I didn't HATE this book. But I also didn't love it. It kind of dragged on and it was not really very romance-y if you know what I mean. It took the entire book for the relationship to occur and it was like two pages. Removing that from the story it was basically a book about the FMC lamenting over what a terrible person she is. . It was a 0/5 for spice.

I have mixed emotions about this one. One the one hand it had a cute lovestory, set in southern USA which is always fun, and with the wedding industry as a setting (also a favourite). The pace of the novel was great and everything that happened fit nicely into the story and was the 'right' level of cutsie for a feelgood romance.

Now to the problem. I did not like the main character. She comes from a very rich family, which has given her a warped sense of the world to be fair, but still... She thinks she's poor, and she's just not. It's a bit irksome to read about a character who wants points for being independent from her rich family, while at the same time has no perspective into what truly struggling is. She is also very judgemental (there is a scene at a themed wedding that honestly made me embarrased for her...), but seems to think that she is open-minded? When I let go of liking her and listened to it while keeping in mind that rich spoiled people deserve love stories too, it worked better. But I had to lean into accepting that she is unlikeable to make it work, and that's just not right for a feelgood.

I think this has many of the building-blocks for a good romance, it just misses the mark with the protagonist herself.

A book I'll think about often and that has made an impact on my life? Not really. A light romance for summer vibes though? Sure thing.

Thank you to NetGalley for this Audiobook ARC

2.5 stars. I truly truly truly wanted to love this book. Mary Hollis Huddleston is so full of personality and southern spunk, but this book fell flat as a pancake. I really thinkg MHH had something, she has the voice and the story, but the execution in the details is what brought it down. Shall I explain? I think I shall.

Claire works at a Southern Wedding Magazine which is obviously feeling the pressures to "go digital", She is tasked (along side New York re-plant Dom) to do a video series featuring posh southern weddings. MHH hints that Claire was forced into this position in Nashville because she was outed from her previous job as a wedding planner in Dallas (her hometown where her wealthy family still lives) because she did something wrong. Hint bombs abound that she was cutthroat and would do anything to advance her career. Basically she was suffering from middle child syndrome (as a middle child I would not resort to her behavior though--I do the typical middle child thing and play peacemaker :)--No comment from Laura and Ted please!) but she couldnt rise to the perfection of her older sister or the "baby of the family" little sister.
So the troupe is Enemies to Lovers (duh!) no spoiler there. If you consider that a spoiler, you are clearly a guy who has never seen a hallmark movie.
Anyway the set up I was loving, although I really wish MHH had made Claire more likeable now that she was in Nashville. Like a fresh start. I still felt that chip in her shoulder....but maybe because she had not forgiven herself? I don't know......there was just something off about her. Like she was complaining about being able to pay for things, eating crap food, yet sported around town in her Range Rover and Madewell Sweats--hmm, not adding up there.
After the initial set up MHH takes us to several eclectic weddings where Claire has to "save the day" because the bride's train tore or lost her "something borrowed"....all to show us how resourceful and great Claire was at her previous position. These weddings were also used to help build the chemistry between her and Dom.
Once we got to the wedding of Claire's college "friend" from England, it took a bad turn for the worse....she really did the Brits an injustice. She pulled out every cliche. Every sentence the mother spoke was ,"Claire Darling..." It was horrible.
The ending came together nicely, I will definatly (see still can't spell that word!) read more by MHH, I just hope next time she gives me a cast of characters that are more likeable and a better side story.

Thank you Netgalley and Mary Hollis Huddleston for this advanced copy read/listen. I was not influenced or paid for this honest review.
I look forward to the opportunity to read more by this author.

Thank you to Net GalleIy, the author and publisher for the audible arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this fluffy audio read! The narration is good and the story line is just what I needed after reading some heavy topic thrillers.
I loved Claire's character, and the challenge she faced trying to bring an outdated magazine into the 21st century. I loved the chaos that was tossed in when she finds out she has to work with Dom. It's a reverse grumpy sunshine, workplace romance that had a really good slow burn to it.

It was a quick listen, entertained me while I did mundane work I had to do, and definitely was welcomed after the heavy topics book I'd read prior.

I'd listen to or read books from Mary and Asher again, together or separate, and will purchase the book when it's available!

I didn’t love this one. I found it hard to get into as I expected the start to be her rich life, and it wasn’t clear that it was jumping to after she left her rich life. I feel, from the book description, that it skipped too far. I know it’s fiction, yet by the end of the book she’s on good speaking terms with her family, and it was all just a misunderstanding? After she’s been away for 3yrs? That is not usually how it goes for toxic families, and it doesn’t really connect to what she says of her experience with her family that les her to where she is now.
I listened to the audio version of the book and did not love the narration, unfortunately.

