This book has been on my TBR list since 2019, and after several attempts, I can't seem to get into it. Sorry!

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. The cover led me to believe this was a rom-com, but it is more erotic romance. Since I didn't finish it, I will not post a review on Goodreads. Thanks again!

The baking intimate scenes were not something I was expecting with this one haha.
It was definitely an... interesting read.

I loved this book and it had me hooked up to the very end. I love celebrity baking shows so this book was definitely right up my alley.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. This did not affect my rating.
*2/5*

Sam Davis is a baker from a small town and is pulled into this baking competition to bake the wedding cake for a ‘celebrity’ wedding. The host/judge is a baking legend named Michael “The Cake King” Godwin. The premise of this is a little ridiculous but I love baking competitions and romance so I thought it might be a cute, short romance! But it all felt rushed and.. weird? Michael’s attraction to Sam felt like it came out of nowhere and it was all very very rushed. I don't know how long this was supposed to have taken place in but the 'I love you's' came way too soon for my liking.

I almost wish it was longer, with more baking scenes. The sex scenes were fine – except sex on the beach in the waves.. not good. I was wincing and just thinking about sand getting everywhere and just how supremely unsexy it is.

I did appreciate that the was self-love and no shaming of the FMC using a vibrator.

One really good thing that keeps this book at its star rating is THE FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS! Even in a competition, the ladies are friends and there is no sabotage, back-stabbing, slut-shaming, name-calling, etc. There is love. Rei was great. I might look into if she gets her own book.

Overall, this was more of a miss for me than a hit.. plus it was just a little too ridiculous for me. But the author did do some things right and I will perhaps keep an eye out for her future work.

Whole review hidden for spoilers:

I requested this because of the cute cover, which, coincidentally, was the best part of the book for me. Really quickly it became clear that this was not going to be for me, but it was less than an hour to read, so I finished.

On the plus side:
- So ridiculous that it's funny.
- They're competing to bake the wedding cake for a celebrity wedding, and the couple is f/f, which is nice.
- All the female characters are nice to each other.
- The deep love the heroine has for her vibrator.

On the minus side:
- This competition is SO. WEIRD. Like, he literally sends messages inviting these bakers to compete. It's not a reality show but it takes like a week or two. Who has the time for this???
- There are so many lines where the heroine comments on his friend Oliver and how douchey he seems, but they barely interact. Clearly he's a love interest later in the series, but his character felt so pointless in this book.
- Actually, most of the characters felt pointless. There are a lot of them considering how short this is.
- And she has more chemistry with her vibrator than the hero.
- It feels like it's trying SO hard with the humor and the dirty talk, and I have no freaking clue who any of these people are.
- HOW did no one care that she was banging the guy running the competition???? That's a serious problem, and they're all like it's fine. Heroine questions it a couple of times, but decides it's okay, even though he does actually tell her the challenges early so she totally cheats!
- But I guess it doesn't matter because she ends up leaving the competition because she loves him so much after dating for a couple of days and she no longer wants to win; she just wants him. HE IS NOW HER ASPIRATION.

I want to give this two stars for the sheer entertainment value of the overwrought, baking-themed sex scenes, but I just can't. I don't think this was good. Now for your enjoyment, some quotes from said sex scenes to...finish us off.

I cracked open like a crème brûlée and inside I was all warm, gooey, sweetness. I was heat. I was pleasure. I was beautiful and ugly and delicious. I was coming apart and whole at once.


Literally cannot stop laughing about this orgasm. Now to the beach for some sex in the waves.

He held me tight, sat back on his calves, lifted me with him. Easy as pie. Like I weighed nothing. And then I was astride him, riding him. What had begun as some kind of tribute to a sleek, 80s music video became hungry, messy.
Michael gripped my hips and worked me, pounded into me, so our bodies thundered together and each crash as he filled me, completely, brought stars to my eyes. My head lolled back as his hand slid down to my ass, held me tight, slowed me down.
"God damn, Sam. You're fucking killing me."
The growl of his voice. The desperate hold on his control. The way he looked at me through those long, black lashes, the ambrosial honey shining in the moonlight. Like he would devour me. Eat me whole. And I would thank him for the privilege.


Um yeah, this is a thing I read.

I have to say that this book left me so disappointed. The title and the blurb really attracted me, but they somehow had no connection to the path the story took. The story lacked depth. The best parts of the book were the descriptions of food and baking. I'd have loved it if there was of it and the competition. Overall, it just didn't work for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Under Hill Press, for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Cake King by Rosie Chase was short and a little too sweet.

This book was a little too short which can result in a lack of character and story development.

The lead characters have great chemistry but don't have any conflict to grow and challenge their relationship.

This book was less of a book and more of a happy ever after story with some baking.

The Cake King is the first book in a series of five novellas which all take place in the two weeks of a baking competition. All five novellas can be read on their own and in any order.

I really, really liked the Cake King. The story was wholesome and sweet and it tackled a lot of themes that are very dear to me.

