouldn't allow time for the trio to personally run a business. Still, I did enjoy this and would read the next one starring the more reserved of Donovan's friends.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is a former reality show star known for her sassy attitude and quick wit. Donovan Dell is not only a professional football player but the owner of the newest cupcake bakery in San Diego. A misunderstanding leads to Jada and Donovan fake dating in order to save both Jada’s reputation and the reputation of Donavan’s beloved bakery.

The plot of this book is pretty straight forward. The fake dating trope is set off by a misunderstanding. The main characters soon enough find they have actual feelings for one another.

I like the twist that the baker is a man as it’s usually a woman in most romance books. While Donovan is a football player I would not consider this a sports romance since the storyline has more to do with his bakery than his athletic career. While Jada’s character does mature by the end of the book, her bratty attitude made her very dislikable through the first part of the book and difficult to connect with.

Fake It Till You Bake wasn’t overly spicy and that portion could be easily skipped if those kinds of scenes bother you.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Donovan is excited to open a bakery after playing professional football for years. When he hires Jada things start to change. While their relationship started out as a ruse, it became so much more than either of them thought.

This was my first time reading a book by this author and I loved it! I am an avid reader, and am doubly excited by the fact that the cover features people of color and that the author is an AA female.
The book was slow to start, but warmed up and became a delightful, funny, charming book that gave me all the feels! A heroine struggling to find her self worth, and a football player with hidden depths. I can't wait to find out what happens with the other characters in the book.
Well done!

The story was cute. If you aren't a fan of smut this one has very little. The characters could've been expanded on more because I couldn't tell them apart.
Overall, a very cute and fluffy read.

Fake it Till You Bake It is a cute romantic comedy. Jada and Donavon's worlds collide when she steps into his Cupcake Shop with a friend. She instantly starts talking trash about the place and he overhears her, and instantly falls in love. Donavon is a stuffy cupcake shop owning football player, and Jada is an obnoxious reality star socialite. I disliked them both at first, but then they both grew in personality and maturity. Jada caused upheaval in Donavon's world making him open up more and his calm demeanor helped settle her at times. Jada helped his business and heart grow and Donavon emotionally supported her in ways to help her grow. Cute love story, reccomend to anyone needing lightness.

Now romance novels really aren't my choice of reading at all but as I was provided with a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review here goes:-

Did I enjoy this, well yes. Was it well written, again yes and it was easy to read and flowed along nicely.

Would I like to see what happens to a few of the other characters in the book, hmm whilst not too worried I felt there's an opening to develop both Nicholas and August as there were a few tiny hints in this and wouldn't be at all surprised if either or both of them were the focus of future tales.

Overall a pleasant tale and if this boy meets girl and falls in love is the type of story you read and like then I suspect you won't be disappointed.

What a lovely story!!! This author is new to me and k certainly look forward to reading more by her. I was hooked from the start and I devoured it in 2 evenings

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

This story is cute! The characters were very easy to fall in love with, and the chemistry was perfect. I enjoyed the reality TV/sports world aspect and the way it affected everything in Jada and Donovan’s relationship.

Donovan + Jada meet at a cupcake shop. Jada is commenting on how unamused she is by the place, Donovan (the owner of said cupcake shop) overhears. It’s the cutest banter. And it doesn’t end there. Donovan’s also an NFL player and the owner is… Jada’s grandma. Yep, crazy coincidence and
forced proximity (I won’t tell you why)!

Fast forward through the rest of the book and you get dual POV, fake dating, reality tv drama, gossip galore, and baking. All the makings of a solid rom com.

Several areas of the plot seemed unrealistic (NFL player/cupcake shop owner + a reality tv dating show star), but honestly, that was part of the charm. I really enjoyed this story, and that ending… it’s set up for a sequel which I am SO here for.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book!

Fake It Till You Bake It was a delight! The story follows Jada a reality TV star turned villain and Donovan an all-star football player and bakery owner. They cross paths one day when Jada openly insults Donovan’s business and, well, it’s dislike at first sight.

This isn’t quite a hate to love romance but it definitely goes from foe to friend to lover. The pacing of the book was good though I found the timeline unrealistic in terms of some of the sequence of events. Some of the activities and moments simply would have taken more time than the author was allotting in the book. There were other moments and descriptions that were inaccurate or unrealistic which would take me out of the story. These were minor and I ultimately was able to ignore them.

I found the characters likeable enough and the relationships were believable. I didn’t fall head over heals for any of them in particular but was invested and engaged in the story. I wished for more tension between the main characters but they had good chemistry and their love story was believable. I liked seeing some good, mature, healthy conflict resolution and supportive partners. The writing was direct and clear. I was pleased to see dyslexia and gambling addiction addressed as themes in this story too.

My only real dislike of the book was the way the author introduced the third act conflict. I understand what the point of that plot line was and I absolutely love that Jada was given that space. I just felt like it came out of nowhere and was a bit clunky. If this had been a conflict she was more actively wrestling with throughout the story, I would have been less surprised and confused by the sudden change of direction things took. Overall this was a solid book! Looking forward to to the next one.

