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GIMME S’MORE (Hot Cakes 5) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt tour

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GIMME S’MORE (Hot Cakes #5) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 19, 2021

A friends-to-lovers romance that will make you melt.

Oliver’s a dreamer who is always ready for the next big adventure.
Piper’s the steady one who keeps his feet on the ground.

He’s wildly successful, thanks to her always being there to catch him when he leaps before he looks. But she wants more. While he’s as clueless as ever.

So she just gave her two weeks notice.

Ollie doesn’t know how he’ll survive without Piper. So for the next two weeks, he’ll be sticking to her like the marshmallows on the s’mores she loves so much.

But does he want her as his assistant… or is there a sweeter spot in his life for the woman who’s always had his back–and possibly even his heart?

••••••••

REVIEW: GIMME S’MORE is the sixth and final? instalment in Erin Nicholas’ contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series focusing on the new owners and investors in the Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa (Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant). This is video game developer and writer Oliver Caprinelli, and PA Piper Barry’s story line. GIMME S’MORE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

SOME BACKGROUND: Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant designed and sold a video game that left the best friends businessmen millionaires. With nothing to do the group bought the faltering Hot Cakes snack company in Cam and Aiden’s hometown of Appleby, Iowa saving the town in the process. These are their stories.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Piper and Oliver) GIMME S’MORE follows the friends to lovers relationship between video game developer and writer Oliver Caprinelli, and PA Piper Barry. For five years Piper Barry has been the PA for our story line heroes but in the last two years, Piper fell in love with Oliver Caprinelli, a man who struggled with a direction in life. When the five friends sold their controlling interest in their online game Warriors of Easton, Ollie remained connected, writing a series of stories and adventures for the new owners and company but Ollie found himself the odd-man out as each of his friends started to fall in love, and in this our hero was oblivious to the woman who more or less did everything in his life. Enter PA Piper Barry, and the woman with whom Oliver would fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Oliver and Piper, and the potential fall-out when Piper realizes that she may have been more of a hindrance than a help.

Oliver Caprinelli struggles with the day to day activities of normal life, and keeping his attention on the task at hand, and is unknowingly dependent upon their current PA but Piper is about to hand in her resignation, and in doing so, profess her love to a man who is blind to his PA’s attempts to attract his attention. Quickly realizing that he knows nothing about the woman with whom he will fall in love, Oliver will work side by side with our story line heroine as she endeavors to set up a camp ground for local kids.

The relationship between Oliver and Piper begins as a professional arrangement but two year earlier Piper fell madly in love with Oliver Caprinelli, and quickly realized that our hero was easily distracted by the world around him. In an effort to prove she was deserving, Piper walked away from the job that she loved, only to ask for two weeks to show Oliver that she was worthy of love. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

All of Oliver’s business partners play secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Alpaca farmer Drew Ryan, and several local teens who help out on weekends at the campground.

GIMME S’MORE is an enchanting story of friends and family; relationships and love.The character driven premise is inviting, fun and refreshing; the romance is flirty, sassy and sexy- the palpable sexual attraction is electric; the characters are spirited, and dynamic.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Sugar Coated
Forking Around
Making Whoopie
Semi-Sweet on You
Oh, Fudge

 

