2.5 stars

I'm having this same problem with a lot of contemporary Romance books lately that doesn't feel romance but women's fiction and that's fine BUT when the book is so slow burn to the point that nothing happens but just till the very end I'm going to struggle with it. More so if I don't like one of the main characters, in this case Claire, who I found insufferable.
This book has a lot of good things like the banter that the audiobook definitely enhance the experience and the fun setting where you could feel in the southern area, but when I can't connect with the characters, I'll be a miss for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

In theory, this book is for me. It’s a romcom set in Nashville, and those are things I like. In reality, I found a lot of it deeply annoying.

First, I think a lot of authors struggle with the boundaries when writing about a city they know well. They want to show off that knowledge, but that often turns a normal novel into a partial travel brochure. The details become stilted and random. That happens here.

The bigger issue for me was in character development. We have here an utterly perfect MMC who has no depth and a whiny FMC who is actually maybe an objectively bad person? She did bad stuff in her past and regrets it, but doesn’t put in the work to apologize and then is mad when people don’t like her because of it. This was all very annoying.

More annoying, though, were the regular jabs at anyone not from the South, but more particularly from New York/“the North.” In continuing to point out how northerners have incorrectly stereotyped the South, the same stereotypes are in fact just perpetuated against anyone who isn’t southern in this book. It actually really pissed me off. No thanks.

This is a super cute rom-com book. I realized after the fact, as I was looking up the authors, that this is a follow up to the book Without A Hitch following a character named Lottie, we do see Lottie in this book and I'm assuming the story of Claire is a big plot point in the previous book. I think reading that one first would have enhanced the reading of this story, BUT it is 100% not necessary as I would not have missed a thing, it just ties this in as a somewhat series. Though it is not marketed as one.

The wedding business is a huge deal, it always has been I suppose, and I can't imagine a time where weddings aren't a big business. We follow Claire, a former Dallas (yay Texas) debutante and wedding planner who now works in Nashville at a wedding magazine called....Piece of Cake. Claire is an editor who pitches an idea for a web series of southern weddings to capture more interest in the Cake brand. The idea is loved and an Instagram influencer, Dom the straight man of the wedding industry, is brought in to help keep the stories fun and use his expert videographer eye. I'm assuming they are filming this series on their phones. Which I guess is ok...but they are hoping to air these mega rich weddings on Netflix or Peacock or Hulu from footage from their mobile devices. Which is questionable but it's a book, and I get that cell phones these days have pretty decent cameras.............but........questionable. The story is sweet with Clarke looking for redemption and trying to find a place for herself, she has spent the last year or so, working her tail off and not having any sort of personal life. She finds Dom, they have chemistry and they get to develop a relationship. I thought for half a second this wouldn't have a happy ending though. There isn't a lot of character development in the story, and there is no real growth in the story, but there were times that made me giggle and the overall story was pretty sweet.

The narrator was one that I've listened to before in What Have We Done, but I don't really remember a lot about the narrators of that story. In this one she does a pretty good job. Southern voices, especially Texas ones, always give me a bit of cringe though. The southern accent seemed to be in and out, but she did an overall great job with the story.

This is a good clean romance novel with lots of weddings, coming of age, and a splash of romance.

Claire is a writer for a Nashville-based wedding magazine, and part of a privileged Dallas family. When she proposes a new direction for the magazine, in an attempt to revive lagging sales, she is shocked to learn her boss has hired Dominic, a blogger from New York CIty, to partner with her on the project. She instantly dislikes him, but his charms eventually win her over. But, it's not always sunny in this delightful tale of the business of weddings. It was an entertaining book to listen to, and the narrator held my interest, though the various accents were not always authentic. A fun summer book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Muse for sending this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

When I consider the entire novel there was more good than bad, but I had to ignore Claire’s insufferable dialogue and comments at times. Essentially Claire messed up in a big way and left Dallas cut off from her trust fund and the black sheep of the family. Now working for a dying wedding magazine, Claire suggests a reality tv series featuring six weddings. While her editors loves the idea, she brings in Dominic to help because of his experience and social media following. Along the way hilarity ensues until Claire’s past comes back to haunt her.

