Hero – includes pastry chefs and bakers
Winner Bakes All, Book #1
Heat Factor: There’s a decent amount of mediocre sex, and then some spectacular sex.
Character Chemistry: Well…it’s complicated.
Plot: Love at the Great British Bake Off!!!!! (Obviously Alexis Hall is not looking for a lawsuit, so the name was changed and it’s not in a tent.)
Overall: I was feeling a bit anxious about where this was going in the first chunk of the book, but ended up loving it.
Lively St. Lemeston, Book 4
Heat Factor: There are 9 chapters and they have sex 7 times
Character Chemistry: They are both making sacrifices for the other, “Gift of the Magi” style.
Plot: Betsy decides to seduce her boss, because it’s time for something to happen.
Overall: This was exactly the book I needed in the moment I read it. It’s short, sexy, fun, and thoughtful.
Heat Factor: This game of “truth or dare” got p-r-e-t-t-y daring
Character Chemistry: More told than shown, at least until they start with the sexytimes
Plot: Longtime friends meet up at wedding and play a game of “truth or dare” that changes everything
Overall: There’s a lot of expository text, but the games they played were enough to keep me turning pages
Comes in Threes, Book #1
Heat Factor: Holy Motherforking Shirtballs
Character Chemistry: I like to have sex with him, and you like to have sex with him, and I like to have sex with you, so how about we all have sex together? That sounds fun, right?
Plot: How can I be attracted to two people? Now how can this possibly be a fling between three people? Now I can’t possibly make myself vulnerable enough to be in a relationship, right?
Overall: OMG so many happy feels!
Heat Factor: It has a few moments but I wouldn’t say it screams “fire”
Character Chemistry: They just don’t have that connection that leads to a satisfying HEA
Plot: Wylie is a freelance beachside yoga instructor who ends up temporarily homeless after getting kicked out of her sublet. She strikes up an Instagram promotional deal with a food truck vendor and before long she finds herself forging ahead with a new life in a shared house situation, all while falling for Nolan (the food truck secret billionaire).
Overall: This book leaned into Smut Adjacent territory because the couple’s romance ended up taking a back seat to the sub plot.