Reviewed by Sandy

Copy supplied for review

The guys were going to kill him.
Ollie scrubbed a hand over his face.
They wouldn’t be surprised, of course. But they were going to be pissed.
They’d all known that Piper quitting was a risk and that one day she’d probably wise-up and lose her patience and that would be it.
They’d also all known that when it happened there was a 90 percent chance it would be because of Ollie.
The other 10 percent chance was that it would be because of Ollie and Dax together.
And now it had finally happened.
If it came down to choosing between him and Piper, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know how that debate would end up. Or how short the discussion would be before they decided they wanted and needed her more.
That was only one of the reasons he hadn’t told them yet.
The other was because he was still processing the part where she’d said she loved him.
What was he supposed to do with that?
She wasn’t just supposed to say that out loud right to him, was she? He had not been expecting that. The guys and their girlfriends had insinuated for a while now that Piper might have a crush on him but no, he hadn’t expected her to ever say anything herself.
It was a might have. A crush. Okay, they were adults and maybe adults didn’t have crushes exactly, but everything anyone had said suggested that it was just that Piper thought he was interesting at times and that she didn’t hate spending time with him.
But a crush wasn’t love. For fuck’s sake.
And it had to be Piper?
Piper Barry was amazing. She was gorgeous. She was smart. She was capable. She could do anything. She was funny and sweet and sassy and tough.
She was intimidating as hell.
What was he supposed to do with her now?
What was he supposed to do without her now?
Well, the solution seemed pretty obvious. She’d basically given him the answer herself—I can’t be in love with you and work for you. And the only one of those two things I can change is the working for you part.
So he needed to get her to not be in love with him anymore. Then she’d come back to work and all would be fine.
Now he just had to get her to realize she could do a hell of a lot better than him.
Of course, he’d been a pain in her ass for five years now. If that didn’t do it, he wasn’t sure what would.

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.

Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).

Website /  Newsletter  /  Goodreads  / Amazon /  Facebook /  Twitter  / Blog

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Oh, Fudge (Hot Cakes 5) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt Tour

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Oh, Fudge (Hot Cakes 5) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt Tour

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play / Apple /

ABOUT THE BOOK: release Date November 24, 2020

Paige Asher likes her men the way she likes her coffee: hot, slightly sweet, and only to-go.

The hot friend-of-a-friend she had a scorching single night with was just about perfect — tall, rugged, with a sexy drawl… and on the road out of town by six a.m. the next morning. Long before her mom could start picking out wedding flowers.

But now she can’t stop thinking about the Louisiana boy. His texts make her smile and she suddenly has a craving for gumbo all the time… hot and spicy and far from home.

Mitch Landry had no idea Iowa would be so hospitable to a visitor. He knew the Midwest had a reputation for friendliness but his welcome gift — a sassy, sweet blond who is as no-strings-attached as he is — was a dream come true six months ago.

But why is he still texting her? And why did he jump at the chance to come back to Iowa? And why is he so annoyed by her phobia to commitment this time? And why is he pretty sure leaving Paige this time is going to be one of the hardest things he’s ever done?

Damn, is this what falling in love feels like?

Oh, fu… fudge.

* a cross-over between the Hot Cakes & Boys of the Bayou series
* a prequel to Boys of the Bayou Book 6

•••••••

REVIEW: OH, FUDGE is the fifth instalment in Erin Nicholas’ contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series. This is yoga instructor Paige Asher, and handyman Mitch Landry’s story line. HOT CAKES can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. OH, FUDGE crosses over with the author’s Boys of the Bayou Series.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Paige and Mitch) OH, FUDGE follow the building romance and relationship between twenty-two year old yoga instructor Paige Asher, and twenty-seven year old, handyman Mitch Landry. Six months earlier Paige and Mitch spent one glorious night together but our heroine walked away the next morning without any promises for the future. Fast forward to present day wherein New Orleans born Mitch Landry walks into Paige’s Iowan yoga studio in the hopes of a second chance or at the very least a second glorious night together but Paige doesn’t do relationships or believe in happily ever afters, and battles between head and heart when her nosey family begins to circle like a vulture on roadkill. In an effort to keep the family at bay, Paige tells everyone Mitch is her cousin’s fiancé but in the ensuing aftermath, secrets are revealed, and Mitch hopes for something more.

