“I loved this book! Beautifully written and the story has stayed with me.” —Jude Deveraux Most families have a favorite recipe or two, handed down through generations. The Holloway women are a little different. Emma Holloway, like her grandmother before her, bakes wishes into her delicious cupcakes, granting the recipient comfort, sweet dreams, or any number of good things. It’s a strange gift, … good things. It’s a strange gift, but it brings only happiness. Until gorgeous, smooth-talking newcomer Hunter Kane strolls into her shop, Fairy Cakes—and Emma makes the mistake of selling him not one, but threeSweet Success cupcakes.
Hunter, it turns out, is opening a fancy new restaurant and bakery right on the waterfront—Emma’s competition. To make matters worse, the town committee has decided to split the upcoming summer festival contract between the two, forcing Emma to work with her nemesis. But she can’t afford to split her profits. The solution: create a recipe that will make Hunter leave town permanently.
The Holloway charms are powerful. But there are other kinds of magic in the world—like red-hot first kisses, secret glances, and the feeling that comes with falling truly, madly, inconveniently
in love . . .
more
Sweet, engaging, witty, and absolutely charming! This first Holloway Girls story is a great feel-good read. The angst level is low and the fun is high with everything from magical cupcakes to a bit of an enemies to lovers romance. As if our couple isn’t entertaining enough, the story is packed full of quirky, lovable characters, including the house. Yes, the house is most certainly a character and asserts itself quite effectively. I would easily recommend this one to any romance fan who enjoys a touch of magic. It’s well-written, fast-paced, and guaranteed to leave you with a smile.
LOVED!!! This book surprised me in all the best ways.
Emma Holloway is struggling to keep her family business, Fairy Cakes and her ancestral home from from being taken away from her. Although her cupcakes have a little bit of magic in each one, she needs to increase her revenue and when she finds out the business across the street she is livid especially after the new owner, Hunter Kane came in and bought some of her magical cupcakes.
Hunter doesn’t know what it is about the crazy woman who berated him about her cupcakes but he can’t stop himself from being attracted to her. When Hunter is paired with Emma to plan the festival he tries to get a read on her, but she is her own brand of crazy and quite irresistible if he is honest with himself. Through in a little spell to keep Hunter away, a crazy ex-boyfriend and a house that has a mind of it’s own and you have the making of a hilariously charming story.
I enjoyed every moment of this story. Hunter is big city and Emma is small coastal town with a quirky personality. I thought this was original and a ton of fun to read. Great story and I lok forwrd to the next book.
What an absolutely darling story. Emma is sweet and kind and adorable. Hunter is handsome and drool worthy. The other characters are fun, quirky, and nice. There were a couple of characters that weren’t likeable, but they weren’t meant to be. This story make me giggle and laugh and smile. The plot was intriguing and I had a hard time putting the book down. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 starts was the fade-out intimacy. Emma and Hunter to sleep with each other, but there is nothing graphic. Just kissing and brazen looks, then the camera pans away.
Still a very fun escape
A charming story with engaging characters. It was a fast read.
Thoroughly adorable and entertaining
Don’t Call Me Cupcake is author Tara Sheets’s debut novel, the first in her Holloway Girls series. This book is outside my normal reading material, but I was quickly drawn in by its charm. The plot is cute, the dialogue fresh and breezy, and the fluffy story a perfect end to a long, frustrating day.
The paranormal aspect adds just enough leavening to make this story rise above its contemporary romance competitors. The magical aspects are cute and deftly woven into the story. The sentient house steals the show!
A big-time Seattle business man, Hunter Kane, moves to a sleepy island town with ideas to open a restaurant and to bring the town into the 21st century. He immediately runs into Emma Holloway, the local baker, who mixes magical spells into her cupcakes. The couple try to ignore their growing attraction which Emma attributes to a misguided magical spell placed by her cousin.
This book utilizes several romance tropes: Billionaire hero: Hunter Kane is a rich alpha male who can buy anything he wants—except true love. Fish-out-of- water: When he moves to the coastal village, he doesn’t fit in but still manages to win his true love’s heart. Opposites attract: Hunter is rich, math- and money- and goal-oriented who doesn’t believe in love and marriage while Emma is a go-with-the-flow woman who still dreams of finding her one-and-only.
