This book had me hooked! It's fun and light - a confection just as sweet and lovely as the treats described in this book!

Usually, I don't mind a steamy romance but this was too much for me. There was'n much romance between this couple but there is plenty of sex.. And as a avid baker I expected a little bit more emphasis on the baking contest. No such luck.

There should've been a warning about all the sex in the book! I went in thinking it is a chick lit book based around a baking competition and the heroine is supposed to come into herself along the way. Did not think this would be a sex-filled romp that often got quite crass in places and which seemed to push sex scenes in just for the sake of shock and to fill the pages (it is a very short novel and much of it is sex scenes)
Not what I was looking for, unfortunately

The Cake King centers on Michael Godwin, the Cake King, who invites bakers to compete to help with his celebrity sister's wedding. This was absolutely ridiculous and over the top. While mildly entertaining, I felt it lacked depth. The language was far too descriptive and seemed to be trying far too hard to sound cool/quirky. It just ended up making me cringe a lot of the time!

I wish there had been more baking, and less self-deprecation on Sam's part!

And Sam and Michael's relationship was given absolutely no time at all - they went straight from not speaking to hot and heavy and 'in love'.

Super cute and sexy. I ended up googling some recipes while reading because I was getting hungry from all the dessert descriptions!

2 stars
This book seemed very rushed. The writing was off. The characters didn't really have chemistry. I didn't feel any romance. It was all wham, bam, and thank you ma'am. Before I knew it, the story was over and I felt like "that was it?!?!?!". I felt nothing for any of the characters. To be honest, I looked at the cover and thought it was going to be a much different story.

First and foremost, thank you Netgalley and Rosie Chase for providing me a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so fun and exciting! The baking contest and the promise of love pulled me into this book, and I wasn't expecting the adult writing that the story had. Even though it was a short book, so character and story development can only go so far, I think that it was pretty well done. I do wish we got a little bit more of the baking contest and the main character, Sam, finding her true self a little bit more. but I wouldn't give up all those cute and sexy scenes with the Cake King either. I honestly didn't want the book to end and I was so interesting in the story. Overall, a great, fun, and easy read that I feel like everyone would love and enjoy!

Warning: there is some sexually descriptive scenes within this book, so be cautious.

This was a short book with a cute romance. I loved all the descriptions of food and how it served as such a point of bonding/commonality for all the main characters. The thing I didn't love about the book though, was that it didn't have much story arc or character/relationship development. It felt as though the main characters got together in the first 50 pages or so without much context or build up of tension between them. All that said however, it was fun to read and if you're looking for something light and easy, this book might be for you!

this book almost had me. There were points where I was so into and then it would just change direction or genre almost. It really tried to be great this book, and in some parts it was. I loved the cake contest and the story line had potential. Can’t pin point exactly what it was that threw me off it. I think in time Rosie can write an excellent book, with just some more practice and some more advice/reviews. Overall still a nice quick read

Michael Godwin, the Cake King, has summoned several bakers from across the country to Lexington in order to hold his own private bake-off to determine who’ll bake the cake for his celebrity sister’s wedding. Sam’s not quite sure what she’s doing in a room full of big name bakers, considering she just does desserts at a tourist restaurant in Appalachia, but she’s determined to win the prize in order to help save her family’s restaurant. Nellie and Eric took her in after her grandmother died, and while the restaurant is successful, they’re drowning in medical debt. Problem is, she can’t keep her eyes off Michael, and it seems like he can’t keep away from her, either. Is he just a distraction that’ll lose her the competition, or could a bake-off fling turn into something more?

“This was all just magic.
And Michael might be the Cake King but I wasn’t a princess.”


Sam has a lot of self-confidence issues. She feels like she doesn’t fit in with the bakers around her, and she definitely doesn’t fit in to what she imagines the Cake King’s life to be. Michael’s sweet and kind, and turns out he’s as great a kisser as she imagined, but his glitzy Cake King world isn’t where she belongs. Michael came off a bit flat as a character for me – I’ve never been a big fan of the “why yes I’m rich but aw shucks I’m just a country boy”-style guys – but he and Sam have definite chemistry. The insta-love? Also not a fan of that, but what really bothered me was that they started their relationship while she was still competing in the bake-off…. and none of the other competitors seemed to care. At that point, I basically just disengaged the rational part of my brain and went along for the ride.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Sam. I’m a baker.”
Why I said my profession in addition to my name, why I said I’m a baker and not a friend, why I said anything other than my name was a mystery to me. It’s just what came out. Apparently, it was how I self-identified.”


So now that I’ve basically thrown the whole plot out the window, what’s left? Well, the sex scenes are steamy and pretty varied for a novella. There’s very little conflict between Michael and Sam – pretty much all of the angst is from Sam’s worries that she doesn’t fit into Michael’s life and that it’s only a matter of time before he throws her to the curb. The baking competition itself doesn’t play as much of a role as I’d have liked, but it’s very GBBO-style. Sam becomes pretty good friends with some of the other competitors, and talkative, raunchy Rei serves as a good foil for her throughout the book. Also, do not read this novella hungry! Besides the delicious baked goods, there’s also lots of delicious southern food (mmm, chicken and dumplings and collard greens) and lots of restaurants (shawarma, sashimi, yum).

