A romance that delivers on the sweet, sugary premise of the title.
A reality TV show star falls in love with an NFL player who also owns a cupcake shop.
Jada Townsend-Matthews has never quite figured out what she wants to do with her life. Her high-powered family thinks she’s a failure, never appreciating how her dyslexia made school nearly impossible. Her latest brilliant idea—being a contestant in a Bachelorette-style TV show to launch a career as an influencer—failed when she turned down the proposal in the final episode. She slinks home to San Diego, determined to avoid the social media firestorm she created, only to discover that her meddling grandmother has arranged a job for her at Sugar Blitz, a cupcake shop co-owned by three NFL players. Donovan Dell didn’t enter into the bakery business on a lark; he’s determined to have a retirement plan in place, knowing that football careers are short. The cupcake business has stagnated, though, and he and his partners are at a loss for how to right the ship. Donovan is drawn to Jada. She’s effortlessly charming with customers and implements several improvements that bring in new business. When the paparazzi discover Jada and Donovan cozily working together, it boosts foot traffic, visibility, and profits in the store. The two agree to pretend to date in order to keep the bakery in the spotlight. This is a straightforward, low-conflict romance. Jada and Donovan are good for each other and easily overcome any obstacles by working together. When Jada’s family treats her unkindly, Donovan is her staunch defender; meanwhile, her charm and spontaneity are the perfect counterbalance to his deep-seated need for control and stability.
A romance that delivers on the sweet, sugary premise of the title.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-80185-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.
A Seattle woman meets a Chicago businessman as she flies home from a visit to a friend, and her small act of kindness blossoms into more.
Maisy Gallagher is barely making ends meet. With her father’s unexpected death a few years earlier, she dropped out of nursing school to help out in the family’s jewelry store, working with her uncle. Her older brother, Sean, also moved back home so he and Maisy could help their mother and their 10-year-old brother, Patrick. When Maisy offers a ride to a rude businessman who sat next to her on the plane, she’s just operating on the kindness her grandmother instilled in her. That businessman, Chase Furst, turns out to be an incredibly wealthy banker; he’s flown into Seattle to make funeral arrangements for his mother, to whom he hasn’t spoken in years. Sparks fly in this gentle and predictable romance that leans heavily on long-distance and class-divide tropes. As with many of the author’s books, Christianity and the characters’ reliance on God’s will—as they wait and see what happens next—play a large part, as do traditional gender roles where women cook, clean, and only work in paying jobs until they have children at home to take care of. The author does offer a lighter touch when it comes to the painful ways alcoholism can destroy family relationships, with an understanding of the regret that can weigh on every family member.
Light on plot and heavy on bolstering traditional gender norms as the ultimate goal for both men and women.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091676
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.
Childhood friends, almost-sweethearts, a misunderstanding, and a funeral.
Blair Lang and Declan Renshaw were best friends who went on one date before a disagreement and an accident sent them in different directions after high school. Now Blair is back from college to be with her great-aunt Lottie, who’s dying, and to support her single mother in small-town Seabrook, California. Finding a job at a coffee shop puts her in the path of her former boyfriend, since he turns out to be its owner. Can the two get past their mistakes? The novel uses the popular second-chance romance trope, but Pham fails to energize it through interesting characters. Blair’s grief over her great-aunt’s death and her plan to help her mother are overshadowed by internal monologues about her feelings, the way her friends aren’t paying attention to her, and the novel she plans to write. Declan’s distinguishing characteristic, besides being a former high school quarterback, is his skill at building birdhouses. Unsurprisingly, the couple doesn’t have much chemistry; when they embrace, their “bodies meld like…memory foam.” The wooden characters, unusual word choices (“conglomerate of pedestrians,” “litany of plants”), and odd turns of phrase (“tension melting from his eyebrows like butter melting in a warm pan”) are almost enough to obscure the lack of plot development. What passes for stakes is easily defused when Blair comes into an inheritance that saves her from working as a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York—so she can write a romance novel.
A romance that could have used significant rethinking.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781668095188
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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