Like Cats & Dogs is a small town rivals to lovers romance between two bakers competing against one another on a reality baking competition. Mac and Magda “bring out the worst in each other” and fight anytime they’re together. They find themselves competing on the rivals season of Cake Off and there old feeling stir as the two compete for the grand prize. This book was cute and filled to the brim with Broadway references that theatre nerds will love, earning it a solid 3 stars from me!

I really enjoyed the story overall and had a great time reading. I immediately got hooked on the plot and found myself having a hard time putting the book down. I couldn’t stop myself from worrying about Magda, even though her talent read through the page. The stakes were high and so were the tensions! Mac and Magda had one of the most vicious rivalries I’ve read in a contemporary romance.

Cake Off as a competition acts as the catalyst for the entire plot. It’s the special rivals season where every baker is paired off into rival duos while they all compete individually for the grand prize. I liked the subplot of this once wholesome show succumbing to its new money hungry show runner, the tension that was found in the cast and crew, and how they inevitably overcame the pressure and acted with grace and good demeanor and didn’t give in.

There were a few choices that did take me out of it at times. I was a little thrown off when we added a perspective in chapter nine. The novel is written in third person, flipping from Mac and Magda, and chapter nine adds in Julia’s perspective. Julia works as a production assistant on cake off, and as we only get her perspective every once in a while, it felt a little out of place and almost unnecessary. I just don’t think the story needed a perspective on the production side, I’d have rather found out about the drama with the new show runner through Magda and Mac. Especially when it doesn’t really feel like we get a conclusion from Julia, she ends the story having been fired and hints at a show with Mac and Magda that they confirm isn’t happening any time soon.

I realized around chapter 13 that I did not like Mac. While I respect and applaud him for turning her down when she was freshly 18, (yay for men not being predators), the way he handled their conflict just rubbed me the wrong way from the start. It took majority of the book for me to like Mac, which isn’t a bad thing per se. Despite their fights, he always tried to uplift Magda, even if just in his head, and knew without a doubt how talented and capable she was, and it took watching that happen over time in the book for him to grow on me. The musical references he made definitely helped.

Mac being eliminated felt like a huge event, but there didn’t feel like there was much lead up to it, it sort of happened quickly. I would have liked to see more of Mac in that challenge, not just a short explanation of what went wrong for him. I felt like that a lot while reading the book, as if some things were moving a little too fast. Even the night they stayed up to bake and bond after Mac was eliminated felt rushed. I liked these two so much I just wanted more time with them.

This book was so sweet. It involved:
-Found family
-Forced proximity
-Reality TV (A show like The Great British Bake Off)
-Age gap
-She's the town baker, he's the town barista
-Second chance rom com
-Age gap (this is my least liked trope but I think it was done well in here though this was probably my least favorite part of this story!)

This was so sweet and I loved how this was all about an emotional connection, not a physical one. This book did pure connection so well and really brought us into Magda and Mac's sweet, adorable love story!

What I loved:
-I really loved Magda as a person and Mac seemed to be so good to her from the start, I have not read the rest of this series (though now I will!) so I can't say what their rivalry looked like outside of this book but I think this book did a good job of having you root for them from the start too!
-I loved how sweet the love in this was. It seemed genuine and based off who they were to each other, not what they look like.
-I loved the side characters, especially Eunice and Julia.
-I loved Cupcake and Cat, the cat but wish there was more of them! Otherwise, I thought this was a fun concept and plot. It will be a perfect fall read!

My one dislike was the age gap conversation but again I think this was done well for what it was. I also wish we'd gotten a little more of their past conversations to make the feelings make a little more sense back then.

Note: this will be in my wrap up video on my youtube for the month of August and I'll put updated reviews on my Instagram + TikTok closer to pub.

4 ⭐️ 3 🌶️

Read As An Arc

🐈‍⬛ Enemies To Lovers
🐕 Cat Cafe
🐈‍⬛ Veterinarian
🐕 Animals
🐈‍⬛ Hate To Love
🐕 Slow Burn


This cover is amazingly cute! I need the physical copy just for the cover alone!

I am slightly disappointed with this read though. It was the romance — it wasn’t romancing enough for me. I truly wanted this book to come out higher, but it fell short (like Caleb).

Lauren’s development was good, great even, including the pov. But Caleb… he seriously needs more; this is where he is falling short. If it wasn’t for Lauren, I don’t know how I would’ve finished; oh and the spice! Can’t forget that — literally! I must say though, Caleb is definitely self aware of himself and his flaws which is great to get out in the open because I don’t need another rollercoaster where it’s not needed — here’s looking at you 3rd act!

This is a couple that was purely more physical and steamy rather than also being romantically emotional — it lacked and seemed superficial in my opinion. They did not have a problem showing emotion when fighting though, they get that bang on.

I wish I could give this a 4, and I really wanted to but it’s missing a lot for me. Bumping up the emotional romance would be an automatic 4. Despite this it was honestly a good read and glad I read it, especially the spicy scenes — that was frickin good!




* Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!


** this review will be posted on Goodreads on November 7 @ https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/170879374-bee?shelf=read

This is such a cute closed door romance! I loved the characters and loved them as a couple!

If you love cooking game shows you'll love this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Magda será participante en Cake off y tiene que guardar el secreto, pero su archienemigo lo sabe y lo que es peor él tiene más información sobre el concurso que ella porque resulta que también particpara, pero no puede decirle porque firmo un acuerdo de confidencialidad.

La pobre se lleva mal con  Mac y aunque no quiera verlo no puede porque sus amigas están casadas con los amigos de él.

Ambos cometieron errores que los llevo a su enemistad, pero el tiempo que pasaran en el programa les servirá para aclarar todo.

Lo único que no me gustó fue que Mac no se disculpó por lo del plan de negocio.



Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I really liked the premise of the novel and I feel like this can be a great cozy read for the holiday season that can get you in the mood for baking with friends and family, and while there were times that the novel slowed down it felt like I was also taking a breather from the high stress of the competition environment with the characters of the novel. If someone is looking for a cozy read then this would be one of my recommendations for 2024!

I love this series. And while this was adorable, and I love a good chef romance, and we’ve all been waiting for Mac and Magda since the first book… we needed more dogs. And Magda crying about missing Cupcake. She’s the crier, after all.
Thanks #netgalley!

If you are a fan of the Great British Baking show and an enemies to lovers romance, this is the book for you! This closed door romance has some serious Gilmore Girl small town vibes and when I found out this was the 6th book in the series I knew I would need to go read the rest of the series.

The baking competition and slow burn romance kept me turning page after page. I loved the development of Magda and Mac's relationship and thought the flashbacks added to the depth of their animosity and tension. I usually prefer my romance reads to be smuttier but I fell in love with Magda and Mac’s love story!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing this book, with my honest review below.

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!

Oh this book was darling!!! I loved the main characters and the sweet love story. Such a fun book. Loved the setting and the sweet story