Time to Rise follows Nora, a small-town Swedish baker, and Henrik, a reality tv baker, as they work together on a show to save Nora's bakery. Throughout the novel we switch perspectives from Nora and Henrik in current time to Nora's grandmother Tuula and Henrik's grandfather Nils in 1945.

I found that it was a bit stiff in some parts and that may be a result of having been translated. I just didn't feel the connection between Nora and Henrik until significantly later in the story and that may have also been a result of their story being broken up by Tuula's and Nils' stories. I enjoyed the last 20% or so of the book and the beginning started off well too, but the middle was a little hard to get through personally.

Nora is the daughter to parents who own a bakery which isn't doing well. Nora is willing to do anything to save her family business but during the process she falls in love.

A very cute enemies to lovers romance that follows Nora, the owner of a small struggling cafe, who is railroaded by her friend into appearing on a bakery makeover type show with celebrity baker Henrik. Interspersed into this is a flashback to a war-time romance which does end up tying in really beautifully with the main narrative,

I really enjoyed the setting in small town Scandinavia, and it had a real Christmas romance feel to it which made it come across as cozy. I particularly loved the character of Nora, who was prickly but warms to Henrik (who has a very complex relationship with his own family). I do also really enjoy stories set on reality shows, it is interesting to see the behind the scenes mechanics. The only quibble was the quick jump from enemies to lovers - it felt a bit sudden and didn't build into it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for the ARC.

4 stars

The premise of this book was so fun, but it didn't quite deliver on execution. I learned about Swedish baking culture and conflict with the Finns during WWII. However, I wish the actual story - the one I was hoping was there - had been more enjoyable to read. All conversation felt stilted and there was far too much explaining how people felt rather than it being a natural description. There was SO much miscommunication that at certain points I was truly surprised when any character said how they were actually feeling. The romance was in the back 15% of the book, and extremely rushed. Talk about a slow burn! Also, the parallel love story/time hop was really jarring. The story didn't feel like it flowed organically, but was squeezed out at every turn.

As some other reviewers have noted, there were also issues with formatting/italics/understanding that what I was reading was a text message.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

The premise for this book sounded very promising, and it was a super enjoyable story. Some scene did feel out of place and it took me a while to get properly into it as I found the pacing a bit slow at first, but once I was into it, it was a very easy read.

I truly enjoyed the supporting cast, it so fun to follow and I feel like everyone worked well to add something to the plot in their own way. The main characters were good as well, and they had great banter, even though at times they fell a bit flat for me, but it was something I could easily overlook in the story for what it is. The ending did feel a bit rushed when it comes to their relationship.

The past storyline was a fun surprise, and once it got going I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than the main plot, and found myself looking forward to finding out more about that.

Overall it was a quick, fun read with a very romcomy vibe to it, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I'm not sure if part of this was maybe lost in translation or there's some part of Swedish "humour" that doesn't quite make sense to non natives but I found the couple more graphic chapters in this book to be really jarring. It's not that I was offended by the content, I'm quite partial to a racy, raunchy romance, but it just felt out of character for this particular novel and on the whole quite unnecessary.

The storyline itself is quite cute and I enjoyed the descriptions of the small town, I liked the background cast of characters, I think they were well fleshed out and each played their part.

I liked the crossover storyline with the history of the sourdough and the "peek behind the curtains/don't believe everything you see on reality TV" subplot, even if parts felt a little too heavy handed... like we get it, stop hitting us over the head with a hammer about it.

All in all, I liked the story and the characters. Not entirely sure I'm sold on the writing style, though that could be in part from the translation.

**Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for access to an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

The translation/prose is slightly stilted but I liked the set up a lot and the story itself is working for me. I stopped after chapter 1 (4%) but three stars for the target audience, four to five for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for the ARC.

Huge thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this ARC for review.

Time to Rise comes to us as a translation of previously written work. Its wholesome, easy going, and tender. The emotions felt like real emotions someone would feel in this situation. A business owner not looking for help, a pushy friend who believes in them, and people doubting their rise. I really enjoyed the interactions between the main characters but had some distaste for the sexist remarks. I wish we would have focused more on Henry and Nora as they blossomed their relationship. It felt slow to progress with a sudden jump in in their love story. There felt like there was no real resolution to things, just a quick Disney-esque ending to the story. Its otherwise a light quick romance to enjoy over the holidays. The descriptions of the scenery were vivid and made you feel like you are at the pastry shop, seeing the visitors come in and out, and smelling the pastries. Aside from the quick turnaround of the love story, this was a quick fun read for someone looking for something light to read.

Time To Rise by Heléne Holmström (translation by Marlaine Delargy)
☀️☀️☀️

A big thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

As an overall shape I liked the plot of this book, though it didn't do anything special for the genre. I was actually more drawn to the flashback scenes once that storyline got going, with that relationship feeling more authentic than the (purposefully scripted) manufacturing of our main pairing.

