I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Fake It Till You Bake it features Donovan, football star and co-owner of an up-and-coming cupcake shop, and Jada, former dating show contestant and talk-of-the-town. When a chance encounter suddenly becomes a more permanent interaction, Donovan and Jada must convince the world their fake dating charade is real, until it becomes more than fake.

This book was cute and feel good. It had one notably spicy scene. It was easy reading and the characters were pretty enjoyable. Overall I had fun, but I probably won't be itching to pick this one up for a reread anytime soon. The book just needed something more to really hook me. I think maybe if we added in a little more plot that would help.

The breakup didn't make any sense to me really, and it messed with the pacing a ton.
Also heckin insta-love, not my favortie.

I love a good enemies to lovers, I love fake dating, I love cupcakes... so I thought this would be a huge hit for me! Unfortunately, by the time the book hit ~75% my interest was really dropping. Not only did it not really have much of a hate-to-love plotline, but the fake dating was also really abbreviated. While I could sympathize with Jada's struggles with her parents, I also had a hard time feeling bad for the rich girl who still had tons of support and love. Additionally, the 3rd act break up felt forced and didn't really make sense to me. I felt like all the side characters existed just for potential spin-off books as opposed to really serving a purpose in this story. The character growth just wasn't all there across the board.

I thought Jada and Donovan had great chemistry and I really enjoyed them as a couple! The set up of their relationship just didn't really work for me.

Your typical rom-com style book: main characters fight the attraction, give in to the attraction, fall in love but deny it, break up and think they are idiots for it and then get back together.
Jada is a reality TV star, famous for turning down a proposal on a Bachelorette style TV show and Donovan is a famous football player who runs a cupcakery. Jada comes to work for Donovan, and she brings chaos and impulsiveness to his life. It's a super cute story, some what predictable but would definitely recommend! Thankful for NetGally for letting me read an ARC!

A charming romance about an uptight baker/professional football player and the impulsive woman who comes to work at his bakery. The novel lacks a little in tension but the well-developed characters (all Black) and the cupcakery setting make it a solid and enjoyable read.

Donovan Dell and his two best friends from the San Diego Knights NFL team, have set up Sugar Blitz, a cupcake bakery, to develop as a non-football business. Don’t worry, the football side of things is not in the least present, other than ensuring that Donovan has thighs, shoulders, and muscles to die for. It’s presumably the off-season as he doesn’t go to training or play games, and eats cupcakes with no compunction.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is adrift: she doesn’t want to go into the family medical research business, she tried DJing but didn’t like the side of harassment that came with, and her last and most notorious escapade was on The One and Only, a Bachelor-esque reality show, in which she earned the ire of the nation by turning down the proposal from Dr John. By the sort of convolutions typical of this genre, she comes to work at Sugar Blitz, even though she and Donovan have got off to a very bad start.

By further convolutions, they end up as a fake couple. There’s a bit of an issue here; because the novel is told from both Donovan’s and Jada’s perspectives, we immediately know that they both fancy the pants off each other but think that the other person isn’t into them. Typically, we would only see the relationship from one side - usually the woman’s - so we would only see her perspective of her fake boyfriend’s feelings. So there’s no real tension here about will they or won’t they (admittedly, there isn’t really any in the regular single narrator version either, but you can sort of pretend there is) and when they do get together, there isn’t any sort of threat to their happiness until right before the end, and even that is over and done with in a few pages.

I enjoyed the well-drawn contrasting personalities even though they are a little caricatured and appreciated the glamorous Black setting, where it’s all designer brands, glossy photos on Instagram, successful boutique businesses, and shelling out on expensive cupcakes. The author makes a point of describing everyone’s skin color, but then doesn't feel the need to spend any more time on race - it’s a romance and all the fantasy world that entails. At the end, we’re set up for a sequel with one of Donovan’s buddies taking the lead, and I’ll be happy to spend some more time in this sweet and elegant world.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4! A cute, lighthearted read with some sweet romance and great, rarely seen representation by way of Jada’s dyslexia. I loved the banter between Jada and Donovan, the setting of the cupcake shop, and the way that the third act drama wasn’t centered around miscommunication or something silly. It was more about each character having their flaws and not knowing how to be in a relationship and support each other, which felt real and genuine instead of manufactured just for tension. I wish there had been a bit more steam and that we’d seen a confrontation with Donovan’s dad the way that we saw confrontation with the negativity in Jada’s life, and I wish we’d gotten a little insight into how the shop runs during football season. Overall, though, this was a fun read that I enjoyed! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a cute romance that tugged at my heart. We follow Jada- a woman who recently turned down a proposal on a reality show- and Donovan- football star turned baker/bakery owner. Their romance blooms after Jada's grandmother makes them work together.

