Cover Image: A Sweet Mess

A Sweet Mess

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Member Reviews

I went back and forth on this one, because there was a lot that I loved, but there were also little things that poked at me. There were some big things that happened off screen and then felt sudden when they were mentioned.

But I loved Landon and Aubrey and how great they were together and how they came together even before they knew who the other was. I loved their mutual love of food and cooking. I loved how Landon wanted to make amends and how they worked together on the cooking show. I loved what a great team they made.

The whole ending just destroyed me. I think my heart was legitimately breaking on me. But I loved the way things ended for the two of them and this was definitely a great romcom, I loved how the relationship developed and everything about their banter and everything.

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DNF at 16%

The writing style isn't for me. The arc I read could seriously benefit from more developmental and line edits.

Unrelated to the content, but worth bitching about: the cover is terrible. The publisher should be ashamed of themselves for whitewashing the Korean MCs in the ugliest cover I've seen all year. Do better for your authors of colors because this cover is a disgrace.

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I was very excited to receive this ARC solely based on the synopsis of this book. Baking and a diverse lead couple; oh the potential.

However, I have to admit that it took me quite a bit to get into this story. The main characters simply were too one dimensional and I really disliked the hero for the first half of this book. Aubrey and Landon lacked chemistry in my opinion, but they mostly redeemed themselves in the second half of the book and I did like the ending, I’m a sucker for HEA.

Overall, an okay read and I will definitely give this author another try. (less)

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I really enjoyed A Sweet Mess! Jayci Lee created so much exciting tension between Landon and Aubrey that it kept me turning pages way too late into the night! I loved how well she showed the importance of food in their work and relationships and the redemption between the characters and their friends and family was so sweet. I will be passing this on to fun rom com loving friends all summer!

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This is the cutest book ever! There are a ton of twists and turns. It is a definite must read!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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What an adorable novel! I tend to avoid rom-coms because I tend to dislike their main female characters, most of the time. I felt the total opposite about Aubrey, the main character of A Sweet Mess. Why? Because she is not a damsel in distress. She is quite the opposite. Her despicable father turned her to be a young, independent, fun, young entrepreneur who is not looking for love. She just want to be happy and she puts her heart and soul into The Comfort Zone, her bakery, which is thriving in her little town of Waldon, CA. Until she meets this guy.. a one-night stands who happens to pick up a pastry at her bakery, who gets served the wrong pastry, who happens to be a professional food critic, whose boss happens to need an article to meet a deadline and consequently is forced to review the mom-and-pop shop he happened to visit while he was getting his vehicle fixed. Needless to say, Aubrey and Landon (the one-night stand) were meant to meet.

The book is about their encounter and how things evolve --or not-- between those two (yeah, sorry, I don't want to spoil it for anyone). I thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the story, the writing, the character build-up, the cooking, the atmosphere (especially that villa), so this book gets a 5-star from me. I am totally going to pick up another Jayci Lee book soon, and I recommend this book to any reader enjoying contemporary rom-coms, books about cooking and/or baking, stories set up in California, characters of Korean descent, strong female characters, and happy endings.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this e-ARC in return of a honest review.

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Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the early copy.

5/5 stars

I read this book at the perfect time. I've been starting and setting aside books, pushing through books I don't like, and just not wanting to read. I picked this one up last night and read to 63% in one sitting and finished it in a second sitting.

Landon and Aubrey meet by chance. He's a famous food critic and she's a pastry chef. They meet each other at a bar after both having terrible days and expect it to be a one night stand. Then Landon returns to work and has to write a hasty review for the magazine he works for. Little does he know he writes a horrible review for Aubrey's bakery after an order mix up. Her business starts to suffer from his bad review and he decides to try to make it right.

Landon and Aubrey were both realistic characters with their own flaws. And just like in real life the same problems keep coming up. A lot of people will probably say its repetitive, but it is in real life. (I don't know how many times my husband and I have the same little arguments.) This was a really cute and fun book, and I'll likely read more from the author.

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A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee, published by St. Martins Press tells Aubrey and Landon's story.
A Sweet Mess is a witty and fun rom/com, a lol read if I ever read one.
JL is a new to me author and I'm glad I gave her book a try.
The story is a well written, lol kind of story that gave me all the feels.
I liked the storyline and connected easily with the characters.
4 beautiful stars.