Overall, the book is pretty ridiculous, but it’s also so sweet and fluffy (and steamy) that I have a hard time holding that against it – so 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3. The rest of the series seems to be in Kindle Unlimited, so I’ll probably give them a try as well!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This was not at all what I expected. I knew it was a shorter romance, and from what I had seen, I thought it would be a cute romcom between the two main characters. What I didn't expect was the steaminess and graphic language throughout the entire book. It was a short read, which I'm thankful for, as the content was much more than I had wanted to experience. The transitions of the book between chapters felt a bit awkward sometimes and I didn't think some parts of the book flowed well.

I really didn't enjoy this book. I don't know how sexually graphic is was going it be. Too much information about things I didn't want to know.

The shorter format of this book had both pluses and minuses. On the upside, it cut out a lot of the filler you typically find in books in this genre. On the downside, it didn't leave enough time for character development, making many of the characters, Michael in particular, seem very one-note and made Sam & Michael's romance feel very rushed. I had also hoped for more of the actual competition. All this unfortunately makes it unlikely that I'll read the other books in this series.

1.5*

I wanted more of the baking contest and less of the sex. The description of the book sounds like the main character will find her true self etc. etc. This doesn't describe the book at all, there are sex scenes almost every other chapter and the baking contest is just a background to the whole romance. The pacing was just all over the place, and transitions from 'normal' scenes to sex scenes were quite inconsistent.

I liked the descriptions of food and baking; I would gladly spend reading more pages about that rather than about sex that consisted of (for me) quite honestly very gross dirty talk.

I wouldn't mind reading other books in the series if the division between the story and the sex is more balanced and less f-words all over the place. I swear a lot and say lots of f-words too, but if it's half of the dialogue it's a bit too much. As I said, I enjoyed the baking contest, there was a potential in the premise. I also liked the positive portrayal of female friendship and the queer characters on the side. The friendship and support of Rei throughout the story was a nice surprise because reading the first chapter I was afraid that she is going to be just the bitchy rival.

I wouldn't say to stay away from this book, but just keep in mind that even though the cover is cutesy and seems like a romance, it's could be probably more accurately categorized as erotica.

An arc was kindly provided to me by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

_The arc of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review._

I feel like this should've been a longer book. The book was too short for me to have an emotional connect with the characters. Their relationship progressed too quickly for my liking. Their relationship had no conflict so everything felt too convenient and too simple. They confessed their love a few weeks after knowing each other out of which they were intimate most of the times.

Some moments were cringy af. Michael called Samantha's *cough* vah jay jay *cough* hot pussy or sweet pussy... Gross.

Also, she told him that he is her dream and left the baking contest or whatever because she wanted to meet him. Again, after knowing him for a short period of time.

I wanted her to end up with Rei instead of Michael.

3.5 Stars. A short, sweet, and smoking hot tale of love at almost first sight. I enjoyed the setup of this book. It felt fresh and if you love reality Bake off competitions then this will be your jam. I look forward to continuing to read about the others introduced in this first book.

The Cake King is a short novella, easy to read perfect if you want to spend some hours relaxing with a nice and delightful story.

Rosie Chase did a good job writing this story about Sam and Michael journey. They are two likeable characters and I wanted the best for them, I cheered for them to reach their happiness throughout the book.

2.5 ⭐

Soo this book was something else. This book was something I kind of half expected but not quite. I think this is a story that has so much potential of it hadn't been so short and if the majority hadn't been sexy times and sex talk (which were hilarious, I found myself laughing out loud at the library, having to explain that one was a true trip)

The story is about a girl who enters a banking competition to win a job with the most famous, and of course, hot baker, the Cake Kings. A change of plans emerge when her feelings and tension and his start to get involved.

It wasn't my type of book, which was really a bummer because I enjoyed the writing style (except the sex talk, honestly, that was so bad It was good) and the characters, i just wished it had been longer and more developed, more focus on the romance and friendships. I think I would read something else from the author, it has potential.

This book is for those who love some baking, sexy times, and sexy times with baking metaphors. A lot of those. It's a fun light read that gets you out of your head.

I really enjoyed the baking portions of it and that it was ventured around a baking competition. I used to watch too much of the food network! I felt that Micheals and Sams relationship did move pretty fast in my taste as you don’t really learn about any connection between them until it is thrown in your face. Though at the same time it was a short book so they didn’t have enough pages to develop it properly! I also really liked the side characters especially Rei! She was hilarious!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy for an honest review!

This was such a cute and sweet (no pun intended) story. It was also surprisingly dirty, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed the baking talk, and all the descriptions of the desserts they made. A very nice fluffy read.