this was a really enjoyable read.

i'm not the biggest fan of second-chance romances, and i went into this book not expecting that to be the plot, but i think shireen and chris have changed my mind.
i loved the way the story was told. the writing was light and breezy, yet picturesque. i enjoyed the characters also, with fatima being my favorite.

the reason i'm not giving this book a perfect rating has to do with my expectations. as a baking nerd, i expected shireen to also be one and talk more about it. i feel like the technical and scientific aspects of baking could've been brought up a little bit more.
for the same reason, i was surprised that chris made it into the competition. baby girl, it's chocolate and cream, just two ingredients melted together, so how are you here when you don't know how to make ganache?

i also think that when it came to the racism shireen and chris experienced could've been delved into more. the same goes for the fatphobia shireen mentions she experiences. neither are fleshed out, the character's feelings about these topics were a little glossed over.

one last thing i thought i'd mention, though it didn't have much influence on my final rating: i listened to the audiobook and found it a little strange that all the characters had accents while speaking except for shireen and chris. i didn't notice it during the narration, but i definitely felt it in the dialogues.

despite these things i didn't like, at the end of it i'm left with positive feelings about it. this was definitely a cute, heartwarming read. light and fun. perfect for pride month.

*audiobook received through netgalley in exchange for an honest review