Tag: Lara Kinsey

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Saturday Smutty Six: Coffeeshop Romances

smutreportteam

To cap off our week of Donut romances (reviews here, here, and here), we put together a list of coffeeshop romances!

Coffeeshops are magical places where people from all different walks of life come together to build community. What better place to set a romance novel, amirite?

Trouble and Strife by Laura Kinsey

Elizabeth and Sidney meet in Elizabeth’s chocolate shop when he holds meetings with his criminally-minded lieutenants there. What better place to take care of business than a place where you can eat delightful bonbons, right? Elizabeth and Sidney are really kind and gentle with each other, and while Sidney has some baggage to deal with, this low-stress romance hits the spot.

Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau

Is an ice cream shop a coffee shop? In this case, I would argue yes, because Drew only orders coffee when he brings his niece to Ginger Scoops—because he hates ice cream. When he falls for Chloe, the owner, both hilarity and heartfelt moments of connection ensue. Bonus points for an excellent grumpy-sunshine dynamic that involves rainbows, unicorns, and, of course, ice cream. 

Village Fool by ‘Nathan Burgoine

It begins and ends at the coffee shop. Owen has had a totally cute crush on his physiotherapist since they met, but he’s too shy to do anything about it except for continuing to work out at the gym so he can keep seeing Toma. Toma gets just the push he needs to ask Owen out when an April Fool’s prank gets out of hand.

Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

After watching Evie try and fail for a spilled coffee meet cute in their coffee shop, Ben isn’t entirely sure he wants himself or his daughter around this mess of a woman. Evie uses the coffee shop as a safe space as she tries and fails to get her life on track, and makes friends along the way. Bonus points for being a real rom-com.

Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley

The coffee bar in Indy’s used bookshop is the center of action in not only Rock Chick, nor the whole of the Rock Chick series, but in many other books Ashley’s set in Denver. Instead of cozy coffee house vibes, you’ll get quirky characters and a ton of bonkers goings on. Content notes: Lots of alphaholes and violence, among other things. I recommend looking up CWs.

Bossy by N.R. Walker

Instead of being set in a coffee house, Bossy centers on Bryson opening up a Singaporean kopi shop when he returns home to Australia instead of joining the family business. After falling in love with the Singaporean coffee shops while living overseas, Bryson is excited to open the shop and achieve success on his own, and Michael supports him 100%.

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Saturday Smutty Six: Chef Heroines

smutreportteam

To celebrate Women’s History Month, every Saturday in March we’ve prepared a Saturday Smutty Six list of some of our favorite heroines.

This week: Chefs and Bakers and purveyors of delicious things

The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher

Lesbian. Dueling. Chefs. Need I say more? 

Ok I’ll say more. This small-town Maine romance is beautifully gentle AND has great food writing.

Trouble and Strife by Lara Kinsey

Elizabeth owns a chocolate shop, where she sells handmade bonbons and other delicious confections. Yum. She also loves her body, prefers to take the lead in a relationship (both in and out of the bedroom), and shows people she cares for them by literally caring for them. Of course Sidney is absolutely smitten! Now he just needs to overcome his complex about not being good enough for her. 

Humbugged by Pippa Grant and Lili Valente

In this delicious Christmas tale, Noelle is desperate to successfully run her bakery business and ignore the endlessly funny and mouthwateringly gorgeous Marine who keeps helping her sort out these inexplicable messes she finds herself in. Instead, they attempt a little holiday friends-with-benefits scenario that is both charming and hot, hot, HOT.

A Good Man by Rosanna Leo

Emily inherits her grandmother’s old home and ends up on a fixer-upper show with the incredibly talented and very foxy Zorn brothers in an effort to turn it into a location for her new soup-making business. Michael Zorn is desperately trying to forget a traumatizing experience and is utterly failing at it. Between the two of them, they sift through experiences and memories and find a new way forward together.

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

Ashna is an extremely talented chef who can’t cook unless she’s following her father’s recipes exactly. Which is a problem, since she’s running an Indian restaurant that could really use makeover – and some new menu items. And is an even bigger problem when she gets talked into participating in a cooking competition show, where she’s paired with none other than her ex-boyfriend. Expect lots of angst and drama. 

The Ultimate Pi Day Party by Jackie Lau

Sarah owns a pie shop. Josh wants to throw a pi day party to impress his estranged father. Ok, so his motivations are a little wack, but it does mean that we get lots of scenes of Sarah developing delicious-sounding pie recipes and then eating them with Josh. Especially recommended for pie enthusiasts and math nerds. 

Review

Review: Trouble and Strife by Lara Kinsey (2020)

Holly

Chances Limited, Book 2

Heat Factor: Lots of foreplay, minimal penetration. Still steamy. 

Character Chemistry: Elizabeth and Sidney treat each other really well and it’s very sweet. 

Plot: For a book called “Trouble and Strife”, this novella was remarkably low-key. There was very little tension or conflict or drama. 

Overall: I inhaled this book and wished it were longer.

Continue reading “Review: Trouble and Strife by Lara Kinsey (2020)” →