As two neighborhood shop owners battle for business, they prove opposites attract in this “deliciously sweet and savory new romantic comedy” (USA Today bestselling author Abby Jimenez). Blaire Calloway has planned every Instagram-worthy moment of her cupcake and cocktails shop launch down to the tiniest detail. What she didn’t plan on? Ronan Knight and his old-school sports bar next door … Knight and his old-school sports bar next door opening on the very same day. He may be super swoony, but Blaire hasn’t spent years obsessing over buttercream and bourbon to have him ruin her chance at success.
From axe throwing (his place) to frosting contests (hers), Blaire and Ronan are constantly trying to one-up each other in a battle to win new customers. But with every clash, there’s also an undeniable chemistry. When an even bigger threat to their business comes to town, they’re forced to call a temporary time-out on their own war and work together. And the more time Blaire spends getting to know the real Ronan, the more she wonders if it’s possible to have her cupcake and eat it too.
Loved this book and the witty banter between the two main characters. Supporting characters were well thought out and highly entertaining! I love all the worlds that Helena Hunting creates!
If you are following my reviews, you already know I love Helena Hunting. Thanks to her books, I had too many sleepless nights with the mantra of ‘one more chapter’. As always I really enjoyed Kiss my Cupcake and through the book, I always had a smile on my face. I admit some parts made me laugh out loud, thank god I was at home 🙂
Blaire Calloway comes from a family of successful restauranteurs. She is a smart, ambitious, hardworking, and talented baker. Opening her cupcake and cocktails shop without the help of her family has been her dream and she was working hard towards owning her shop. Finally, Buttercream & Booze’s grand opening is close and everything going smoothly until hot lumberjack next door starts hammering her walls. Ronan Knight is helping his grandpa to redecorate his old-school sports bar to make it more approachable by the younger crowd. To cut back the cost, he is doing most of the things by himself. However, he is not aware that he is driving his next-door neighbor nuts with the noise and all that hammering so as you can imagine their first meeting wasn’t a pleasant one. Everything gets more interesting and contentious when Ronan decides to schedule his grand opening on the same day as Blaire. Starting with their openings, they are both in battle mode. Adding the ‘Best Bar’ contest by one of the most influential YouTubers in the mix, they are constantly trying to sabotage each other and create events that will move them further in the contest. However, when a big chain decides to open a restaurant on their block, soon they realize the only way they can survive is by joining forces. No worries their banter is still there, it only gets flirtier and hotter. I loved how their rivalry turns into an amazing friendship and when they give up fighting the attraction, it turns into a sweet, sizzling love story.
Kiss My Cupcake is a sweet, inspiring, face pacing story that will put a smile on your face from the beginning to the end. If you are looking for a light, drama free, summery read, this book might be just for you.
Would I recommend this book: Yes
Would I re-read this book: Yes
Would I read future books by this author: Yes
Blaire and Ronan are duking it out for the owner of the best bar in the Pacific NW. I want to bake some of the amazing cupcakes that Blaire describes in the bakery. Their banter was sharp and funny and plans were crazy to pull in customers. There places of a bar and cupcake shop I wish existed in my town. I liked the couple, but was just not in love with them.
4.5 stars! Give me enemies to lovers and CUPCAKES and you know I’m going to love it. I adored this book and read it in one sitting. The banter between the two of them was off the charts and the hi jinx had me laughing out loud. I love the way they worked together and they were such a great team at the end. You could see them falling for each other immediately!
Blaire’s family was pretty interesting.. and Ronan took it all in stride. Nothing could make his eyes stray from her. I loved them together. A little spice and a lot of love mixed with cupcakes and booze, perfection.
I was so happy to get a copy of Kiss My Cupcake! From Netgalley. I’ve been a fan of Helena Hunting’s books for ages!
Kiss My Cupcake was sweet, romantic and laugh out loud funny and I was hooked by Blaire and Ronan’s chemistry by the end of the first chapter! A definite must read for anyone who loves sweet baked goods, beer, axe throwing and Harry Potter trivia!
Five amazing stars!
This is a super cute, low angst, and slightly minimal conflict type of book. It will give you all the happy feelings and make you laugh.
We meet funny characters (quirky family members from both main leads), small shop shenanigans, and a romance in KMC. Dessert and a bit of fun right next door why not. Lol
The plot is very low angst along with conflicts that show up but are resolved right away. You’ll fall in love with Ronan and Blair who are two individuals striving to make their dreams come true.
This post is spoiler free. As always, you don’t want to miss out on Helena’s entertaining book.
Complimentary copy received for honest review.
Kiss My Cupcake is Helena Hunting’s newest, swoonworthy and delicious romance! Not only do I want a cupcake and a pint of ale, I want a very own Ronan for myself! Blaire and Ronan are neighbors in business. Two very different places, but rivals from the start. It starts with her yelling at all the noise he’s making to him coming over every day to sample her cupcakes. When there’s a mutual threat, they have to team up and compete together. From cohosted events to matching outfits, Ronan and Blaire wow their customer and each other. They are both in the running for the best bar and they are working together to make each other better. Ronan and Blaire are perfect for each other! They know what they want and they go after it. They are fun, sexy and just want to make something of themselves. I loved watching them fall for each other. It was so romantic and fun! Overall, I laughed, swooned, got hungry, thirsty and loved every word.
