4 Stars. Great character development. Well worth the read.

Fake It Till You Bake It is how you write a romance. A reality star and a cupcake-baking football player pretend to be a couple to protect her image and help his bakery become more successful.

The first time Donavan meets Jada, she insulted his bakery, the Sugar Blitz.

“It’s so……. Stale, probably like the cupcakes”

Donavan could not let her comments pass. So, he proceeds to call her out on her insults. The second time Donavan meets Jada, she is walking into the office of his boss, Mrs. Joyce Townsend, the owner of the San Diego Knights. Jada is her granddaughter and wants Donavan to hire her to help teach her some life skills and some responsibility.

Jada is willing to play her grandmother’s game long enough to get access to her trust fund. It doesn’t help she is the most hated villain on the internet because she turns down a marriage proposal on the reality show My One and Only. Her privileged life takes a negative turn and she decides to forgo all social media while she figures out her next plan.

Donavan is trying to make his bakery successful. Sales are not very good and he doesn’t have much time to teach pampered princess Jada some life skills but he gives her a job plus a pair of crocs to replace her Jimmy C

In the beginning, Jada is very vain and superficial. As the story progresses her overflowing cuteness makes her character traits more likable.

What I love about this story was that fake dating took a life of its own. I was more than 40% into the story when they are mistaken as a couple and the idea emerges. Before that happens and their life as a couple begins, we get a glimpse of Jada’s life and Donavan’s life as two separate people. This is why I loved this story so much. The fake dating trope was not thrown immediately into the plot. Like the story, it was a slow burn.

The writing and sexy banter and dialogue were top notice. I love the voice of Jada as pampered princess and Donavan as an uptight baker. However, I do wish we had more of Donavan’s professional life thrown in the mix. It seems he devotes all his time to the bakery in the offseason so not enough professional football moments to swoon with.

Fake It Till You Bake It stands out as funny and a lot of fun to read. The story is like a cupcake: sweet and delicious.

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.

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