Claire works for the Piece of Cake, a Southern wedding magazine. She has many ideas to bring the magazine into the 21st century, but just when she thinks her boss will roll with her project, she does... but she has to partner with Dom, a charming and handsome Instafamous New-Yorker, who will bring the idea to life. He annoys her to no end, but she is determined to not self-sabotage herself once more, but if he calls her "ma'am" one more time...
I listened to the audio book, and I loved that the narrator rendered Claire's accent (I'm a sucker for a southern accent!). This is a reversed grumpy-sunshine, rivals-to-lovers, workplace romance, fake dating, with a very slow burn. So slow that I didn't feel the chemistry at all between both MC's. I was also annoyed by the redundancy-there are a lot of coincidences, and Claire's background attending numerous weddings (too) often comes handy, it becomes redundant that she's the only one who can save the day. But all in all, it was a quick and entertaining read.
I received an advance review copy of this book and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

Claire is living in Nashville scraping by on a meager salary even though her family is uber wealthy. She presents an idea to her boss about an article for the wedding magazine that she is working at and all of a sudden they bring in a New Yorker to help with it, Dom.

I really enjoyed this book and the plot line. It shows that people make mistakes and we get to decide how to move forward later on with our life. Are we going to stay on the bad side or try to be a better person? The other thing that it shows is the dynamics of family and how they effect are decisions that we make.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ALC. Unfortunately, I agree with a lot of the other reviews. It’s a VERY slow burn and nothing really exciting happens. I did like the narrator.

First of all, I loved this book! This is the story of Claire Sommers. Claire, a wedding planner, has a been trying to find her way in the world. She has always felt inferior to her successful sisters and made a mistake that alienated her from her family. In an attempt to move on she took a job at a bridal magazine in Nashville, as a writer. However the magazine is failing and may go under.

In comes Dominic Gravino, a wedding blogger, to hopefully save the day and the magazine. And maybe even win Claire’s heart.

This audiobook was very enjoyable. Brittany Presley is, as usual, excellent as narrator. She always makes characters come to life and books more enjoyable to listen to. And what a sweet story. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their stories.

Mary Hollis Huddleston and Asher Fogle Paul created a story that is fun, engaging and heartfelt. But to be honest one of my favourite parts was the authors note at the end. It was the reminder of how difficult it is for young people these days. In the story Claire makes a big mistake and has to deal with the wrath of her family and past co-workers, however these days, with the advancement of social media, the audience, to a persons mistake, is so much bigger and difficult to come back from. Their acknowledgment of this is honest and genuine and leads me to hope they will pen a book for adolescents to help get this message across to a wider audience.

All in all I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Many thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook for my honest review.

Piece of cake is a slowburn romance which was at times too slow for me. The book had a lot of irrelevant details and monologues that didn't bring much to the story. I lost interest very quick and kept skim through the pages to see if the story would take another turn. Unfortunately not.

💭Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this easy, fun, lighthearted read. It was the perfect book for a long car ride to the beach. I really enjoyed the narrator and thought she did a great job bringing the characters to life.

So many things I enjoyed about this story. The Nashville setting was fun. I love Nashville and enjoyed reminiscing about my past visits there. The banter between Claire and Dom. They kept me laughing and rooting for them the whole time. All the wedding antics kept me engaged. I’ve always been interested in weddings and loved listening to the different types of weddings people had.

If you are looking for a fun, lighthearted romance then I recommend picking this one up.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Harper Muse for the audiobook, for an honest review.
Claire Sommers comes from a wealthy family. She is always trying to best her 2 sisters in her parents eye. Through mistakes, she has been cut off from her trust fund and her family. Her sister is getting married, she works a different job. These 2 worlds collide.
This was a real fun read!

I really enjoyed this comeback story featuring Claire Sommers, a Southern woman from a well-to-do Texas family who made a career-ending mistake at her former job as a wedding planner and is trying to start over now working at Piece of Cake, a wedding magazine.

When she's tasked with working with Dom, a NYC content creator to film a number of high-profile weddings (including her sisters) as a way to help save the magazine, she finds herself forced to confront her past, reconcile with her family and realizing Dom isn't as bad as she first thought.

Fun and heartfelt and great on audio narrated by one of my favs, Brittney Pressley. I enjoyed the cameos from the authors' last book, Without a hitch and look forward to more from this writing duo. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review!