5 stars!!
“You’re the icing to my cupcake.”
Kiss My Cupcake is a feel good, happy read that gave me all the warm fuzzies and filled my heart with love. This book is hilarious, sweet, and swoony, and unputdownable! I loved everything about it! The characters, the storyline, the fun and the feels, everything together made this a new five star fave!!
Blaire has given it her all to get where she is. I loved her work ethic and the fact that she knows what she wants and goes after it. Her family is kooky and the fact that she takes things on by herself shows how strong she is and how much she deserves her dreams to come true. She is sweet, quirky, and has a unique sense of style with fantastic ideas. I love the whole concept of Buttercream and Booze and would definitely check it out if it was real.
Ronan is amazing. He’s got a great sense of humor and is fun, smokin’ hot, and super swoony. He also works his butt off to follow his dreams. He has a tragic past but he doesn’t let it stop him. I loved his relationship with his grandfather and loved what he did with The Knight Cap. He puts his all into things and it really pays off.
Ronan and Blaire are delicious together. The their interactions are hilarious, the banter is fantastic, and the chemistry is undeniable. The best bar competition adds another level of fun to their lives and it is entertaining to follow them as they go after the same thing when they both deserve it.
As Ronan and Blaire morph from enemies to friends to lovers, the sexual tension skyrockets. They connect on a deeper level and they have a wonderful mix of fun, fire, and feels. The transitions are easy and believable, and I adored them as a couple.
Overall, I loved this book. I was invested in Ronan and Blaire and love their story. It is original, well-paced, low on angst, and has all the feels and humor of a fantastic rom com. A new five star fave!
Fun, sweet, and sexy, Blaire and Ronan’s story is the delicious treat we all need right now!
Rivals to lovers but make it sweet
Helena Hunting’s books = comic relief. They are just those kinds of books that you can read in one afternoon and can easily make you smile, so I absolutely loved this one too because it was exactly what the blurb and the cute cover promised.
While Blaire is trying to distance herself from the shadow of her family, Ronan is trying to keep the legacy of his alive. The only thing they both have in common is their desire to start a new project and be independent so imagine what happens when two totally different people end up being neighbors in their new premises… the competition is imminent. They both started off on the wrong foot, but when a biggest threat hits the neighborhoods rivals are forced to join forces.
This is a book where you see the day to day of the characters so there’s not a lot of angst. We can see how they met and their first impressions, Ronan infuriating Blaire, some pranks, her and his witty combacks, how they started to get closer and a friendship was born and finally how they fell in love.
The characters:
— Blaire Calloway. Blaire is a quirky heroine who can be seen from the cover and the blurb has a certain theme around her. Besides always wanting to have everything under control, she is a strong and determined character, but also sweet and sensitive and really easy to connect with. She reminded me a lot of Jennifer Sylvester, one of my favorite characters from the Winston Brothers series.
— Ronan Knight. A sarcastic, tattooed lumberjack, with a hipster vibe around him. The first impression is that he’s the typical handsome and arrogant character used to always getting everything he wants, but in the end you can see that he is a softie, always making sweet gestures for those he loves, as well as having an easy humor.
And the side characters were also very likeable, from those who worked with Blaire and Ronan to the latter’s family, I love the found family trope and this felt a bit like that. Also, I wouldn’t mind reading a story about some of them, let’s say between a certain character who worked for Blaire and a flirty bartender, perhaps?
Both the writing and the pace were on point and I also liked the format (those little “tweets” at the end of each chapter were a nice touch), so the only reason why this is not a five star for me is because I would have liked to know a little more about Ronan’s background. We can see that Blaire comes from an “unconventional” family and how that has had an impact on her life, but about Ronan it’s mentioned that he has gone through some difficult times that obviously marked him, but didn’t delve into it.
Overall this was a pretty fun and sweet story, low on the angst and drama and one that I totally recommend if you are looking for a fluffy book.
ARC provided by the author in exchange of an honest review.
**Disclaimer: I was provided an advance reader copy by the author in exchange for my unbiased review and opinions.**
As a reviewer, I usually have plenty of books to read. However, I have been on a massive reading slump. I don’t think anyone can blame me for this. In this dumpster fire of a year, everyone is having a hard time concentrating. However, I always try to give the books and the authors I read an unbiased, honest review.
Enter Kiss My Cupcake by Helena Hunting. And say good-bye to this reading slump! I fell in love with Ronan and Blaire from the first page. I was enthralled…I needed to know what happened with these two! The chemistry is delicious, the banter even more so. Discovering what made these characters act the way they did became my mission for the day. I gobbled up this book in one sitting and you will too. This is a happy book that deals with unconventional families, difficult family dynamics, and loss without getting too heavy on the heartbreak or angst. So if you thrive on those, this book will be too happy for you. For me, Kiss My Cupcake was just what the doctor ordered after the reading slump from hell. This is all the happy, sexy and lighthearted you want (packaged for broader audiences, but still bearing that spicy Helena Hunting trademark)
Kiss My Cupcake is a delicious late summer treat and has earned 5 delicious cupcake-shaped stars
( Aaaaaand now I want cupcakes…and whiskey!)
