All You Knead

Cedar Springs #1

by Lina George

Welcome to Cedar Springs, where first impressions are everything. And let me tell you one Anthony Jones did not make a good impression. In fact, his entire personality is as bland as his name and I'd be happy to never see him again. But get this. He’s renting the storefront next to my gym in order to open a bakery. Not only does that ruin my plan to expand my personal training business, but it also means I’m going to see him. Almost every day. Until he realizes that Cedar Springs is not the town for him. It’s such a shame, really. He’s kind of cute. It’s just a shame he’s so… vanilla . On second thought, maybe he just needs some spice in his life. And maybe that spice can be me.

This contemporary romance features a curvy protagonist and a grumpy hunk who falls hard and will do absolutely anything to make his woman smile. Expect banter and slow burn leading up to some scenes that sizzle!

Genres: Romance, Plus Size, Contemporary, Enemies To Lovers, Ebooks, Contemporary Romance

212 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2024

Reviews

[Lindsey KR · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof.
This needed an editor, desperately.
I borrowed this in Kindle Unlimited solely because it was set in a town called Cedar Springs, and there is a Cedar Springs that I'm familiar with.
The author REALLY wants you to know that this is set in Cedar Springs. It's mentioned multiple times per page.
It quickly became apparent that this was a fledgling author with no editor. In Cedar Springs.
The plot, such as it is, was formulaic and predictable. There were spelling errors, and on multiple occasions, the author switched from first person to third person mid-sentence. It's set in Cedar Springs.
I did deduce that it is highly likely that it is set in Cedar Springs, Michigan, because two characters go to a "swanky Italian place that looks like a hole in the wall" but has amazing arancini. In the book, it's called Trattoria Parmina. In reality, it's Amoré Trattoria Italiana, and Chef Jenna is an amazing human who makes amazing arancini in an unassuming "hole in the wall."
Not in Cedar Springs, but "within 200 miles. "
Did I mention Cedar Springs?

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ebook. Purchased. One of those times I wished I had checked GR reviews before grabbing a freebie. I wanted to like this but it was rough. It needed editing badly and something about the dialogue was just really off putting. Probably should have DNF but it was short enough that I stuck it out.

[Nora Radway Moore]

Worst book I’ve ever read. Not even fun bad. Just bad.

[Allison Bardo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Almost did not finish. Super long. Just back and forth. How many times donwe need to read about ordering fitness gear and avoiding each other. Multiple pronoun errors. Smut rating 🌶 if I could do a half pepper I would.

[Morgan Olbrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a 2.5 star book for me. The typos and changes of pov mid sentence were very annoying. The story was cute but felt cliché. Didn’t feel the chemistry. Felt like a bland kind of book. The plus size FMC was fine but some things just didn’t make sense. Like he’s described as skinny. She’s described as full and curvy. But she can wear his clothes no problem? Nah not buying that. I loved the independent business owner thing for both of them but we lost that?

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (6/25/2023)! 🎁

[brie · Rating 2 out of 5]

i sincerely wanted to like this book. i really did.

however, the constant mid sentence POV changes, typos, and words that just don't make sense given the context, i cannot in good faith give this more than 3 stars.

the characters read like high schoolers and it was just, meh. its not worse than collleen hoover though so there's that at least.

[Michelle Frater · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read a few other books where the town baker was a man and it’s always refreshing to see men in a less traditional role (although in the real world this one isn’t as rare as it may seem). It was also a nice twist to see a man struggle with self-confidence for a change as this genre more often than not lends itself to overbearing alpha men. I loved watching the growing connection between Anthony and Marigold (Mar) sneak up on both of them. This was so much more real-to-life, although I don’t turn my nose up at instalove and OTT either 😊 From a critical perspective, there were two things that bothered me and forced me to reread certain passages. The first was the inconsistency regarding the first meeting between Mar’s BFF Sam and Anthony, which initially takes place off-page as Sam reports back to Mar “He was totally rude”. Some time later, she visits Anthony’s shop again for what appears to be the first time as she says to check the place out for herself. The other jarring problem was the frequent switch from first to third person in the middle of sentences, like “I can’t help but laugh a little as the relief washes over his body.” Errr, “my body”, when Anthony is talking about himself. I don’t usually comment on grammatical errors as I don’t think they’re as important as the quality of the story, but there were a lot of these errors that simply broke the flow of the narrative. Overall a sweet, small town romance that just needs a bit of polish.

[Debbie Orazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a small town enemies to lovers grump/sunshine romance.

Marigold Saunders owns Cedar Springs Fitness gym and is a personal trainer. She is curvy, extroverted and cheerful - everyone loves her. She has big plans to expand her business to include retail plus sized athletic apparel and healthy snacks/pastries. She

Anthony Jones is the owner of the new bakery called Noms next door to the gym. He is shy, grumpy, awkward around women, cynical and an introvert. He formerly lived and worked in big cities.

