A Legend in the Baking

When Jamie Wesley released Fake It Till You Bake It, I was excited to read it. Now, the series continues with A Legend in the Baking, starring Sugar Blitz co-owner August and Donovan’s younger sister, Sloane.

Sloane has just been passed over for a promotion she deserved, so she quits and decides to pursue a better marketing job. As part of the interviewing process, she needs to prove her social media prowess by working with another client for two weeks. So she finally takes up her brother’s offer to help out with the cupcake bakery he co-owns, Sugar Blitz. His best friend August works there, too… the man Sloane was once friends with and had a huge crush on. And when he accidentally goes viral, he becomes the star of her social media campaign. But will spending so much time together give the two a chance to finally pursue something sweeter between them?

Tropes & Narrative Devices:

• Former friends to lovers
• Second chance romance
• Workplace romance
• Dual timeline
• Dual third-person POV (Sloane and August)

What I Liked:

• Cupcakes! Real talk: I love baked goods, and cupcakes are definitely near the top of the list of deliciousness. This is what first drew me to both Fake It Till You Bake It and A Legend in the Baking, and reading about Sugar Blitz, cupcakes, and all things baked comfort was both a delight and a bit mouthwatering. It’s probably best to have some cupcakes to snack on while reading this!
• Feminism! I love that here, the feminist ideals first come from August’s impromptu speech to some sexist guys who think cupcakes and baking aren’t “manly.” Shoutout to him for speaking out about it, even if it was unintentional how it spiraled from there. Yes, men can and should bake, enjoy sweet treats, and stand up against outdated, sexist thinking.
• SugarBae! This is how August becomes known as SugarBae and inadvertently becomes a sort of mascot for Sugar Blitz. A bit objectifying to him? Perhaps. But he rolls with it despite being an introvert who avoids attention as much as possible. (As a fellow introvert, I can relate.)
• Baking contest! When Sloane and August have a little baking contest in the Sugar Blitz kitchen? Loved that!! It was a highlight in developing their relationship and reminding readers to reach for those cupcake snacks I mentioned.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• She went after a guy with a girlfriend. Girl, no!! (In the past; no cheating really happens, thankfully.)

Final Thoughts

A Legend in the Baking is a great mixture of career ambition, friendships and family relationships, baked goods sweetness, and a delicious love story. I enjoyed getting to know August and Sloane, and I definitely want to continue the series. I still need to read Fake It Till You Bake It, and I’ll be ready for Nicholas to get his HEA in the third book!

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy A Legend in the Baking here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

A Legend in the Baking by Author
Series	Sugar Blitz (#2)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Romance
Setting	San Diego
Number of Pages	320
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	November 19, 2024
Publisher	St. Martin’s Griffin

Official Summary

In A Legend in the Baking, the new romance from Jamie Wesley, a cupcake-baking football player gets assistance from a social media maven—and his best friend’s little sister—to help promote his new bakeryafter accidentally going viral online.

August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn’t a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend’s younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame.

Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother’s best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother’s request to revamp the bakery’s social media presence to take advantage of August’s newfound popularity, knowing it’s the big break her fledgling career needs. She’ll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas.

They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams.

As they’re both about to find out, all’s fair in love and cupcakes.