Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was cute in the end but holy cow was it a sloowww burn. I also didn’t feel particularly invested in the characters themselves but I ended up loving August and Sloane together FINALLY. I’m glad I pushed past the slow parts but I don’t know if I’d read it again. The concept of the pro football players owning a cupcake shop is cute though! I like seeing a softer side of pro athletes portrayed in books!

In all honesty the book was pretty enjoyable. But that was all it was. It sort of felt like it had things it wanted to say, but then never spoke about them. It sort of felt like a lot of drama was thrown into the book (the ex wife, the protesters) but none of it really gave the book a higher standing. I thought that the whole premise of the guy getting famous from social media was applicable to todays times, but it also seemed a bit far fetched. At some point I kept thinking about how there was no way he would remain that popular for so long, but had to remind myself that it was fiction. After finishing the book I wasn’t deeply disappointed or anything, but it just wasn’t one of those books that had me on my toes. I couldn’t remember most of what happened through the book, and found myself scrolling through chapters to try and remind myself. It’s a fun book for when you want to pick something up that doesn’t require much attention and focus, but it isn’t something that I would consider a must need for the library.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was lighthearted with just enough romance. I do wish there had been a little more character development especially with August as it felt like him being a professional footballer player was treated as an afterthought. Would still recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

There are books that have a slow burn than there are books that have a sloooooow burn and this falls into that category. August and Sloan have had feelings for each other going on 12 years. This is a brothers best friend romance so there is a lot of history between them which is enjoyable. The characters have some fun banter and the premise is cute. The problems lie in the pacing. Due to the relationship moving so slow the ending feels very rushed. Overall it is an enjoyable read.

A Legend in the Baking is the second book in the series about a trio of pro football players who also own a cupcake shop. When the quieter one of the trio, August, unexpectedly goes viral after a rant in the shop one day the friends know they need some help managing the chaos. Enter Sloane Dell aka Donovan’s (book 1) younger sister and social media guru to help bring more exposure to the shop and their second location while capitalizing on August’s viral moment. What makes this matchup more interesting is that there’s history between the two of them in the form of unrequited love from a young friendship them formed. Now August knows he will do anything to help Sloane secure her new job even if that means embracing social media because he just wants to make her happy. Sloane has walls up around August because of the past but he’s slowly breaking them down and she doesn’t know if she can trust herself to put herself out there again.

Cute story to add to this series and I look forward to the last book. I always love a book about baking so this was an easy pickup for me.


Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

thank you to netgalley and jamie wesley for the chance to read this arc.

this one was really fun for me because i won a goodreads giveway for the ARC of fake it til you bake it. i enjoyed that one when i read it in 2022 so i was excited to see august get his own book. i enjoyed the story and the realness of it. i do love a brothers best friend trope. the lack of communication in the beginning was a little much for me, like come on, just share your feelings already. BUT once they did it was perfect. i also loved that there wasn’t any conflict when sloanes brother found out about sloane and august. their story felt real and relatable.

recommend? yes.

a cute, fast-paced romance read, following a pro american football player who part-owns a cupcake shop and goes viral, and a social media manager - who also happens to be his best friend’s little sister. and unrelated to the main romance plot line, this is a book with some great messages throughout, which i liked.

it took me a little while to feel invested in this and at one point i didn’t pick it up for over two weeks, but no major issues! though i will say i think the plot felt quite rushed in the last part, suddenly loads was happening at once and things were being resolved really easily, regardless of any previous build-up, but overall i had a good time.

i’d like to read the first book in this series at some point and am also interested in reading book three when it comes out!

There was so much about this I really liked! I loved the premise, the well developed main characters, and the major plot points. I struggled a bit with some of the flow of the storyline, and some outright unbelievable side characters and their motivations/actions. Also, you will 100% understand exactly what a fullback’s role is in a football team by the end of this book, as we are reminded over and over (and over) about it… Overall though, this was a really fun read. I want to follow Sugarbae, and stop into Sugar Blitz for a cupcake! If you like romance, bakeries, or hunky cinnamon roll football players - you won’t regret reading this one.