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A whole lot of build up between the characters, and then a whole lot of nothing. Each had their own past conflict that was glossed over quite quickly and these back stories were supposed to be the reason behind the main conflict, but there just wasn't enough development.

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A SWEET MESS is a truly sweet love story! Oh, I loved every minute of this book. The characters are complex and wonderfully written. And the love story between Landon and Aubrey was realistic and beautiful. I was so sad when I reached the end of this book because I just adored these two and their HEA.

The food described in this book is enough to make you drool on the pages and there is even a Korean recipe at the end which I fully intend to make for my family.

I finished this book last night and went back today to reread some of the deliciously swoon-worthy moments. That's how great this story is.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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I was hooked from the get go by the premise of the book - Aubrey, is making her way in the world away from her Korean parent's shadow, by running her own successful bakery. All is going along great, until a cake mix up and a harsh review from a food critic/one-night stand threaten everything. Aubrey and the food critic - the gorgeous Landon - try to clean up the mess while also trying to keep their hands to off of one another.

This is an adorable romantic comedy premise. I loved getting more diverse characters. The plot moved along quickly, even if it was a bit predictable. For me, the book fell short with it's pacing. Many of the parts seemed rushed and the timeline sometimes jumped further than I was expecting. I wish I could have gotten better developed scenes and more of them, I think I would have created more three dimensional characters. Overall, I enjoyed the book but was left wishing it delivered more.

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Perfect for a foodie who loves romance. The food descriptions were fun. The conflict/relationship seemed a little repetitive at times which made those parts a bit slow at times. Still, likable characters and checks off the boxes of what you’d expect from a rom-com.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review

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Full review posted at Reader's Edyn on 03/05/20

Aubrey is a ridiculously talented baker. Making it through a fairly rough childhood, she has finally broken free and opened her own bakery. Taught by her grandmother, at times she both uses and adapts coveted family recipes, which have helped her become a huge success at both storefront and online sales. Always dedicated and up at the crack of dawn to begin each morning at her shop, she decides to let loose one night at her best friend’s brewery/restaurant and unexpectedly meets Landon. Sparks fly and they immediately hit it off, ending in a night of scorching passion. But fate takes an astonishing turn when Landon ends up reviewing Aubrey’s bakery and gives it a scathing review – well, part praise, part horror. She never even knew he was there, or who he actually was; a renowned food critic. Of all the bad luck! With her business in shambles and Landon refusing to write another review, he extends an olive branch in a surprising form. If things work out as planned, she will be able to scream redemption from the rooftops. But their one-night stand must remain secret and they cannot succumb to their still smoldering desire for the sake of keeping their reputations intact. With the amount of heat both in and out of the kitchen between these two, “hands off” will be their biggest challenge yet.

Landon, like Aubrey, has huge Daddy issues. Because of the events of his childhood, he has always been extremely careful and steadfast in how he operates, which has grown into a thriving reputation as a food critic. But everything about Aubrey threw him off. Never one to review an establishment based on one single dish, he is basically forced into the review and then promptly heads out of town for a several month-long food tour. Upon his return, he realizes the gravity of the mistake he has made. He absolutely cannot write another review and after realizing Aubrey is the one he’s unknowingly hurt, he calls in a favor to try and rectify his colossal blunder in the best way he can. But he’s also made another miscalculation. Working in such close proximity to Aubrey is going to be the death of him. He wants her like no other and he knows she feels the same. Try as they might, there is no way to douse the burning passion flaming between them. When Aubrey comes to him ready to give up pretenses for a chance at love, he stubbornly refuses, remaining adamant that such a move would be career suicide. When Aubrey leaves, he refuses to listen, so she heads back home with a revelation that could change everything. If Landon doesn’t stop acting like a pompous jerk, he’ll ruin any chance with Aubrey and cost himself more than he could have ever bargained for.