I love these kinds of romances. The characters were all rather in depth, even if they were secondary characters. Communication was pretty big in this novel, which isn't something I read often. It was a nice change of pace rather than having the miscommunication trope.

This story does start out slow, but it made sense for this fake dating premise. Plus there is some nice representation with Jada being dyslexic and having ways to help herself. My only issue was there were a couple moments that seemed like the author had forgotten she already had the characters discuss things. However, it didn't stop me from enjoying the story.

I enjoyed this book. It was a easy fun read. I loved the two main characters Donovan and Jada. Donovan is football play that opens a cupcake bakery and Jada is a now famous for a reality show going wrong. I loved how Jamie Wesley brought in the secondary characters. This book does end in a cliff hanger. I can't wait read it.

I receive an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Fake Dating
Black Love
Ex-Reality TV Star
Baking Football Hunk

Donovan, a sweet pro-footballer and owner of the up and coming cupcake shop ‘Sugar Blitz' and Jada an ex-reality tv star are the perfect couple. She is 25, spoiled, and a very opinionated trust-fund baby. Having no responsibilities in the midst of a reality tv scandal, her grandmother sets an ultimatum, to regain access to her trust fund. Work for her grandmother’s pro-footballer’s cupcake shop. The real zinger — they’ve already met and let’s just say that Jada was her very own opinionated self. Due to Jada’s reality show scandal, she entices Donovan to fake date in order to save her reputation and build a social media platform for the bakery.

What I loved about this storyline was how there were so many moments where they could’ve incorporated the miscommunication trope but chose to have the MMC be open and communicative. It was a breath of fresh air, honestly. Donovan helped Jada through her character arc- he supported her, showed her that she didn’t need to change but that she needed to appreciate her traits. They weren’t flaws. They were what made up Jada.

Ahhhh, this was such a great read and stepping stone for this series (I hope they follow through with the series. I love seeing them set up August's story)

Thanks so much NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, St. Martin’s Press and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Jada’s quite unlikable in the beginning, I’m still unsure. The ending was less than enjoyable.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book.

It was really slow at the beginning but it started to pick up after the main characters started working together. I loved the tension between the main characters. Everyone really hates Jada because she turns down a wedding proposal on reality television. I loved how the ending turned out with a happy ending. I was surprised by the ending of a certain character who went viral with a video. It makes me curious what it was about.

I really liked this one! Although it is hard to be sympathetic for the main character who is 25 (Jada) and just counting down the days until her 26th birthday for her to receive her inheritance. After Jada attempt to find love on a reality TV show, she returns home. Her grandmother has a job for her working at a bakery with Donovan (a pro-football player). The bakery is struggling and Donovan doesn’t know that Jada is hated by everyone who watched her turn down a proposal on TV, claiming she had fallen for someone back home. Jada pretends Donovan is that man back home and they use that fame to their advantage. So overall, it's a good story and there are fun secondary characters and fake dating!!

It's difficult to muster up sympathy for a poor little rich girl of twenty-five who's marking time until her 26th birthday when she has access to a sizeable inheritance. Yet that's the premise of Jada's motivation when her grandmother sends her to work for Donovan Dell, San Diego pro-football player and co-owner of a cupcake shop. He and two of his teammates may be tough on the playing field but they're bakers at heart. Awww, isn't that cute? Yes, well it could be but Jada is the driving force behind "Fake It Till You Bake It" and she's not all that likable, mainly because she continually teeters between self-flagellation and faking an image of "I don't give a damn".

Jada gets sidelined after nixing a reality dating show proposal and the ensuing social media blowup it causes. But her sparkling personality helps turn Donovan's Sugar Blitz bakery from a losing position to a profitable one and in the process, the pair agrees to fake a romance to help rebuild Jada's public image. But love sometimes gets in the way of even the most well-intentioned plans.

The soft-hearted but taciturn Donovan, who's worried over the red ink on his books, hires Jada as a favor to her grandmother who is the team's owner. Although his bakery puts out a superior product, his marketing plan isn't getting the message out and Donovan is looking for ways to stop the bleeding. He's a more well-rounded character than he initially seems and Jada brings him out of his self-inflicted loner lifestyle. But when an old boyfriend tries to get back in Jada's good graces, Donovan fears he's missed his chance with her.

