Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Baking It Merry by Samantha Chase Narrator: Melanie Mendez
Published by Dreamscape Media on November 19, 2024
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Length: 5 hours, 59 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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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.
One of the things Tristan appreciated most about the office complex where his architecture firm was located is how upscale and elegant it was. Unfortunately, every year for eight long weeks, a holiday shop set up in the lobby, turning it into the equivalent of a traveling circus, and the bake shop booth was the worst offender. The giant gingerbread house was an eyesore and the woman running it was too cheery for his liking. This year, he was determined to do everything he could to have her and her booth removed.
When Tristan finds himself in the middle of a delicate family situation, only Daphne can help him. Now, he’ll have to beg and plead and promise to be on his best behavior while dealing with her exuberant holiday joy. But the more time he spends with her—and the more awkward situations she saves him from—he begins to realize there’s more to her than over-the-top holiday cheer. And maybe, when you’re with the right person, Christmas can mean a little bit more.
Tis the season that I start looking for a few warm and cozy reads. Baking it Merry is one of those books you know could turn into a cute little Hallmark movie or end up on the Oxygen channel. But that is exactly what I’m looking for this time of year and the combine forced proximity trope with the grumpy/sunshine trope was almost perfect.
Daphne is sunshine and smiles for everyone most of the time. She has set up a bakery stand in a high rise office building for the last few years. For two months, she works a crazy amount of hours and saves up for her dream of starting a little bakery of her own. There are a few other booths in the building and it is everything she loves about the Christmas season. There is only one person in the building that seems to have any issues with her bakery and that is the very cute but ever grumpy Tristan. While everyone else seems to love Daphne and her festive sweaters and gingerbread booth, Tristan only seems to have sneers and complaints for her. When Tristen needs to help his mother out and host a few of the holiday parties they put on for friends, family and employees, Daphne seems to be the only baker available to help.
Tristan was such a grump that it took some time to get used to him and start to like him. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get there and was hoping Daphne would hold out for someone better, but there were a few tender moments where we see Tristen’s vulnerability and the pressure he has placed on himself that start to make him a real human. Daphne on the other hand, was cute and cuddly and so hard working for her dream that it was easy to like her from the beginning and want all the best things for her.
Baking it Merry was cute and had some sweet holiday fun in it. It is what I like to call a cotton candy read. Fluffy, sweet and melts in your mouth or eyes/ears in this case. You know going in that we will eventually get to the HEA and there will be some big gesture at the end for a great finale. My advice, give Tristen a lot of slack in the beginning because he is going to need it and remember we will eventually get to the sweet guy he could be as soon as he found the right girl.
Narration:
Melanie Mendez is a new to me narrator. It looks like she might just be getting her start in the business with a little under twenty narrations under her belt. I was a little disappointed that even though this had dual PoVs there was only one narrator. I always think this is a mistake especially for romance novels when there are two distinct voices for the story. She did a good job, although I found the pacing a little slow and needed to bump up the speed from my normal 1.5x speed to 1.75.
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★
Sound Effects: none
Listen to a clip: HERE
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Nice review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Love some warm cozy reads for the Holiday season.
I love a good forced proximity trope! I like your description of a cotton candy read.
They are fun. I love the strangers marry trope the most I think.
Sounds like the perfect holiday-season read! Just this morning, I combed through Audible for their free/Plus holiday romances.
Nice…I love to pick up a few holiday reads around this time of year. That is a great place to look for some.
I need to get started on an Xmas lovestory. I’ve been struggling with my reading. Maybe a holiday love will help me
sometimes you just need something fun, festive and easy to reset. Hope you find something that will assist in getting you out of a funk.
This one does look really cute. I’ll be sure to give the guy some slack, because sometimes it is hard to keep going if you can’t like that person. Great review!
Right! In books like this it is all about the characters.