Fake It Till You Bake it has a fake relationship, a bit of reality tv, hot football players, and cupcakes galore. Don’t miss out on this light, charming romance!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Donovan and Jada’s meet not-so-cute happens when Jada is vocally unimpressed with his cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz. They spar, sparks fly, but neither thinks they will see the other again. But, when football player Donovan’s team owner and mentor asks him to give her granddaughter a job, he’s shocked when the woman is Jada. Jada is recovering after turning down a reality tv marriage proposal and being vilified by the show’s fans. She’s hoping this new job will help her figure out what she wants to do next. What neither of them expect, a few plot twists later, is to pretend to date to improve both Jada’s image and business at Sugar Blitz.

This romance is simply fun. I liked Jada and Donovan, who both have strong personalities and complex family relationships. Jada’s struggle with dyslexia and her family’s reaction to it was frustrating yet realistic. While sometimes it’s tough in romance to create a convincing reason for a fake relationship, publicity and public image work well as justifications in this case. And it helps that I adored Jada and Donovan’s chemistry and banter.

The secondary characters are awesome. Jada’s Grams is fabulous, whether she’s acting as a strong, black woman running a football team, a business mentor or as a doting grandmother. I also got a kick out of Donovan’s bakery partners and football teammates Nicholas and August; fingers crossed they both have their own books ahead!

Fake It Till You Bake It was my introduction to Jamie Wesley, and I can’t wait to read more of her books. If you like great characters, fake dating, and, of course, cupcakes, this is a fun romance to read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

~Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Fake It Till You Bake It in exchange for an honest review. ~

Okay, so this was a good month for fake dating books because I also liked how this book handled the trope! That being said though, this wasn’t as great as I was hoping.

I love a good cooking setting romance, but the pacing of this was all over the place and the plot was... weird.

This started off strong, with a meet-ugly between Jada and Donovan. Initially, I really was thinking Donovan would be my preferred POV, but Jada ended up growing on me. She felt very personable and I could certainly relate to her speaking before you think issue as well as her fear of failure and disappointing her loved ones. The message about how women are portrayed in media was well done and the handling of her dyslexia was as well. I think overall, Jada had a strong character arc and was probably the most well-written character in the book. On the other hand, Donovan was charming in the beginning but I felt as though his personality slowly waned as the book progressed. And god, the possessiveness that comes out of nowhere and was so unwarranted! On top of that, his side plot felt very low stakes given that he could lose his company.

The attraction between these two was instant, but I didn’t feel like there was enough chemistry to back it up. They bickered a lot (sometimes sounding more like teenagers than adults) and only had a few serious conversations where I felt that a relationship was actually blossoming. Two chili peppers for the smut scene.

Side characters should have been more built up by the end, especially if there is going to be a sequel, and the last-minute conflict was so unnecessary. It lasted a single chapter. And then, of course, the required couple drama that also lasted a chapter. Why can’t we, as a book community, move past this? Instead of making them break up for a single chapter (that apparently was a three-month period?), the last-minute conflict could have been stretched out and the couple could have worked together to find a solution! In the process, they could see how committed they are and what they truly mean to one another! That would have been much more interesting.

I think this was an easy, quick romance read, but unfortunately, didn’t stand out.

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley
This is a meet cute story with cupcakes on the side. Jada and Donovan's story. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it.
Funny Romantic Easy-to-read Wonderful characters Happily Ever After Entertaining.
Easy-to-read Entertaining Funny Happily Ever After Romantic Wonderful characters

I loved the progression of Jada and Donovan's relationship from only working at his shop because she would lose everything and can't access her trust fund if she could keep a job for six months. I also forgot to mention that social media has blacklisted Jada because she rejected a bachelor on national TV and trying to stay low. Funny enough, she and Donovan meet on the wrong foot when she says the cupcakes are stale. That domino affects a chain of events that puts Jada in the hot spot and drags Donovan in the middle. They make a plan to fake date and of course, they both promise that they won't fall for the other. The amount of baking, the side characters, Donovan's character development and becoming more open with Jada.

You had me at cupcakes.
Donovan is a football player by day and a cupcake baker by night. Donovan is a man with a plan, he knows that football won't last forever, and he needs a fall back plan. He opens up a cupcakery with some of his fellow teammates and the cupcakes are the best in town, but his sales are falling off and he isn't sure why.
When Jada comes into the shop with her friend, she wastes no time making it known how she feels about the shop aesthetic. It's lackluster at best. Too bad the owner of the shop hears her and sparks fly.
Fast forward a few days, Jada needs a job and her grandmother just got her one, in the cupcake shop that she insulted.
The fact that Jada is an ex reality star and basically just broke the internet will come in handy for bringing customers to the cupcake shop. Also, accidentally starting up a fake relationship will bring in even more! I have been all about the fake dating trope lately, and this book delivers! Cupcakes, a diverse set of characters and football make this book a win!
Thank you to Netgalley, Jamie Wesley and St. Martin's for an early copy.

