To her untrained eye, the cupcakes looked perfect. They smelled delicious. He handed her one, and she took a big bite. The perfect combination of milk chocolate, graham crackers, and fluffy, sweet marshmallows burst onto her tongue. She couldn’t stop a moan from slipping past her lips. She was officially in love.

Fake It Till You Bake It (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

After turning down a proposal on a reality dating show, Jada wants nothing more than to avoid the spotlight and prove to her grandmother that she can be a mature adult. However, when a reporter mistakes her and her new boss Donovan as being in a relationship, she’s thrust back into the spotlight to help Donovan rehabilitate his struggling bakery.

Fake It Till You Bake It was a cute, lighthearted read. The bakery was the perfect setting for this story, which at its heart, was all about subverting expectations. Jada wanted to prove that she wasn’t just a reality TV star, and Donovan completely shucked the toxic masculinity often associated with athletes by owning a bakery and even reading a romance novel for Jada’s book club.

The whole cast was diverse and well developed, and the relationships were a delight to read. I especially loved Jada’s relationship with her grandmother.

My only complaint is that it was a little fast-paced, and the last-minute separation felt forced. However, the chemistry between Jada and Donovan was great, and the writing was a great combination of heartfelt and fun, which made for an overall good read.