This marriage of convenience is about to get sticky. Getting hitched for the health insurance is not Jocelyn Asher’s idea of romance.But the hospital quote has really frosted her cookies, and suddenly, “I’m rich. We should just get married,” sounds a whole lot more swoony.Especially when the man proposing is this gorgeous. And takes her to parties featuring champagne and petit fours. She’s a … champagne and petit fours. She’s a sucker for anything with bubbles or icing. And just like that she finds herself married to a near stranger.
Grant Lorre is usually allergic to spontaneity.
So why did he ask the beautiful small-town baker he had a one-night stand with to marry him? Somehow watching her lick batter off a whisk–not a euphemism–made a wedding and a little fraud seem like a sweet idea.
They’ll just play house and make some whoopie–pies, of course–for a few months and then move on with their separate lives. Until then, bring on the cream filling. And that is a euphemism.
But as things heat up even outside of the kitchen, they quickly realize there’s no recipe to follow when it comes to love.
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I knew in reading books 1 and 2 of this series that I would fall for Grant. Grant is a growly, straight laced, bring everybody back from the brink kind of guy. He also loves math and finances. Whats not to love? Then again, his practical side can get in the way of romance. Josie is romanctic about just about everything. She even makes her baking into a romanctic notion. Which is fantastic! Her love of making others happy makes even me happy. I feel the emotion that goes along with that since i do that too. Her happy is to go with the flow. I love and hate that Grant feels he needs to swoop in and save her even though that goes against his beliefs. He is a firm believer that women dont need men. Maybe not all the time but people need to feel supported by those they love. Josie has a lot of secrets that she confides in Grant. He supports her but not in the way she needs. They both have a long road to travel but find they are doing it together. I love how Erin Nichols makes you want to move to her towns, find these people and befriend them. I want to stand in the Buttered Up kitchen and have a glass of wine with Josie while baking whoopie pies. I want to go to the offices at Hot Cakes and be in a meeting with Grant and his partners. And through these books, I can.
Making Whoopie is such a beautiful addition to an already amazing series. Packed full of laughter, love and friendships this is a book everyone needs.
This is book 3 in Erin Nicholas’s new Hot Cakes series. This is the story of Grant and Josie. We saw a glimpse of what was to come in the previous book when Grant caught Josie as she fell off a ladder in the bakery Buttered Up.
Grant is one of the guys who swooped in and purchased Hot Cakes, a manufacturing company that employs a lot of the town of Appleby. He is the “serious one”, he talks the guys out of their crazy ideas and bails them out when they go wild. He saw his family struggle financially growing up and now holds seminars to empower women financially. He teaches them to invest and plan for their future.
Josie is a free spirit who loves decorating cakes. She works for her best friend’s bakery, Buttered Up. She makes a decent living, can pay her bills but doesn’t have health insurance.
There is obvious chemistry between these two but who would ever guess the perpetually planning Grant would spontaneously propose to Josie so she can afford to have a medically necessary surgery??? Can they make their marriage of convenience last and turn into something more?
When Grant whisks Josie away…oh, my heart. This is a fairy-tale dream come true. I could not put this book down. Erin Nicholas never disappoints!!!
Just when you think Grant is just uptight & unbending – he meets Josie/Joselyn
What a ride it is – fun sweet & oh so hot – did we mention Whoopie Pies??? You may need to turn up your a/c & get baking after reading this story!
The background to each is unique & very loveable – Grant (not a romantic/woman should be independent of men) & Josie (total romantic / independent but may not as much as she thought/hoped). The love of this town, Appleby, Iowa & the craziness that insues is a delight!
Can’t wait for Cam & Whitney’s book!!!
Another Eric Nicholas hit with book #3 in the Hot Cakes Series that is a group of friends taking over the bakery factory in Appleby IA. Two have roots in the town and the other 3 are college friends who struck gold with the creation of a video game that took the nation by storm. What in the world could they want with a small town cake baking factory? Follow along this journey as partner Grant Lorre, the serious minded one and all business takes his dive into the world of unexpected true love.
Grant, the backbone of the bunch, keeps everyone grounded when ideas begin to explode and spin out of control. Manages the finances and keeps the wheel turning in Chicago, the headquarters of Fluke Inc. the business he and his friends have created. Until he finds himself in little town Appleby, keeping his partners under control and falling for a small town girl with the need for creating sweets to satisfy any tooth.
