No Whisk No Reward (Donner Bakery Book 3)

No Whisk, No Reward was a great read by Ellie Kay. Sophie just had a disastrous appearance on a television baking show and doesn’t think things can get any worse. Unfortunately more things happen and she finds herself in Green Valley, Tennessee, unfortunately she has no plan or place to go. She meets Joel who has an apartment to rent but also has a bad name for himself with his connection to a local biker gang. I enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read more by Ellie Kay.

It was so great to get cameos from the characters we have grown to love in Penny Reids Green Valley universe. I will always have a thing for Cletus Winston!

I really enjoy this series. I’m always sold when a character is a baker in a book. It’s one that’s hard to pass up. Plus this series takes place in Green Valley which is part of the Penny Reid Book Universe. There a few unexpected surprises that come with this one. Sophie is a character I can relate to and one you can look up to. Everyone faces some type of fear and anxiety when faced with a new career move. Poor Sophie for her it was on national television, I loved watching her gain her confidence in her work again. Her twist of fate of ending up in Green Valley turns out to be one of the best accidents of her life in more ways than one. Joel could use some people in his life.Life choices had put him on a path he regrets. He is in need of a fresh start, but he can’t shake what has him locked in Green Valley. The night fate brought Sophie in his life will forever change his life. This book has me laughing with it’s humor and gasping with it’s twists. It’s one hat had me hooked right from the beginning.

No Whisk, No Reward by Ellie Kay is another new-to-me author thanks to the Penny Reid Book Universe. I am loving the new additions to the Green Valley World, and the Donner Bakery series is such an entertaining collection of stories. What I love the most about them are how its heroes and heroines seem opposites in every way, but the more they get to know one another and the further insight readers are provided about who these characters truly are illustrates just how similar they actually are.

Sophie Copeland is quite the hot mess, and while that shouldn’t be a big deal, since everyone can have those moments, it’s when she’s on national television and falls apart for the world to see that makes her tuck her tail and run. Sophie is definitely a heroine who readers will identify with on a number of levels. She is a bit of a contradiction when it comes to her personality traits, but it’s that complexity of character that intrigued me, especially when she was able to build her confidence back up after the fallout from her stint of television.

Joel Barnes is an interesting hero who is nothing like the Green Valley rumors describe. He’s a man of few words, but what he does say matters, and the fact that he finds someone who wants to help him…who accepts him for who he is, not what she’s heard about him. She wants the man who Joel is, not the mystery that wraps around him from gossip and lies.

This book is the epitome of a slow burn romance, and while, at times, it felt a bit too slow, I appreciate the time spent building the characters and their environment. I guess I haven’t read many books told through a single perspective, lately, because I missed the story being told through the point of view of both the hero and the heroine; it adds a more complete picture to the story line, and without it in No Whisk, No Reward, I found myself questioning words and actions more so than I would have if I had both main characters’ perspective.

3.5 Poison Apples

Can I just tell you how much I love this series?! And now with the Winston Brothers series all finished, I wasn’t quite ready to say farewell to Green Valley.

No Whisk No Reward is book 3 in the Donner Bakery series and it has quickly become one of my favorites in the Smartypants Romance world. I liked the fact that Sophie was nomading it a bit as she makes her way to Boston to continue her love as a pastry chef.

This was my first time reading a book by Ellie Kay and I.AM.HOOKED. She has such a fun and different style to her writing, it was evident how much I loved it because I couldn’t put it down.

I truly enjoyed reading about Joel and Sophie, their connection was definitely instant, but they take their time with things. Joel is definitely not what you think, there was more to him and I’m glad we get to know him a bit more as the book goes on.

I know some don’t like it when they call a romance story cute, but that’s exactly what this one was. This series has been such sweet and cute reads. No Whisk No Reward is such a great addition to this series and I loved all the cameos we get.

Feisty Sophie and Sensitive-Swoony Joel are here! Prepare yourself to fall in love with this book and author!

