such a great and cozy listen! the audiobook was great. i really loved the premise of a baking competition because i love watching those and it was the first book of this kind that i read! the relationship is great in the book, the slow burn was all i could wish for and it was a sloooow one. both main characters had their own flaws and a very interesting past but they came together in the best way. very enjoyable and would recommend to anyone that loves baking and romance!

Rachel Hanna has given readers another wonderful clean romance! I listened to an audiobook of this one- The Baking Game.
Savannah Greene entered the reality show The Baking Game. She was eyeing the prizes the winner would get – especially the $200,000 so she would be able to help her sister. Savannah has been raising her sister and the prize money would go a long way too making sure Sadie went to the college she wants to go too. Savannah has been working in a bakery but wants a Bakery to call her own.
She was shocked when she found out she got on the show. The show was filled with some very interesting characters. One being he Ex Conner and she was not pleased at all to see him. One other was Rhett, and she met him at the pastry school she went to.
The competition they had to do to advance was fun and hearing the contestants interacting made the story so fun.
The narrator did a nice job, but I did have a hard time keeping straight who she was giving the POV from.
This is a great book to grab and spend time with the characters.
Thank you NetGalley, Rachel Hanna and Dreamscape Select for the copy of The Baking Game.
This is my personal review.

Can’t rate the book since it never showed up in my library to even listen to and now there’s no option to download. Sure it would have been great though.

Savannah decides to enter a reality tv baking show to win money to benefit both her and her sister’s futures. One the first day of the competition, she notices her ex boyfriend Connor, her arch nemesis Rhett from culinary school are there. When Rhett suggests a fake relationship to increase their popularity, she is hesitant. Both Rhett and Savannah question whether the other’s feelings are for tv or actual feelings.

In listening to the audiobook, the female narrator reads both Rhett and Savannah’s POV, so you must pay attention. It is just a simply Rhett and Savannah with no difference in tone of voice. Otherwise, a fun, romcom.

Thank you to Rachel Hanna, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining romance. The story and characters came alive and the narrator did a brilliant job at bringing them off the page. Great listen - thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to this really enjoyable audio book.

This was a decent rivals to lovers story. However, the rivals being a term used loosely. I didn’t feel the animosity coming from the characters at all, so it didn’t quite meet the expectations.

This would have been much better if the narrators were different for the different perspectives. I found myself getting confused as to who was talking. especially since it was all in one chapter. I listened at 2x and it was the perfect speed.

All in all, it was a decent story!

I loved this book it was fantastic it contained some of my favorite trope's enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, he falls first, and one bed "they were handcuffed together for 72 hrs.". And baking reality shows those are my guilty pleasure. Savannah works at bakery in a grocery store she one day hopes to open her own bakery and send her sister to college. They had a rough upbringing Savannah had become her guardian at an early age when their mother had passed. Rhett aspires to be a top pastry chef at a Michelon star restaurant. Rhett comes from a of doctors and lawyers, and he decided that was not the path for him. So, when the opportunity came along a reality show about baking with some cool prizes they apply and get it. Savannah gets there to the house she notices two people conner her ex and Rhett her pastry school rival.

This story was (relatively) original and fun! The characters were lovely, the plot moved along well, there was so much to love! The actual only downside was the audio, with a single narrator for two POVs, which could be hard to track. This is a fun one!

A contest for a lot of money. A fake romance. What could go wrong? Find out in Rachel Hanna’s Baking Games!

The Baking Games by Rachel Hanna and narrated by Alex Michael Smith was one of the best romances I have read it was funny heartwarming and oh so sweet. Savannah green against her every instinct applies to be on a baking competition show, after a life of being raised by a drug addict with her little sister Sadie all she wants to do is help Sadie get into college and own her own bakery. So when she gets in it is more than she could’ve hoped for when she arrives at the home where the show will be based and meets the other contestants she is totally taken aback to see her ex Connor and her nemesis from baking school Rett Jennings as two of the fellow contenders. It isn’t just the players she knows that come in with gloves off ready to fight to win but nothing they can do can dampen Savannas positive attitude when she gets chained to Rhett Jennings however The last thing she thinks is that hippopotamus will be her favorite word and Rett Jennings will become one of her favorite people. There is so much I want to say about this book 1st The story changes from Savannah‘s POV to Rhett‘s POV and I must admit listening to retts inner dialogue as they introduced the other contestants had me rolling on the floor laughing and that’s when I knew I was going to love this book and love this book I did. I thought savanna was one of the sweetest characters in a book in the narrators voice was so perfect for her. I also thought she was really good at accents and although I believe they were too many characters forher to create original voices for all of them I think she did an admirable job especially with the French chef Tess Lana and dizzy Dan. I really love this book I don’t know why I have never heard of Rachel Hannah before or if I did why I didn’t pay attention. If you love sweet romcoms then you will definitely love this book it was so good and now I’m just repeating myself loved it! #NetGalley, #RachelHannah, #AnnaMichaelSmith,#TheBakingGames,#DreamscapeSelect,

📚 The Baking Games by Rachel Hanna
🎧 Format: Audiobook
🎙️ Narrated by: Anne-Michael Smith
📕 Genre: Contemporary Romance
📖 Read: September 2024
✨ Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭.”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵?”

