Are you in need of a feel-good, humorous, easy, and will-make-you-swoon rom-com? Well, look no further, my friends! I admit, this author has been a bit of a hit or miss for me in the past so I was hesitant to pick this up, but I can happily announce that this was an absolute fantastic ride of a story!
Kiss My Cupcake follows two new business owners, Blaire and Ronan whose bars are adjacent to each other and the wall between the two bars might as well be as thick as the two of them are, trying to deny their serious chemistry from the get-go. After a very rocky first meeting including a broken unicorn martini glass, a sharp axe, and some sharper wit, crowned with a steaming pile of dog poop garnished with a flower, the both of them go head to head, stealing customers from the other, teasing and taunting their way through their busy days, all while their undeniable attraction shoots through the roof.
But when a bigger, badder evil with cheap prices moves in on their turf, Blaire and Ronan decide to band together to keep their newly started business afloat. Under the pressure, taunts and sparks fly in equal measure until the inevitable combustion…
Reader, I was hooked completely from the first chapter of this over-the-top rom-com. From the setting of a cupcake and booze shop (please, go ahead and read that again because I am going to Google and find out if such a place exists) and Ronan’s more rustic bar that includes an axe-throwing corner to their very quirky owners, I just absolutely flew through the pages because the dichotomy was so entertaining.
Blaire is feisty, fashionable, ambitious, and dead-set on showing her family that she can be successful without her paternal influence in the world of glitz and glamour and that urban cuisine can be just as fulfilling. Always a bit of the black sheep, Blaire is now averse to accepting help…from anyone.
Ronan is helping his grandfather regain the glory his old bar used to have to prove he’s ready to venture out on his own and achieve his dream of his own brewery. Nothing will stand in his way of gaining more exposure by entering his bar in a YouTube competition, not even the snarky, sexy, and seriously amazing baker next door who also throws her hat, her fifties dresses and fire attitude into the ring for “best bar”.
The rivals to lovers trope was done massively well in this book. From the antagonistic back and forth to the quick-witted jabs, the chemistry between Ronan and Blaire was palpable.
I am always a huge fan of opposites attract, but even more so when their opposite traits lead to finding common ground in the ways they are “the same”. Ronan and Blaire are both headstrong, ambitious, and cunning (basically, two very lovable Slytherins) and the two of them coming together to save their respective places of business while also trying to win in the competition to gain more exposure from a popular YouTuber sampling extraordinary bars was tantalising and kept me silently begging that there would be some way they could both emerge victorious in the end… You’ll have to pick up a copy to see how that pans out.
While I would have loved some of the secondary characters to be more fleshed out, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment that they were barely mentioned. This could have very well been the case because Ronan’s grandfather, good old Gramps, completely stole the show for me. From the heartfelt interactions he has with Ronan to his descriptions of the past with his late sweetheart, he was such a homely figure that left a pang in my chest and made me miss my own grandparents.
Charming, “lumberjack sexy”, and witty, Kiss My Cupcake will make you crave both Blaire’s excellent cupcake creations and her handsome beau Ronan in one go.
Kiss My Cupcake is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 11th 2020.
Will you be picking up Kiss My Cupcake? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
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.