Josie, worker at the small town bakery, caught Grant’s eye immediately when she literally fell in his arms one day. She is a romantic, she wants the fairy tale and the love and family and commitment. With a side business to keep the town in sweets outside of the bakery she works at with best friend and owner Zoe, she loves to make people happy.
I love the journey Erin always takes me on with her small town romance. It’s filled with lots of laughs of course but it’s never lacking in hot steamy couples. Grant and Josie are no different. Makes one yearn for a little of the small town life experience for yourself. As always a pleasure to read and keeps you entertained. Love the town of Appleby IA and all it’s characters and you will too. Don’t miss this one and if you haven’t read the others, trust me you’ll want to catch up on them as well.
Making Whoopie — exactly the book my heart needed!
MAKING WHOOPIE is the third in Erin Nicholas’s Hot Cakes series, about a group of five friends who step in to take over the Hot Cakes factory in Appleby, Iowa. Grant Lorre’s the practical, stable, steady one, their financial rock, and the one who flies in to rescue the more playful and spontaneous Dax or Ollie… So whisking the very talented and lovely baker Jocelyn Asher off to marry her on a whim? Completely out of character.
Or is it?
Josie caught Grant’s eye from the moment he arrived in Appleby, and his being on hand to literally catch her off a stepladder hasn’t lessened that attraction one bit. Going from making whoopie pies to simply making whoopie? Well, that might just seal the deal.
MAKING WHOOPIE is an absolute delight. Josie and Grant seem at first glance to be nothing like the other, and not necessarily whom you’d envision together. But as Erin Nicholas does so well, she lets us see who these two are to their friends and families and then who they are and become to each other. And we come to see as clearly as they do that they’re more fully themselves together, and that sometimes a spur of the moment decision just reveals what we already know is a perfect choice, forever. And the way they burn up the sheets (or the kitchen table 😉 ) just reflects how well they connect other ways as well.
Ms Nicholas does more than tie these two up with hearts and flowers. Grant’s seen many examples of how being in relationships has been terrible for the women in his life, and he strongly believes that women in particular are often better off on their own, that they don’t need a man to live full, complete lives. Josie is an unrepentant romantic–she was blessed with a family full of strong, loving relationships, and she wants that for herself. As these two figure out how to allow who they are to shape their future, we enjoy a front row seat. As with other books in the series, Grant and Josie’s friends and families play critical and entertaining roles in their lives.
Ms Nicholas’s love and understanding of these characters and small-town life shines through. Her wonderfully imperfect characters demonstrate how to be a smart, loving person today. They are sometimes uncertain and anxious, but they are also bold and brave and willing to dream big and live large. And reading them reminds us we also can be our best selves.
MAKING WHOOPIE is an incredible read, and I’m already longing to return to Appleby!
Josie and Grant’s story was absolutely wonderful. Josie’s friends are all falling in love and she wants that fir herself, too. Ad Grant didn’t. But it doesnt take long for him to fall hard. Each book in this series is better than the last. Making Whooping is a fun, flirty romance with lots of heat!
MAKING WHOOPIE is the third instalment in Erin Nicholas’ contemporary, adult HOT CAKES erotic, romance series focusing on the new owners and investors in the Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa (Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant). This is Hot Cakes co-owner Grant Lorre, and baker/cake decorator Jocelyn Asher’s story line. MAKING WHOOPIE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.
SOME BACKGROUND: Several months earlier, business partners Aiden, Dax, Cam, Ollie and Grant bought the faltering Hot Cakes snack company in Appleby, Iowa saving the town in the process. These are their stories.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Grant and Jocelyn) MAKING WHOOPIE follows the marriage of convenience between Hot Cakes co-owner Grant Lorre, and baker/cake decorator Jocelyn Asher. Jocelyn Asher works at for her best friend Zoe McCaffery’s home town bakery called Buttered Up, and in the previous weeks, Grant Lorre, one of the new co-owners of the Hot Cakes Factory has visited Buttered Up every morning. At a family dinner where Grant Lorre has been invited, feeling stupid and left out, Jocelyn leaves in an effort to get away from the magnetic pull towards the man that catches her eye. Blurting out her feelings, Grant takes advantage of Jocelyn’s moment of weakness, and finds himself spending a night ‘making whoopie’ but all is not well in Jocelyn’s life, and Grant makes our heroine an offer she cannot refuse. What ensues is a marriage of convenience, and the potential fall-out when Grant admits he doesn’t do coupling, and believes a woman should be able to go it alone.
