I Hate, I Bake, and I Don’t Date!

The Manhattan Svenssons, Book 1

By: Alina Jacobs

Narrated by: Devon Grace, Tim Paige

Yeah, my billionaire boss did it to me in his office twice in one day.

I even screamed when it happened. The whole office heard me.

No, not that.

He fired me.

Yep.

Beck Svensson fired me right before rent was due and in the middle of a rainstorm. That’s why he’s at the top of my hate list, along with pickles, people who steal other people’s lunches out of the office fridge, and trying to fold a fitted sheet.

But you know what? It’s fine - totally fine. It’s freedom! I could do anything! I could start a bakery or farm the mushrooms growing in my soggy apartment carpet. Or I could just show up at the temp office at hate o’clock in the morning for a new assistant job.

I hope my new boss will be less of a buzzkill than the last.

Except guess who is waiting for me when I show up in the lobby of a swanky office building.

That’s right, Mr. Grumpy Boss himself.

Beck is appalled that I’m back in his life. Again.

I can tell he wants to fire me. Again.

Except now he has two little surprise sisters bouncing around him and no one to watch them except yours truly.

While I strongly dislike kids and actively hate my boss, I’m willing to abandon my principles for a big paycheck and a hefty expense account.

But when Beck needs me to pretend to be the love of his life to keep from losing his sisters, I’m not sure a big windfall is going to cut it.

After all, I bake, and I don’t date. Ever.

Besides, I hate Beck. No way am I pretending to be his girlfriend...but I love the little girls.

I also love the huge kitchen in Beck’s swanky penthouse that I claim as mine when I move in.

And I really love running my hands over his washboard abs and that thing he does with his tongue.

Wait! No! I hate it, totally absolutely hate it, right? Right?

This is a full-length enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy, complete with hot, snarly guys with hearts of gold, a heroine who you’ll want to be besties with, and a happily ever after better than a giant slice of chocolate cake! Though this is intended to be a stand-alone book, it does take place after the recently completed Svensson Brothers series.

©2021 Adair Lakes LLC (P)2021 Adair Lakes LLC

Boring

I just couldn’t get into this book. Maybe it was both narrators voice. After the 5th chapter I slipped to the end.

Sometimes a fake relationship can become real.

** spoiler alert ** Ok. Here's the deal. I really like this story BUT I also have huge issues with a couple of things in it. Let's start with what I liked. The story was entertaining and enjoyable for the most part. The characters were easy to relate to and likeable with some exceptions. Holly and Maeve were supportive friends (also see what I didn't like below) to Tess. Beck and Tess were awesome. Once they both started actually talking to each other it seemed that they realized they had a lot more in common than they thought they did. The kids were wonderful and added to the story and the relationships. Tess was amazing with them and helped Beck to realize he was missing out. Beck's reaction to the school thing was understandable and the way he handled the situation was very good for a "new parent". Beck and Tess had great chemistry and wonderful banter. There was a lot of laughing done while reading this story. I liked how the story ended. Of course, I would have loved more but it was still a great ending.

What I didn't like is harder to explain and is (I'm sure) just an issue that I had and maybe not anyone else. Tess needed to have some major therapy (I feel) before even thinking about getting into a relationship. Holly and Maeve were supportive BUT I think they were TOO supportive. They seemed more like enablers. They constantly had her back and pushed her to do something and not just sit around waiting for something to happen. Holly and Maeve were also constantly encouraging her to eat or giving her food or talking about making food. This wouldn't be a big thing except that Tess has some SEVERE issues with food. She hides eating food (gets up and does it when people are asleep). She eats constantly and not in a little snack here and there but in the 3 plates of macaroni and cheese followed by a dozen cupcakes kind of eat. I have no idea how many times I was screaming at the book for her to stop putting food in her mouth. She gets drunk and buys stuff that she wanted when she was 13 but she can't afford it. She has a ton of debt that she is behind on and she can't even pay her portion of the rent on their cruddy apartment. The cruddy apartment is another thing - that much water should be reported to building management and if nothing is done there are further steps that can be taken (I'm sure!) no one should be living in a place where you have mushrooms growing out of your carpet and probably mold everywhere else.

