Cake Clash

By: BL Maxwell, Claire Castle

Narrated by: Jack Watson

Finn Leighton loves owning his bakery and tries not to dwell on the boyfriend that was the love of his life in culinary school. When his co-worker sends in an application for him to compete on the reality baking show, Cake Clash, he’s nervous but also excited for the opportunity. Even if he secretly wishes he was competing alongside Josiah.

Chef Jos, one of the youngest, renowned celebrity chefs, and a notorious recluse, is surprised when he’s asked to be a judge on the reality television baking show, but takes the opportunity as a fresh start. He’s blown away when he recognizes Finn as one of the contestants.

The years separated from Finn have transformed him from Josiah Stevens to Chef Jos, and seem to disappear in the presence of his first love. Can they make up for lost time, and reconnect for love on the roller-coaster ride that is Cake Clash?

©2018 BL Maxwell (P)2021 BL Maxwell

Good but skipped

Cute book. There were parts in the recording that skipped words or sentences. Annoying. The change in voices was sometimes a little to over the top. Good story and fun with the bake off’s.

Loved the story!

I loved this!! It reminded me of Baking Wars. It was a sweet romance. Finn and Josiah both entered into the baking competition, one as a baker and one as a judge. This was a great second chance romance. Jack Watson did a good job with the narration.

Second chance at all the cookies!

Story: Two successful pastry magicians with a second chance at love in a unique setting. I loved the reality show atmosphere the MCs were immersed in! They were both very likable and I was cheering them on in their journey to love from the get go! One word of advice though - reading / listening hungry might not be the best idea. Pastries galore in this one!
Narration: A new voice but a very good one! The pacing was a bit off in places, but it was overall a very good performance that certainly added quality to the story!

Made me wanna bake a cake

Jack Watson was a new-to-me narrator whereas BL Maxwell and Claire Castle are favorite authors. His performance for each character was distinct, easy to follow, and entertaining (especially when he exaggerated some of the lines in a way that reading alone didn't quite create). Cake Clash was a fun ride through a baking competition that made me wish I could bake cakes half as well as the characters could. Finn and Josiah's relationship was as sweet as the desserts they were creating and the dynamic between them and the side characters was the proverbial icing on the cake.
I received a copy of this book but a review was not required.

loved it

I loved this book. Jack Watson really brings this story to life and makes you fall even more in love with the characters. Finn Leighton owns his own bakery. He misses the man he loved in culinary school. Little does he know his co-worker signed him up to be in a baking competition called Cake Clash. Chef Jos is a young celebrity chef and he was asked to be one of the judges on Cake Clash. Chef Jos is shocked when he recognizes Finn as the man he feel in love with at culinary school. Can they rekindle the love they once had for each other?

bad recording

I really enjoyed the story. the performance was very good. the audio recording had problems, some sections were skipped and others were repeated.

2.5 stars story overall

I took a chance on a new-to-me author and new-to-me narrator. The story was ok. The writing style was on the simple side. It wasn't a bad story, it just didn't have a lot of "meat" in the story line. For my tastes, the story just wasn't flushed out enough.

The audio was not good. No other way to say that. The worst of the bad audio was in chapters 29 and 30. They were AWFUL and choppy (to the point you cannot follow the story) or big sections were repeated. Other chapters repeated things or sentences as well. The volume was inconsistent throughout the book and there was an annoying clicking sound that was recurring. It's very rare for me to say this, but if you are interested in reading or listening to this story, I would recommend reading it instead of listening to it. Just bad audio production overall. Very disappointing.

Interesting storyline

Although the storyline was interesting, I think a reality cooking show would have stipulations about being involved with the contestants. I did enjoy the storyline, but the issues with the narrator pulled me out of the story often. The biggest issue to me was the huge lag time from the end.of a chapter to the beginning of the next. Hopefully he will learn from the mistakes.

bad performance

after chapter 27 missed the plot, the narrator/editor did a lousy job, between sentences it hopped to different sentences, i have no idea who won one challenge it's missing. narrator also have either bad s- problem or he speaks with his mouth full of saliva.
the story was nice with little suprise added. but it missed some editor it is published too soon. always need someone to proof listen to it first.

you could also make the story 5-10minutes shorter. just take the 10s silences when a chapter ends and starts away. and in middle of the phrase, i several times had to check that i haven't accidentally stopped the book, with those silences.

Second Chance Romance with Cake and Treats :)

I love a good author team-up and having two of my favorite authors pair up is double the cake and sweetness! I read Cake Clash when I was going through BL Maxwell’s backlist and that was how I discovered CLaire Castle who is one of my favorite authors. When I heard that they were releasing Cake Clash as an audiobook, I put cake and snacks on my shopping list because this audiobook made me hungry and drool a lot. This was the audio equivalent of The Great British Bake Off with interludes of hot romance, second chances, funny judges and contestants, with a sniveling whiney evil-doer (cough cough Jacob). I adore a great second chance romance and Cake Clash delivered in spades with yummy icing on the top! Jack Watson is a new narrator for me but man, I really loved his enthusiasm, audio and narration delivery, and passion. Great voice transition between all the different characters and very descriptive :) You should have plenty of snacks/cake/yummy treats nearby because you will be hit with the munchies. Do yourself a favor and do not listen to this while you’re hungry because you will be hangry from all the delicious descriptions of yummy treats! *drooling as I write this review*