Like I said, if you ignore Claire’s entitlement it’s a cute southern love story that ends exactly how you want it to. I liked the scenes between Claire and her parents because I felt it gave her character some levity.

Thank you for access to this ALC.

Set in Nashville, this is a light little story about Claire, a writer for Piece of Cake, the South’s premier bridal magazine, and her idea to keep the magazine afloat as print moves to digital in the post-pandemic world. I was very excited to read this as the premise and location hit close to home for me - I met my husband at a wedding, and he was living in Nashville at the time.

Claire is a Dallas trust fund kid disavowed by her family and living independently in Nashville. She pitches a docuseries to her bosses, and it gets green-lit, as long as Instagram influencer Dominic “the bridesman” Gravino comes on board to do the videography. Over a couple of months, Claire and Dom document several unique (and sometimes chaotic) weddings for the series while transitioning from enemies to friends to could-be-more.

This is a cute little book if you love weddings. If you love Nashville, it is peppered with locations and activities that those in the city love and loathe. However, a couple of things rubbed me the wrong way. Claire is meant to be independent, learning the error of her ways and living on a shoestring budget. However, she drives a Range Rover, wears Louboutins, and eats Jen’s ice cream (it is $12 a pint). She is also swift to judge for someone who doesn’t want to be judged. Although I liked the idea of this book, I didn’t feel the heart and spark between the main characters that I hoped for.

I listened to this on audiobook from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review. The audiobook narrators elevate the text. The female narrator’s southern accent is perfect - not too much, not too little. The male narrator is charming.

Can I just say.....BORINGGGG. I swear this book was just such an absolutely dull to listen to. There's not a whole lot of excitement in my opinion.

The weddings and venues described all sounded amazing but otherwise this book did not give much to desired. I never truly found myself looking forward to picking it up.

This book didn't give me the ending I was hoping for and it didn't build up the relationship well. Three stars because I don't think the book was terrible or that the storyline didn't work. I just couldn't get into myself.

3.5 rounded to a 4 ⭐️

This was super fun. Wedding world, set in the south making a vlog / magazine article on weddings.

It all worked for me, it was a feel good cutesy romance. Was giving dislike to lovers - not really enemies. Our FMC had a past she was embarrassed of which led to a 3rd act miscommunication / break up.

My issue was the FMC as a whole. I felt she was very frustrating from the beginning. She had a false sense of reality imo. She frequently talked about being “poor” and wanting more and being independent etc. and she wasn’t. She didn’t have access to her trust fund but wasn’t poor. She was also very close minded and judgmental. Due to that, i didn’t connect to her and it caused me to have a lower vibe with this one!

overall a fun, cutesy read 🩷

It's got Southern charm, belles, gentlemen, and weddings. The heroine, Claire has characteristics of a typical spoiled (ex)-rich girl, but she needs to find who she is without the money her family has. Dom, a not so Southern, but definitely gentleman, helps her do so, all while a lot of weird and wonderful weddings related shenanigans take place. Claire, although not the most relatable of characters is well written, and quite likeable, the setting of the story I loved, the rest of the characters were also well written as well as the story. The narrator was pretty good too! Really enjoyed it overall.

⚡️ Forced proximity
👑 Socialite
💻 Work Nemesis
🔥 Slow-burn
🥑 “Clean” Romance
🎧 Audiobook

Piece of Cake, Nashville’s most famous wedding magazine isn’t in its biggest glory. Claire Sommers is desperate to save it, after tarnishing her reputation and losing her trust fund, Piece of Cake is her chance for redemption. Unfortunately she has to partner with Dominic Gravino, social media star, for their new project : a documentary series about weddings. Claire has a lot of unresolved feelings and Dominic, with his charm and good looks, seems to be Claire's new weakness.

First of all, I feel like this story is really unusual. Claire is like a romance anti-hero and I don’t think I’ve ever read about this. She has flaws and made huge mistakes, but she’s also ready to amend them. Dom doesn't have any flaws really (except being awesomely nice and charming at least) but he’s Claire’s lighting strike. He really wants to help Claire and make her realize he’s her for her no matter what. Their romance is so pure ! A real classy and adorable couple.