I also felt like the rapid progression of the main relationship towards the end felt fast too in comparison to the 'enemies' portion. I also wasn't a fan of the ending (pre-epilogue) but I can see why Holmström went in that direction.

As someone who has only a passing knowledge of European traditions when it comes to Christmas, this book leaned into them just enough to enlighten me without being overbearing with the details, particularly with the focus on food.

The formatting itself could use reviewing before publication - some text message segments were written as regular paragraphs, and in another spot italics continued incorrectly beyond an internal thought, which pulled me out of the story completely.

3/5 stars

This cozy small town bakery romance left me with all the good feelings! While it didn’t wow me, I did enjoy it!

While I enjoyed the story, I felt like there were a few scenes that were out of place. Mainly the spice. The book simply didn’t need it, the connection between the characters was so obvious that spice was simply not necessary

The plot was just a bit slow, it didn’t really pick up until the 50% mark and then it slowed down for a bit and then picked up in the last 70 ish pages. Needless to say, improvements could be made to the pacing.

Overall, I liked the story and the characters, there were simply things that just didn’t feel right.

When I saw the synopsis for this one I had super high hopes. Unfortunately I just couldn't get through it. I felt nothing for the characters and the execution was not the best. I had to DNF.

This was a sweet and comforting read. I love anything foodie related in rom coms but the added enemies to lovers was great. Thank you for the arc!

Sweet and cozy read for me, I am a softy for romance books. My only trouble with it is that character felt very plain and flat at some time. But that doesn’t mean is a bad book, is a totally enjoyable read, with a good plot, is a easy to read book.

Time to Rise is a fun little romance. I loved the story of the sourdough starter, and the meaning behind it.

I liked it for the cozy small town romance that it was. I was a little surprised by the parallel story of their ancestors.

(The last two pages in Chapter 2 are in italics.)

Time To Rise by Heléne Holmström (translation by Marlaine Delargy)
☀️☀️☀️

A big thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

As an overall shape I liked the plot of this book, though it didn't do anything special for the genre. I was actually more drawn to the flashback scenes once that storyline got going, with that relationship feeling more authentic than the (purposefully scripted) manufacturing of our main pairing.

The sex scenes felt a bit rushed and clinical in the writing but that's a personal preference of mine, though I also felt like the rapid progression of the main relationship towards the end felt fast too in comparison to the 'enemies' portion. I also wasn't a fan of the ending (pre-epilogue) but I can see why Holmström went in that direction.

As someone who has only a passing knowledge of European traditions when it comes to Christmas, this book leaned into them just enough to enlighten me without being overbearing with the details, particularly with the focus on food.

The formatting itself could use reviewing before publication - some text message segments were written as regular paragraphs, and in another spot italics continued incorrectly beyond an internal thought, which pulled me out of the story completely.

3/5 stars



"All you have to do is gaze at her for a few extra seconds, maybe make a nice remark after you've been all critical. Enemies to lovers... we'll take care of the rest."

I had high hopes for this book. So many of my favorite tropes and storylines. Characters fell flat and the plot took some confusing turns. I enjoyed a lot of the story but had too many wait what??? Moments.

This was a sweet, cozy read with things I liked and didn’t but overall the bakery setting and banter between the main characters were enjoyable

My only real hesitation here is the pacing - very slow to start and then suddenly full steam ahead, whilst introducing another main couple that I feel kind of took the spotlight at times.

Very much enjoyed the banter here though! I almost wish I could read it in the original translation because I feel I would’ve liked it more

Overall would recommend this as a quick, cozy winter or Christmastime read

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸

*Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my review*

Here's the deal—I had high hopes for this book. It ticked off so many of my favorite boxes: dual storylines that eventually mesh, the classic fake-to-real trope, and an unexpected nod to ruisleipä (Finnish rye bread…it’s so good, you HAVE to try it). Yet, I must admit, my initial enthusiasm took a nosedive during the read. Firstly, the secondary timeline blindsided me (I had to double-check that I was still in the same book). Character development fell short, the promising plot often veered off course, and the writing felt like a puzzle missing a few pieces. Around the halfway mark I thought maybe the info dumps had passed, but they unfortunately persisted until the end.

As is customary in many romance novels, the story's climax and resolution unfolded within the final 20 pages, leaving me slightly underwhelmed. Now, let's talk about the intimate scenes—there's just one word that encapsulates my feelings: icky. And it's not a dislike of spice; there was a very uncomfortable quality to them.

To balance the scales, I genuinely believe this story holds significant potential. A touch more editing, a subtle realignment of the storylines, and voila! This could morph into a truly compelling and satisfying read.