Author Jamie Wesley serves up a slice of sweet and salty romance with a spoiled little rich girl as the protagonist. Jada isn't "bad" but she's definitely self-involved and my first inclination was wanting to shake some sense into her. But when no one is looking her true self emerges, right up until she puts on her protective shell as if she's donning her precious Louboutins. Then her outspoken demeanor and rash behavior take over and her spoiled rich girl personae comes out to play. All of this makes for what at heart is a cute little romantic romp. However as appealing as the storyline is, the writing is marred by stale phrasing, overworked similes and poor grammar that constantly distracted this reader. And then there is the self-talk and voluble dialogue that goes on far too long, regurgitating the same ideas over and over. I toyed with relegating it to the DNF pile but decided to finish it instead because I'm that stubborn. Three stars.

#NetGalley #JamieWesley

A sweet story (pun intended) of an influencer and a football player/bakery owner who pretend to date and then fall in love. There is definitely details that aren’t rooted in reality (no way would NFL players have time to run a bakery), and I wish there wasn’t a villain, but at its heart this is a story of two people who discover more than they thought in the other, and themselves. Despite the plot machinations, you believe that these two really like one another.

Wow, I really loved this one! I absolutely loved Donovan & Jada and the diverse cast of secondary characters. The author really makes you feel like you them personally. It unexpectedly ended with a cliff hanger, so I already can’t wait to read the next book to see what kind of trouble August got himself into!

I loved this romantic comedy. There was some angst - enough to keep me engaged, but the slow burn between these two led to a fantastic build-up. If how the book ended is any indication, I am excited to read the next book in the series about a particular quiet side character.

This book had one of my favorite tropes (fake dating, iykyk) and it was so cute! It also addressed some very real issues regarding self worth and the impact of emotional abuse, and did so in a real and honest way.

After her attempt to find love on a reality TV show resulted in Jada Townsend-Matthews becoming America’s-Most-Hated, she returns home to hunker down and hopefully find a way to move forward and impress her constantly-disappointed parents in the process. In the meantime, her grandmother has a job for her: working alongside star football player Donovan Dell at his news cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz. Jada doesn’t know that the bakery is struggling to make ends meet. And Donovan doesn’t know that Jada is loathed by everyone who watched her turn down a proposal on TV, claiming she had fallen for someone back home.

So when Jada makes a split-second decision to pretend Donovan is that man back home, the two realize they could both use this viral fame (however fleeting) to their advantage. But their fake relationship has some very real sparks, and it won’t be long before their feelings for each other are too obvious to be ignored.

This book was as cute as can be! It read so much like a Lifetime movie, and I was enchanted.

Three hot football players open a cupcake shop. I mean come on - hot men baking - hello...

The grandaughter of the teams owner ends up working there. She is a spoiled reality tv star who is running from a scandal (a mnor one). They have nothing in common, so of course they will fall in love.

This book was really adorable if you are looking for the perfect rom-com. And since you are reading this review, you must be. :)

It was a fun, easy, romantic read. I loved that this book wans't all sex, sex, sex like so many of them are today. I am not a prude, but I want romance and intimacy in my books, not the sex so much. This satisfied my needs, so to speak.

I am certain this will be a series and the next story will be one of the other owners and I will absolutely pick it up.

Thank you to the publisher, the author #JamieWesley and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I am looking forward to more books from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book. I enjoyed getting an early peek!!

This book has a lot of things that are right up my alley: football, a strong grandmother, cupcakes, reality TV and enemies to friends to lovers. I liked that characters and enjoyed seeing their story develop. I thought it started a bit too slowly, but once it picked up speed I very much enjoyed it. I thought the entire cast of characters were a lot of fun and added to this sweet story. I'm already looking forward to the next book in this series.

I had been looking forward to reading this but could not get past the first chapter. This comes down entirely on my own shoulders as I really cannot stand people who are obtuse & rude for no reason. Standing in a space & outwardly bashing the establishment without even doing your due diligence is a level of classless I could not get past & it gave me such second-hand embarrassment that I couldn't continue, knowing these two characters would be meant to do later in the story.
I know this book will be appreciated by many but it wasn't my thing.

This book has everything you’d want in a rom-com read! From the adorable cover, and the slow-burn-enemies-to-lovers storyline (but with cupcakes and sass!), to the incredible representation! I loved that the author hopped between the main characters voices to provide insight into their thoughts and a narrative that was smoother than buttercream! The author did a great job of bringing the characters to life - building out their backstories slowly over time. I was hooked from the very beginning and It seems as though it’s being set up for a sequel (the epilogue makes me think that’s the case) and I am here for it! I will definitely recommend this book to rom-com fans when it lands!
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Griffin for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.