4.5⭐️

This is book six in the Pine Hollow series! I have absolutely loved these sweet small town romances. Pine Hollow and all of its residents are easy to love! This book can be read as a stand-alone, but I’d definitely recommend checking the full series. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Magda and Mac’s story and it didn’t disappoint!

I’m a big fan of baking shows, so this book grabbed me right from the start! It also made me hungry! I loved all of the different bakes the contestants made and all of the fun banter.

Mac and Magda have had a long standing feud. A silly feud, but still a feud. I’m a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story. These two were just cute and made sense right from the start! I loved how it all came together for them!

I definitely recommend this fun book to anyone who loves baking shows and small town romance!

Like Cats and Dogs by Lizzie Shane is the sixth and last book in the Pine Hollow series. Set in Vermont with characters I’ve grown to love.

Mac and Magda finally get their turn to star in their own story, and it has been a long time coming. They’ve hated each other for fourteen years but they do say the opposite of hate is love.

We get deep into their rivalry and why they are nemeses, but when they are both invited to be contestants on Cake-Off, the rivalry goes into the stratosphere. Cake-Off is a cooking show with a twist, with all the contestants having a rival who was also invited to compete. There are lots of challenges, and we get to see the process. The baked goods sound amazing, and there are vivid descriptions of everything happening in the kitchen and at their stations. There’s a good flow to the story, multiple stories relayed, and not all occur in the kitchen.

There are tears and meltdowns, lots of competition, friendships formed, practice sessions, rivalries and pairings, and successes and failures. Through it all, Magda and Mac seem to take a step back and start to support each other. There are surprises throughout, but especially where the finale is to take place. The winner was announced, but I’m glad the story didn’t end there but went on a little longer. It was a satisfying read and finale for the series.

Set in Vermont, Like Cats and Dogs is filled with baked goods, competitive characters, a reality cooking show, and more. It was easy to root for the various contestants as friendships formed, and romance was in the air.

The review is posted on NovelsAlive.

Like Cats and Dogs is the perfect read if you enjoy the enemies to lovers trope or solid romances and Top Chef. I enjoy both so this was a great book for me, and so well written I can’t say anything to improve!

Magda and Mackenzie get pitted against each other in a reality show called Cake-Off, and a lot comes up about their past and the reason they are arch rivals on this toxic season of the show. I adored all the baking descriptions and that this felt a bit like a behind the scenes read of Top Chef. I also adored Magda and Mackenzie who were the perfect main characters for this novel. I’m hoping to find this is part of a series in the same universe because this was the perfect romance!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC of Like Cats & Dogs. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was fast paced and nerve wracking. I love all enemies to lovers and this one did not disappoint. Add in the high pressure world of a reality baking show and my weekend was booked!

Magda and Mac are the perfect enemies with an incredible back story. Magda has a dog, Mac has a cat, and boy oh boy, when they are together the fighting is off the charts. I enjoyed seeing the growth between the MC's as the show progressed. This is a closed door romance, but there is plenty of heat when Magda and Mac are in close proximity.

I do not watch much TV, but I have seen a few episodes of Crime Scene Kitchen. It was interesting to see how the shows come together. Seeing how the producers will stop at nothing to get ratings I now see these shows in a different light.

I don't think my head was in the right space for this Hallmark romance. If you are looking for a reality baking show romance. This is the book for you. I didn't connect with the characters and wasn't rooting for any of them.

4.5 stars

This was a fun read but honestly every reality cooking show romance is fun for me. I love GBBO and the Food Network and would love to watch a real life romance spawn from them so this was fun for me. I cannot believe some of the arch nemesis’s they chose for the other contestants though. A cheating ex husband?? An estranged parent due to homophobia?? An ex best friend who slept with the contestant’s husband?? Thank goodness our MCs weren’t at odd that badly. I also appreciated why he turned her down in the past, 18/24 is a significant age gap at that age so I respected the MMC more for that reason. Overall I had a good time. I’ve read only one other from this series but I have a feeling fans of the series will like how it wraps up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Cake-Off is filming a new season and Magda Miller is finally living a dream come true - she’s been invited to compete! Leaving her small town bakery in the hands of family, she heads off to bake her way to $250K.

