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