3.5 stars the book was cute! I loved the main characters and felt like the secondary ones had a good background as well. Maybe I'm a sugarbaeby

took off a star because I wanted to know the drama between August and Sloane. It kept being referenced

Wish I read book one first but can be read as standalone

Best friends sister
Pro footballers
Men who bake
Feminist
He falls first ish
No third act break up

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

feminist cupcake baker and pro football player falls for social media maven strong independent girl boss?

um yes please.

august made this book for me because he was just too cute and sweet but grumpy and i ate it up.
i will say that this was a ~slow~ burn and at times it was a lil too slow for me - especially in the middle section.
there are also some flashbacks and a lot of emphasis on their past history which i enjoyed because it showed how well they knew each other and made it feel like a deeper connection and not just a physical attraction. the only thing i didn't like was sloane and that silly job she's trying to get - like girl you could literally work for a cupcake bakery with a hot football player and you want to compete for a job that sounds boring as hell? why.
but this was cute and sweet even when i wanted to tell them to make out and a great palate cleanser if you want something easy and light.

Awww man I really wanted to like this book but it was just a slow burn that was really tooo slow for me. I also kept mixing up characthers as well, I ended up DNFing. I love the concept though but wanted more .

absolutely cute and amazing story ! I loved the character build up and the ending of the story had me crying. thank you netball for the opportunity to read!!

Super cute, incredibly easy to read. Very real and relatable characters! I really enjoyed this one and will be reading from this author again!

title: A Legend in the Baking

author: Jamie Wesley

publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

publication date: November 19, 2024

pages: 336

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: none

summary: Sloane Dell impulsively quits her marketing job after not getting the promotion she deserves. To prove herself for another job, she runs the social media accounts for her brother and his two friends' cupcake bakery as they plan to open their second store in a new location. This "interview" process would be great if she didn't have to work side-by-side with August Hodges, the man she's had a crush on for a dozen years, since he rejected and humiliated her when she was a teenager.

tropes:

second chance romance (even if first was a fail)
brother's friend
pining
pro-athletes
feminist men
baking up love

what I liked:

dual timeline revealed over time what happened in the past
obstacles in path for romance and for the new bakery
food descriptions
family relationships

what I didn’t like:

They spend too much time not quite talking about their past event and current feelings; then, all of a sudden, they're both open, honest communicators.

overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

this book was so adorable! august and sloane has such a good dynamic 🥹 i always love a good brother bestfriend, enemies to lovers, second chance type of read and this book delivered. it was a feel good, up beat, easy read that i’ll easily recommend!

Cute quick romance novel. Enjoyed the chemistry between August and Sloan but felt some parts were drawn out. Didn't enjoy the back-in-time chapters, felt they were unnecessary to the story.
I did enjoy the banter between both main characters, however, the ending seemed abrupt and so much happened in the last 1/4 of the book.
3 stars as it is good just not my favourite and I won't read again. To people who love quick romance novels this is for you
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC this is my honest review.

This review is my opinion and my opinion only. The rating is really 3.5 stars! This is the second book in Jamie Wesley’s Sugar Blitz series. In this book, it is about Sloane, Donovan’s younger sister, and August a co-owner of Sugar Blitz with Donovan and Nicholas. Sugar Blitz is a bakery that specializes in cupcakes.
August and Donovan met in college on the football team with Nicholas. All three went pro together. August and Sloane got to know each other over the phone. Sloane has been in love with August since she was 17, he was with someone else. August in now divorced.
There were some rowdy teens in the bakery making comments about baking is beneath men and just for mom’s to do. As August was talking to the teens on how that way of thinking is wrong, someone was recording everything and posted it online. It went viral and August got tagged as SugarBae. Women were flocking into the bakery. Sloane who is a social media manager agreed to help Sugar Blitz social media pages.
So now the shy August has to learn to deal with all the attention while trying to open a second Sugar Blitz.
I did enjoy this story. It flowed really well and kept my attention. I will definitely read the third book.

You get five stars you get five stars yoou get five stars. round of a freaking applause. so so good.

DNF 70%
I really liked the premise, but unfortunately the book didn't quite work for me. It's a slow burn, that's a little too slow for me. Even though the MCs do spend time together, it isn't in a meaningful way. Instead the plot (and the romance?) is mainly moved forward by external factors, which makes the whole thing drag. Also, I really don't think small businesses aren't run this way. It's pity that this book doesn't deliver because it's got so much potential.

Brother's best friend mixed with second chance is just not the book for me I guess. I just kind of got the ick in the flashback where he was kind of into her while she was still in high school, it just felt weird.