I absolutely loved this LGBT+ story featuring Riley and Zach. The book was 324 pages of pure enjoyment. It took me a couple of sittings to finish it, but that's okay. I savored every moment. The characters and the plot kept my interest and I wanted to see how the drama unfolded. I couldn't put this book down. Plus, the bakery scenes made me hungry--not sure if that's a good thing or not. I will be on the lookout for more from this author!

•ENGLISH/ESPAÑOL•

~ENGLISH~

The ARC for this novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!

You don't know how much I needed a story like this. I've had a few literary disappointments lately but this book came to save me from reader block, it came just in time!
You don't know how happy I am, I feel very satisfied and full of many feelings because I loved the story~. Riley and Zac are adorable, their story is full of tenderness and you will not want to miss it.

In this book we meet the perspective of Riley, a strong and successful boy who has decided to sell his business and return to his small town to be with his sister and niece. Riley has been able to overcome many things, when he returns he is not the same shy and small boy who was bullied at school, he has changed and he thinks he's ready to settle (perhaps permanently) in the city. To do this, he rents an apartment located above a cake shop and meets Zac, the cake maker. Zac is cute, funny, joker and very talented, they both do not take long to connect but there is a problem, and that is that the person who used to torment Riley as a teenager is in the city, closer than he thinks, and he doesn't know if he will be able to face him.

Personally I think that the synopsis that they present us has a small flaw (and that it can play for better or for worse when reading the book) and that is that in the synopsis they present you with a Riley ready to take revenge on his bully, but in the book the only thing I saw was a beautiful, kind-hearted Riley trying to cope with his stalker's presence and what it does to him.

That said, I must say that I LOVE Riley.
He's one of the sweetest characters I've ever read~. He's tender, funny, flirtatious, successful, and still humble and kind-hearted. He is not perfect, he has very strong insecurities and he is traumatized by the number of times he was attacked and ridiculed at school, but he's still a strong person who has known how to fight for himself.
I really adored Riley and I really liked him. He seems to me to be a very inspiring and real character, and I applaud the author for representing the consequences of a person who has been the victim of bullying so well. Every time they mentioned the harassment that Riley suffered or that described what caused him to think about it, my heart ached for my little baby, I adored him too much, he is a fighter!

On the other hand we have Zac, who is an adorable character but with whom I did not connect too much. My new literary crush is Riley (10/10 with Riley baby~) but Zac seemed like a very talented and funny character, the chemistry between him and Riley really showed, and although I'm not entirely sure if he deserves my beautiful baby, the truth is that I was very satisfied with the character~.

Both complement each other very well, they have very good chemistry! I think it would have been twice as adorable if we had gotten to know both characters more thoroughly.
On the one hand we have Riley, who tells us about the bullying he suffered at school, about his insecurities and trauma, but we don't know things like what was his job, why he sold his business, what happened after he left school, whether he sought professional help or why they mention that he "disappeared" from the life of his sister and niece. I have tons of questions for Riley's past and I think if the author had taken advantage of the topic of bullying, panic attacks and bullying trauma and had delved into each of the topics, this story would be 5/5. It would not be just a romance story, but also an educational story, because while I really loved the way Riley solved/coped with his problems, I would also have liked to see a deeper side of his past and his growth.

As for Zac, I would have liked (as with Riley) to explain a little more about his past so that I could get to know him better. I think the reason I didn't connect with Zac (like i did with Riley) was because I didn't know too much about Zac, I didn't even know enough to ask me any questions about him. Still, I really liked the character, I found him funny and very adorable~.

This novel has short chapters and is itself a light novel, one of those that you can finish reading in one sitting. It's fun, light, adorable, I highly recommend it for when you want an adorable romance, a quick book to read, or for reader locks.
I really liked the story a lot~. As I said before, if they had delved into some topics, and if things had not happened so fast, this novel would have been 5/5 but since I liked it too much and it was very fast, light and very adorable, I decided to put it 4/5.
I am very happy to have read the ARC, thanks to that I already have a new literary crush~. In my heart we stan Riley ❤️.

~ESPAÑOL~

El ARC de esta novela fue proporcionado por la editorial a través de NetGalley a cambio de una reseña honesta. ¡Muchas gracias!