Now let’s talk about the audiobook. It was my first so I haven’t got any comparison to it. I really like the narrator's voice. The book is only from Claire’s POV), and I was really pleased with the accent. The voice was perfect for Claire. (and there’s this part where a British friend of Claire interacts and The narrator nailed it. That was really cool I have to admit. Although there’s one thing that bothered me : Dom with the narrator’s voice. It wasn’t that bad, on the contrary. But I couldn’t really get into what he was saying, knowing the voice wasn’t as sexy as it should have been.

Great romance with a unique plot. I loved this story and these characters! I enjoyed their relationship and realness of the characters.

I enjoyed Piece of Cake. From the beginning of the book, I was instantly invested in and loved the character of Clarie. After being exiled from her wealthy family, Clarie Sommers works for a wedding magazine called Piece of Cake. With the rise of streaming and the internet, magazines are constantly struggling due to a lack of subscribers, putting the magazine Clarie works for in danger of shutting down or being sold. This book emphasizes the remorse Claire feels for her past actions and her insecurities in her work and personal lives. Claire is described as very good at her job and hardworking, which I enjoyed reading.
In a pinch to keep the magazine up and running, Clarie gets put in charge of a docuseries where a cameraman named Dom comes across as arrogant. During this adventure of filming the docuseries, Clarie and Dom get closer while visiting six weddings and all the chaos at a wedding.
Dom and Claire had one of the most natural growing relationships I have ever read, and I enjoyed their story. This book has lots of personal and familial growth, and I enjoyed all the characters in this read!

Disgraced socialite Claire works at a dying wedding magazine in Nashville. She comes up with a plan to save the magazine, and they bring in social media wedding influencer Dominic to help her. First, she is very angry as this was HER idea. But as they work together, she begins to value his contributions and can begrudgingly admit to herself that she could not have done it all. And then she begins to fall for him.

This falls into the dreaded "meh" category for me. It felt shallow- there was very little substance. The book took place over a few months, and no event/scene was very in depth. The only thing thoroughly covered is Claire's big mistake. That is basically what the entire book is about.

Brittany Pressley narrates the audiobook. I normally enjoy her narrations, but she couldn't save this one.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the audio version of Piece of Cake, a romance that takes place in Nashville and is centered around the wedding planning industry. Anyone who loves weddings, this book is for you!

Claire has moved from Dallas to Nashville for a job with Piece of Cake, a wedding centric print magazine. Like many magazines, it is struggling, and Claire comes up with the idea to do an online version of the magazine. Her bosses love the idea, but instead of letting her run with it, they bring on super wedding blogger star Dominic Gravino, famous in his on right for being a straight guy who blogs about weddings. At first she is resistant to working with Dom, but soon the connection between them is undeniable.

There were several things I liked about the book. The Nashville setting and the wedding descriptions were very well done. The authors seemed to capture the flavor of the south, and the fact that Nashville has become the bride's party capitol of the USA. The dialogue flows freely and naturally. Claire has a secret in her past which explains why she had to leave Dallas abruptly, and I enjoyed that part of the storyline.

There were a couple of things that didn't work as well for me. I found the book just a bit too long. Maybe some editing would have helped, but this is a minor criticism. I read some reviewers remarks about not liking the main character, Claire. I would agree that she is annoying at times, but part of the story is that she is on a quest to become a better version of herself, and the growth is illustrated. Also, she comes to recognize some of her flaws and insecurities. So maybe those readers just wanted an already formed, perfect heroine for their read.

I want to give a special call out to narrator Brittney Pressley. She did a great job with the Southern accent, and also managed the male voice well.

Thank you to Harper Muse Audio, The Authors, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to an early review copy of this book.

This was a cute love story set amongst weddings, with our heroine Claire also trying to get her foot back into the door of the working world after a previous mishap at her last job. This mishap also created some tension between her family members which are aired throughout the book, especially when Claire and Dominic are required to work at multiple weddings, including that of her own sister's.

This book was a light read. I enjoyed it and the narration was exemplary. I would be keen to read more by these authors.

