I absolutely adore Rose Lerner's, Lively St. Lemeston series. Fans of this series will be excited that Mr. Moon, baker extraordinaire, (a minor characI absolutely adore Rose Lerner's, Lively St. Lemeston series. Fans of this series will be excited that Mr. Moon, baker extraordinaire, (a minor character from Sweet Disorder) is the hero. If you have not read this series, each one works very well as a stand alone. Besides this book, the others are full length.
The blurb of this one drew me in right away:
Robert Moon risked everything, including his father’s hardwon legacy, to open his beloved Honey Moon Confectionery on the busiest street in Lively St. Lemeston. Now he’s facing bankruptcy and debtor’s prison.
When a huge catering order comes in, he agrees to close the sweet-shop for a week to fill it. There’s only one problem: his apprentice is out of town, so his beautiful shop-girl Betsy Piper must help Robert in the kitchen.
Betsy’s spent the last year trying to make her single-minded boss look up from his pastries and notice that she would be the perfect wife. Now the two of them are alone in a kitchen full of sweet things. With just one week to get him to fall in love with her, she’d better get this seduction started...
She soon discovers that Robert brings the same meticulous, eager-to-please attitude to lovemaking that he does to baking, but can kisses—no matter how sweet—compete with the Honey Moon in his heart?
A baker and his shop girl? How cute is this?? And it is adorable. Coming in at about 140 pages, it's a quick romance but it felt realistic and believable. After Mr. Moon's apprentice had to leave for personal reasons, Betty steps up to help him when he gets a very big order in. She has been lusting after Robert for a long time, and decides it's time, now that it's just the two of them in the shop, to step up her flirtation and go for a kiss.
It was strange as well, knowing she planned on seducing Mr. Moon. Strange to look at his familiar face and think, I’m going to kiss him, and not how lovely it would be if he asked her to go walking with him. It made her feel powerful, humming with could-bes and just-maybes. It also made the pit of her stomach wobble like jelly with nerves.
Robert feels affection for Betsy as well, but because his finances are crumbling and he is close to bankruptcy, he feels like he can't offer Betsy anything, so he might as well not even try. When a large catering order comes in, it gives him hope that maybe he can pay off some debts and put a little in savings. But first, he has to prepare all the food, and the more inexperienced Betsy needs to help.
When Betsy decides to ramp up the flirtation, she of course turns to baking for her cues, which I loved:
Betsy had often thought there was something immodest in the motion of driving the pestle into the mortar—more so when she watched Mr. Moon’s expert, forceful strokes, and his shoulder moving beneath his shirt. Even with most of the ovens banked, the linen clung damply to him.
Always before, she’d tried to put it from her mind. But Jemima had said, Make a few dirty jokes, so he knows you know what’s what.
“This poor mortar,” she said, glancing at him. “She’ll be that sore in the morning.”
Mr. Moon dropped his pestle with a clang. It rolled across the kitchen and under a table on the far side of the room.
I adored Betsy - she knows she wants Robert and she goes all in for it. She doesn't care that he isn't rich. The thought of working in the shop, a shop that would also belong to her, excites her. She wants to support him, and help him - and help him get naked. It's all very cute.
And can I mention that our hero, Robert, is a virgin? He has been too busy in life to have sex! And Betsy is not a virgin, and all about teaching him pleasure. Robert thinks it can't be too hard:
"But I learn quick," he added hastily. "It can't be much trickier that a good pie crust."
Let's hope not, Robert!
After all this cuteness, I do have one complaint. And it may sound weird - but there was too much sex in this novella. I wanted more cute - pie crust and mortar pestle flirting!! I felt like every chapter was overrun with a sex scene. I didn't need all of that - but that's just my opinion.
Otherwise, very cute and adorable. If you have not read Rose Lerner, I highly recommend her books. They are smart, and sexy, and her characters absolutely shine.
This series has been fun because it usually centers around food. I like food. I tend to start craving whatever food the protagonists are eating. I've This series has been fun because it usually centers around food. I like food. I tend to start craving whatever food the protagonists are eating. I've been known to rush to the kitchen to make biscuits and tea. In this book, it's all about BBQ. And all I wanted to do was eat meat! Damn it.
Victoria, or Vic, (the sister of the heroine in book two), loves to write. She has a blog all about food and also handles the social media for her family's restaurant. After being on television during her sister's reality show, she starts to get the itch to get in front of the camera herself. She learns of an audition for an upcoming host of a food show, and decides to take a chance and try out for it. While she has great a family, her love life is non-existent. She thought she was truly in love with a man named Luke, who she met online, but was catfished when she surprised him with a real life meeting, and met his pregnant wife. Completely devastated, she has sworn off men. But then Joel comes back into the picture.
Joel was a cameraman for that reality show, and got to watch Vic through his lens all day. He fell for her then and by total coincidence, Joel decides he wants to move in front of the camera, and also decides to try out for this show. He sees Vic at the same hotel in Vegas, not knowing they are going for the same gig, and they both have lust for each other. Vic gets the job, and Joel is asked to be a cameraman again - Joel is bummed, but then he realizes he gets to spend the next week in a RV, "glamping" with Vic as they travel around California filming various BBQ festivals. Vic knows nothing about BBQ and actually doesn't like eating it, Joel loves BBQ - will they get along on the job??
In short - not really. I mean, they fall in love and have a HEA, but it's not always happiness and stuffing your face with meat in their romance journey. The first half is cute - how these two dance around each other, and act on their attraction. We learn about Joel's adorable relationship with his nephew and sister. We revisit Vic's family and her sisters and their lovely restaurant. We get a glimpse into food festivals and RV camping. All is going great!
But then Vic started grating on my nerves a bit. I know she was crushed by a horrible catfishing, online boyfriend in the past and she is wary. But it was really hard for her to give Joel a chance in the love department. They would have intimate talks about their relationship and Vic seemed to totally forget about it the next day. She lashes out at him and doesn't really give him a fair chance. I'm not saying Joel is perfect. He definitely has faults. He could have opened up more, and asked her about her life more. But it always came back to Vic for me. At one point she confronts her ex, Luke, and spends some time with him. If the positions had been reversed and Joel was hanging out with an ex, Vic would have lost her mind. But instead, she gets mad that Joel felt jealous. Her insecurities and how she handled them came off too cold for me.
But overall I still enjoyed this. I like this family that the author has created. Their dynamics, their love for each other and their passion about food makes me smile.
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