Jocelyn Asher loves working for Zoe McCaffery but working for Zoe isn’t making our heroine rich. Struggling with a personal emergency Grant offers Jocelyn a temporary reprieve that sees our couple married, if only for the short term. Grant Lorre is all about financial independence and teaches women how to invest and survive in the real world but miscommunication and a need to see Jocelyn succeed finds our couple at odds including the permanency of their days old marriage.
The relationship between Jocelyn and Grant is one of mutual attraction but Grant’s quiet demeanor belies a man who is disinterested in our story line heroine until Jocelyn takes the first steps towards her own happily ever after. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate and FUN, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters include Grant’s partners Aiden, Dax, Cam and Ollie; Zoe McCaffery, and Jocelyn’s sister Paige, Jane, Kelsey, Aspen and Henry.
MAKING WHOOPIE is a story of friends, family, relationships and love; a sugary tale about a quirky baker and a guarded hero with a white knight complex who believes all women should be financially independent. The premise is sweet and spicy; the characters are spirited; the romance is furious and fun.
Have you ever read a book and sighed when it was over, not only because it was over but because you loved it so much. That was this book for me. I don’t think there is much that I love more than Erin Nicholas stories. She creates these amazing worlds, with her words that just suck you in. I love Appleby, I love the friendships between the all the hero’s says well as between the heroines. I can not wait for more of this series!
4.5 stars
Jocelyn is a baker in small town Appleby, Iowa. She works in her friend’s bakery but her creativity is somewhat stifled by her friend’s reluctance to try something new. Jocelyn creates special desserts and cookies for people in her home as a way to help them out and bring in some extra money. But shh… don’t let her boss know. It’s a secret.
Grant handles the financial side of the business he shares with his buddies. He lives to plan things out. He holds seminars for women on financial preparedness as a way to help them achieve financial stability. He is taken with Jocelyn but knows that they are different. Jocelyn is interested in Grant too.
When Jocelyn becomes ill and can’t afford the surgery she needs because she doesn’t have insurance. Grant steps in to help. But Jocelyn won’t take a handout. Grant’s suggestion? Jocelyn should marry him and then she’d be covered under his insurance. Can these two survive a marriage of convenience or will their true feelings come out.
I loved this book and this series. I can’t wait for the next book!
If you can’t stand the heat then stay out of this kitchen! Erin Nicholas is the Master! This book is sweet, HOT, smexy, HOT, adventurous and HOT!
A must read!
Jocelyn and Grant made one heart melting, laugh out loud, need a cold drink and have you feeling swoony couple. This whole series has been amazing but there was something really special about this couple. Mr. Practical and Ms. Romance seem very different but there is no denying the chemistry and intense emotions they spark in each other. This story is fun, sweet, cute, steamy, emotional. The addition of a bit of drama and angst make what is already delicious recipe into one that is simply truly scrumptious!! This was an amazing romance that provides epic feels. I highly recommend all the books in this series and I am already looking forward to the next one! This is my sincere, forthright review.
Grant and Josie or Jocelyn as he prefers to call her, seem to be a mismatch, he is very serious and vows he will not be a victim to the love bug like his friends have and Josie is the sweet, down-to-earth baker, whom everyone loves.
They have a night of spontaneous sexy times, they both see different sides of each other, some very good sides.
When she needs medical attention but can’t because of no insurance, he offers her marriage. They will have a marriage of convenience. But as they spend more and more time together, they find that they don’t want that time to end, but they don’t know how the other person feels…oh the angst!
What a wonderful story, it was definitely a page turner, I could not put the book down. Between having an overprotective alpha and a baker that likes to swear in the kitchen, I had the most fun reading this story. Lots of funny episodes, but definitely liked the hot and steamy interactions.
A major plus for me, is getting to see the other characters who have had their stories told and also those that haven’t. I can’t wait to read the next chapter in the little town of Appleby.
Another completely endearing addition to this charming contemporary romance series set in Appleby, Iowa. I’ve been waiting and rooting for Josie to find her happily-ever-after since we first met her in the opening scene of Sugarcoated. And I was delighted to find that her love interest was Grant.
He just seemed like a guy who needed some extra sweetness in his life! Although he kind of fights, kicking and screaming, to keep from getting involved with her, Grant is already so far gone from the moment he first sees – and catches – her! And even though he is professing all along that their arrangement is only temporary, I found it especially endearing that he still went to great lengths to make everything special for Josie.