OH, FUDGE is a quick read; a fun, sexy and fast paced novella that reveals some of the back ground between Mitch and Paige, as feisty Paige struggles with keeping her independence or wanting something more. The character driven premise is inviting; the $ex scenes are spicy and seductive; the characters are fun, colorful and energetic-the back and forth between characters is flirty and fun. OH, FUDGE ends on a cliff hanger-Paige and Mitch’s story line continues in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A SWAMP BOAT TOUR book six in the author’s Boys of the Bayou series.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Sugar Coated
Forking Around
Making Whoopie
Semi-Sweet on You

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

“You’ll do anything I want?” he asked, his voice rough and his eyes hot.
“Definitely.”
“How hot is the fudge?”
Her eyes widened. “Hot. Too hot for smearing on body parts,” she said, reading his mind.
One side of his mouth curled. “Damn.”
“But,” she said, “I have some fudge we could heat up a little.”
“You have some already made?” he asked. “Why was I waiting for you to stir that up?”
“The fudge I’ve already got is for you.” She felt her cheeks get a little pink. She was shy about this? She was naked at the moment, and he’d done a lot of intimate things to her already, but admitting she’d made him fudge made her blush?
“You made me fudge?”
Dammit. He looked pleased by that. He was so going to get the wrong idea. Especially when she told him the whole story. She sighed. “Yeah. I made it around Christmas. I was going to mail it to you but then… I changed my mind.”
“You were going to send me fudge for Christmas?” he asked, his grin growing. He lifted a hand to her cheek.
“Yes. But then I realized that you’d think it meant I liked you and was thinking about you,” she said with an eye roll.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, his voice dropping and that drawl becoming more pronounced. “I know you like me and have been thinking of me.”
He was cocky. A little. Not overly. Not obnoxiously. But enough to be… hot. She did like confident men. “Well, you can not think that the fact that it’s chipotle fudge means anything,” she said.
His grin definitely grew with that. “You made me spicy fudge?”
“Spicy and sweet go together really well.”
He nodded, his grin turning into an almost smirk. “They sure do.”
“But it was just something I wanted to try, and since you eat all that crazy spicy food I thought you were someone I could send it to.”
“But then you realized that I’d think it meant you liked me.”
She blew out a breath. “Yeah.”
“Do you normally make chipotle fudge?”
“No.”
“Huh.”
“You’re thinking it, aren’t you?”
“That you like me? Yeah, I’m thinking it.”

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.

Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).

Website /  Newsletter  /  Goodreads  / Amazon /  Facebook /  Twitter  / Blog

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Making Whoopie (Hot Cakes) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt tour

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Making Whoopie (Hot Cakes #3) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt tour

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play / Apple /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 30, 2020

This marriage of convenience is about to get sticky.

Getting hitched for the health insurance is not Jocelyn Asher’s idea of romance.

But the hospital quote has really frosted her cookies, and suddenly, “I’m rich. We should just get married,” sounds a whole lot more swoony.

Especially when the man proposing is this gorgeous. And takes her to parties featuring champagne and petit fours. She’s a sucker for anything with bubbles or icing. And just like that she finds herself married to a near stranger.

Grant Lorre is usually allergic to spontaneity.

So why did he ask the beautiful small-town baker he had a one-stand with to marry him? Somehow watching her lick batter off a whisk–not a euphemism–made a wedding and a little fraud seem like a sweet idea.

They’ll just play house and make some whoopie–pies, of course–for a few months and then move on with their separate lives. Until then, bring on the cream filling. And that is a euphemism.

But as things heat up even outside of the kitchen, they quickly realize there’s no recipe to follow when it comes to love.

••••••••

REVIEW:MAKING WHOOPIE is the third instalment in Erin Nicholas’ contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series focusing on the new owners and investors in the Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa (Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant). This is Hot Cakes co-owner Grant Lorre, and baker/cake decorator Jocelyn Asher’s story line. MAKING WHOOPIE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

