Jayci Lee

Jayci Lee delivers “a perfect balance of impeccable wit, laugh out loud hilarity, and off the charts chemistry. A Sweet Mess is a sinfully decadent romantic comedy.”—New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting Aubrey Choi has been content running her highly successful bakery Comfort Zone and with its first expansion taking up all of her time, dating has been the least of her priorities. Then a one-night-stand with gorgeous Korean hunk Landon Kim makes her want things she didn’t think she had time for. Too bad it turns out he’s a celebrity food critic whose scathing review of Comfort Zone goes viral and nearly destroys Aubrey’s business—and her fond memory of their night together. Landon tries to clean up the mess he made by offering Aubrey a spot on the new celebrity cooking show he’s producing. She agrees to use this as a way to save her bakery and her reputation—no thanks to him—but vows to guard her heart. Now Aubrey and Landon find themselves sharing a villa in California wine country, which is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. For the next three weeks, baker and critic will tempt each other as they struggle to resist admitting that they have all the necessary ingredients for love. “A rich, vibrant romance that’s a feast for all the senses.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely Includes Delicious Dessert Recipes!

A Novel

A Sweet Mess

Korean-American author Jayci Lee delights with this delicious and light-hearted romantic comedy that readers will devour and ask for more. 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 the gorgeous Korean hunk 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.

Petaco

I did like the first half but the second half lost me. Also I feel like the mom/dad plot could have been removed from the story. It really didn't add anything. I'd read more books by the author.

Sheena

Was it just me or did Landon and Audrey lack an actual connection? Sure the sexual attraction was high and you can easily cut the tension with a knife but that was it. I just couldn't picture this couple together and just about the majority of the lines were focused on their 'spark' which became more than exhausting after the first few chapters. 
 
Furthermore I had an issue with the dialogue, scene transitions, POV structure and the instant love feels with a side dish of unexpected pregnancy that I won't further elaborate on because everyone knows how much I hate those types of romances with a passion. It was an absolute mess. 

The POV was all over the place and the scenes and dialogue hopped back and forth so often that it got to the point that it took me a second to figure out whose POV I was reading, where the hell they were and what they were trying to convey. The characters didn't have a unique voice which caused them to all sound the same. It definitely wasn't smooth sailing but I have read worse. I just really hope prior to this release, the author does some fine-tuning and major editing to save this from being a complete disaster of a romance novel.

Ashlee

I really wasn’t sure what it was about this book that garnered the lower rating. Up until the third act, it felt like a solid, cute and swoony, 4 star read to me. 

And then the third act and big miscommunication™️ hit and I instantly understood. Aubrey didn’t make Landon grovel near enough and I’m not so certain he deserved to have everything work out so nicely without at least a few more chapters of suffering. Ugh.

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[unplanned pregnancy, drinking during pregnancy, cheating (MC’s parent, off-page), estranged relationships with parents (hide spoiler)]

While at first glance the cover is cute (is that the chocolate bundt cake?), I’m going to point out that since this is an illustrated cover, there is zero excuse for whitewashing the two Korean main characters. I previously read Jayci Lee’s Harlequin debut, Temporary Wife Temptation, and loved it, so I was very excited for this book. It completely lived up to my enemies-to-lovers expectations!

“If I’m going to have a chat with a complete stranger, I might as well have an interesting one.” A deep blush stained her cheeks, and her lashes fluttered to hide her eyes. “Besides, you’re leaving tomorrow. I was hoping we could pack a lot into tonight.”

Aubrey’s content with her life – her bakery has a steady business of locals and tourists, so much so that she’s set to move to a larger location soon. As for a relationship, who has the time, well except for a casual one-night-stand after a hard day at the bakery (her assistant sold a 6-year-old’s chocolate-peanut butter-gummy worm monstrosity to an unsuspecting customer) with a hot stranger. Landon’s had an even worse day. Stranded by a car mishap on his way to review a restaurant, he hoped to at least enjoy a delicious snack at the local bakery, but he certainly wasn’t counting on some arrogant baker throwing gummy worms into an otherwise delicious cake – or the hot stranger sneaking out without even saying goodbye after their night together. But when he finds out after writing a scathing review that the owner of the bakery is none other than his mystery woman – and that the cake was meant for a child’s birthday party – he knows he has to make amends. What could be better than casting her for his friend’s new cooking show? Except that means they’ll have to spend three weeks together and their attraction is only getting stronger.

“Is this what home feels like? His chest tightened with wonder and panic, but he allowed the warmth and tranquility to wash over him. It was a stolen moment of happiness—isolated and timeless—and it imprinted itself permanently on his mind.”

