Stud Muffin (Donner Bakery Book 2)

Yasss…I had the absolute pleasure of reading Beef Cake by Jiffy Kate and y’all…Gunnar Erickson is one hawt Beef Cake..i mean guy. Lol

Buttt wait.. He is MMA..Eeepp talk about being in Heaven!! I LOVE me an MMA fighter. They are always so big and so bad, they make you feel safe and secure and can protect you with just one look..lol But he is still sooo saweet and lovable to his girl…*sighs* He is perfection!! Back off ladies. HE.IS.MINE!! LOL

Besides Gunnar being AMAZING…and Amazing to read about, Beef Cake is one Hell of a rollercoaster ride of emotions, twists and turns and secrets that you are dying to figure out..make sure you go one click on release day and find out what I’m preaching to you about!!

5 I love me sum “Jiffy Kate” Stars!! These ladies keep me stalking them after every book waiting for my next fix…I mean book to read!! lol

‘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.

Stud Muffin was my first book by the duo Jiffy Kate and I think I might already be hooked! It was so full of quirky humor without losing the emotion of the story.

Tempest ‘the Duchess of Muffins’ is an absolutely amazing heroine. She is real and relatable. When life hands her lemons she just adds them to her muffin recipes.

“Hey,” Cage says, kneeling down beside me, his mouth right next to my ear so only I can hear. “You’re fine… better than fine… you’re Tempest Cassidy and you’re one of the strongest people I know…”

Cage is a former MMA fighter who is new to Green Valley. Just settling in, working at the local strip club, getting used to life in a small town. He is there when Tempest needs a friend. He helps her find ways to deal with her anger and stress.

“The muffins are sad,” I say, after a few moments, “because I’m sad… and I can’t get past it. I thought a clean break was what I needed, but the edge left behind is so sharp… I feel like I’m bleeding every time I breathe.”

I just love this story and this series. I can’t wait to read more Donner Bakery stories and I’m definitely going to read more books by these authors.
-5 Stars!-

Oh my I am loving the Donner Bakery and their fabulous cast of characters . Jiffy Kate is new to me and I have fallen for her characters and words ! Tempest begins as a beautifully scorned woman that is being kicked as she is already down . When she thinks that the man she will spend the rest of her life with is sleeping with her highschool and hometown nemesis. Enter Cage he is a retired MMA fighter that is taking a sebatical and helping out a friend at his club. This couple begin as friends and then it becomes so much more somthing that they both need. They may start helping one another in a time of need but it becomes apparant that they can be so much more if Temptest can learn to love and trust again! Cage was truly a man that learned and discovered Temptest and then gave her what she needed even when she was unsure ! LOVED it !!
~~Michele McMullen ~~

Oh Jiffy Kate! Where have you been all my reading life!!

This story, based in the world of Green Valley is spectacular! This Donner Bakery story is everything a romantic comedy should be! Full of heart, heat and oh the laughter is right up my alley! I floved it!

This is the story of Tempest and Cage.

Tempest is the proverbial “Tempest in a teacup” she may be small but she is mighty. When the unthinkable happens to her. Well let’s just say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and she ultimately pays the price. (But I was rejoicing the whole way!) She is struggling to find herself again and when she starts a friendship with Cage, well she finds who she really is.

Cage, oh my me this lovable Viking! He is everything that is good and swoony in a hero! He is a retired cage fighter with a heart of gold and a body for sin. He strives to be everything that Tempest needs and more.

I cheered hard for them, I laughed with them and even got a little misty for them! You get all the feels in this book!

I will definitely be going back and adding some of their previous stories to my TBR list!

Well done ladies, so well done!

***5 ‘I’ll Always Fight For You’ Stars***

I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked from the start and did not put it down (or want to ~ sometimes that #workthing gets in the way) I was sweet, funny, smexy and heartbreaking as well as heart (and panty) melting but dear lord I don’t think there’s been a book that I’ve read recently where I wanted to gut so many side characters (or at least Gibbs smack some sense into them). This baby was chock full of them, but thankfully the goodness totally out weighed that crazy and in the end I was really happy with how everything worked out.

I adored Tempest. She’s sweet and caring and crazy talented. Yes, she does a few crazy things in the book, but I could hardly fault her for them ~ her world was ripped apart and she needed to vent. But what I loved about her the most was how, even during her ‘crazy’ period, she didn’t give up on life, she may have needed a good old nudge in the right direction a time or two, but she ended up coming out stronger for it. Cage….Can I have one of him for myself please?? Pretty please?? Talk about book boyfriend goodness. This man was a bit of a surprise, a very good one, but a surprise and I loved everything about him.

As for their journey to their HEA. I loved how the attraction was mutual, but for very obvious reasons they took things slowly and became friends first. Their bantering was a lot of fun and their sexual tension was intense, but what I really enjoyed was how they saw beyond what everyone else did and simply accepted the other for who they were. Now, things got bumpy between them, not a surprise considering all that Tempest was dealing with and I definitely growled in frustration numerous times, but in the end, I loved how everything worked out for them.