I'm trying to read as many romance novels as possible in February, and after being given access to this arc, I added it to my romance month list! I am beyond pleased to say that, for the most part, I enjoyed myself and recommend this book to anyone who loves a good rom-com, especially ones that follow the perspectives of both male and female characters.

The Good Things
1. The cover and title are both adorable and a perfect fit for the book. I always like to point out the books that nail these two things.
2. Enemies to lovers and fake dating seem to be two tropes I really like lately. This book fit both boxes and did it pretty well!
3. I loved the characters, and I LOVE the addition of Tyler's best friends. Most rom-coms focus on the female character's friends, so it was a nice change of pace and was expected really well.
4. A lot of people prefer romances and rom-coms to be written in the first person, but I enjoy both the third person and the first-person points of view. This book is third person, and I think it was fitting. 


The Bad Things
1. Jada's character was really hard to relate to, and I had a hard time empathizing with her in certain situations.
2. I really enjoyed this book. However, there is an event that happens toward the end of the book that really didn’t fit in with the rest of the book. It came out of nowhere, and it irritated me to no end. However, it may not irritate everyone (maybe you like this type of cliche), given that a majority of the book was good.



Note: Thank you to Netgalley & publishers for allowing me access to this arc in exchange for an honest review! Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Rating: Really Enjoyed It, 4 stars

This book was a fantastic read and super enjoyable. It has some of my favorite things within romance: fake dating, sports, reality competitions, and baking. Several of these things were very much in the background and not super focused on, but overall lots to love about this setup!

We follow Jada and Donavan in this story. He is a professional football player who owns a cupcake shop, and she is the villain of a reality dating show after refusing a proposal in the finale. I thought that the romance was done well in this one. I liked both the main characters and thought that it was believable. I think that the reason this didn't hit 5 star range for me was because while handled better than a lot that I've seen, the third act issue was kind of dumb and made me roll my eyes. There also was just a lot of cheesy/cliche language, especially towards the end., that made me cringe at times. I was also surprised because for a book with baking in the forefront, it wasn't really described as well as I would have hoped. The steamy scenes were alright, not super spicy, but not closed door. I feel like they were just fine,

That all being said, I did really enjoy this book and it was a great read for Valentine's week. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an advance eARC of this book. Fake it Til you Bake It releases on 6/21/22.

This rom com was cute, fun, and very sweet (pun intended). I liked Jada and Donovan a lot - and I definitely plan to read the future books from Nicholas and August’s perspectives. This book also definitely left me
craving cupcakes LOL.

I DNF'd this, which made me really, really sad. I wanted so desperately to like this book, but I just had a really hard time getting into it and staying in it.

Dual, 3rd Person POV makes me sort of disconnected from these characters, I'm afraid. I got 20% in and they still hadn't started the fake dating plot, and I feel like the plot moved at too slow of a pace for me. Not as in a slow-burn pace, but just like a painfully, slow, "when does this plot get going?" kind of slow.

It was also incredibly flowy, beautifully, over-written. Heavy descriptors when, in this reader's opinion, it just wasn't necessary and was honestly distracting. Especially given the slow start and disconnect I felt from the characters.

I thought the MCs had great chemistry, and I loved their banter. I really wish I'd loved more of it to stick it out.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet story that flows well and is very readable. I enjoyed the characters of Jada and Donovan, and the secondary characters were varied and charming as well, especially Gram. Jada's troubled relationship with her exacting parents is well-developed and adds tension to the narrative. The only quibble I have is that the final crisis that Jada and Donovan face seems a bit rushed, and the solution comes before Jada pulls away, full of doubt that she'd be good for him. It seems to me that might happen before the crisis is averted, rather than after they've found a solution to it, and that the suspense of the threat might build more before the damage is finally averted. All in all, though, this is a fun romantic comedy with light touches of humor that avoid becoming too slapstick.

I loved Jada and Donovan! Their chemistry was incredible. I thought this would be a fade to black type of story (the whole story had been written clean up to that point) so the sex scene felt completely out of place.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book. It was a fun and easy read. I really love the two main characters. Donovan is a sweet pro footballer player that opens but a cupcake shop called ‘Sugar Blitz’. Jada is now famous for a reality show going bad. I loved the storyline. This story does end in a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to read the second book

Thanks so much NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press , and Jamie Wesley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

i really wanted to give this book a 5 star. it had all the things i love in a book, the fake dating trope, a mc with a disability, and a big group of side characters. this book just wasn't the best. a lot of it felt like it dragged on. over the halfway mark it got muchhh better, but still not good enough to redeem the book.

This is an enemies-to-lovers trope with a reality show angle thrown in. As I enjoy both, I was excited to read this book. However, it didn't quite meet my expectations. The pace, in many parts, was just too slow, which pulled me out of the story, and the dialogue was underdeveloped and, at times, cheesy. Overall, I did like Jada and Donovan and found them realistically crafted. If you're looking for a quick, fluff read, you may want to consider this book.