SOME BACKGROUND: Several months earlier, business partners Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant bought the faltering Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa saving the town in the process. These are their stories.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Grant and Jocelyn) MAKING WHOOPIE follows the marriage of convenience between Hot Cakes co-owner Grant Lorre, and baker/cake decorator Jocelyn Asher. Jocelyn Asher works at for her best friend Zoe McCaffery’s home town bakery called Buttered Up, and in the previous weeks, Grant Lorre, one of the new co-owners of the Hot Cakes Factory has visited Buttered Up every morning. At a family dinner where Grant Lorre has been invited, feeling stupid and left out, Jocelyn leaves in an effort to get away from the magnetic pull towards the man that catches her eye. Blurting out her feelings, Grant takes advantage of Jocelyn’s moment of weakness, and finds himself spending a night ‘making whoopie’ but all is not well in Jocelyn’s life, and Grant makes our heroine an offer she cannot refuse. What ensues is a marriage of convenience, and the potential fall-out when Grant admits he doesn’t do coupling, and believes a woman should be able to go it alone.

Jocelyn Asher loves working for Zoe McCaffery but working for Zoe isn’t making our heroine rich. Struggling with a personal emergency Grant offers Jocelyn a temporary reprieve that sees our couple married, if only for the short term. Grant Lorre is all about financial independence and teaches women how to invest and survive in the real world but miscommunication and a need to see Jocelyn succeed finds our couple at odds including the permanency of their days old marriage.

The relationship between Jocelyn and Grant is one of mutual attraction but Grant’s quiet demeanor belies a man who is disinterested in our story line heroine until Jocelyn takes the first steps towards her own happily ever after. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate and FUN, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

The colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters include Grant’s partners Aiden, Dax, Cam and Ollie; Zoe McCaffery, and Jocelyn’s sister Paige, Jane, Kelsey, Aspen and Henry.

MAKING WHOOPIE is a story of friends, family, relationships and love; a sugary tale about a quirky baker and a guarded hero with a white knight complex who believes all women should be financially independent. The premise is sweet and spicy; the characters are spirited; the romance is furious and fun.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Sugar Coated
Forking Around

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

No one fell in love over cheesy potatoes.
That was ridiculous. There was nothing sexy about cheesy potatoes. Or potatoes without cheese, for that matter.
But lust? Well, that was a possibility. Apparently.
Because watching Grant Lorre eat cheesy potatoes across her best friend’s mother’s dining room table was making Jocelyn Asher hot.
Of course, Maggie McCaffery’s cheesy potatoes were award-winning. Seriously. She’d taken home the purple ribbon four times from the Dubuque County Fair and twice from the Iowa State Fair. And Grant seemed to agree that they were delicious. He’d made a sexy groaning sound when he’d first taken a bite, and Josie had been mesmerized as his lips closed around the tines of his fork. Never mind how her heart rate had picked up when he’d turned the fork and licked it.
She was a mess. Purple ribbon or not, Josie was pretty sure that getting worked up over watching a man eat potatoes meant she was hard up.
She took a long drink of iced tea and tried to remember the last time she’d had sex. If she wasn’t forgetting anyone—and how sad would that be—the last time had been with Ben Davis. After Kara Davis’s, now Tibbin’s, wedding.
Last week Kara had been into Buttered Up, the bakery where Josie worked with her best friend Zoe, to order a miniature version of her wedding cake to celebrate their first anniversary.
Josie sighed. That had to explain the sexy potato thing going on across the table. It had to.
But then Grant laughed at something Aiden, his best friend and Zoe’s fiancé—yes, it was one big happy group at this table—said, and Josie felt her neglected lady parts clench. Yeah, it wasn’t the potatoes.
Thankfully.
Kind of.
As weird as getting turned on by potatoes might be, it might have been preferable to being turned on by the man who had been coming into the bakery nearly every morning for the past two weeks, but hadn’t so much as asked her to have a cup of coffee with him.
He’d asked her if the blueberries in the muffins were locally sourced. He’d asked her if they had any gluten-free cinnamon scones. He’d asked her for a lemon slice for his cup of hot water. But that was pretty much the extent of the things he’d asked her over the course of the time they’d known each other.
Oh, and he’d caught her when she’d fallen off a ladder. Twice. Very gallantly.
He’d swept her up before she’d hit the floor. Like a freaking knight in shining armor.
But both times he’d simply set her on her feet and gone on with his day.
She, on the other hand, was now getting hot and bothered by side dishes.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.

Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).

Website /  Newsletter  /  Goodreads  / Amazon /  Facebook /  Twitter  / Blog

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FORKING AROUND (Hot Cakes #2) by Erin Nicholas-review tour

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FORKING AROUND (Hot Cakes #2) by Erin Nicholas-review tour

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Add FORKING AROUND to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2Up4G6c

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 12, 2020.

A Cinderella story with a hot boss so charming even a fairy godmother couldn’t do better.

Everyone thinks Dax Marshall is a prince of a guy. And he’s definitely charming.

But Jane has enough going on without adding a torrid fling with the boss to her life. Between her father’s illness, her wicked-ish stepmother, her little sister’s teenage drama, and the co-workers who depend on her—she can’t handle another mess.

No matter how tempting and gorgeous the mess may be. Or how messy he wants to get with her.

Dax has spent his life being very serious about only one thing: proving you can be successful while still having a helluva good time. But he’s just met the one woman who might break his I-can-charm-anyone streak. She’s actually taking him seriously…and she seriously thinks they have nothing in common and can’t be together.

Maybe he’s the one who needs a new view of happily ever after. It’s time to stop forking around.

••••••••

REVIEW FORKING AROUND is the second instalment in Erin Nicholas contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series focusing on the new owners and investors in the Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa (Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant). This is co-owner Dax Marshall, and company employee Jane Kempers story line. FORKING AROUND can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

SOME BACKGROUND: Several months earlier, business partners Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant bought the faltering Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa saving the town in the process. These are their stories.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Dax and Jane) FORKING AROUND follows the forbidden relationship between Hot Cakes co-owner Dax Marshall, and company employee Jane Kemper. Jane Kemper is best friends with the owner of the small bakery Buttered Up, and the owner Zoe is in love with Dax’s business partner Aiden Anderson, allowing for Dax some one on one time with the woman that stirs something deep within our story line hero but Jane Kemper struggles with the boss/employee relationship and the potential for severe repercussions of any fall-out of a work place romance. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Dax and Jane, as Dax sets into motion a plan to ensure his relationship with Jane is no longer threatened by work place rumours.

Jane Kemper worries about family and friends, and is always first in line to help and assist but Janes father is battling a neurological disorder, and Jane is often worrying about her father’s health. With her sister constantly battling her step mother and step sister, Jane must run interference for the sake of her father. Dax Marshall is an impulsive businessman but a businessman whose investments are successful and strong. Meeting Jane, Dax has plans for the future, plans that involve Janes family, as well.

The relationship between Dax and Jane is a forbidden romance. Dax owns the company for which Jane is currently working, and Jane struggles with the potential for work place rumours. Not wanting to place Jane in a compromising position, Dax has plans for another investment, allowing his relationship with Jane to take the next step forward. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including Aiden and Zoe, Ollie and Grant, and Buttered Up employee Josie. We are introduced to Janes father Jack; her sister Kelsey, and their step-sister Aspen. Josie and Grant’s story is next in Making Whoopie.

FORKING AROUND is a story of family and friendships; sacrifices and love. The premise is heart warming and captivating; the romance is seductive and hot; the characters are energetic and fun-the back and forth banter is witty and humorous. FORKING AROUND is a wonderful addition to the Hot Cakes series.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one SUGARCOATED