Aubrey is just lovely. Yeah, she’s got family issues (who doesn’t?) but she’s overcome them and is successfully running her own bakery – at least until Landon’s review sent her customer base running. Her bakery is more than just her business, it’s her true home, and the thought that she could lose it is devastating. Which is why, when Landon comes back with his offer, Aubrey accepts, even after he directly accuses her of possibly sleeping with him to get a good review. So you can see why, for me, Landon originally starts out in “oh hell no” territory, between the awful review and that accusation. Luckily, we also get his POV in the book, so we know that he’s sincere about fixing the harm he caused, even if he can’t quite apologize for it. Landon’s spent the past decade traveling the world, not even bothering with having a car, and he prides himself on being organized and controlled. He’s never impulsive – not anymore – so he can’t understand why being around Aubrey makes him do rash things.

“If she could forget about her infatuation with Landon, she would have an amazing time at Bosque Verde. As simple as that. Once they became friends, everything would be wonderful.”

Their immediate attraction is sizzling hot. After the review debacle, Aubrey decides they’re better off as friends, though having to share a house for three weeks may push her luck. Their chemistry is off the charts, and there’s just an absolute boatload of lust, longing and angst, which makes their inevitable connection even sweeter. Both are dealing with the fallout of family problems – specifically, lots of dad issues – so sometimes this complicates their relationship, not to mention that they both think it would be highly unprofessional to sleep together again.

“Do you love me?”
“Hell yeah. I love you like mad. Why do you ask?”
“You have to kill me. If you sense that I’m about to go to the Horny Side, you must kill me. If you love me, then you will do this for me. Sleeping with him again will be the ultimate humiliation, and it could ruin our reputations and careers. It could ruin everything forever.”

There’s so much delicious food, and I especially loved Aubrey’s relationship with her cooking, especially when she talked to her sorbets to try to get them to freeze correctly. I also loved the California wine country setting, and I’m already planning a trip to the moonstone beach whenever it’s safe again. I also loved Aubrey’s friendship with Tara, and I’m definitely hoping that we get a sequel with her. Each character’s family relationships were also explored, especially the one between Aubrey and her mother. There were a lot of complicated feelings they had to work through, and I thought it was handled well. The ending was a bit overdone for me (very soap-opera-y), though I loved the grovel.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, and I was ecstatic to see that Daniel Dae Kim already picked this up to make into a movie. Jayci Lee is definitely on my authors-to-watch list, and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Linda Quintanilla

Looking for a easy romance read? Then A Sweet Mess is the one to read. 

It’s a cute romance story that will cozy up your week. It starts off with Aubrey suffering from a bad review but guess who wrote that review? That’s right, her one-night stand. That’s a small world for you. But that won’t stop Landon from fixing his mistake. It’s really sweet that Landon and Aubrey are trying to fix her bakery business. But it also give them time to develop their relationship together. 

This was a hit and miss for me. I have just so much romance that I kinda expected this. I wish it has a little more depth to it.

Alexis 

3.5/ 5 stars 

The first thing I want to say is man did this book make me hungry! I enjoyed my time reading this book. It was light and fluffy and exactly what I wanted.

Totally Addicted to Reading

A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee highlighted how important communication was in any relationship. If only the characters featured in this book had communicated with each other, they could have avoided half the problems encountered in this story. With that being said, this proved to be a sweet story involving food (I am sure I packed on some pounds just reading about all those baked goodies) and romance.

The story introduces Aubrey and Landon, two driven, ambitious and compassionate characters who shared a love for food. Aubrey specialised in baking, while Landon was a well-known food critic.

The banter between the main and secondary characters was fun and cute. I especially enjoyed Aubrey’s interaction with her best friend, Tara. Tara was what one would call the life of the party.

I am on the fence as it relates to the romance. I loved the outcome which I found sweet and adorable, but I was not a fan of the journey it took to get there. The many obstacles in the form of abandonment and daddy issues, failure to communicate, pride and cowardice proved to be the major hindrances in their journey to a happily ever after. Landon did something that had me fuming, and frankly I thought Aubrey should have made him grovel a lot more. I never felt the connection between them. I believe that the fact that the reader was told of the chemistry between the characters instead of it being showed was a contributing factor.

The story featured the POVs of both main characters, which I had no issue with. However, what I found frustrating was the there was no warning when a change in the POVs occurred, therefore it took me awhile to figure out which of the character’s POV I was reading. The fact that this was an ARC may have been a contributing factor to the confusion surrounding the change in POVs. I sure hope that is the case.

Conclusion/Recommendation
I had hope to love this book, but unfortunately I would have to settle for liking it. Would I read more from this author, maybe? 
This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

Ariel Duke

Wit, sexual tension, tortured pasts, and destiny come together is this comedic romance that kept me turning pages until I was done. 

I have made a point of reading more books written by and involving POCs and this book did not disappoint. I marathoned this book in one night before I even realized it. The story progressed in such a natural fashion that I found myself completely drawn into the world in only a few pages. The first encounter between Aubrey and Landon was like something out of my past before I settled down, and I honestly think that is what hooked me so early on. Well that and the burning hot sexual tension combined with so much wit and humor that I found myself smiling and laughing at times.

A Sweet Mess A Novel

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