Late in the book she is ruminating about how content, comfortable, and happy her sister is. But mostly I noticed that about Josie, too. Even when she was experiencing doubts and insecurities over the nature of her weird relationship with Grant, she was still very sure of her own worth and propensity for happiness at some point.
Despite this being the love story between Josie and Grant, to which no one is privy for the majority of the book, and them even being away from Appleby for a good amount of time, we also got to catch up a lot with the other members of their group, as well as meet some new characters. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more of all of them in future installments.
I like Josie. Josie is content. Working at her best friend’s bakery, living in the small town where she grew up, in the house she inherited from her grandparents and great-grandparents, she is content. She believes that when the time is right the right man will come along and she will have a great love like her parents and grandparents. She won’t settle for less. In the meantime, she bakes.
Grant is a city boy. In town to monitor the company’s new investment (Hot Cakes), he is the money guy. He likes the “finer” things in life, and spreadsheets. He also likes ensuring that women are independent, especially financially. As for love, he’d rather things be quick and done. Then he meets Josie. She is everything he doesn’t want, yet he can’t get enough.
Grant and Josie have chemistry – lots of chemistry. I enjoyed this pairing, even though Josie seemed to get much more out of their “marriage of convenience” than Grant. Author Erin Nicholas knows how to write a good romance! Cake batter, frosting, cupcakes, and whoopie pies will all bring sparks after you read this story – such sweet treats!
Overall Grade: 1/2
Who doesn’t love a grumpy hero and “good girl” heroine who isn’t such a “good girl?” Add in a marriage of convenience and some serious $exy scenes, and you’ve got the deliciously decadent Making Whoopie by Erin Nicholas. This book is the third book in the Hot Cakes series, and quite frankly, it’s her steamiest. It is also, in my estimation, my favorite thus far. Why?
*Grumpy hero Grant. Honestly, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Grant might be on the spectrum. The guy has issues with feelings, while also being brilliant at helping people live their best lives fiscally. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite realize that he isn’t living his best life until he becomes obsessed (yes…I think he’s a little addicted) with Josie. In the best kind of trope, grumpy Grant becomes tamed by sweet girl baker Josie, and it’s glorious.
*Josie is much more complicated than we assume. Obviously in the first two books of the series, Sugarcoated and Forking Around, Josie is an ancillary character whom we know little of. In this book, we come to realize that Josie is a baking genius AND she’s the most self-effacing heroine. Actually, she might be tied with Jane in Forking Around. In fact, this seems to be the case with Nicolas’s heroines. Their lack of selfishness works nicely with the alpha-esque natures of their heroes.
*The story is poignant in its portrayal of the difficulties of working for a small business. Nicholas does a nice job of showing the challenges associated with maintaining a profitable margin which oftentimes means forgoing benefits, and perks come in the flexibility of schedule and stronger relationships between employees. Additionally, through Grant’s characterization, Nicholas shines a light on the plight of women in finding success. Both of these messages offer a gravity to a seemingly sweet story.
Making Whoopie is probably my favorite thus far. However, Cam and Whitney’s story is next and Erin Nicholas teases it in this story. In fact, that is my biggest criticism of this story as there is a large part of it that provides some background for their book, which suggests that Making Whoopie might have been shorter without their struggles. This crossover of stories feels more significant than in the first two books. I would have liked Cam and Whitney’s story teased more towards the end of the book instead of throughout it. Yet, it did its job in that it piqued my interest in book 4. In the end, though, Nicholas does what she sets out to do: offering a romance that fogs your glasses and tickles your heart.
I really loved Grant and Josie. They have great chemistry and terrific banter. But I really enjoyed the way that they discussed things with one another. They actually spend time discussing what they want as that evolves. (I seem to have read a lot of books lately where the characters don’t discuss this stuff, and this was a refreshing change.) Even though this book happens in a short time frame, everything feels possible because they actually have adult conversations. We can see that they are good for one another in real ways that will last. It makes the book very satisfying.
Another thing I loved is that this story defies several formulas used in romance books. I am not against those formulas, and sometimes that is what I want to read. But it is always fun to see tropes and patterns turned on their heads or examined from different angles. Nicholas does this successfully in this book in several ways, and that means that you never know what is coming next. I won’t detail how because that would spoil the fun.
I also appreciated the continued look into the friendship of Josie and Zoe. They made me choke up a little. And I am dying to get my hands on Cam and Whitney’s book after the hints dropped in here. This is an excellent addition to the series and a definite keeper.