**I RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY READER’S COPY FROM SOCIAL BUTTERFLY PR FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR CONTENT OF MY REVIEW**

Ellie Kay

I only got to 60% before I dnf. this is my first book my Ellie Kay. Sadly, the main couple and the story just wasn’t for me.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3 stars. No Whisk, No Reward is the third book in the Donner Bakery series, which is a spin off of the Winston Brothers series by Penny Reid and part of the Smartypants Romance world. This book was kind of a mixed bag for me. This is Sophie and Joel’s book. Sophie is a pastry chef. She recently appeared on a TV pastry competition show (think Gordan Ramsey), on which she failed spectacularly and was humiliated. As a result, she was fired from her actual pastry chef job afterwards and has found herself adrift. So she decides to drive across the country to Boston from Seattle, to where her best friend lives to help her open a bakery. But, fate has other plans. Along her drive, her car breaks down in Green Valley, Tennessee. While stuck for a few days waiting for her car to be fixed, she explores the town and, eventually, decides to take a temporary job at the Donner Bakery for a few months. She also meets Joel, who is a mysterious guy who rents her a room. They become friends and eventually begin a relationship.

This is the first book I have read by Ellie Kay and I think it is her first book published. While I applaud her for her bravery and effort, the writing felt a little amateurish and unpolished. Some of the dialogue felt silly and unnecessary. There was not a ton of character depth. Joel had very little personality. Sophie was supposed to be cute and quirky, but I found her clumsiness, awkwardness and odd personality annoying. I didn’t really enjoy her fascination with Paul Newman (and the way she “conversed” with him). There was hardly any chemistry between the couple. I think the book is supposed to be slow burn, but I didn’t feel any burn. I didn’t like the way Joel pushed Sophie away, and without much discussion, they get back together at the very end. Also, there was a lot of page time for Penny Reid’s characters, especially Jennifer and Cletus Winston. But I didn’t find them to be much like the original characters that Penny wrote. I also found Tempest, a character from the second book in the series, Stud Muffin, to be completely different than her book, as well.

As it was, I considered not finishing this book, but I did stick with it and I enjoyed it a bit more by the end. I did like the story in general. I do think this was a pretty good try for a first book, even if I didn’t totally love it. I am still enjoying the Smartypants Romance books and look forward to reading more of them in the future.

Once again I have so much love for all the books in this series, and this one only served to cement that feeling. Of course we began with a fun cameo with Cletus Winston, and even though I’d probably never think of him as my type in real life, I do adore him. And what was neat was that we got a lot of Cletus in this book because it took place in the Donner Baker, hence the series name. I really liked how the story related into the whole Winston brothers stories with Joel’s auto shop. I kind of got the hint that might be it as soon as I heard he had an auto shop and we kept seeing all the bikers riding around and popping up wherever Sophie seemed to be.

Another great thing as these series continue is getting to spend time with characters we met in the other books. If you hadn’t read their books, you are okay, you’ll get to know and love them as side characters too. Like Tempest from Stud Muffin, and even Joy who we know from those books and the originals I think. Of course now, after Joy’s little confession about who she’s always had a crush on and still does, I hope that someone is writing her story!

Now, I was not at all a fan of the name that Sophie’s friend had for the bakery she was opening. Yeast Attraction, a play off of yeast infection. It still makes me shudder to think about it. It reminds me of a dental office near where I live called The Cutting Edge, and I don’t like to think about sharp objects when I go to the dentist or them cutting into my gums, teeth, etc. I also loved when Sophie turned down a diet soda because her reason was the same as one of mine, those things like aspartame are bad for you.

The love story was good, the cooking show story-line was fun as well. The author also did a great job at pulling in one of my favorite types of Cletus lines when he invited Sophie and Joel over to try his sausage. Lol. A great story, from an author I’ll look for more from in the future.

Overall Grade: ++

Is it possible that someone in Green Valley, Tennessee, the hometown of Penny Reid’s the Winston Brothers could dislike them? If you’ve read any of Penny Reid’s books set in this fictional town, about the only people who are not fans of the brothers are the Iron Wraiths. To a certain degree, they don’t really count as they exist on the periphery of the civilized community. As we find in Ellie Kay’s newest book, No Whisk No Reward, there is someone who detests the Winston Brothers. And his choices have placed him outside of this town’s community.