If you like your romance with a pinch of fake dating and smattering of sports and baking, this one is for you! The chemistry between the leads made this a great read!

Thank you to Net Galley and S. Martin Press for allowing me to give my honest review on Fake It Till You Bake It.

This wasn't your typical romance as Donovan was a football player who owned and baked at a bakery. When Jada stopped in with her friend to get a cupcake it all begins and ends there. Jada life wasn't going the way that she thought and meeting Donovan was just what she didn't know she needed.

Donovan was the type to plan every aspect of his life and Jada was a say how she feel and go with the flow type. They worked really well together. Love the fake dating and see how that grew the bakery's business.

Great Book overall!

DNF at 20%

I think the concept of this book is absolutely fantastic, but the actual execution is lacking the flavor that I crave. I'm not really pulled in by either of the characters or the story and I already found a few moments in which the book contradicts itself in presenting certain points. I'm sure that plenty of readers out there will devour this book, but it's just not something I'm currently vibing with.

This was a great story and I truly enjoyed it. It was funny, sweet and romantic. These two characters were fantastic and the chemistry between then could not be denied. I definitely recommend this book for others to read.

In this book we have two MC's, Jada and Donovan. Jada is a woman who is hated by the public due to the fact that she just turned down a man's proposal on reality TV, Donovan is a local celebrity/NFL star, and he owns a cupcake business with his two best friends and teammates. These two meet when Jada walks into his cupcake shop with her bestie and is noisily very unimpressed. Donovan and Jada have chemistry right off the bat.

Due to Jada's history of never holding down a job and her embarrassment of her family, her parents have cut her off. She is set to get access to her trust fund from her grandmother in a year, but her grandmother tells her if she can hold down a job for 6 months, she will give her access to her trust fund. 6 months! Just work for 6 months! Did I mention, her grandmother owns the team that Donovan plays for, and she asks Donovan to give her a job at the cupcake shop? Does this woman have to earn anything on her own?

This story sounded good. Jada and Donovan had good chemistry. I loved Jada's grandmother. Other than that, it fell flat for me. The timeline never seemed clear. She ends up quiting the cucpcake shop before the 6 months and her grandmother STILL gives her access to her trust fund. I didn't get it. I also wanted to know more about the side characters. They were just there. I knew next to nothing about them and wasn't invested in any of them. This story needed more depth and less confusion.

It was only 3 stars for me.

We have Jada and Donovan as the main characters. Jada is resurfacing from her time on a reality TV dating show, where she rejected the proposal. Donovan is an NFL player that runs a cupcakery with two of his best friends/teammates.

What could have been a classic meet cute turns into a thrashing of words. Jada doesn’t like the cupcakes at Sugar Blitz. Donovan tries to get her to literally eat her words by trying one.

I guess you could say her grandmother is the matchmaker. She has Jada work at the bakery and unbeknownst to them a fake dating moment would present itself.

I didn’t like Jada. But I didn’t dislike her. I’ll agree with anyone else that calls her privileged in the economical sense. She doesn’t have a lot of drive to “grow up”. She’s a disappointment to her parents because she didn’t follow in their footsteps. And her dyslexia is apparently an embarrassment to both of her doctor parents. I found that frustrating as a reader and it had my sympathize with Jada. Her biggest champion is her Grams, but that can only go so far. I will say she got inspiration for her life at the very end of the book by giving up a relationship that brought her a lot of joy.

Donovan is very type A. He follows a schedule, a life map…he’s very orderly. His friends and family have been hoping that something of someone would mess it up. And Jada comes to be that person. His orderly ways got to be a bit too much for me. He seemed very stiff and unwilling to have any sort of fun.

This book has the formula to be one’s perfect guilty pleasure. But for some reason I found myself reading a chapter, putting it down, picking up a few days later…and repeating that until I finished it tonight. While this book was good it was a bit too wordy. I am interested to see if the side characters get books because one was teased at the end.


Overall: 3.5 ⭐️
Spice: 0.75 🌶

Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I’m a sucker for any romance with a football player. Mix in some fake dating, a little reality TV star drama AND a book club in a cupcake shop? A perfectly sweet—with a dash of spice—Rom Com for summer.

Synopsis:

“Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego's newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell.When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada's image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.Fake it Till You Bake It is a sweet confection of a novel, the perfect story to curl up with and enjoy with a cupcake on the side.”—NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Tropes—Fake dating and nemesis to lovers is always a winning combo

The Tone—It was fun, light, breezy and perfect for summer.

The Characters—I loved Jada and Donovan. Plus the side characters were so great. I wish we got more involved in the football world but that’s probably just because I love football.