This was a fun read…well, Cage and Tempest were a lot of fun. Jenn and Hank and even Cole were, as for everyone else?? Let’s just say I was quite pissed at quite a few of them…growly, snarly kind of pissed at how they treated Tempest, especially the ones who should have been #TeamTempest from the start. True, she did go batshit crazy, but still. Though I absolutely LOVED how those who committed transgressions against her, got theirs in the end and more.
But, overall, this is a great addition to the Green Valley World and the Pennyverse in general and cannot wait to dive into the next one!

~ Copy provided by Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~

Holy Hot Muffins straight out the oven! So… not gonna lie, so many times during this book while totally lol’ing, I was also hearing Carrie Underwood in the background of my head singing the chorus to “Before He Cheats.” Tempest Cassidy is my spirit animal, Y’all!! She hand delivers revenge on a platter, while the rest of us ladies in the world sit back and cheer HECK YASSS! There are consequences for her actions and she owns that mess! And sweet baby Desus in a manger, then she manages to become BFF’s/workout buddies/friends to lovers with Cage “The Fighting Viking” Erickson. LUCKY! I’ve never rooted and carried on so for a book chick so hard in my life.
Tempest and Cage’s story is like nothing I’ve read before combining all the hilariously lol moments you could ever want plus just the right amount of devastatingly gut-wrenching moments to pack perfectly timed punches. You’re left knowing you’ve been served an emotional beat-down delivered by none other than the amazing Jiffy Kate duo going all out in this Five Star TKO!

In this story, told in dual POV (which I adore) we read about Tempest “Em” Cassidy, err formerly Williams and the he and chaos she encounters after eight years of marriage, a heartbreaking event and then the pinnacle when she walks in on her husband after the unthinkable. But not only does she walk in on him after the unthinkable, but is literally with her arch nemesis, Mindy Mitchell. I mean couldn’t get any worse than that l. Am I right?
Tempest immediately finds herself victim/ powerless to the curse of the “ fiery red hair haired temper” and loses her shit, which in turn leads her to finding herself in the slammer. MORE THAN ONCE! Next thing you know it’s a feisty free for all. One anger “episode” after another. I’m talking hilariously unique kinds of misadventures/quests for revenge for Tempest against her ex-husband Asher and his mistress, Mindy. Tempest is dealing with a lot and her life is definitely not where she thought it would be at all and it’s beyond a lot to take in. Lord knows she didn’t handle it well and living in a small town, where everywhere she turns they’re in her freaking face or the entire debacle is being thrown in her face sire isn’t helping. My heart broke so many times throughout this book for Tempest.

Enter Cage Erickson “ The Fighting Viking”. He’s beyond hot, he’s huge and just enough of a mystery, if being from out of town wasn’t enough, throw in working for his old Harvard buddy Hank at the Pink Pony (yes, it’s a booty club lol) immediately Cage and Tempest form a friendship. There definitely some Insta-lust on both parties ends. She’s attracted to him but also knows it’s way too soon for any kind of relationship so friendship it is. He agrees to help her channel her anger better by working out with her and teaching her some UFC tricks, while hiding his growing more than friendship feelings for her. As their friendship grows closer she finds herself having feelings she never expected. But with friends and family offering up unsolicited advice about the gorgeous blonde hair blue-eyed out of towner will she put a stop to something good before it ever really gets started? And what will happen when she finally gets her anger under control and discovers the deception went much further than she could have ever anticipated, will Cage be able to pull this pint sized punch packin’ pixie back out of her angry tirades and help her come up with better ways to sweat out that anger? Will he be stuck having to admire her from a far while she stays in the clink or can he finally help her get it together so he can just hangout with her and enjoy her goodies?
*I voluntarily reviewed an advanced complimentary copy of this book!
My cr8zysockbookblock blog wrap up for this book!
– OBSESSION!! This book y’all. Holy crud on a cracker it’s freakin everything! I’m so in love with the characters in this story. This is unique, hilarious, a tearjerker and gives you ooey gooey feels by the end!
– Not gonna Lie, I would gladly go rounds with Cage. Rounds in the bedroom, the shower, the ring, the gym… you get me?!? Yup that how freakin hot this book is. Now it’s slow burn, but it packs such a punch when it gets there you are a-okay with the build up!
Cliffhanger Warning- NO CLIFFY!! #YOUGETHAPPYENDING

Overall Grade:

Dreams derailed can bring about disappointment, disarray, and anger. Lots and lots of anger. What do we do when we expected a certain life for ourselves, and instead, we are handed a big fat pile of dung? This is the premise of Jiffy Kate’s newest book, Stud Muffin, a SmartyPants Romance featuring the Donner Bakery.