I had a super fun time with this story. It was quite predictable but still amusing and entertaining. I very much love cooking, with baking at the top of the list. The food in this book was a serious highlight. The way each dish was described, I could almost taste everything – and you can bet I definitely wanted to. This is where smell-o-vision would have been ridiculously helpful. Although I found myself hungry quite frequently so perhaps something like smell-o-vision would have been not so great after all. As the main characters, Aubrey and Landon go through a few emotional modifications throughout this book. At first they are carefree and fun, really enjoying each other’s company, just out for a bit of fun. Following the disaster, they switch to angry, hurt, betrayed, wary, and distrustful. Neither knows exactly where the other stands any longer and each has the power to hurt the other. However, as they begin to work with each other, they slowly dismantle the shields they desperately erected in an effort to protect themselves from their greatest weakness; themselves. But in weakness strength can be found … it just takes an inordinate amount of time for both of them to realize it. The passion they share on their first night together hasn’t dulled in the slightest and the “partnership” they have forged of necessity only continues to feed those desires. Eventually, they succumb which wasn’t hard to guess at. However, they did make a good show of resistance. The lower the shields fall, the more vulnerable each becomes yet again and ultimately Aubrey decides that love and happiness is worth the risk if they take the leap together. But Landon is stuck in his stubborn ways and makes decisions for them both without really even allowing himself to glimpse a possibility of a future. The road back isn’t pretty, and it ultimately takes sound advice from friends and family to enlighten the big jerk.

There were, at times, unclear transitions from one person’s view to the next and a bit of editing that needs to occur, but this is an ARC and it is January. This book does not release until July, so there is plenty of time to polish this story up just a bit. Also helpful, would be a bit more of a firm distinction in the time lapses. They weren’t over much, but when they transpired, I became confused a couple of times and had to go back to see what I had missed – if in fact I had missed something. One complaint is that I felt like Landon took a bit longer coming around than he should have, but once he did, he went big! Aubrey capitulates fairly easily, but she knew what she wanted so I suppose that wasn’t all that hard to believe. This book is an HEA after all, so the ending won’t be a surprise. I found Aria to be a vibrant addition to the cast of characters and enjoyed her immensely. What confused me about her and Lucien’s relationship is that they seemed to have one heck of a back story. I have never read anything from Ms. Lee before, so I have no idea if these characters are newly introduced or came from another book. But let me tell you, there is a book’s worth of content woven throughout these pages. They didn’t overshadow Landon and Aubrey at all, but their own dilemma helped guide Landon and Aubrey along the way. One thing is for sure, this amazing couple shares an obsession for food, which is ultimately what continues to bring them back to one another. I could easily see this book made into a Hallmark movie and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in the future – with a bit of toning down on sexual content and language, of course. Probably my biggest issue within this book is that Aubrey is really the strong one of the couple. She knows what she wants and goes after it and if it doesn’t go her way, she finds another way to make it happen. She has help along the way, but she never wastes her resources or takes anyone for granted. This is in stark contrast to Landon who starts out as amazing, then turns out to be a real asshat. He just keeps making error after error and continues to do so until he pulls his head out of his rear-end. And finally, I both loved and disliked that we were treated to a delicious recipe at the conclusion of the book. And I will be using that recipe! What is disliked was that there was only one. I mean come on! There were so many amazing dishes in these pages. I wouldn’t have been the least bit upset with another recipe or two added on.

Overall, this book is enjoyable. The plot, while predictable, kept me engaged throughout. I am willing to bet that changes will be made between this Arc and the final release, making it that much more delightful. Think of this as a Food Network Romance. There will be a lot of time in the kitchen – not all of it baking. The language is a bit rough. A lot of F-bombs. I can see some of them as appropriate I suppose, but a few getting cut out would be nice. With as quirky as Aubrey can be, she could almost have her own swear word – something she blurted out and created in the throes of a baking disaster. The sexual scenes aren’t all that descriptive. I wouldn’t describe this as erotic in the least. Most is glossed over, and those that are not aren’t anything over the top by any means. I should also mention that both main characters are Korean, so there is a lot of reference to tradition that I found fascinating. My family is rather boring and at times I crave having a strong heritage to draw from. For me, I loved the addition of the Korean elements to the book. I don’t know that I have ever come across a Korean couple before and hope that I do again in the future. If you like strong women and thick-headed males who need several nudges along the way (perhaps a skillet to the back of the head), then I am certain you will find this “strangers to lovers to inconveniences to co-workers to lovers” book enjoyable. Ha! What a mouthful!