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

He was the new strawberry pie in her life. She’d had one taste of Zoe’s strawberry pie and that had been it. Nothing else would ever measure up. She would never not crave it. She would never pass up a chance to have it on her tongue.
Yeah, Dax Marshall was that.
And then some.
He pulled back, breathing hard, staring down at her.
She quickly put her hand over his mouth. “Don’t talk. Talking is the wrong choice right now.”
She was going to have to deal with the boss thing soon enough. And the millionaire thing. And the he-doesn’t-live-here-and-isn’t-staying thing. And all the other crap she always had to deal with that made this impossible.
But for another minute—or maybe ten—she didn’t want to think about any of that. And if he talked, that would be very difficult.
He pulled in a breath, gave her a short nod that she interpreted as okay, no talking and she moved her hand.
Which was the right choice, because he leaned in as he slid his hand up the side of her body, skimming over her hip, waist, the side of her breast, up and into her hair. Then he cupped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to hers again.
This time he kissed her.
And seriously, she’d give up strawberry pie for this.
They made out like that for long, delicious minutes.
When he finally took his mouth from hers, it was to slide it along her jawline, his beard causing goose bumps to trip down her arms and tighten her nipples. In her ear he said gruffly, “I have to talk now.”
She laughed lightly. “I didn’t think it would last for even this long, really.”
“Well, I do love using my mouth this way too.” He dragged his lips along the side of her neck.
Her nipples got even tighter, begging for him to drag those lips down there.
“But I can’t resist saying—” He lifted his head. “You are the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.”
She grinned. “Well… same.”
A very sexy kind of surprised but superhot look crossed his face. “What about pie?”
She sighed. “Pie is amazing.”
“But the kissing…” he prompted.
She knew she shouldn’t tell him the truth. The guy’s ego didn’t quit. Already. But she found herself nodding. “I was really hoping you’d be bad at it. Like terrible. Like no-worry-of-dirty-dreams bad,” she said.
He arched an eyebrow. “And?”
She sighed. “It was really good.”
“Dirty-dreams-tonight good?” His voice was rumbly and low.
She nodded. “Unfortunately.”
He looked very pleased by her answer. His mouth curled up. “Maybe we should combine the kissing and the pie.”
Her eyes widened before she could stop it. That would be… holy crap she would never recover. “I can’t even imagine that, honestly. I might die.”

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.

Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).

Website /  Newsletter  /  Goodreads  / Amazon /  Facebook /  Twitter  / Blog

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Sugarcoated (Hot Cakes #1) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt Tour

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Sugarcoated (Hot Cakes #1) by Erin Nicholas-Review & Excerpt Tour

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 24, 2020

A hot, funny brother’s best friend rom com… with sugar on top!

She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s known her all his life. He’s practically part of the family. There is nothing either of them could do to surprise the other at this point.

Then she showed up in his bedroom in lingerie and asked him to take her V-card.

Okay, that was a surprise.

Aiden is pretty sure Zoe was equally surprised when he told her no.

To say that he didn’t handle it well would be a massive understatement. Almost as massive as the amount of work he’s going to have to do now to convince her that he wants her. Forever.

Right after he tells her that he’s bought the company that’s her bakery’s biggest competitor.

Maybe if he tells her he’s in love with her first, that will help sugarcoat the whole we’re-rivals-in-business-now thing.

So, first “I’m in love with you”, then “take off your clothes”, then “I’m now your business adversary”.

Piece of cake.

•••••••

REVIEW:SUGARCOATED is the first instalment in Erin Nicholas’ contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series focusing on the new owners and investors in the Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa (Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant). This is independent bakery owner Zoe McCaffery, and billionaire investor Aiden Anderson’s story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Aiden and Zoe) SUGARCOATED is a best friend’s little sister story line focusing on the building relationship between independent bakery owner Zoe McCaffery, and billionaire investor Aiden Anderson. Five months earlier on Christmas Eve our heroine, Zoe McCaffery, made an unsuccessful pass at her brother’s best friend and business partner Aiden Anderson, and in the ensuing months Zoe has just barely recovered from her humiliation and embarrassment. Seeing Aiden in her bakery, Buttered Up, brings back too many bad memories of what happened and why but Aiden wants a second chance to make things right including falling in love with his best friend’s little sister. What ensues is the rebuilding friendship, relationship and slow building love between Aiden and Zoe, and the potential fall-out as Aiden keeps secret a business deal that could directly affect Zoe’s bottom line.