No saben cuánto necesitaba una historia como esta. He tenido algunas decepciones literarias últimamente pero este libro vino a salvarme de un bloqueo lector, ¡llegó justo a tiempo!
No saben lo feliz que estoy, me siento muy satisfecha y llena de muchos sentimientos porque amé la historia~. Riley y Zac son adorables, su historia está llena de ternura y no van a querer perdérsela.

En este libro nos encontramos con la perspectiva de Riley, un chico fuerte y exitoso que ha decidido vender su negocio y volver a su pequeña ciudad para estar con su hermana y su sobrina. Riley ha podido superar muchas cosas, cuando vuelve no es el mismo chico tímido y pequeño al que solían acosar, ha cambiado y cree estar listo para establecerse (quizá permanentemente) en la ciudad. Para ello renta un apartamento ubicado sobre una pastelería y conoce a Zac, el pastelero. Zac es tierno, divertido, bromista y muy talentoso, ambos no tardan en conectar pero hay un problema, y es que la persona que solía atormentar a Riley cuando adolescente está en la ciudad, más cerca de lo que piensa, y no sabe si podrá enfrentarlo.

Personalmente creo que la sinopsis que nos presentan tiene una pequeña falla (y que puede jugar para bien o para mal al momento de leer el libro) y es que en la sinopsis te presentan a un Riley listo para vengarse de su bully, pero en todo el libro lo único que vi fue a un Riley hermoso, de buen corazón, intentando sobrellevar la presencia de su acosador y lo que esto provoca en él.

Dicho eso, debo decir que AMO a Riley.
Es uno de los personajes más dulces que he leído~. Es tierno, divertido, coqueto, es exitoso y aún así es humilde y de buen corazón. No es perfecto, tiene inseguridades muy fuertes y tiene traumas por la cantidad de veces que fue atacado y ridiculizado en la escuela, pero aún así es una persona fuerte que ha sabido luchar por sí mismo.
En verdad adoré a Riley y empaticé muchísimo con él. Me parece un personaje sumamente inspirador y real, y le aplaudo al autor que haya representado tan bien las secuelas que puede tener una persona que ha sido víctima de bullying. Cada que mencionaban el acoso que sufrió Riley o que describían lo que le causaba pensar en ello, mi corazón dolía por mi pequeño bebé, lo adoré demasiado, es todo un luchador!

Por otra parte tenemos a Zac, que es un personaje adorable pero con el que no conecté demasiado. Mi nuevo crush literario es Riley (10/10 con Riley bebé~) pero Zac me pareció un personaje muy talentoso y divertido, en serio se notaba la química entre él y Riley, y aunque no estoy del todo segura de si se merece a mi bebé hermoso, la verdad es que quedé muy satisfecha con el personaje~.

Ambos se complementan muy bien, tienen muy buena química! Creo que hubiera sido el doble de adorable si hubieramos conocido más a fondo a ambos personajes.
Por un lado tenemos a Riley, que nos cuenta sobre el acoso que sufrió en la escuela, sobre sus inseguridades y traumas, pero no sabemos cosas como en qué trabajaba, por qué vendió su empresa, qué pasó después de que saliera de la escuela, si buscó ayuda profesional o por qué mencionan que “desapareció” de la vida de su hermana y su sobrina. Tengo muchísimas preguntas para el pasado de Riley y creo que si el autor hubiera aprovechado el tema del bullying, los ataques de pánico y los traumas por el acoso y hubiera profundizado en cada uno de los temas, esta historia sería 5/5. No sería sólo una historia de romance, sino también una historia educativa, porque aunque realmente amé la forma en que Riley resolvió/enfrentó sus problemas, también me hubiera gustado ver un lado más profundo de su pasado y su crecimiento.

En cuanto a Zac, me hubiera gustado que (igual que con Riley) explicaran un poco más sobre su pasado para poder conocerlo mejor. Creo que la razón por la que no conecté tanto con Zac como con Riley fue porque no sabía demasiado de Zac, ni siquiera sé lo suficiente para hacerme preguntas que pudiera plantearme. Aún así, me gustó muchísimo el personaje, me pareció divertido y muy adorable~.