Don't get me wrong, everyone has issues (and I know this isn't reality!) but it set me off. I really liked the story and the characters. The ending was great. I feel it would have been better without so much of the stuff I didn't like. I do recommend reading this book. Maybe you will like it more than I did. (I would have given this a 3.5 but you can't do half stars!)

Listening to the audiobook was very good. The narrators did a great job. I recommend listening to the audiobook.

Decent Read

I almost didn’t write a review for this book. However after some thoughts I needed to write them down.

First impressions I absolutely loved the book. The enemies to lover trope in my opinion is way to over done and is rarely a true enemies situation. This has the right amount of angst and anger that I think it was well done

Second, I think the banter back and forth between FMC and the MC was great. It kept me interested. The FMC and her friends are what originally had me thinking I was going to buy every single book the author has ever published. However the longer I read the less I felt that way. I can’t get my mind to wrap around the fact that the FMC is sooo broke she’s basically living in a building that should be condemned but is shoveling food into her mouth like she hasn’t eaten in weeks. Logically that just doesn’t work. I mean it was really over done. How is this women not severely obese. And from the cover of the book she’s not even a bigger women she’s portrayed as average build. By the end of the book I just kept rolling my eyes every time she stuffed her face with more food. I get the love of food and usually i love a quirky FMC, I do but it just seemed unrealistic. At least the MC and his gang of siblings have a ligament reasoning behind their way of eating. Any one who has ever had more that 2 siblings and a low income house hold could definitely relate to the feeling of needing to eat as much as you can as fast as you can.

Thirdly, the MC was the only one of his brothers that was remotely likable. I kept waiting to see some in-site to the other characters that would want me to buy their books but I never saw it. They are so “family oriented” but also felt that they couldn’t stand one another. Grant the oldest of this group was a complete D*ck and deserves ever bit of negativity I can think up and I don’t even know his story. Not a single one of them showed any emotion towards anybody except for a superiority complex and immaturity. I think the author did a bad job on selling me on her other couples and books.

Overall even though I ranted quite a bit in the review I did enjoy the book. I likes lots of aspects of the story but lots of it also missed the mark. I might give some of her other works a chance later on. I did finish listening to this book in a day so it clearly was an enjoyable story for the most part.

She has some serious issues

I wanted to like this book. There was a fun storyline and almost likable characters. The cult aspect was unique and added depth. I just can’t get best how often the heroine was eating. Seriously it felt like every other paragraph was about the huge quantities of food she was sloppily eating. It was written off as “stress eating” but it came off as her having very serious emotional issues and just gross. Perhaps the surfer was trying to make her seem more “real” but it was distracting and way overdone. She eats a dozen cupcakes and 3 plates of pasta in one sitting. That’s binging. It also talks about how dirty and unkept she is. Constantly complaining then eating to make herself feel better. I really wanted to lie this book, but the main character just made me feel gross.

hard to finish

had a great story line. but so much binge eating. h was very weak and not strong.

Beck Svensson one of a crazy family.

Hard to love a book when the hero is not a hero but the rest of the characters make up for him. The sisters and the elders are a scream. can't wait for the next book about this crazy family and the world they live in. The narrators is a great job.

Enjoyable but rushed

I love Alina Jacob’s books however this one felt very rushed at the end. There was too much time spent developing what a mess Tess’s life was and not enough in the actual development and climax of the relationship. A bit lackluster for me.

Great book!

Laugh out loud. i could not put it down. Hilariously funny. Loved it from start to finish.

a fun audiobook

Alina Jacobs takes readers back to the Svensson family with a hilarious and fun enemies to lovers/fake dating story!

Beck fired Tess at a bad time - although there's never really a good time to be fired, really. Her rent is due and now she's got to find a new job. Then Beck suddenly needs her help taking care of two sisters he gains custody of. He has to prove he is the best person for them so they won't go to their grandmother.

What follows is an entertaining, funny romance with great banter and chemistry between Beck and Tess. This is one of Alina's best books yet!

Hilarious

Another fantastic and very comical romantic comedy. You laugh so hard at times your tummy hurts( but in a good way). So naughty but very nice. Looking forward to the next story.