Kiss My Cupcake Paperback – Illustrated, August 11, 2020

Wow. So this was a ridiculously cute story. And it was amazing! The downside is of course its terrible influence on my diet. All the delicious baked goods described in this read gave me a serious sweet tooth. All I wanted to do while reading it was to eat cupcakes (and also, open up my own cupcake-shop).Kiss My Cupcake is the very best if you’re looking for a cute, feel-good, rom-com. There’s absolutely nothing to gripe about – which makes writing a review pretty darn difficult. I can absolutely gush when the occasion calls for it, but it’s also kind of boring to read overly gush-y reviews. Therefore I’ll simply say this once: Kiss My Cupcake is super awesome.I fell head over heels in love with this book. The story-setting, the whole vibe of the story was just so delightful. You know, it’s the kind of read where you just want to move into the book and stay there. Blaire was insta-likable. She’s driven and strong, but silly and quirky too. Ronan was also great, but since the first chapters are told from Blaire’s point of view, Ronan takes a bit more time to get to know and love. So the story is told through dual POV’s, but about two thirds are Blaire’s viewpoint.This is a funny read as well. There’s banter and wit and you can’t can’t laugh. Also, the euphemisms are pure gold. Now, I doubt I’ll ever actually say anything out loud about riding a metaphorical bologna pony, but you can bet I’ll be thinking it.It’s not easy to pinpoint exactly what made this story such a winner because there are so many things that I liked about it. The writing is top-notch (but that pretty much goes without saying) and I was sucked into the story from page one. Blaire’s and Ronan’s interactions are just so fun. And frustrating. And the sexual tension is through the roof. They had me really invested and I couldn’t but the book down.There was a part, maybe 75% into the book, where the story lost a bit of steam. That would be after Blaire and Ronan get it on and there doesn’t appear to be any more hurdles to overcome. So for a few chapters there weren’t really a direction to the story. But that changed quickly and I was all in once again.And really. Kiss My Cupcake is the kind of story where I just wanted to keep on reading. I wanted Blaire’s and Ronan’s happily ever after and I wanted to read about them having a bunch of cute babies and a dog. That’s the level of engaging this book was.So this book left me feeling all the warm fuzzies – while also providing me with completely inappropriate sayings about mounting metaphorical sausage equines. I highly recommend!

This was a reasonably quick and entertaining read. I don't think I'd classify this as an enemies to lovers, but more of an opposites attract. Blaire takes out her frustrations on Ronan who in turn takes joy in pushing her buttons. The attraction is there from the start so it was more her getting cranky and the pair of them winding each other up. Blaire's family are rich and own many successful restaurants that they all work in, catering to the high end of town. She goes off on her own path, resisting family pressure, by selling cupcakes at the market, then owning a food truck and finally breaking the bank to open her own cupcake and cocktail shop. This is where our story starts. Next to her shop is the The Knight Cap, a family-owned pub catering to the beer and wings college crowd. When the current manager, Ronan, starts undertaking renovations, including an axe throwing area, to modernise the place, it affects Blaire's shop. Barbs are thrown back and forth but underlying it all is sexual tension. While they bicker throughout, they aren't actually overly mean to each other. There's also competition between the two as a popular social media influencer is looking for the best shop in Seattle, pitting the two against each other... until it brings them together instead.If you've read any cute 'enemies to lovers' type books before, you won't find any surprises here. It was still a fun read and a great palate cleanser which is what I was after. There was a steady amount of humour throughout the book that I enjoyed for the most part. Sometimes I find this author's humour obvious and laid on too thick to be funny. The comedic touches in this book weren't as ridiculous as they sometimes are (with one exception - I'll get to this in a tick) which definitely added to my enjoyment of the novel. There was a nice bit of background added in to develop the story a little and I really liked how the author avoided dragging out unnecessary angst. There was the opportunity for her to go down this path and I'm really happy she didn't take the easy and obvious route and do this.I liked the main characters. Blaire was a bit of a harpy with Ronan at times and while her snapping and snarling at him made me roll my eyes a couple of times, he had done a couple of things that made him a bit of a jerk, too. He seemed to ride the coat tails of Blaire's hard work for his own benefit, a trait that probably wouldn't endear him to a potential mate, especially when it was costing her business. Apart from a couple of hiccups with this, he was really likeable. There was also a bit of jealousy and possessiveness from Ronan as well - the good kind, not the 'I think she's property' kind. The book was told from both of the main character's points of view but the majority of chapters were definitely from Blaire. I didn't mind this as I liked her snark for the most part. There was an ex-boyfriend story chucked in there but it didn't really go anywhere except provide an excuse for a bit of drama at one stage.A bone of contention for me in the book was Blaire's family. They were eccentric and I think they were supposed to be a bit of fun and comedic relief - think statues with giant dongs holding serving platters. I hated them. They put her down, had dreadful, tacky taste in decor, constantly commented on her looks, namely that she was fat or had put on weight, didn't support the opening of her store, hadn't even bothered to go and see her store or ask her about it and to top all of that off, her sister had hooked up with Blaire's then boyfriend with her cousin also having a history of taking potential and actual partners. Nope and nope. Oh, and her parents had split with the mother and father remarrying... wait for it.... Blaire's uncle and aunty (who had also been married to each other and split), respectively. Nope again. I didn't find it funny. I found it frustrating and it made me stabby, especially how she just put up with the nastiness.I got this on sale for around $2.99. I probably wouldn't have rated it quite as highly if I'd paid over twice that, which I see it currently is. I liked the cupcake aspect in the book and the detail about the flavours was a nice touch. The author took time to describe the main character's style and that added to the reading experience, too. Overall, the book wasn't anything groundbreaking and it was predictable but it was entertaining enough. It had two small but very satisfying epilogues and I thought it was a real feel good story.