This book is a cute light summery read, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it keeps the reader entertained and engaged from start to finish.
The plot reminded me a bit of The Hating Game meets The Spanish Love Decemption, but just barely since there isn't the enemies-to-lovers trope nor the fake dating one; the main characters are simply paired to work together out of the blue.
The setting is the south of the US, and I found it really charming, and I also found the wedding scene setting really cool and interesting.
The fact that the FMC actually did something bad in her past that keeps coming back to hunt her, and not something that wasn't well-received but not really bad was something I haven't read in romance novels before and I found it refreshing.

Piece of Cake is a love story, but also is a story about forgiveness, family and personal growth. Claire is just trying to rebuild her life and reputation, while keeping Piece of Cake, the wedding magazine that gave her a new start, afloat. The magazine has finally agreed to give her idea for a reality docuseries on the biggest and most outlandish weddings a change. There is just one problem, and his name is Dominic-a social media wedding superstar. What ensues is at times hilarious, but mostly a slow burn romance.

I really enjoyed this book, it had some emotionally deep parts that I appreciated and thought added to the quality of the story. The audiobook is so well done and I would suggest reading it in that medium. I haven't read a romance quite like this, which was refreshing.

That said, if you don't like a slow burn romance with not much spice, then this may not be the book for you. Also, Claire is not the most likeable of characters. The authors tried to make it seem like she had changed and was repentant, but it didn't quite land. I didn't see the growth that they talked about, it just seemed like the only reason she was sorry was because it was bad for her and she was being held accountable.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I think romance lovers everywhere will appreciate this fresh enemies to lovers romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harpers Muse for the audiobook ARC!

3.5/5 ⭐️

Honesty, I'm not exactly sure why people didn't like this book. It was a light fun summer read. It was a slow burn, which I'm usually not a big fan of but I went into the book knowing this fact and braced myself for the ride. I liked the different wedding settings and the tension between Dom and Claire was solid.
I would really recommend the audiobook!

Piece of Cake; Authors Mary Hollis Huddleston and Asher Fogle Paul. Contemporary Romanitc 5/5 Stars

This was a perfect book to read/listen to for the month of June—Wedding Month. I listened to the book via the ARC I received from NetGalley . I was so enjoying this book that I would listen to it at my desk while working.

This book is set in Nashville TN. the main character is Claire Sommers, a somewhat disgraced “wedding planner” from Dallas who now works at a struggling local wedding magazine, Piece of Cake. Claire also has a strained relationship with her parents and sisters from her time working in Dallas.

The premise of this book is that Claire has presented an idea to her boss,.. adding Wedding Documentaries to the portfolio of the magazine. Her boss and the publisher’s decide to do a trial run of the idea but instead of having her do it they bring in a social influencer from New York to partner with her. Claire is not happy about this as her boss announces the new employee, Dominique Gravino at the staff meeting. “Dom” is a suave green eyed Italian who runs in instagram site as a guy’s guide to weddings. A first Clair is not happy having Dom partner with her but eventually she does understand that to make this a success she need Dom and the magazine needs them.

The adventures that Claire and Dom have the friendship that begins is sweet and funny. Unfortunately for Dom, Claire has a secret that could jeopardize all they have worked for. Can Claire make this right and will Dom and Claire’s relationship survive? Lastly, will they have a success or failure with the wedding documentaries? I love a book with a bit of drama and Claire definitely brings some drama to the book. The ending of this book is work the read.

A big thank you to NetGalley for ARC audio version of this book, to Mary Hollis Huddleston and Asher Fogle Paul for writing such a lovely book and to Harper Muse for publishing this book.

Claire is working for the bridal magazine Piece of Cake. How much longer the magazine will last is unknown but things are tight. They try something new hiring a social media star Dominic to help create the docuseries about elaborate southern weddings. Of course if you have seen any Hallmark movie you know these two mix like oil and water. But along the way they see where they can use each other's strengths to make a go of this. But like a Hallmark movie you know it is not going to be smooth sailing at all. Claire goes home for her sister's wedding and she has to face her past there and the mistakes she made. Great summer wedding read.