Seven generations ago, the Holloway family left Ireland and settled on Pine Cove Island, a small Pacific NW island town, bringing their gifts (magic) with them. However, instead of increasing, there are only two Holloway women left on the island, Emma and her cousin Juliette. Emma’s mother’s talent was wanderlust, so Emma had been raised by her beloved grandmother in the family home, an old house that is falling apart, but also semi sentient. Emma, like her grandmother before her, bakes wished into her cakes, good wishes granted to the recipient, but they don’t work on the baker.
Emma’s grandmother sold her wares in her shop Fairy Cakes, which was very successful until she got cancer. With the cost of the treatments and hospitalization, they had to take a mortgage on the house and after her grandmother died, Emma is left with debts she can’t pay. Yet, she is still optimistic, because summer is coming with festivals to bring in tourists, who will buy her cupcakes and provide the much needs funds. When a handsome stranger, Hunter Kane, walks into her shop telling her he is there on business, she sells him 3 success cupcakes and then learns that his new restaurant will be her competition and likely put her out of business. So Juliette, whose talent is a green thumb, comes up with the idea to bake a cupcake that will convince him to go away. Of course the plan goes awry, when Emma and Hunter succumb to the chemistry between them.
The author spins a charming tale, with endearing characters, an interesting plot, a magic house, villains and cute dogs. I recommend this book and look forward to reading the sequel about Juliette.
LOVED this book.
Like the characters she creates, Sheets strives to spread happiness with her confectionery brand of sunshine. Don’t Call Me Cupcake is an ideal introduction to an at times kooky, yet always light hearted series. A gesture of kindness sparks a professional rivalry and an irresistible romance. Tara Sheets’ and her Holloway Girls will definitely put a little love in your heart, even as they tempt readers with sugary sweetness.
Loved! This author has just jumped on to my ‘Must Pre-order All Books’ list <3
Once I started reading, I didn't want to stop. The story is set in a gorgeous, island town in northwest Washington (Puget Sound area). Emma is a kitchen witch who can bake spells into her cupcakes (and OMG, the cupcake descriptions! My mouth was watering for most of the book). Hunter comes to town for purely business reasons (property investment). Emma offers him a Sweet Success cupcake (spelled for success in business) not realizing his new restaurant will likely put her little cupcake shop out of business. Emma and her cousin Juliette, whose talents are with growing things (and who will be featured in the next book), work together combining their magical talents to try to make Hunter leave town. As Hunter and Emma already share a strong attraction, their plans will likely go awry 😉
It's all just so freaking charming! The characters (primary and secondary), the story, the setting, the puppy, I wanted desperately to step into the book and live amongst them all.
Sheets is a debut author but you would never guess. Her prose is beautiful and funny (I highlighted many lines) and the story is a perfect gem. Don't Call Me Cupcake will join the ranks of my favorites that must be reread regularly. I can't want to visit all these characters again in Juliette's story! Hopefully, I'll get to keep visiting Pine Cove for years to come <3
Emma Halloway and her cousin Juliette are the last of the Halloway’s on Pine Cove Island. The Halloway women have, for generations, had magical powers that they use for the good of the inhabitants of Pine Cove. Emma, like her grandmother before her, bakes her magic into her cupcakes for her bakery. Hunter Kane is a real estate developer, who has bought the empty restaurant in Pine Cove and is planning on selling French pastries. Emma is convinced that he will put her out of business. This is a cute light confection of a book. I liked this book overall. It is sweet (there is sex, but done in a PG rated way), the secondary characters were charming, and I did want to read Juliette’s book. What kept this from being a five star book, Emma. Emma was a bit of a whiner. When she finds out what Hunter is in town for, instead of figuring out how to beat him in the bakery business, she seems to throw up her hands and wants to resort to her magic. I just wish that she was a stronger character.
I received an arc of this book for my honest review.