Aiden Anderson wants to save his small town of Appleby, Iowa but saving his small town could mean alienating the woman he loves. The family owned Hot Cakes snack company is up for sale but Hot Cakes is in direct competition with Zoe McCaffery’s independently owned Buttered Up. Heading back to Appleby, Aiden knows he must make amends with his best friend’s sister, a woman who stirs something deep within our story line hero. Zoe McCaffery knows she is unable to compete with the Hot Cakes snack company but Zoe’s personal attention to detail makes Buttered Up a favorite of the local crowd. Her attraction to Aiden has never waivered but Zoe is about to make a deal with Aiden, a deal that will bring her up close and personal with the man that she loves.

The relationship between Zoe and Aiden is one of mutual attraction but when Aiden refused Zoe’s advances our heroine struggled in the aftermath of humiliation and heart break. Desperate to lose her virginity, Zoe makes Aiden an offer he cannot refuse. The $ex scenes are passionate and seductive without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Aiden’s business partners: Cam McCaffery, Grant Lorre, Dax Marshall and Oliver Caprinelli; Zoe’s best friends Jocelyn and Jane, as well as her parents Maggie and Steve.

SUGARCOATED is a story of family and friendships, secrets and heart break. The premise is inviting ; the characters are flirty and colorful; the romance is spicy and sweet.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

“What?” she asked, her eyes wide and blinking. “You thought I’d just be waiting around for you to come back?”
“Yes!” It was the wrong answer, he knew, even as he said it. But it was true.
“You are so full of yourself!” She frowned. “You actually thought I’d be waiting around, pining for you, didn’t you?”
Maybe not crying herself to sleep every night, but thinking about him? Yeah. Fuck. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind for more than a few hours at a time. “It’s only been five months,” he said. “Is it really crazy for me to think that you didn’t get your virginity ‘taken care of’ yet?”
“Exactly! It’s been five months!” she said.
“You went twenty-five years without sex, and you couldn’t go five more months?”
“Well, it’s not like you gave me an IOU!” she shot back. “I had no idea when you were coming back, and I assumed your answer would have still been no. So yeah, I moved on, Aiden.”
“Who was it?” he asked, noting his tone was suddenly a little ominous.
“I’m not telling you that.” She looked at him like he was insane.
“Tell me, Zoe.”
“No.”
“I’ll find out. This is Appleby. I’ll probably know by the end of tonight.”
“You won’t.” She lifted her chin. “I can promise you that.”
“Bet I do.”
“Why do you really even care? Now you don’t have to do it.”
“Because you’re mine.”
Yeah, shit. See, he’d known that was the wrong answer to give. Guys didn’t go around claiming women like they were property or possessions. He knew that. He’d never had that urge before. This woman was strong and independent and confident and certainly didn’t need him for anything.
But the idea of another man touching her, seeing her naked, making her feel the ultimate pleasure, made his blood boil.
She stood, just staring at him. Then she picked up a cake ball. And threw it at him. It hit him square in the red tie and bounced back onto the table.
“You’re a jerk.”
Yeah, maybe he was. A nice guy would probably just take all her explanations and excuses about why they shouldn’t be together and admit his idea was crazy.
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t wipe away the sticky crumbs the cake ball left on his tie. He picked up the ball and rounded the worktable.
Her eyes widened, and she backed up as he came closer. He kept going. Until her back was against the front of the fridge.
He didn’t say a word as he stopped right in front of her, lifted his hand to cup her face, and leaned in.
Aiden ignored her hands on his chest. She wasn’t pushing. She wasn’t pulling him closer either, but she wasn’t trying to get away. She wasn’t lifting her knee to his balls. She wasn’t saying no.
He stared into her eyes for a long moment. She could stop this. He knew she knew that.
She didn’t.
So he kissed her.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.

Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).

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