Ugh I loved the idea of this book but unfortunately it fell flat for me. The narrator’s did an excellent job but the story itself had me bored. At times the food aspect of it was a little too descriptive. Because this is a translated piece I’m not sure if that resulted in the lacklustre or not.

I got about 47% into this and i’m having an extremely hard time with the audio. I understand the accents are norm for the story but it’s really hard to keep up with in my opinion and due to that i’m having a hard time connecting with the characters and being invested in the story. I had to choose to DNF.

👩🏻‍💻 ᗰY TᕼOᑌGᕼTS: 4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This is my first (or maybe second) translated book from another language! I didn’t read it though, it was an audiobook and it was AMAZING! I loved the refreshing context of a Swedish life!

I loved how the story was so warm and heartfelt! But there was so much Family drama! And I wanted to murder Henrik’s father! And his great grandfather! But you know what? That’s just how some people are, and our world still goes round doesn’t it?

The characters were absolutely amazing and Nora was such a strong FMC, but still her struggle was REAL! The only bumpy bits were transiting from enemies to lovers i would say, but beyond that, this book WAS FANTASTIC!

And I cant forget about the narrator Nina! Who was absolutely captivated the characters essence for me and all I wanted was to listen to MORE

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸…
🥖Enemies to Lovers
🥖Close Proximity
🥖Fake Romance
🥖Family Drama
🥖Past timeline
🥖Dual POV
🥖Open Door - very mild

I received an advance listening copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a fun enemies to lovers reality baking show competition dual timeline romance set in Sweden. I enjoyed the backstory and getting to know more about the present day baker's family in the past and the way it ties into her love story in the future. It's always fun to root for an underdog trying to save a family bakery too. Good on audio and recommended for fans of books like The holiday swap by Maggie Knox. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review! I look forward to reading more in this series soon!

I could not connect with the characters and the two timelines did not mesh together very well. The fake dating troupe was fine and there was some spice. Just not my favorite.

I ultimately did not finish this book- I just couldn’t get into it. I found the FMC to be too stubborn to the point of being too much. I didn’t connect with any of the characters.

Soft DNFing at 70%

I don't want to call this an official hard DNF - more like a pause for now, because there is a chance I will come back to it. But I'm at the 70% mark and I just don't care. I really want to like this book, but I feel like at this point I'm just forcing it.

I am struggling to connect with the characters. The FMC is incredibly proud to the point of bullheadedness. We know nothing about the MMC because he's constantly acting for the camera and has not really showed us who his authentic self is.

I was holding off on DNFing because I want to know how the two timeline's connect. But if I'm honest, at this point I care even less about the past timeline than I do the current timeline which is making it difficult for me to push through.

Time to Rise is about a reality TV baker who goes around to struggling bakeries with his crew and films the process of bringing them back to life. The MMC also comes from an incredibly famous and wealthy family in the bread business. The FMC is grieving the death of her mother while driving her patisserie into the ground and definitely does not want help keeping it afloat.

The narration is okay, but its not keeping me captivated or engaged. I've heard worse performances, but I've also heard much better. The narrator has a pattern in the cadence of her speech that doesn't come across as natural to me.

Hopefully I can come back to this with a clear mind and perspective, but if I'm honest, I wouldn't be surprised if I walk away from this book and never think of it again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the advanced listening copy.

I had a hard time getting into the audiobook at the beginning because it was set in another country, which meant unique to me names, a narrator accent, and settings that I needed to pay attention to closer which was harder to do while driving or other tasks. However, once I started getting into it and used to the accent, I loved the dual timeline even if I could somewhat predict what would be the tie up at the end.

It took me through all the feels of family, of love frowned upon by family, not feeling like a failure, refugees/foreigners being looked down on and mistreated, kids being bullied, and of course love and community. There were a LOT of deep things being touched on so sometimes I felt like it was a lot to keep up with, but I definitely enjoyed the book. I wish there was a bit more development of characters outside of the main characters, and there was some more closure around the dad but overall another cute book that hit my sweet spot of food, books, and romance that touches on deep subjects.

Enemies to friends. Fake dating. Then it gets spicy. Failing business vs. Revival. Decent, but not overly memorable.