Except.

Except this is the first season with a twist. This season will feature contestants’ arch rivals against whom they will compete.

That would be Mackenzie Newton.

Mac also lives in Pine Hollow, Vermont, where he owns a little coffee shop restaurant, The Cup, and feeds the feud with Magda by allowing his cat to terrorize her dog on the regular.

But while the chemistry is sizzling on screen, Magda can’t stop thinking of the moment more than a decade ago when she misread Mac’s signals and thought they were in love only to be rebuffed.

Now she’s out to win, but not if he has anything to say about it.

I wish this worked better. I’m an absolute die hard fan of GBBO and other baking competition shows, so I was excited by that aspect of the story; however, it fell flat. Where I expected it to be a major character, it was merely a backdrop. There were a few side plots that didn’t dig deep enough to warrant time on the page. And most disappointingly, there was no real chemistry between our two leads. This one was just ok for me.

Perfect addition to the Pine Hollow series!

Baker Magda was thrilled to finally have made it into the cast for the baking show the Cake-Off and the $250,000 first prize. But she never expected to find out that there was a twist to the current year with the Archrival Edition and one of the competition was Mackenzie Newton, her nemesis from Pine Hollow.

Mackenzie Newton had been feuding with Magda forever over a maple cake that Magda thought he had stolen from her before she went to France to take a pastry course with both of them running businesses in Pine Hollow with both of them wanting to win Cake-Off.

If you like the enemies to lovers trope you will love Like Cats and Dogs because neither of them want to admit their attracting to each other after Mac turned down Magda when she was eighteen.

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

An engaging and entertaining look behind the scenes of a baking show. Fun concept. Delightful couple, friends and family. This was only my second visit to Pine Hollow. Very enjoyable. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

I would almost put this up there with my other two favorite baking/cooking competition romances -- Love at 350° and Recipe for Love! This also had a SERIOUS enemies to lovers trope that was well done. I just wished this was a bit more backstory/character development and a bit more time of the lovers not just the enemies. I found this very technical baking competition forward so if you like baking romances give it a try!

Like Cats & Dogs comes out next week on November 12, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

He didn't know what had just happened. He didn't know if this thing between them had grown out of the feud, or if they'd been feuding all along because both of them had sensed this thing between them under the surface-and he didn't care.
Their past was a shitshow, but the future? The future was suddenly very, very interesting.

Dogs, cats, baking, enemies, to lover, what is not to love, and it’s adorable romcom? I loved every second of this! The characters were adorable, the romance was swoony, And I loved it!

I loved this book. Solid five⭐️. This book had me on an emotional rollercoaster and I was loving every minute of it. I cried, I laughed and I swooned. There were cats and dogs and a whole lot of closed door romance. This was perfection. I felt like I was watching this cake off and felt like I was right there watching this happen. Hope they make this a movie. Hey Hallmark pick this one!!!

This was such a fun enemies to lovers read! As someone who will forever be in her bake off era and loves taking classes at King Arthur, this was everything I wanted it to be. Magda has audtioned for 'Cake-off' multiple times, and this is finally her year. When she arrives at the filming location to fins that this season is a head to head with arch-rivals and Mac, her nemesis of over a decade is also competing, is it only the kitchen where things start heating up?

While yes, the two may be enemies, but are they? This was such a fun afternoon escape, a one sitting read i enjoyed poolside while on vacation. I would have loved an epilogue and maybe a recipe or two at the end (maple cake anyone?!) But overall this was such a fun continuation of the series!!


Thank you Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for my review!

I’ve only read 2 books in this series, but I loved Magda and Mac so much that it’s hard to imagine liking another couple better than them. There’s a great balance of their romance and the drama of the baking show, which appealed to my GBBO loving heart.