I need to be honest. I wish I could go to Green Valley and visit the Donner Bakery. I’m not one for sweets, yet there is something perpetually welcoming about this place that makes me think I could be friends with someone like Jennifer Sylvester-Winston. In reading Ellie Kay’s story, this feeling grew exponentially because this story, above anything else, shows the power of a community of women.

The story follows Sophie, a pastry chef, who is relocating to Boston from Washington state. After failing miserably on a national television baking competition, her former employer loses confidence in her ability to bake and create pastries, so she decides to make a change. On her road trip to Boston to work for her friend, her car becomes disabled in Green Valley. On her entry into town, she unexpectedly meets Joel Barnes, when she almost collides with his car. Asking for accommodations, Joel offers his rental for the night. When her car breaks down, she must rely on the help of the Winston brothers to fix her car. This also provides her an opportunity to work for Donner Bakery while she earns money to make her way to Boston. From the moment they meet, Joel and Sophie are drawn to each. However, Joel’s past and the circumstances of his present along with Sophie’s move to Boston seek to keep them apart. Can Joel resolve his problems? Can Sophie move past her failure and take advantage of a “do-over” on the show where she failed? Will Joel decide to follow Sophie to Boston? Will these two find their happy ending?

Green Valley is this idyllic place, even with the threat of the Iron Wraiths. Yes, there are people in this community who undermine the happiness of others. However, overall, everyone seems to find a place except Joel Barnes. The Winston Brothers have derailed his family’s auto repair business, and this causes an issue with finances. Before his death, Joel’s brother makes an impetuous deal with the Iron Wraiths that task his relationship with Joel and their future. After his death, Joel is left to honor the agreement, but it causes him to be exiled to a certain degree in Green Valley’s community. In his exile, Joel becomes a ghost of his former self. Without the fulfillment of his dream to leave Green Valley and travel, he loses himself. His risk would be forgoing the business of the Iron Wraiths and leaving town, but he struggles with honoring his family’s business.

Like Joel, Sophie is stuck in her sense of failure. Her life’s work as a pastry chef further complicates this, as Ellie Kay shows us, because the “chef” culture looks for failure. She comes to Green Valley feeling dejected and looking for the comfort of a job with her friend in Boston. She struggles to move beyond her failure on the television show, and it makes her look for safe choices. Enter Joel, Jennifer Sylvester-Winston, Tempest, and Joy to her life. And she’s once again reminded that risk is necessary. In fact, this is true for both Sophie and Joel. Kay’s characterization of Sophie and Joel illustrates our daily struggle to accept failure and keep moving forward. She’s suggesting that we cannot let our past define us; instead, we need to learn from them and challenge ourselves in the future. Through their relationship, we find Joel and Sophie challenging each other in this way. It’s the development of their relationship that makes Kay’s book so worthwhile. From one minute to the next, as Sophie and Joel struggle through their journeys, you laugh, you sigh, and you cry. When Sophie makes strides to help Joel, the story becomes angsty, and it hurts your heart. For me, that’s a plus. Feeling the emotional upheaval of the characters always makes for great storytelling, and Kay has that in spades in her book.

However, the gem of this book is the community of women in the Donner Bakery. From her beginning, Sophie is enveloped. She comes from an environment that is high stress with little positive feedback. In this bakery, the environment is still high stress, but the women who work there support each other. They don’t just encourage each other. They exhort, empower, and challenge each other. Beyond the beauty of Sophie and Joel’s romance, THIS is the part of Ellie Kay’s book that I loved the most. In our society, people can be generally terrible to each other especially in the realm of social media. Yet, women sometimes are the worst. No Whisk No Reward provides us with examples of women who feed the souls of other women, and it’s glorious. I thought the angst of Sophie and Joel’s relationship would be the height of my emotional upheaval. Instead, it was the moment when Sophie leaves for Boston and says goodbye to Tempest and Joy because it’s clear that these women love and care for each other. And that makes for the best of storytelling.

So, are you ready to take your own risk? If so, then you should read Ellie Kay’s No Whisk No Reward. Women empowering women and a heroic couple taking the ultimate risk together proffer a book that keeps us dreaming in Green Valley. Even if you are like Joel and detest the Winston Brothers, or if you’re like me and love the Donner Bakery, this book has a little treat for everyone.