Esta novela tiene capítulos cortos y en sí es una novela ligera, de esas que te puedes terminar de leer en una sentada. Es divertida, ligera, adorable, la recomiendo mucho para cuando quieran un romance adorable, un libro rápido de leer o para bloqueos lectores.
En serio me gustó muchísimo la historia~. Como dije antes, si hubieran profundizado en algunos temas, y si las cosas no hubieran pasado tan rápido, esta novela habría sido 5/5 pero como me gustó demasiado y fue muy rápida, ligera y muy adorable he decidido ponerle 4/5.
Estoy muy feliz por haber leído el ARC, gracias a eso ya tengo nuevo crush literario~.

Riley is a grown man returning to his hometown in the UK (somewhere) to reconnect with his sister Emily and school-aged niece Maisy. He'd sold his business interests and took 6 months traveling to "find himself" and didn't bother to check in so he's in Emily's bad books. Riley meets Zac, the new and talented local baker, while he's buying a sweet treat for his surprise apology visit. Riley hates returning to his hometown because he was beaten and bullied from a young age, and he still suffers panic attacks thinking about his chief tormentor, a boy named Aaron. As the days pass, Zac and Riley hit it off, and Riley begins to feel a little more settled having a friend in town. Riley even takes the apartment above Zac's rented shop, deciding to stay indefinitely to help Emily care for Maisy since her now ex-husband abandoned them.

Each day, Riley and Zac converse and share a coffee while Zac readies the shop. It's a great friendship with subtle hints of maybe more until Zac confesses he has a wealthy boyfriend...named Aaron. Despite his misgivings, Riley continues to befriend Zac, and the confirmation that his tormentor is dating the man he's crushing on still doesn't derail this burgeoning friendship. At least, not until Aaron meets Riley, and then it's old habits all over again.

This is an okay read. For myself I had struggles because I'm a detail-oriented person and I felt a distinct lack of the kind of details I usually enjoy. I like to know about the setting, and the ages of people, and roughly how they made their living. This story was all very generic about those sorts of things, which frustrated me, but may not be a big deal to another reader. I also wasn't sure if there was a language issue, but it seemed like there were missing words in places, leaving me scrambling to intuit the context, at times. Not sure if this was because I had an advance copy, and those issues were cleaned up in the final edit--but it also bothered me. I grew tired of overlong patches of dialogue, too, where it carried too much of the plot. People do not converse in paragraphs...

Truly, however, the biggest issue I had was the "revenge" arc that was completely non-existent. Supposedly, Riley is going to take revenge on his biggest bully, the man whose very voice or presence STILL gives him panic attacks. Not once did he make any such plan. His whole plan was to AVOID Aaron at all costs. Only in the VERY end when Aaron was making physical threats did Riley make the jump--to protect someone other than himself. I really felt like Riley got a "sweet reward" by falling hard for Zac and having his love returned, versus getting revenge. It's an otherwise breezy romance.

It's not a book that's going to stay on my mind after about a week but it had easy-to-follow writing and I had a good time reading it. This was a short and sweet M/M romance with some low tier angst mixed in. I read it in a single sitting and it captured me from the start.

Riley was still traumatized because of his past and his experience with bullies. The author did a great job in explaining his anxiety. Zac seemed pretty sweet and pure. I wish we could have gotten his POV though.
Their conversations were great since the beginning. They made a cute couple. The book also had a nice cast of side characters that I loved, especially Maisy.

Some things I didn't like was that we had to see both of them with other partners. It was frustrating and uncomfortable. And I thought that the revenge thing was a gonna be a huge plot point in the book and it was brushed off very easily.
I also hated Aaron, Riley's childhood bully. It was really obvious he hadn't changed and wasn't going to.

Overall, I would recommend this was for a quick and light read. It was pretty short and I breezed my way through it.

I read Sweet Revenge in one sitting. It was a quick read. It was a pretty basic story but at the same time kinda cheesy and cute lol I loved Riley's niece, Maisy, Zac, Emily and Scarlet!!

Goshh look at the cover! It was gorgeous af!

Thank you Netgalley for Sweet Revenge ARC!

