Fake It Till You Bake It

"Finished September 10th. Cute! Looking forward to a sequel (hopefully!) "

"This was such a good read and there is literally nothing I would change. Jada had such growth throughout the book and I really liked how her journey concluded. I think there was such good chemistry between her and Donavan. I loved the fake dating and how it wasn’t drawn out until the very last page. The pacing and side characters were funny and really added to the story. I can’t wait to read August’s story next!"

"Amazing Love story that everyone should take part reading. Can’t wait for the next one !!!"

"I don’t necessarily have a favorite book but as of right now, my top favorite is both of the Sinner’s Duet by Sophie Lark"

"Jada Townsend-Matthews is fresh off a stint on the very popular Bachelor-esque dating show. She made it to the finale only to turn down the very eligible Dr. John's proposal. She quickly learns how much the show's fans do not agree with her decision. Her social media is bombarded so much so she disables her comments and hides from everyone. Jada decides to go home to San Diego to figure out her next move.<br/><br/>Donovan Dell is a cupcake-baking professional football player. He believes in playing by the rules on and off the field. His life is ruled by logical decisions and spreadsheets. He owns a once super popular cupcake shop, Sugar Blitz, with his two best friends/teammates August and Nick. Donovan knows their business has the recipe for success, but he can't seem to figure out why the numbers are not lining up.<br/><br/>After a chance encounter at Sugar Blitz and a mutual acquaintance Jada and Donovan end up working together. Jada's impulsive spirit and Donovan's serious nature make for an interesting combination, especially when a nosy reporter assumes they are an item. Jada and Donovan decide to take advantage of the reporter's faux pas and use the publicity to drive up interest in the shop while also rehabbing Jada's image. <br/><br/>After spending so much time together this unlikely duo start to realize their pretend-ship might not be so pretend after all. <br/><br/>This was a enjoyable light-hearted read that I finished in one sitting. Most of the characters were super-likeable (which is so rare in these stories). I seriously hope the author is working on a follow-up featuring Donovan's teammates.<br/><br/>I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review."

"What I Liked:<br/>1. NFL players owning a cupcake shop - i love that this goes against the stereotype of athletes not being interested in anything besides sports because that’s not true. There are so many athletes who are interested and good at other things so it’s nice to see this in a story. I also loved that it wasn’t just Donovan but him AND his team members were involved. That was really nice. Unrelated but the cupcakes sounded delicious and definitely had me craving cupcakes. <br/><br/>2. Jada’s grandma - I love that she was the owner of the NFL team. First of all, that’s badass. I also love that she wanted to help Jada. Obviously Jada didn’t have a ton of ambition/direction, but I loved that her grandma still wanted to help her.<br/><br/>3. Fake dating - compared to most romance novels with fake dating, this was a very small piece of the story. But I enjoyed it when it was present. <br/><br/>What I Didn’t Like:<br/>1. The instant love - to me fake dating doesn’t necessarily equate to instant love all the time. But in this case, Donovan and Jada went from not liking each other initially to Donovan growling when his teammates talked about her. That felt unnecessarily fast. <br/><br/>2. Jada’s family - it’s a little intense that they were all doctors in science and immediately expected her to be the same when she’s very clearly not interested in any of that. It didn’t quite make sense where this came from since Jada’s grandma wasn’t a doctor either but still managed to be insanely successful."

"I love watching their relationship grow and build overtime regardless of the friends and family and really even the media even though the media is what push the relationship to happen in the first place. The adult spice was giving authentic Louisiana gumbo spice, and I’m a little weak"