Another wonderful romance by Jeevani Charika, which has a dash of culture, and a sprinkle of health knowledge and a pinch of hate-to-love!
The Winner Bakes It All is a great example of rivalry to love, where our FMC, Elodie, is desperately trying to make her business venture a success. She's a talented baker and cake decorator and has a small unit in the arcade of shops in her small town. An opportunity arises for expansion, and she is excited. Finally, wanting to be able to prove her family wrong, she waits to sign a new lease.
Then Mal happens.
Mal is a man bun-toting gym bro with a penchant for all things Keto. He's appeared on the scene with a signed lease for the very space Elodie has been waiting for.
The story unfolds with a lot of negativity, and to top it off, a battle for an exclusive catering contract is thrown into the mix (-ing bowl? Sorry!)
So, I love cake, baking, and admiring those who can create amazing edible art in the form of cake decorating. So loving Elodie was going to be easy, wasn't it? I felt for her as she strives to make those around her believe that her dream isn't just a fad or a placeholder until something better or 'proper' comes along.
And Mal... what a sweetheart in muscly disguise! Here's me, the antithesis of anything healthy. (I'm Sitting here eating a coconut and raspberry sponge for breakfast!) Yet, somehow, I found myself sympathising with a gym-bro, lol! Thanks, Jeevani!
I also learned something about the Ketogenic diet, which is referred to throughout the story. I have tried it as a weight loss aid, but I didn't realise there were medical conditions that could be controlled by it, too!
An exciting cast of side characters, including Elodies' right-hand man, Marty, her not-too-nice brother, Travis, Mal's business partner and best friend, Jake, and a high-maintenance influencer, Saffron, added another layer of depth to the story.
Oh, and I didn't like Leon!
If you love a bit of cake, some healthy eating, and a huge amount of drama, this is a great book!
Oh, and I am now humming ABBA tunes. Thanks, again, Jeevani!
Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an ARC.

Huge thank you to the author, the publisher and NG for providing me an early copy of this book! My review is my honest opinion.

3.5 stars rounded up.

While I usually don't like romances that have to do with cooking and baking (I rarley read them at all), this was a pleasant surprise. Mal and Elodie start as sort of enemies, but they gradually grow closer, the spark between them appears and things get going from there. I thought they are really cute together. It wasn't so much grumpy x sunshine book in my opinion, more like Elodie as the stressed one and Mal as the helpful one. It was also nice to have them bond over work, and the way Mal was impressed by Elodia and wanted to learn from her.

One of the things that I really like about the way Jeevani Charika writes her characters is that their backstory really does make you understand them better, and it helped specifically with Elodie who was a little hardheaded a few times in the story. And when reading, you can see and appreciate how the author values her female characters--to their profession and work, and to their independence. Elodie faces a lot of shit from her family throughout the book and it was maybe the main thing that made me root for her so much.

I would definitley recommend this to anyone who like cooking/baking centered romances. If I enjoyed it I'm sure they would love it!

P. S, Maureen (and Jake? I wish I had a better memory and a physical copy to go check) from KMK Y was such a nice surprise, I kept waiting for Gihan and Alex to make an apprerance :)