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.
I was soooo looking forward to a fun new fake dating story when I was given this eARC. Baking and fake dating are quite literally the perfect combo. So I was very optimistic going into this one and even as the story started. I liked how Jada and Donovan were originally introduced with their own respective stories.
Unfortunately, the book quickly went downhill for me. The story just felt too focused on sticking to the fake dating plot without really delving into the characters’ actual relationship. It almost felt like things were just happening to Jada and Donovan because “this is how the romance arc is supposed to go”.
I felt no connection between the two. Really disappointing because this story could’ve been the perfect amount of cute and spice.
In the end, it just felt really underdeveloped to the point I almost DNF’d at 60%. Even the side characters felt pushed to the side.
I feel like this story had a lot of potential, though, especially at the outset. I wouldn’t completely rule out reading something else by this author, but this one was just a disappointment.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Louise Reads 