Baking It Merry by Samantha Chase ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

For two months out of the year, Daphne Noelle got to live her dream of owning a bakery. Her little pop-up bake shop—one that looked just like a gingerbread house—brought joy to every customer who stopped by to enjoy her sweet treats. She loved meeting people and making them smile, and being in such a festive setting every day was just the icing on the cake! For the last three years, everything had gone smoothly, but this year, there was one guy who was determined to ruin it all.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

November 2024; Dreamscape Media; 9781666682854
audio (6h), ebook, print; holiday romance

Baking It Merry is your typical holiday romance. It's an enemies-to-lovers story as Tristan isn't happy about the holiday pop-up shop that has been set up in the lobby of his office building. He seems particularly annoyed with Daphne whose bakery booth looks like a gingerbread house. 

They are thrown together when Tristan needs catering for holiday parties and no one else is available. And soon they are hopping into bed together. This a a relatively clean read if I was rating its steaminess on a 5 hot cocoa scale - it would get 2 or 2.5 mugs as we do get some heavy kissing and sexy talk.

While the plot is predictable (which isn't a bad thing in a holiday romance otherwise there were wouldn't be 50+ Hallmark movies with the same plot). I liked Daphne and Tristan is likeable if you don't think too much about his behavior. He's grumpy but not Scrooge-level.  While his behavior toward Daphne is pretty typical of romance novels, I don't find it attractive and couldn't understand why Daphne was.

I listened to the audiobook and it was easy enough to follow the story. I wish the narrator, Melanie Mendez, had done more distinct voices for the characters. I had paused the audiobook in the middle of dialogue and when I came back to it a few minutes later I thought it was Daphne speaking but it was Tristan. 

If you are looking for a quick, romantic read this holiday season, then be sure to pick up this book.

Buy Baking It Merry at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us. Get even more book news in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter today! Or Follow Girl Who Reads with Bloglovin. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.