Opposites SO attract in the newest book in the Hot Cakes series by Erin Nicholas!
Grant: Steady. Dependable. The voice of reason for Fluke Inc., he is Mister Spreadsheet. He who never steps over the line. Straight arrow. The one who keeps his head when his more volatile partners come up with crazy schemes.
Josie: Sweet. Small-town. Although she has a penchant for falling (literally) into Grant’s arms. She is the culinary vision of Buttered Up, with the baking chops to keep people coming back for her creations.
Even as ‘just’ an employee, keeping Buttered Up solvent is at the top of Josie’s must do list. That includes forgoing benefits. Sans health insurance, she has a medical emergency that needs to be taken care of, but a baker doesn’t make a lot of dough.
Having women be financially secure without relying on a man is Grant’s mantra. His experience with women in his family being taken advantage of has Grant teaching classes to help women feel secure. He would never make a woman rely on him for anything, would he?
What a fun book this was! Sparks were apparent even before Grant and Josie knew each other’s names. Finding love, ‘losing’ love, then realizing the reliance of anyone on another person is a matter of opinion, was eye-opening for this couple! Add in some attorney hijinks, and well…there you go!
5 Stars Plus 5 More SuperHero SpreadSheet Stars
* * * * * PLUS * * * * * Spoiler Free, I Promise
Yes, This Book Deserves TEN, Count Them, TEN Stars. FOR REAL. It has everything you could want in a Romance/Sexy book. No One Writes romantic sexy scenes like Erin Nicholas. Other authors have their ways and I love them. But that is not what I am here to discuss. Erin Nicholas is the WOMAN of the HOUR and she knows exactly what she is doing.
She makes a man who is smitten and can’t believe he is overwhelmed with the desire for this woman. She also makes this man determined to have others see women as a whole, independent, capable, and secure ON THEIR OWN without the need of a man to provide it. If that isn’t a superhero man, I do not know what is.
There is so much to this book, it is staggering in how subtle and yet obvious in the way it is presented…and that’s how magnificent the crafting is by Ms. Nicholas. She gives you all of the elements you expect, but so much more.
She makes me feel just like all the customers of Jocelyn’s cakes feel when they first see them, waves of happiness and joy. I could use so many other words but won’t. It would make this review too long.
If you have been reading this series, AND YOU SHOULD, then you already know the basics…4 guys who came together in college and invented a game and made a ton of cash. Two were from the small town in Iowa and two were not. We have already had two of the men meet their ONE and have relocated from Chicago to this town.
The main thrust of this entry is Grant and Jocelyn, two very different people. Grant, the practical, levelheaded one of the group. He keeps the guys on track when things are about to go off the rails. He is the financial genius and wants everything taken care of. He looks out for the group and it pleases him when he makes sure things go as planned.
Jocelyn is someone who has lived all her life in this small town. She works with her best friend at the bakery her friend owns. She is creative and does all of the things her friend Zoe isn’t inclined to…expert decorating and encouraging Zoe to think outside that well-constructed box of recipes.
These two people are drawn to each other but never act on it until they do. And when they do…
%$#^@^$@%$#@%$# OMFG $$#@%^$@%$@%$
The main reason for the story is outlined in the blurb. It is the catalyst for Grant and Jocelyn to experience and learn about each other. To understand what makes them tick and then have things get complicated for a number of very interesting reasons.
All things become clear in the end and we have our HEA, no worries, but we also have incredible insight into things that can be taken as life lessons long after the glow of this book is over.
That is a talent of Ms. Nicholas and it is on full display. She makes Grant a Superhero not needing a cape or mask…He has PowerPoint as his special weapon. He has Spreadsheets as tools. They all work in so many ways. Oh, and he has the Dirtiest of Mouths, Yum.
Jocelyn is no slouch, either. She matches tit for tat with Grant, toe to toe in desire and smarts.
The next book is set up beautifully in this one. It promises to be a doozy with Cam and Whitney, two who loved once, who still do, and need to have their second chance. Can’t Wait.
I wish I could give this book 100 stars! It’s that good. But that isn’t surprising from Ms. Nicholas.
Marriage of convenience
Hot millionaire
Things get tricky when 2 people get married for insurance reasons but end up falling deeply in love. They think they are complete opposites when really their differences compliment each other perfectly.
Two great take aways from this amazing romance story:
– Be each other’s greatest adventure
– Love comes along in the most unexpected ways
I can’t wait to go back to Appleby for more!