Oh my gosh, I loved this book so much! Not to mention how many different types of cupcakes I now want to try! And the characters were just so wonderful. I loved everything about them. I mean they even loved Harry Potter, both of them, and knew what house they belonged to! I know, I know that we are all not fans of JK Rowling these days because of her recent social media issues, but I will always love HP.
This was definitely the enemies to lovers, but in a fun way. While I almost wish we had more from Ronan’s point of view, the way the author spaced out his chapters definitely kept the mystery of the story and just how much he did or did not like Blaire something that kept you tagging along. I loved how all of the competition between the two was mostly good-natured and that both of them realized when something they did might hurt the other one and how that’s not really what they wanted. And you know how there are messed up families? Well, just WOW to Blaire’s family! Ronan had such a sweet grandfather and even great normal brothers though, it totally made up for it.
This story was just so sweet, I mean the title is perfect. I loved the little cupcake and booze puns at the end of each chapter too. And not only was I left wanting to try so many different types of cupcakes, I also really want a Buttercream and Booze t-shirt! A perfectly light and fluffy read, like you’d want your cupcakes to be, with the sweet romance, and it just hit the spot for a world with too much angst going on in reality.
“Kiss My Cupcake” by Helena Hunting featured a fantastic enemies-to-lovers, slow burn romance between cupcake cafe owner Blaire and bar operator Ronan, otherwise known as the “Lumberjerk” to Blaire and her best friend Daphne. (I giggled every time they called him that!) I loved Blaire and Ronan’s snarky banter and the way they competed against each other until they were forced to become uneasy allies when faced with a mutual threat. The attraction between them was intense from the start, but they resisted for as long as they could, and I couldn’t wait for them to finally give into their feelings. Their emotional connection was equally apparent, and I particularly appreciated the way that Ronan stuck up for Blaire with her family. She could handle herself, of course, but chose not to engage most of the time, for good reason. However, Ronan couldn’t just sit back and let Blaire’s family dismiss everything she had achieved without benefit of their money and connections. It was very sweet, and I loved how supportive he was of Blaire and her dreams even before they officially became a couple.
Overall, “Kiss My Cupcake” was a sweet, fun, and incredibly entertaining story that put a huge smile on my face from beginning to end. I highly recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance and romantic comedy and can’t wait to see what Helena Hunting writes next!
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
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!
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blog.se/kiss-my-cupcake-by-helena-hunting/
A delightful, charming romance with plenty of chemistry and sizzle! Blaire and Ronan’s story is the perfect escape.
Warning! Craving overload!! Tbh I’m probably one of a few who really don’t love cupcakes…(shrug) I might actually have wanted the cocktails more! And maybe the beer too!
So if you fall into any of the above categories stock up before you start this book!
Helena (with one L) did it again….swoon worthy characters. Enemies to lovers. Lusty build ups. Steamy scenes….yummy Ronan too!
Devoured in one day!
One of my all time favorite authors has done it again. I absolutely loved Kiss My Cupcake. She kept me very entertained and laughing.
This was such a fun read and I loved the characters. Ronan and Blair were such fun characters with great chemistry. Once I started this book I couldn’t put it down.
If your looking for a fun fast read that will pull you in and have you laughing, you need this book. I highly recommend Kiss My Cupcake!
I always love Helena Hunting and Kiss My Cupcake was no different! I absolutely loved the chemistry of Blair’s and Ronan it nearly overheated my kindle lol. Seriously though from their first encounter you know this book is going to be amazing and boy does it not disappoint!!! If you buy no other book this month let it be this one you won’t regret it!!
What a delectable treat of a story featuring our heroine, Blaire, and our Hero, Ronan, who really knows how to express his love for Blaire’s cupcakes! Blaire comes from a family of highly successful restaurateurs, but instead of staying with the family business, she branches out on her own to follow her passion of making cupcakes. She pairs her delicious desserts with bar beverages thus creating a half bakery half pub shop in a college town. Shortly before her opening, a loud bang on her wall alerts her to a renovation project happening next door. In her 50’s pinup style June Cleaver-look, she storms next door to confront the neighboring business where she meets Ronan. His subsequent teasing only riles Blaire up more which then begins their frenemies competition to be the best bar in the Pacific Northwest.
This story was full of witty dialogue, swoony foodgasms, and love for family, even the non-traditional varieties! Once Blaire and Ronan stopped fighting their attraction for one another, the story continued to spin from sweet to steamy! Loved Blaire and Ronan’s journey to their HEA!
Cute, quirky read.
Quirky premise with competing bar owners, but super cute and witty. Ronan and Blaire are rivals that turn into more.
This one had some laugh out loud moments and while their romance seemed to be quick -it was sweet and spicy too!
I voluntarily requested and read an uncorrected advance reader copy.