When Anthony first opened the bakery he didn't talk to the customers more than necessary and was abrupt. He noted to Marigold that he had expected to be busier so she explained his problem was his lack of customer srrvice. As an experiment he implemented her suggestions and noticed a huge uptick in business. After apologizing for his rudeness, he asked her for more input and the two became friends. They eventually hook up and start dating then get their HEA.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

All you knead

A little slow paced. Lots of internal talking. Like they are talking to themselves I feel like 85% of the book? LoL

Marigold is a strong woman. She helps others and she is very smart. But why did she pull away from him TWICE? I wanted to smack her.

There was just so much of this internal talking that I found my eyes just scanning the pages until they would actually talk to someone of until the next scene. when they got together finally I was happy it was finally getting somewhere. But it wasn't like this slow burn of great chemistry and flirting. I guess I was looking for that.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars~

I think some of the typos/grammatical errors really took me out of the book a bit. In addition I noticed a lot of repetitive phrases and it very much started the book off on the wrong foot (like how many times it’s mentioned that Marigold is curvy or has curves in the first few chapters). Sometimes the characters just felt so overdramatized and blew things way out of proportion to the point that it made me laugh. I think with a bit of editing I could have enjoyed this story more than I did.

[Phyllis De francesco crawley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has potential but needs a good editor

There is a good story here but the author needs a good editor to pick up obvious mistakes:
taking about a customer named Andrew and referring to “her”, improper sentence structure :
pulled her chair out
rather than
pulled out her chair
and a vocabulary that sounds like the book was written by a teenager rather than an adult - needs to use words such as “members” or “clients” rather than “gymgoers” which was used several times.
Again, it has good potential but needs a strong editor and rewrite.

[Ronda Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Business steps to love

A new baker, who a lanky but cute moves in next to a gym owned but a outgoing go getter gym owner. Personalities so different, but start to get along because of those differences.
She helps him with his bakery by giving him business suggestions. This leads to friendship to more.
Liked that the male character wasn’t this perfect specimen, showing his cuteness.
There are some spelling issues, misuse of pronouns (his instead of my during his pov)
Like story and how both characters grew into the relationship

[Helen Homer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't for me, not entirely sure why but I just didn't find the characters very likeable!

There were also a number of typos and more than a few occasions where it looked like the book had originally been written in the third person, then switched to 1st but lots of his/her/he/she left when they should have been my/I (this was kindle version)

[Elaine Swinney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written story with great characters. Two very different types find love. I would encourage everyone to get this one. This is a feel-good story. This one is worth your time. I think you will enjoy this one I know I did.

[Ashley M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute romance story, typical HEA. Definitely needed someone to go through and fix those typos though. Overall thought it had good build up and then it was BAM done. Maybe could have had a few more chapters at the end to fill in some of the story.

[Natalie Osborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story line was good! It reminded me of a raunchy hallmark movie. However, there were grammatical errors through out. And while reading a sentence there would be first person and third person, not intentionally. It was a little hard to get through.

[Emily Blackburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was good

It was a good book. Good story. It seemed to change from first person narrative to 3rd person at random times throughout the story which was confusing, not so much so that you get lost but just odd.

[Brooke Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, i liked the story itself.

I did noticed a few grammatical errors along with misspelling words. Also, changes in first to third tense made it confusing. That only happened twice i believe. But other than that, it was a good story.

[a b i g a i l · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so boring and long winded. The redundancy in the story could’ve been edited out. Characters were boring as hell. I felt no urge to like them either. Luck for me, it was free and now it’s permanently deleted.

[Laura Stauffer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Needs major editing!

While the storyline is cute, this needs a major proof-read and spellcheck. If you can get past the completely wrong words in some place and the third-person pronouns in the middle of first-person writing then you can make it through.

[Carol Tietsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story but a lot of typos, I copy edit and proofread so these things really stand out to me. Only a quarter of the way in and already right mistakes.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute romp, doesn't feel like it gets past the surface level of emotional anxiety.

[jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The struggle

It was rough trying to make myself finish this book. There are too many issues with spelling and the way things were worded.

[Diane Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Closer to 3 stars but just not for me. Slow. 2nd half better than the first. And turned me off when a grown man referred to the feelings in his “tummy”. 🤢

[Becca Boatwright · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't do it. This story has SO much potential. But I can't get past the spelling and grammatical errors :( It is a ME and my OCD problem. I wish I could have stayed hooked...but I just couldn.t

[Ashlee Rockwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope, just nope. Feels like a teenager wrote this. Might be it for someone, but that someone ain’t me.

[Lauren (: · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet little small town enemies to lovers romance. I felt like the small town was mentioned so many times but I could never remember the characters except Marigold and Anthony. I have no idea why Anthony chose this small town for his bakery but obviously needed it for the “movie magic”. His affection towards Marigold felt a little insta lovey but I loved their professions and learning some new pastry names. I loved Marigold’s perspective on fitness and how both of them were so driven with their passion. The actual romance was a little fast but just what I needed after finishing Throne of Glass.