Book Review: Kiss My Cupcake by Helena Hunting

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Helena Hunting
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: August 11th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Blaire Calloway has planned every Instagram-worthy moment of her cupcake and cocktails shop launch down to the tiniest detail. What she didn’t plan on? Ronan Knight and his old-school sports bar next door opening on the very same day. He may be super swoony, but Blaire hasn’t spent years obsessing over buttercream and bourbon to have him ruin her chance at success.

From axe throwing (his place) to frosting contests (hers), Blaire and Ronan are constantly trying to one-up each other in a battle to win new customers. But with every clash, there’s also an undeniable chemistry. When an even bigger threat to their business comes to town, they’re forced to call a temporary time-out on their own war and work together. And the more time Blaire spends getting to know the real Ronan, the more she wonders if it’s possible to have her cupcake and eat it too.

As two neighborhood shop owners battle for business, they prove opposites attract in this outrageously funny romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of Meet Cute.

INTRIGUED.

An audio contemporary romance that gave me the happily ever after I was hoping for! This was such a sweet read and it felt like a newer plot than those I’ve read previously. Though it did have my favorite trope, enemies to lovers!!

I adored Ronan. He was strong and the right kind of snarky. He also knew how to apologize and lift those up around him. He was kind and I thought the chemistry between him and Blaire was pretty magical. Blaire is full of absolute fire and I loved that for her. A bit “not like the other girls” nonsense, but otherwise a great character. I liked the opposites attract themes here too between a bar and a bakery.

Blaire’s family was a bit all of the place . It felt really forced to have THAT much drama surrounding them in the handful of scenes they were actually on page. That plus the very heavy innuendo were my only pitfalls. The steamy scenes are definitely steamy, but easily skippable, so those of either preference can easily enjoy this read. There’s no overly dramatic miscommunication issue. I thought the ending and the epilogue were absolutely precious and the kind of sweetness I love seeing in a contemporary.

This was my first book by Helena Hunting and it’s intrigued me enough to take a look at some of her backlist titles!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones

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Book Review: Lease on Love by Falon Ballard

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Falon Ballard
Publisher: GP Putnam
Release Date: February 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Beach Read meets The Flatshare in this warmly funny and delightfully sharp debut rom-com about a down-on-her-luck young woman who turns an innocent mix-up between a dating app and a roommate app into a new chance at love.

After getting passed over for an overdue—and much needed—promotion, Sadie Green is in desperate need of three things: a stiff drink, a new place to live, and a one-night-stand. When one drink turns into one too many, Sadie mixes up a long-ignored dating app for a roommate-finding app and finds herself on the doorstep of Jack Thomas’s gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. Too bad she’s more attracted to his impressive real estate than she is to the man himself.

Jack, still grieving the unexpected death of his parents, has learned to find comfort in video games and movie marathons instead of friends. So while he doesn’t know just what to make of the vivaciously verbose Sadie, he’s willing to offer her his spare bedroom while she gets back on her feet. And with the rent unbeatably low, Sadie can finally pursue her floristry side hustle full-time. The two are polar opposites, but as Sadie’s presence begins to turn the brownstone into a home, they both start to realize they may have just made the deal of a lifetime.

IT WAS SWEET.

I flew through this audiobook in a day. It was great! Definitely recommend the audio for those who love that option!

This was a low angst, high sweetness kind of romance. I liked the roommate aspects and how they absolutely adorable these two were texting, talking, and generally just being there for each other as Sadie found a new pathway in her life. Sadie and Jack made my heart melt.

I struggled with Sadie’s character at times. Her final moments of grow didn’t fully have a breakthrough until 90+%. That didn’t leave much room for exploration past that point as things wrapped up pretty swiftly after. It also made me not love how the entirety of the conflict went down.

Besides that issue, this romance was great. I loved her friend group and the support there was for everyone to find happiness in their own way. I couldn’t get enough of all of the flower talk and loved the floral glow up Sadie went through.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: multiple open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents (off page, a main theme), emotional/verbal abuse of a child (mentioned)

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Book Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Mystery
Length: 352 pages
Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: April 25th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

‘How long have you been sitting out here?’
‘I got here yesterday.’
‘Where did you come from?’
‘I have no idea.’

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can’t remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s brilliant new novel.

CHARACTER DRIVEN.

Dare I say…too character driven? That might be the first time I’ve said that. The longer I listened to the book the more I realized I probably would’ve DNF if I was physically reading. There was a plot, but not? I don’t know, I was a bit confused by it even if by the second half I was curious as to how everything was going to end.

Definitely a cast of unlikeable characters. That really worked for this type of read so it wasn’t a big deal. The pace is slow and has flashback chapters that build over the course of the novel. There’s dry humor mixed in with some dark topics [check trigger warnings]. I found myself creeped out and hoping for justice.

I feel like I don’t have a lot to say. It was fine? Pretty forgettable though as I have read thrillers with some of the same themes and ideas, which is probably causing my lack of words too. It’s a backlist title that you could enjoy, but also, wouldn’t be missing anything if you skipped it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Mystery
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: kisses to closed door scenes
  • Violence: physical altercations
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual assault (on page), attempted rape (on page), drug use, murder, kidnapping, memory loss, loss of loved ones

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ARC Book Review: Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Serena Kaylor
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Growing up homeschooled in Berkeley, California, Beatrice Quinn is a statistical genius who has dreamed her whole life of discovering new mathematical challenges at a school like Oxford University. She always thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. But while math has always made sense to Beatrice, making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents are worried about sending her halfway across the world. The compromise: the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of “normal” teenager and won’t spend the rest of her life hiding in a library.

Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don’t follow any rules, and there is no equation for teenage interactions. When she’s adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the popular—and, annoyingly gorgeous—British son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than calculus. With her future on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than your fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice realize that there’s more to life than she can find in the pages of a book?

In this sparkling debut from Serena Kaylor, Long Story Short is a YA rom-com about a homeschooled math genius who finds herself out of her element at a theater summer camp and learns that life—and love—can’t be lived by the (text)book.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

I had a few friends rave about this book so I was sufficiently hyped by the time I picked it up, and it did not disappoint. LST was incredible and I’m in awe at this debut.

I resonated with Beatrice so much. I love that she was a socially awkward heroine, who knew what she wanted, but needed a few more steps to get there. I appreciated that true support from her parents and how walking into the summer camp beautiful friendships grew. I LOVED the friendships and how supportive they were. And also how they showed making mistakes and apologizing. There’s room for growth in a safe space. Beatrice changed leaps and bounds, and yet still remained at her core, herself. The anxiety rep was one of my favorites too. I liked the approach to it and the openness of speaking to a therapist as well. The combination made for the best kind of read.

The romance (because we know I’m a sucker for romance) was perrrrrfect. The angsty hate to love vibes were off the charts. The banter and swoony moments, and gosh dang THE HANDS TOUCHING. A small hand touch moment IS THE BEST DANG THING. I don’t know how many times I started chanting, kiss kiss kiss. I was on the edge of my seat with Beatrice and Nik and it was everything I love in a YA romance.

This setting took me by surprise too. I’m hit/miss on summer camp books. Clearly this was a HIT. I was even enjoying all of the Shakespeare stuff too! And that Shakespeare line battle? GOLD. I think I could probably go on forever about my new found love for this book (and author). Read it. Read it. Read it.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: underage alcohol consumption, panic attack (on page), depictions of anxiety

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