Magda is so easy to cheer for and Mac is such a sweet guy. I loved them separately but even more so together. And it’s the best kind of enemies to lovers - they both have legitimate issues with each other but neither one of them did something so outrageous that you spend half the book wondering if you’d ever be able to forgive somethig like that. Their chemistry is great, and this is just a really fun book.

Mac drives Magda crazy, they both own small food business in their small Vermont town and the two of them fight like cats and dogs - even their cat and their dog fight! The feud has been going on for 15 years ever since Magda offered Mac her heart and her grandmother's maple cake and he only took one. Finally Magda has made it onto Cake-Off, but what she doesn’t know is that it’s the arch rivals edition and so once she gets there, Mac is there as well and they are often competing against each other. Now she has to beat everyone and deal with a month away with Mac.

This was an absolutely adorable book that features my other hobby - baking, so I was all in immediately. I enjoyed the fact the fact that the story was told in the two POVs (Mac and Magda’s) - it gave great perspective and counterbalance to the other’s story. I was concerned that the baking show plot and scenes were going to slow down the pace of the novel, but it was done really well and the whole book was a fun read. The ancillary characters were great and I was rooting for the characters both for their romance and in the competition. Apparently this is part of a series but I didn’t feel lost having not read any of the others. Today seems like a day for something light and this is a great light and fun read.

4.25 stars

Thank you to Forever Pub and NetGalley for the ARC to review

I'm a huge fan of the Pine Hollow series by Lizzie Shane and while I am sad that it is ending with this book, I'm also sort of glad that it ended on such a high note.

We FINALLY get to find out why Magda and Mac are such bitter rivals and I absolutely loved that the setting was a take on the Great British Bake Off. I'm a huge fan of that show, so to be reading a book in a series that I really enjoy with that plot was the icing on the cake for me.

I liked that we got to hear both points of view between Magda and Mac and glimpses of their past interactions that lead to their decade long feud. I knew coming into this one that there was going to be some sort of underlying sexual tension and I wasn't wrong. However, if you are looking for spice, you are reading the wrong series. It is more of a cozy romance series than filled with steam.

It's such an underrated series, but one that I am really glad to have read.

4.5/5 stars

This book exceeded my expectations. It was my first Lizzie Shane novel, and while it was clear that I entered in the midst of an interconnected standalone series, it didn’t felt like I had missed so much that I couldn’t appreciate the story. The GBBO-style show created a sweet setting and the small town was a cute backdrop for this classic enemies to lovers. It was also a nice sprinkling of spice that fit the plot but didn’t dominate the story.

4 stars!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's cozy season, so it feels fitting to read a novel that feels like a rom-com rendition of The Great British Bake Off!

Magda and Mackenzie have been revivals for over a decade. They live in the same small town, Pine Hollow where they each own a small business. Mac owns a cafe and Mags owns a bakery. Mags dream is to be on Cake Off, she's applied three times, and you know what they say- third times the charm! She got in and is so excited, but Cake Off has a twist up their sleeve!

This book is so cute, the cat and dog person really shines through. A tiny bit of enemies to lovers vibe.
Really enjoyed this read. The characters felt super relatable. I loved how their romance developed.

This was really cute. An enemies to lovers book during a bake off competition show. The characters start as friends, turn to enemies living in a small town and then become competitors on a baking show. During the show, their dislike for one another slowly turns back into more. Their banter is great and the chemistry is strong. I loved the strong supportive friends through the story. The competition and competitive aspect was fun. The small town feel was great. It was just a really cute well down book.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

DNF at 45%. I’m already leery of enemies to lovers, and this one has the pettiest reasoning ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one to hold a grudge too, but that just means I’m not likely to want to spend time with you years down the line. And that just makes the attempt to pair these two up feel very forced. A cat and a dog really would have better chemistry than them!