Sweet Stuff: A Cupcake Romance (Cupcake Club) [Paperback]

Sweet Stuff
By Donna Kauffman
Copyright February 2012
Publishers Brava (Contemporary Romance)

Double Fudge...Toasted Coconut...Key Lime...Strawberry Cream...
Every bite is a mouthful of heaven.
And the women of the Cupcake Club are bringing their appetites ...
Riley Brown never imagined she would find her bliss on Georgia's quiet Sugarberry Island after years of Chicago's city life. With a new career and fantastic new friends, she's got it all--except for eligible men. But a gig staging a renovated beach house delivers a delicious treat--six feet of blue-eyed, gorgeous writer as delectable and Southern as pecan pie. Quinn Brannigan has come to Sugarberry to finish his latest novel in peace, and suddenly Riley has a taste for the bad boy author that no amount of mocha latte buttercream or lemon mousse will satisfy ...
Riley's friends are rooting for her to give in to her cravings and spice up her life, but it's Quinn who needs to learn that life's menu just might include love, in all its decadent, irresistible flavors...

Riley had loved her job in Chicago and it still hurt when she thought about leaving it to start over. She found her way to Sugarberry Island and settled in there on a borrowed houseboat. She found an interesting new job staging homes and condos for sale on the surrounding islands and began to make friends and a new life. The only thing missing was male companionship, and she isn't sure that she's ready to get back into that race.
While working on staging a lovely beach cottage for showing, Riles lets her eyes wander to the Jog Master 3000 she set up and decides that it can't be that hard to try. Looking at the control panel with all the buttons she steps up and presses a few. As the machine starts rolling she starts walking slowly. The pace starts to pick up until she is hanging onto the side rails for dear life, wondering how she's going to get off this thing with her body intact. Although of course she is also dreaming about hunky EMT's coming to her rescue.
She is now almost thirteen minutes into her torture and wondering where the deliverymen with the Steinway Piano she ordered are. She is also imagining herself being thrown from the job machine and sees the newspaper headlines in her mind "Riley Brown Found Dead! Sugarberry's Premiere House Stager in High Speed Treadmill Incident!"
The doorbell chimes and she hopes it is the men who are delivering the piano she ordered for the house. It will add just the right touch of class, and hominess to the house. Again the doorbell chimes and she starts to wonder why they aren't coming in, Open House means open house. Just walk in and bring the piano. A deep voice with a Southern accent startles her as he says "I thought this was the house that is being leased. Riley looks up and sees handsome six foot plus, with shoulders and jawline and loses it as she is thrown violently off the treadmill and into her artfully arranged cluster of plants.
This is definitely the way to meet the world famous author Quinn Brannigan!.
This is the second book in the wonderfully funny and enjoyable Cupcake Club Romance books. I love the way the author brings what are essentially damaged souls to the island where they are healed and find happiness and love in this small town island setting. I truly hope that this series has a long and successful run.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher who only asked for a fair and impartial review.

Riley Brown and her behemoth dog Brutus move to Sugarberry, GA from Chicago when Riley's seven year relationship goes to hell in a handbasket. She finds some peace in Sugarberry and for the first time in her life she finds good friends to share life's ups and downs with. Then Quinn Brannigan, famous and hunky author, enters her life and Riley has to decide if she has the guts to grab life by the balls and take a chance on a relationship with him. You know what they say...No guts, no glory.

This was an ok read, well-written and smooth-flowing with interesting in-depth characters. For the most part, I enjoyed reading about the colorful characters from the first book, 'Sugar Rush'. However...yeah, that's like a big but (not butt) hanging out there except I like to use `however'...for me, there was way too much dialogue and angsting going on and not enough action. Just not my thing, but I'm sure is perfect for others because we can't all like the same stuff. That would suck and not in a good way.

*The publisher provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.

I bought this book immediately after finishing the first in the series, Sugar Rush. I'm a big fan of romances, but it's become harder and harder to find titles with characters I can relate to, especially in contemporary romance. In this particular case, however, I'm a fan! Riley Brown and Quinn Brannigan's story is fun to follow, and their dialogue will leave you in stitches! There are other reviews that provide a more thorough summary of the story so I'll just jump in with my impressions.

This novel was a fun read: Food stylist Riley Brown has suffered a failed relationship and, when things get too miserable, she flees Chicago to tiny Sugarberry Island to put herself back together. To her surprise, she makes friends and becomes a valuable member of the community and part of the Cupcake Club. Quinn Brannigan visited the island often as a child and observed first-hand the profound and powerful love his grandparents had for each other. Now he's all grown up and a very successful author, but his writing has begun to suffer, and he can't understand why. He decides that Sugarberry is the one place where he can reconnect with those childhood memories and maybe get past his writer's block.

Although I was initially irritated with Riley's lack of esteem and general sense of unworthiness, this character rang true. Women who have been in long-term committed relationships in which they dedicate themselves to their partner's happiness lose their sense of self, and the failure of the relationship can lead to destructive behavior. Though Riley is struggling to learn who she is, she is doing it in the most positive way, through the support of new friends and community, and I appreciate that her inability to rebound is born from her fear of making herself vulnerable to disappointment.

The community Kauffman has created continues to grow and become more interesting. From octogenarian Alva to thirty something gay man Franco, the members of the Cupcake Club are fun--they make me wish this club really existed and I could join and have them as my friends too. As fun as it is to visualize this group working in the kitchen, it's even more engaging to see how individuals who could easily be lost to the ether become friends and form their own family. Their conversations made me grin and giggle and, even as I cringe at the direction some of these conversations and events, they feel real and propel the story forward in an authentic way.

I also love the culinary aspect of the novel. From the descriptions of how food is styled for print and television to media, to the recipe creation and testing process, to the making of meals--I loved it all. Although this might not appeal to all readers, I like to sit and watch food programs as much as the chefs in the novel, and this added a layer of interest to the text. There isn't much conflict in the text beyond what the two main characters must overcome personally, and these additional details flesh out the narrative and provide tasty depth. I'll add that I love the idea of recipes in novels, and encourage authors who write novels based in food to share them.

Is this novel great literature? That's open to opinion. I will say that it is a fun, entertaining read, perfect for a lazy weekend or a getaway. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to see what's coming in the next installment!