Personal Addendum:
While this book is not perfect and did contain errors in editing, character development, and formatting (which could simply be the eReader itself), I did want to take a moment to say a couple of things. I generally never read others reviews until after I have written my own, but I fell behind a bit and when I was gathering information for the top portion of my review, one of the reviews caught my eye, so I started to peruse. What I noticed in several reviews were the reader admitting that they don’t even care for baking. I’m not even sure why anyone would pick a book up knowing they hold that bias and then think the book will magically become compatible in reading preferences. Another thing that annoyed me was that several others knocked the rating due to the editing errors. Now I agree this should be mentioned, but as an ARC, we are to have a clear understanding that errors will more than likely be present. I have never knocked an ARC based on editing with the exception of one single book in which the editing flaws were so horrific, I could not even complete the book. In that case, I would understand. But that was definitely not the case here. So as I stand on my soapbox for a brief moment, please be aware of the reviews you choose to read and those you provide. You should take them seriously as they often times help form a decision as to whether someone will read the book or not. You are, in effect, making or breaking an author’s career. Never will everyone agree and it would be foolish to assume they could. However, given the time frame between now and the publishing date, I have no doubt my rating of 3 can easily become a 4 between now and then with a few slight adjustments applied to this advanced copy. At the end of the day, this book is much more sweet than mess. 😊

Kindle version provided by NetGalley/St. Martin’s in exchange for an honest review.

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I read this following a very dark novel and it was perfect for lifting my mood. I was immediately a fan of Aubrey and Landon. I enjoyed their chemistry and the development of their relationship. I do wish that the effect of their relationship on their careers (or lack of effect), would have been addressed since this was the big hurdle for them throughout the book.

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A Sweet Mess was such a fun and sweet read. Loved the chemistry between the Aubrey and Landon. I look forward to more books by this author.

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This book was adorable. I loved the descriptions of baked goods, and the romance between Aubrey and Landon was too sweet for words. My only critique was that the romance and tension between the main characters was not given a long time to blossom or evolve, it was pretty much lust at first sight and then a swift descent back into love once they were reunited. I wish that the tension between them in regard to the negative review was allowed a bit more time to breathe and that we got to see each of the characters on their own in the world (just a little bit) before we saw them together. All that being said however, I really did enjoy this book and it was a quick fun read, with lots of delicious food descriptions.

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Aubrey Choi’s bakery is doing well until she receives a bad review from food critic, Landon Kim. Who just happens to have been her one-night stand. Landon tries to help Aubrey’s reputation and her failing bakery by offering her a guest chef spot on a new cooking show he’s producing. Of course, that just happens to mean that the two of them will share a gorgeous villa in California wine country.

I liked Aubrey and Landon, really enjoyed the delicious food descriptions but I found the reasons for Landon not retracting his review and for them to not go public with their relationship very frustrating.

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Sweet and funny. I really liked the two leads and the progression of their love story. Wrap in descriptions of food and it made it that much sweeter.

There was some family drama that I wish was fleshed out better/I wish both of them didn't have Daddy issues, but that's just my opinion.

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Totally enjoyed this book. It was just so romantic all the way through. well, except for the bumpy road.
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This book was a wonderful twist on a classic romance. Starring a baker who is enjoying some amazing business growth, she meets a guy who she immediately falls for. Sparks are Flying! It’s a wonderful beautiful connection even though it was just one night.

But then things become real and her business grinds to a screeching slow down. The worst thing is it’s because of him. And when she finds out she has the ability to get some money to get her business back on track, it also involves him. And what a sweet mess it is!

The one thing that struck me about this story is not only are the characters real and humorous, but their connection is literally on fire. The story is one long foreplay session.

Filled with romantic and sensual heat, these two can fire up your kindle. The author writes, with intense passion, a story that will capture your attention and light up your soul.

With typical ups and downs, these two weather many storms, but they are true to their feelings and the happily ever after is sweet and just so romantic.

A delightful story you will fall in love with. I can’t wait for more from Lee.

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I just loved these two.. I could not get enough of this story and did not want to put this book down.. I love how both characters have a love of baking which brought these two together..
A mistaken dessert, a wrongful review, and a cooking show correction...
These two have tried to fight the attraction as long as they could but true love wins out..
Great book, page Turner, must read.

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