If opposites do actually attract, then Gunnar Erickson and Frankie Reeves take the cake. Frankie Reeves is complicated, even though she won’t admit it. She fills her days working as an ER nurse, taking care of her mom, and searching for the father she never knew. Anything else has no place in her perfectly compartmentalized, purposefully simple life. Attachments? No thank you. She has no time for … for that. Gunnar Erickson recently moved to Green Valley to train at Viking MMA with his brother Cage. Being the youngest of the Erickson clan, he’s always felt like he has something to prove, and now that he’s finished with college, it’s his time to shine. But before he can step into the ring, a freak accident sends him to the ER and into the care of one Frankie Reeves. While he’s immediately smitten, she pretends to be unfazed by this six-foot-three, two hundred and thirty-pound beef cake. Gunnar sets out to prove to Frankie that, not only does she like him more than she wants to admit, but he’s not the uneducated, brute she assumes he is. To Frankie, he’s the worst kind of complication, but that doesn’t make it easy to stay away. ‘Beef Cake’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #4 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
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Another amazing addition to the Green Valley stories!! Beef Cake is the complete entertainment package – humor, heart, swoon and heat!
Frankie Reeves is an ER nurse who keeps everything in her life in an order, on a schedule and as simple as can be.
Gunnar Erickson is an MMA fighter, in Green Valley to get some training from his brother Cage. If he is anything, he is tenacious. When he knows what he wants he doesn’t give up or let anything get in his way.
“Don’t ever feel like you need to hide from me, Frankie. I want to see every scar, know every secret.”
In this opposites attract story, a cage fighter falls for a nurse who has quite an aversion to violence! But Frankie has to dig deeper to discover the secrets she has hidden even from herself.
-5 Stars!-
If you are looking for a light read with real and loveable characters then this one is for you. I read this on a trip and enjoyed it a lot as it was a perfect read that allowed me a timely escape.
Our very beefy hero Gunnar Erickson is a MMA fighter. He has just finished his degree and moved to Green Valley to train with his brother Cage as his coach. When an unfortunate accident at the gym lands Gunnar in the hospital which quickly becomes very fortunate to him as that’s where he meets Frankie. It’s kind of love at first sight. As soon as Gunnar sees Frankie he wants her and does everything he can to get her.
Gunnar’s character was very likeable from the start. He was understanding and patient towards Frankie, always gave her space when she needed it, he never pushed her and accepted her just as she is. Before Gunnar knows it he is seeking Frankie out wherever he goes which is only three places since it’s Green Valley.
Our heroine Frankie Reeves is a nurse and loves to help people. She is pretty, quiet and introverted in every way. Her introverted self made me relate to her and how she always kept to herself, how she couldn’t easily convey her feelings or open up to someone about her wants or needs. She doesn’t let anyone in and raises up a wall when someone tries to. When Gunnar makes clear he wants her, her knee jerk reaction was to hide and run. But our Gunnar is stubborn and a fighter through and through. He knows how to bring those walls down.
What I loved most about her character was that she always made an effort to be there for people who need her because she herself never had that someone in her life. When Gunnar comes threatening to smash every wall she has build she can only hope he doesn’t break her heart in the process.
I also enjoyed reading about the other relationships that were highlighted in the book. The brotherly love between Cage and Gunnar, the not so typical yet still warm relationship of Frankie and her mother, the friendship of Helen and Frankie.
The pace of this book was slow for my liking. I like fast paced books and enjoy ones in which a lot is happening. Those require your full attention and kind of drowns you in their world which didn’t happen for me in this book. Overall I still enjoyed it as the characters were likeable and there wasn’t anything not to like.
I have a major love of MMA romances. There’s just something about a very strong man who makes a living with his fists and how he can be perfectly gentle with a woman. Frankie is haunted by her past and keeping herself so busy with work that she can’t remember it. Frankie volunteers at a local women’s shelter and helps her mom, who’s a recluse, one day a week. Frankie’s main job is as a nurse. When Gunnar comes into her ER with a face injury she is quite taken with him, but hides it. Gunnar has a new mission, to make Frankie his. This story had so many twists and turns which included the Iron Wraiths MC, who are on the wrong side of the law. Will what Gunnar does for a living keep Frankie away from him? You NEED to read this book to find out!
This book was fantastic! Beef Cake is the first book I’ve read by Jiffy Kate and it won’t be last. Loved it!! 5 stars
This book is why I love this author duo so much. When I think they can’t top their previous book they go and write a story like Beef Cake with a Frankie and a Gunnar that will settle in a nice little nook in your heart. Frankie is a complicated woman that loves to keep to herself and Gunnar is a big MMA fighter with a heart and soul of gold. These two definitely have their obstacles and walls to overcome but Gunnar is there every step of the way for Frankie. Be ready for the laughs, the tears, the smiles and the over all feeling of happiness when you read this book. Plus we get to see some old friends, Cage and Tempest plus a new brother! Can’t wait to see if we get more from the Erickson brothers.
Frankie loves taking care of her patients but doesn’t take care of herself. She goes through alone and isolated.
Gunnar moves to Green Valley to train with his brother Cage. Focusing on his training and meeting Frankie was not in his plans. Frankie is not looking for a relationship but Gunnar is determined to prove to her that he is worth the risk and to just fall he will always be there to catch her.
This book has been one of the best books I’ve read this year! Gunnar and Rachel meet in the ER where she’s a nurse, boy do the fires burn high with these two! The emotions in this book runs high throughout the whole darn book!!
Will Gunnar and Rachel get their happily ever after or will her past ruin everything ?