Sweet Revenge by Tilly Keyes
This is the ideal quick, summer read ❤️ Riley is back in town after selling his business and travelling the world, here he meets Zac the gorgeous local cake shop owner. One problem, Zac has a boyfriend and it’s the high school bully that made Riley’s school life hell.
This story really pulled me through and I just didn’t want to put it down. I will definitely be following this author for future releases, a fab debut novel!
5/5 ⭐️
Recommend ✅

There are sweet reads and then there are *sweet* reads. Sweet Revenge, coincidentally enough, is both!

This is a quick read-- like an hour, hour and half max that leaves you feeling good, vague-ly sugary after reading it.

Let’s quickly sum it up, so we’re all on the same page. We have Riley, a former resident of a Small Town who escaped to the Big City to make something of himself. He comes back to the Small Town at his sister’s need and meets Zac. Zac is the sweet-tempered baker who lives downstairs from Riley. They’re clearly a match made in heaven, but the problem is that Zac is dating the man who mercilessly bullied Riley as a kid. Yikes, right?

It’s a pretty basic plot, with easy to digest writing and characters that while don’t necessarily feel unique on their own, at least fill out their archetype’s swimmingly. I wish we had gotten both more buildup to Riley and Zac as characters and RileyAndZac before they started their flirting, but it’s a breezy read, so I forgive it.

There are cute moments (the parrot!), heartwarming moments (Maisy and Emily) and moments that I think were handled well (Riley’s clear PTSD from his bullied childhood).

It’s not a soul-shattering book, or anything that I’ll be thinking about in a week’s time, but it's like a cupcake. It leaves you feeling happy and satisfied like any sweet treat should.

3/5

**Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this book in an exchange for an honest review

Instagram Story (live on 7/11): https://www.instagram.com/chillwithjillsbooks/
Review Blog Post (live on 7/11): https://chill-with-jill.com/

BAKERY: check! LGBTQ COUPLE: check!! NICE DOSE OF DRAMA: Super check! All my favorite things rolled into one.

The cover page looks so intriguing and pulled me right in from the start.
The book itself is a fast read, in the sense that you start reading and before you know it, a solid couple of hours have gone by. But the plot is just so captivating that time flying doesn't matter and with every tick of the clock, you find yourself rooting for these boys.
Riley and Zac are adorable in their own ways. Riley, coming off a really tragic childhood, was still able to make you feel the anxiety that he was going through when forced to face his past... but then you also get to see him grow from it, which is awesome. Zac is just so pure and tender, and you just want to wrap him up in a big bundle of happiness and more, because that's what he deserves. The other characters do a super job rounding out the story as well. From Michelin-man wanna be in winter coats, Scarlet to everything-unicorn loving Maisy, the world around Riley comes together in a really sweet little package.
The only critique I really have about it is that I wish the revenge was a tad sweeter.

plot: riley, who just sold his business, which left him with a huge amount of money, returns to his sister and her kid for a new beginning. that's where he meets twenty-something zac, the sweet and kind baker, whose boyfriend unfortunately is the bully of riley's childhood years. prepare for romantic feelings!


3/5🌟: this was a romantic, kind of cheesy and fast read. for those of you, who are into fanfics, it definitely felt like one. zac is a cute character and i loved that he was going after his dream career: baking! riley was a likeable character as well, but i couldn't totally connect to him. the plot was super predictable, but still sweet. be aware that zac's boyfriend shows very abusive behaviour. luckily this is critised by a lot of characters. the writing style made it easy to finish this in just a day. riley is bisexual, that was great for representation, but i wish the definition in the book would have been trans/nb inclusive. at last, it was one of those books that are just centred around the feelings of cis queer men, lacking in intersectionality.

thanks to netgalley i received an early digital access copy of this in return for an honest opinion.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for my honest review. Thank you for my copy. It was a very fast read. It was a delightful story of Riley and Zac. Riley and Zac were adorable and sweet together. I also loved Riley’s family. I was pleasantly surprised that the revenge was not what I expected. I loved that. The ending was beautiful! I wanted more 😊

This was definitely a wonderful concept. I just wish I could've related to Riley more. His love story was adorable and I loved that Zac was a baker. It was very sweet (pun intended). I was not expecting the plot twist either.