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴.”

‧₊˚✧ 𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑺 ✧˚₊‧
ꕥ Enemies to Lovers
ꕥ Opposites Attract
ꕥ Reality TV
ꕥ Grumpy/Sunshine
ꕥ Fake Dating

This was soooo much fun. I loved the concept of the reality show, the rivalry turned lovers and the friendships that were made throughout this book. It was a quick, cozy read. Savanah and Rhett’s relationship developed so organically and it naturally flowed with the story. I really enjoyed some of the side characters and the connection Savanah had with her sister.

This book was written in dual POV, but there was only one narrator. While I’m usually not a fan of this and often end up getting confused, this one didn’t bother me as much. I was so engrossed with the story that I hardly noticed. I would have loved to have a male narrator for Rhett’s chapters, but Anne-Michael Smith did a lovely job with both parts.

I feel that this book is either a hidden gem or could be very underestimated, but I’m telling you, it’s FANTASTIC!! I definitely think this one will be a trophy shelf buy for me. I seriously cannot recommend this one enough!! 😁

𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥.𝘢𝘯𝘥.𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨/

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Select and Rachel Hanna for this audiobook. This is my voluntary, honest review.

I just love Rachel Hanna books. I listened to her latest, The Baking Games. It was a really good book!

This will probably be my shortest review yet.

I had one *giant* problem with the audiobook, and unfortunately, it really impacted my enjoyment of the story. The book is supposed to have dual narration, but the narrator didn't change her voice at all when switching between the characters' chapters. It was so confusing—I can't even count how many times I thought the FMC was talking, only to realize, 10 minutes later, that things weren't making sense because it was actually the MMC speaking.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd recommend the audiobook because of this.

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator had a lovely voice. That said, there were a few things that threw me off, audio-wise. First, the narrator did both the male and female voices. That’s nothing new. But she didn’t change her tone of voice at all when switching between characters, which was a little odd. I eventually got used to this but it took me a while to do so. This book would’ve benefited enormously from dual narration. The other strange thing was, there were no pauses between character switches or chapters. A chapter ended and the narrator immediately flew into the next one…almost in the same breath. I wonder if they had to shave time off the recording? It’s a shame because as mentioned, the narrator had a lovely voice.

The story itself was really cute. FULL of tropes and totally predictable but cute and entertaining nonetheless.

I recommend this book if you’re into clean romance…but definitely opt for the kindle version.

Side note: Hallmark should really option the film rights to this book.

3.6 rounded up to 4.

This clean and sweet rom com was a wonderful audiobook and I enjoyed the narration. I loved the storyline of a baking competition set to stream 24/7 in a sequestered house. The main character Savannah was someone I'd love to walk out of the pages and be a good friend and the two main male characters, Rhett and Connor, both former pastry school classmates added the right amount of angst and drama to the story. I also liked motherly Maggie, who was the oldest competitor but such a wonderfully written character.

In all, this book was the perfect recipe for a sweet rom com. The writing was wonderful and this definitely meets my definition of a sweet and clean romance though the main characters end up in some interesting situations, it was all kept nice and clean. There were definitely a lot of cliches for the tv show portrayed in the book but they were like any reality tv show characters we'd see on our own TV's.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape media for the opportunity to listen to a copy of the audiobook. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love the idea behind the plot but the timeline was odd to me. I kind of understand why it was written the way it was, but I wish there was more about the competition. Most of the book was about 3 days and the rest of it seemed rushed. Certain points were also incredibly repetitive. Otherwise, I enjoyed the characters and the storyline.

I love Rachel Hanna books. This one fell flat. Was hard to stay engaged in it. I sadly couldn't finish it.

I really liked the two main characters. The FMC was very down to earth. There were some definite eye roll moments in here, but overall it was a really cute story. If you enjoy reality TV or baking shows at all, you will probably like this!
Also I am one to enjoy a spicy romance, but sometimes it is so refreshing to read a clean romance with a fun plot. :)

Thanks to NetGalley, I had a chance to listen to the audiobook of The Baking Game.

This is a sweet, simple plot that is satisfying and quick to read. I would describe it as a Hallmark movie with slightly more depth. The beginning is a bit slow and it takes a little time to warm up to the main characters, but you will be rooting for them in the end.

Recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all, Thank You Netgalley for the ARC granted. Altough I didin't get fully immersed in the narrative, it was a good story, with romance of second chances and bakery world with everything a romance reader would like.