With Beef Cake, Jiffy Kate bring a new, beautiful and lovely couple in our Pennyverse. The two authors tackle sensitive topics, making you feel the pain of their heroine, but they succeed to keep it light with hints of sweetness and humor.
We follow Frankie on a deeply emotional journey with secrets, lies, fears and then finally difficult truths.
Gunnar is always here for her, repeating he’ll be there to catch her if she falls, giving her space and time when needed, never pushing her because he respects her and he doesn’t want to lose her… He’s amazingly sweet, supportive, understanding, compassionate, funny and romantic. The kind of hero who makes you swoon on almost every page. He’s young but very mature in his relationship with Frankie.
Frankie is the kind of heroine we admire and would like to be our friend. Her WHOLE life is dedicated for others, to help and save people. In her job that she loves (she’s a nurse), with her mother and in her free time. Gunnar is the only one she let in in her life, and the only one she let taking care of her. After all she’s been through she deserves the happiness and the love he brings her.
They both are mature and smart enough not to add more dramas and that was refreshing. They learn to trust and to communicate, to talk and to listen, to share and to cherish.
Plus… we have cameos from Cage and Tempest from Stud Muffin 😉
—> 4,5*
«For a moment, i soak her in, devouring every inch of her i can see in the dim light. I want to tattoo this moment on my skin… in my heart… make it a permanent piece of me.»
**4.5 Stars**
In Beef Cake we meet Gunnar, an MMA fighter who is training hard at his brother’s gym and hoping to advance and make his name known in the MMA circle, and Frankie, an ER nurse who spends her time helping others, but who also appears to have a somewhat traumatic past that is unclear. Gunnar seems smitten from the start, but it takes a lot of convincing and charm to get Frankie to give him a chance and then it takes a lot of hard work to win her over, and her past makes the road a very bumpy one for them.
I am a huge fan of Jiffy Kate. I love their writing style and the characters they create. I enjoyed the small glimpses also into Tempest and Cage’s life since they were featured in Donner Bakery Book #2. I loved all the effort Gunnar put in to making Frankie feel safe and comfortable and wanted. I think they had some serious chemistry and Beef Cake was definitely another JIffy Kate book that I couldn’t put down!!
What is hotter than a Viking MMA fighter? How about a Viking MMA fighter with a gooey center that just makes you want to squeeze him and never let go?
Gunnar “The Show” Erickson has come to Tennessee to train with his brother Cage, and he has one focus, to become the best MMA fighter he can be. But then after one trip to the ER, his focus definitely took a turn.
This is the second book in Jiffy Kate’s “Fighting for Love” series and this one really takes that seriously. It is a fight for Frankie to come to terms with her past and let go, but can she do it?
This is so much more than an opposites attract trope, the emotional growth that both characters achieve is substantial and it will simply make you fall in love with these two.
I really love this series and these characters, Jiffy Kate continues to give us just what we need, and it’s wonderful to be able to escape to Green Valley. Do not miss out on this series, no you don’t have to read them all, but why would you want to miss out on all of this swoon?
I have one word for this book, OUTSTANDING!
I don’t think there is one emotion I didn’t feel during this read, in a couple of minutes I went from extatic to scared to a sobbing mess…
Gunnar was everything, he was so determined, would do anything for Frankie and yet he wasn’t pushing her. Beef Cake was the perfect hero. If he was real, I would make him mine.
Frankie… I loved her, she was independent, fierce, sassy but also vulnerable. She had some healing to do and Gunnar was the perfect man to help her heal.
I liked how determined she was to get to her goal, she had set backs but she didn’t back down, she regrouped and tried again.
The sex scènes between Frankie and Gunnar were not just, they made me feel like I was on fire and need urgent extinguishing (preferably by Beef Cake )
Beef Cake was my first Jiffy Kate read but certainly not my last.
All the stories in this series have had serious emotional healing components, but this one was quite serious, heavy and angsty at times. Several times through the story I have notes in the margin “this woman needs to be in therapy!” but Frankie does not reach that conclusion until almost the end of the book. Red Flag warning for some readers as the Heroine is dealing with serious childhood trauma.
Loved the Hero Gunner who was so patient and kept stepping back to allow Frankie to work through her issues, and I really loved his relationship with his two brothers who appear in this story.
This one was hard to rate – I would give the romance 4 stars, but Frankie’s history is so heavy, that I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped, so I had to reduce by one star for the final rating.
4.5 stars
This is my second book by Jiffy Kate, I enjoyed the first book I read also from the Smartypants previous launch. This has inter related characters somewhat, the hero Gunnar is Cage’s brother. Cage is new to Green Valley, he lives with Cage and Tempie. He’s part of his brothers new MMA gym. He meets Frankie at the ER where she works. Frankie has a routine not too social and she tries to keep it all impersonal.
Gunnar is determined to get her to open up but she’s reluctant because she’s adverse to violence of his sport. It ties in with her past. So just a warning her past is related to DV. That’s why she was trying to get info from the Iron Wraiths. Her pastvis partly a mystery. But even though she’s hesitant Gunnar opens her up slowly. They got along so well. Until the time her past resurfaces. I pretty much like the space Frankie needed to deal she should have sooner if she knew. Gunnar was good sensitive and supportive even before when she shied away from him.
It’s pretty good to see them build trust. Frankie and her mom had a blowout over things. But they were able to mend things. I like the running theme in the author’s books family. It’s a good tie in to everything that happened in this book. It was pretty good and well thought out I didn’t expect the part that invovled the Wraiths but it made sense. Frankie dealt with a lot and with support she got through. I liked this first book of the second run of this Smartypants books a lot.