The main character Sam lives with her insecurities, grown from her past in which she had to live on the street as a teenager. To save the place and people she now calls her home she participates in a baking competition to land a job big enough to make a difference. What she didn't expect is to fall for the person who offered her a place in this competition in the first place - the Cake King himself.

What I really loved about this novella was the positivity throughout the story. While all character have their past (you have to read their novella to learn more about that though) and went through loss and pain the novella is all about finding your way back into life. It features positive and supportive friendships between women, healthy relationships and charming families. The people in this book are having their backs and I really enjoyed that.

And if the novella would have been a novel I might have ended up giving more stars. Because while the story was fast to read and lovely, it didn't come quite natural. For me it felt like the last third or quarter of a book. The happy, everything is gonna work out in the end, full of feelings and healing, part, that normally follows a story of meeting and getting to know each other, bounding and - most often - a lot of drama. While I loved the lack of an overdose of drama, the pacing still felt off. People are meeting, connecting, falling in love and healing in an amount of time that often felt rushed and incomplete to me.

And while I liked that this book was pretty sex positive and the happy relationship between Sam and her vibrator, I also thought the dirty talk (and there is a lot of dirty talk) a little too much or ... like it was sometimes trying to hard to come off as sexy and natural.

Both of those things made me miss a lot of the connection and chemistry of the main characters. Don't get me wrong, they are super sweet together and again I love how healthy and supportive the relationships in this novella are (if we ignore the timing), but all the chemistry of the first meetings and getting to know each other was rather lost. I felt way more chemistry between her and her friend which she makes in the competition than her and the male lead. (So much so that I was pretty sure for the first half of the story that she would get together with her in the end and not him.)

But really, other than that I highly enjoyed reading this book. I can't say much more about it without spoilers but the supportive character of the relationships in this book are absolutely lovely and charming. I wished there would have been more about the completion and baking in general - I think including a recipe at the end of each story that somewhat represents the character would have worked so well for example - but that nearly all the things that I didn't like that much about the story are pretty much me complaining that I wished it would have been longer, says a lot I think.

The Cake King is a sweet novella about finding your place in the world and your own way in your life, about the love of food and how it can be such a big part of our home and about allowing yourself to heal.

I can't wait to read Rei's story next.

This was an enjoyable sexy romance.

As with a lot of novellas, the story felt very surface level. We were also introduced to a tonne of characters, presumably as set up for future books in the series, but it was a bit overwhelming.

I did find how judgmental Sam was about what type of person Michael is because of his wealth, a little frustrating.

Overall an enjoyable read.

The baking contest was fun, but I was expecting more from this. I did not finish this. May go back later and try again!

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.

As a baker I'm especially susceptible to baking romance books. I don't know why. Happy to say this book was the fluffy caramel sweet treat I wanted it to be. The food descriptions convinced me the author enjoys food and sharing those feelings with others. The romance between our two protagonists is a little fast but ultimately had me rooting for them.

I did not like this book at all. The main character annoyed me and her point of view was hard to follow. Will not read any more books in this series.

The Cake King is a cute rom-com that's not too sugary sweet! Love the characters that Rosie Chase has created and would go back for a second serving!

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This was cute and easy to read, but there was something so simplistic about the writing and I felt things were a little rushed. Not my favorite rom-com.

I loved so much about this book! It was sweet, hilarious at times, and had a super compelling romance. Perfect for romance fans who need an escapist read in these trying times.

If you enjoy a good rom-com, this title could be a great fit for you.

A group of bakers is brought to an upscale hotel to compete for the chance to be the baker at an upcoming wedding.

Sam feels out of place. She's from small town America and can't figure out how she was on the invite list.

After trying to lay low and ignore the other bakers, she finally caves and starts to make friends.

Then she notices that billionaire baker Michael “The Cake King” Godwin has his eye on her. And not just for her baking skills.

My only wish is that they had recipes to make alongside the bakers competing against each other.

I'll be on the lookout for the next title in this 'series' which explores a bit more about one of Sam's competitor bakers.

A cute, short romance between a rich man and a poor woman. Not entirely my type of book, but I was drawn by the baking contest.
I was expected a little bit more. I feel like we didn't get to really know the two characters, their relationship was based on sex and it got serious too fast. I mean, they didn't know each other, two weeks is definitely not enough to marry someone.
One thing I hated was how prejudiced she was towards him because he was rich. All the comments about him being a billionaire made me cringe so much.
I did enjoy Rei, she is hilarious and such a good friend. And all the other girls were so nice to each other even if they were competing for the same job. We love some female empowerment.
Overall, this book was not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute. I sort of stumbled upon this after binge-watching a cooking show challenge. My head was in the right space, what can I say?

What I like most about this was that it had a good pace and it was quick. I knew where the story was going, there was no hidden agenda here, so why waste time and pages on unnecessary drama? It included good side characters (whom I now realize are the foundation of a series) and some spicy sexy scenes. All of this wrapped up an a quick read--it was exactly what I needed.

This was a fun, easy read. I finished the book in an evening. I really enjoyed reading about the relationship between the characters, and was delighted in Rei's personality. Rosie Chase really writes in a way that draws people in, and I would definitely recommend!