What Didn’t Work:

Stakes Were Low—I just wasn’t as invested as I wanted to be and felt the third act break up was a stretch. It happened so late we didn’t have a lot of time to recover, though I did respect Jada’s reasonings.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Steam Rating: 1/5 Overall Rating: 3.75/5

Content Warnings:

blackmail, strained parent-child relationship

What do you get when a reality star meets and fake dates a famous football player cupcake baker? A sweet fun rom com to brighten your day!

Fake it Till You Bake is a contemporary rom com that will keep you smiling. These characters were fun to read and take the journey with them with fun banter and their growing realization of their feelings. This is a great beach read for this summer to get yourself lost in something entertaining. Just be prepared the descriptions of the cupcakes will make your mouth water while you are reading. Hope to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fake dating is quickly becoming one of my favorite tropes. And as the title implies, Fake It Till You Bake It has that and then some. Donovan is a football player that has opened a cupcake shop, Sugar Blitz, with his two best friends, who are also his teammates. Jada was a contestant on a show similar to The Bachelor. She won but turned down the proposal. She returns home to find some anonymity after the online backlash.

After their meet cute, complete with Jada insulting his bakery, they are thrown together again when Donovan’s boss and Jada’s grandmother arranges for Jada to work at Sugar Blitz - to help her find some direction in her life. Once a fan of the show recognizes her, Jada and Donovan find themselves in a situation that can only be solved by fake dating. ❤️

I enjoyed their story, and we get both Jada and Donovan’s point of views. Both feeling the insta-attraction, the slow burn as they try to fight it while working together, and finally they get together. Based on the way this ended and a line earlier in the book, I am hoping that this is the first in a series about the guys of Sugar Blitz.

Take a copy of this book to the beach or the pool if you like:
🧁 Fake Dating
🧁 Forced Proximity
🧁 Slow Burns
🧁 Workplace Romance
🧁 Sports Romance

Fake It Till You Bake It is coming out on June 21. Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance readers copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Copy received via Netgalley for an honest review

Fake dating books are a favourite of mine. You just know that the couple are going to fall violently in love, but they just can't see it, while we are on the sidelines cheering them on.

Jade and Donovan's story is nothing less than cute and sweet - oh, and you will be dreaming of cupcakes so will probably put on a few pounds whilst you are reading.

I liked that Jade, even though everyone hates her, stand by her decisions. I liked Donovan (eventually) giving an supports her, even if it is for selfish reasons at first.

I also adored Donovan's business partners, and I am soooo hoping they get their stories told in the future.

Rating: 4 stars

A little bit of a slow start that launched into pages full of quick wit, humor, and lovable characters! Fake It Till You Bake It is a true light-hearted romcom that brings together Donovan Dell and Jada Townsend-Matthews. Donovan, an NFL player who is the owner of a Sugar Blitz, and Jada, a reality TV star hiding from the negatives of social media, learn to bond over something as sweet as cupcakes! A fake romance turns into anything but all while navigating complex family dynamics, crowds of camera waving fans, self-doubt, and learning disability. While I didn't love the ending, it did reach a destination that I was happy to read.

Unfortunately this didn’t work for me. I really wanted to love it because it has fake dating and cupcakes. It just wasn’t for me. It might be for someone else who enjoys the fake dating trope like I do.

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley is such a cute and fun read. This book features Donovan Dell, an NFL player and a co-owner of sugar blitz (a cupcake bakery), and Jada Townsend-Matthews, who works at sugar blitz after her downfall from the reality dating show. When a reporter shows up and mistakes them as a couple they receive the answers to their prayers. Entering in a fake relationship will help Donovan’s business and restore Jada’s image. The chemistry between Jada and Donovan jumps off the page. This is a cute book with some laugh out loud moments while also dealing with themes of gambling addiction, the impact of social media, and the pressure to live up to your parents expectations. I gave this book four stars for its hilarious banter, the chemistry, the character development, and for some surprisingly pleasant spicy scenes. It was slow in the beginning and it felt like it dragged on but by the halfway mark I was hooked in. Everyone should read this when it comes out on June 21, 2022.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an e-arc of Fake It Till You Bake It in exchange for an honest review.

Reality tv star. Football pro. Cupcakes. Fake dating. BURNT cupcakes. ❤️❤️❤️ All the hearts!

The fake dating trope gets me everytime! After Jada rejects the proposal of the leading man on a Bachelor-esque reality show, she gets a job at 🏈 Donovan Dell’s cupcake shop. They don’t hit it off at first as she not impressed by Donovan’s business so we get a quick dash of enemies to lovers. The two start up a fake dating ruse that quickly turns into the real thing! It was sweet, fun and made me crave more cupcake romance and a big ol cupcake. Lucky for me Donovan Dell has two equally swoonworthy business partners that potentially could have books of their own, and I have a cupcake shop not too far away! But dang I wish it was Donovan Dell who was serving me!