Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, St. Martin's Griffin, 2020.
How acquired: Fresh Fiction Box Not to Miss subscription box.
First line: “What do you mean you gave away the Frankencake?”
(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)
My thoughts: This was a fun romp! Aubrey is a pastry chef with a successful bakery. She creates a special cake for a six year old, who requests gummy worms inside the cake. But Aubrey's part time employee accidentally sells the cake to another customer. Landon is a successful food critic who finds himself stuck overnight in Weldon when he blows a tire on the highway and the only garage is closed until morning. Exploring the little town on foot, he discovers the bakery, where he is the unwitting recipient of that gummy worm cake. When his editor insists he must come up with a review for the magazine, despite not making it to the restaurant he was supposed to be reviewing, he writes a scathing review of that gummy worm cake and the unknown baker who created it, and kills the bakery's business in the process. As if that's not bad enough, Aubrey and Landon met at her friend Tara's bar that evening, and indulged in a one night stand, not knowing who the other person was other than their first names. Until that review came out.
This is my first time reading Jayci Lee, and I'm happy to have discovered her and this rom-com of a book. There is lots of humor embedded in the story and the situations, but also a lot of feeling as Aubrey and Landon get to know each other while trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid each other. While Landon refuses to retract his review or revisit the baker to sample other more delectable creations and write a second review, he does knock himself out to find a way to help Aubrey save her business.
I loved both Aubrey and Landon, and Landon's best friend Aria, who agrees to have Aubrey guest star on her new cooking show, and quickly develops a wonderful friendship with Aubrey. And did I mention the humor? Landon takes Aubrey on a day of wine tasting as she needs to finds a wine for the new dessert she is creating, and despite swishing and spitting she becomes pretty tipsy, and I laughed out loud while reading.
Not to give away any more of the story, but I did get very angry with Landon and his stubbornness, but in the end he groveled and groveled hard, and I do love good hero grovel.
I love this book and I can't wait for the next book, about Landon's brother and Aubrey's best friend.
Goodreads synopsis: Aubrey Choi loves living in her small town nestled in the foothills of California, running her highly successful bakery away from the watch of her strict Korean parents. When a cake mix-up and a harsh review threaten all of her hard work and her livelihood, she never thought the jaded food critic would turn out to be her one-night stand. And she sure as hell never thought she’d see her gorgeous Korean unicorn again. But when Landon Kim waltzes into her bakery trying to clean up the mess he had a huge hand in making, Aubrey is torn between throwing and hearing him out.
When she hears his plan
to help save her business, Aubrey knows that spending three weeks in
California wine country working with Landon is a sure recipe for
disaster. Her head is telling her to take the chance to save her
bakery while her heart—and her hormones—are at war on whether to
give him a second chance. And it just so happens that Landon’s
meddling friends want them to spend those three weeks as close as
possible...by sharing a villa.
When things start heating up,
both in and out of the kitchen, Aubrey will have to make a choice—to
stick it out or risk her heart.