Non delude mai!!!!!!

I absolutely loved this sweet romantic story from Helena Hunting! Blaire and Ronan's enemies to friends to lovers romance is delicious! Funny and sexy too! Highly recommend!

Why have I not read this story until now??As always with a Helena story this story is not only beautifully written it has a huge amount of craziness and banter thrown in along the way.Blaire is setting up her own cupcake and cocktail shop and is determined to do it all by herself without her overbearing crazy family getting involved when it's all thrown into turmoil when the bar next door opens up playing loud music and causing general havoc.Spit fire Blaire head round to give em hell but when she sets her eyes on hot hunk Ronan she nearly loses her tongue! Cue weeks of pranks.. jokes.. and intense chemistry from them both leaving you begging for a HEA for them.Devoured this story so quickly as didn't want to put it down!Fab characters.. fab storyline.. fab everything!

Was hab ich mich auf das neue Buch "Kiss my Cupcake" von Helena Hunting gefreut. Enemies-to-Lovers, Cupcakes und viel Witz und Charme, was will man mehr. <3Und das Cover ist so süß (wobei ich die UK Ausgabe gelesen habe, wo es nur den Cupcake-Turmm gibt mit einem rosa Hintergrund).Und das ist noch nicht, am Ende jedes Kapitels ist auch noch so eine Art Twitter-Nachricht abgedruckt, was nochmal das jeweilige Kapitel abrundet mit einem witzigen / ironischen Spruch.Im Buch dreht es sich um Blaire, die zwar aus einer Familie mit großartigen Köchen kommt, aber auch genauso großen Egos die sich gern mal in ihre Angelegenheiten einmischen. Aber sie beschließt ein Cupcake Café mit Cocktail-Bar zu eröffnen. Im Nebengebäude kümmert sich Ronan um die Bar seines Großvaters.Und beide eröffnen bzw. wiedereröffnen ihre Lokalitäten am gleichen Tag. Natürlich entbrennt dadurch ein "Kampf" um die meisten Kunden und mit der Erstellen immer neuer Events um eine bekannte Bloggerin für ihre jeweilige Bar/Café zu gewinnen, dass sie darüber schreibt.Bis beide ihre Kräfte bündeln müssen, um einem Fast-Food-Restaurant die Stirn zu bieten.Die Geschichte war süß, nicht nur durch die Cupcakes, die Protagonisten hatten Ecken und Kanten, aber sie haben wie Puzzle-Teile gut zusammen gepasst. Witzige Dialoge. Besonders gelungen fand ich an den Kapitelenden immer die Twitter-Nachrichten, die nochmal einen passenden, manchmal sarkastischen, Abschluss bildeten.Manche der Geschmacksexplosionen die Ronan von den Cupcakes probiert, hätte ich als Leser auch gern gekostet, weil die so lecker beschrieben waren.Ein schön locker leichter Sommerroman.

This book was the best blend of sexy and cute. It had me hooked from the start and I couldn’t put it down. Tip from one reader to another though... don’t read this book at the gym. I am now craving cupcakes and cocktails ;)