Tempest is the Duchess of Muffins. She’s living the dream: loves her job, her husband, and her life. Except she’d like a child, and that isn’t coming easily. One day, when her conceiving temperature is right for conception, she runs home to her husband to find him…in bed with the high school mean girl. At that moment, Tempest lives up to her name in that she creates a tempest of her own out of anger over her now broken marriage. Over and over again, Tempest finds herself in trouble because she struggles to control her anger and lacks control over the dissolution of her dreams. As a consequence of her legal trouble, the judge presiding over her case requires her to go to anger management classes. And it’s the first step in healing and accepting that life can change in an instant.

Enter Cage Erickson, a retired UFC fighter. Cage is also mourning the dissolution of his dreams. He’s been forced to retire early from UFC fighting due to a career-ending injury. He’s rudderless, but his friend, Hank, offers him a job as a bouncer at his strip club, the Pink Pony. This is an opportunity for Cage to get away from his life in Dallas to figure out his next steps. One night, Tempest visits the Pink Pony. There to celebrate her divorce, she becomes very drunk, and Cage is tasked with getting her home safely. He is instantly enamored with her. Over time, these two build a friendship. Cage decides to help Tempest deal with her anger through kickboxing. This provides Tempest with an outlet along with her anger management classes, and it affords Cage the opportunity to find his future: opening a training facility in Green Valley. As these two spend time together, their feelings grow stronger; however, are their pasts too much for these two to find their future together?

Honestly, I fell in love with Jiffy Kate’s heroine the minute she began destroying her bedroom in the face of her husband’s infidelity. Tempest is a woman who trusted her husband deeply, and he failed her. Jiffy Kate create this palpable anger on the page that you can’t help but feel her despair, anger, and sadness at that moment. In fact, throughout her story, every time Asher, Tempest’s ex-husband, and Mindy, his mistress, enter the story, I felt Tempest’s feelings. Through her characterization, you cannot help but feel her pain and her sadness over broken dreams. My heart wrenched for her because Jiffy Kate make it so. To me, this is indelible writing. It’s the type of writing that keeps you remembering the story long after the book is complete. Tempest is THAT type of heroine. Her pain and subsequent journey towards healing write their words on your heart. When she allows her happy ending, it’s with relief that she’s found new dreams and a new future with, quite frankly, a much better, more attractive man. This is the power behind Jiffy Kate’s Stud Muffin: the ability to feel the emotions of their heroine.

In Cage Erickson, you will find the best kind of hero. This is a man whose dreams have also been shattered, like Tempest’s, outside of his control. He had hoped to retire a storied winning fighter, but life interceded and his dream has to be rewritten. His journey mirrors many of our own. We create expectations for our lives, but instead, life interrupts those plans and changes our course. It doesn’t make us better or worse necessarily; it simply means change and reimagining a different outcome. Besides the impact of his journey on readers as a mirror to their own experiences, Jiffy Kate characterize him as swoony. This is a man who, prior to Tempest, engages in one-night stands. He’s not looking for relationships. He’s known heartbreak in the past, and he forgoes attachments as a protection to his heart. With Tempest, though, he becomes dreamy. He recognizes her innate qualities as someone who cares deeply for others. He sees her inner beauty along with her outer beauty, and he adores her pretty much from the beginning. In fact, if anyone is going to be heartbroken first, it will be Cage because he wants “more” with her, but she requires healing in order for them to have a future. Since he adores her, he guides her, he acknowledges her pain, he indulges her physically, and he showers kindness and compassion over her, sometimes to his own sacrifice. This is why Cage and Tempest’s characters shine in this story. Their connection and friendship are my favorite parts of the book.

I’ve been extolling the virtues of Stud Muffin all over social media for the past two weeks. It’s really a simple story: a scorned woman finding herself while finding love with a man who loves and adores her deeply. Add in some delicious muffin baking, a couple of villainous characters, and a town full of colorful characters, and you’ve got Jiffy Kate’s story. Yet, below its surface, there really is a reminder. We can heal after disappointment, we can find love again, and we can dream new dreams, as long as we are open to rewriting them. If you love a little sadness, a little humor, and little passion, then you really should be reading Stud Muffin.

Tempest’s life just fell apart after finding her husband cheating with her nemesis. Sadly her anger got the best of her a few time. I have to say I loved her antics! Meeting Cage was not something she was looking for but he was so what she needed. What a beautiful story of putting your life back together and finding you are worth it!

Tempest Cassidy has been angry and vengeful since the day she walked in on her husband with another woman, landing herself in jail more times than she wishes to count, until the final time when she receives a sentence of anger management. Celebrating her divorce, finally, she goes to the town strip club, alone, and I won’t say anymore for fear of spoilers, but she meets a certain hunky MMA fighter turned bouncer that delivers her safely home.
Cage can’t seem to get her off his mind. And that has not happened in years. The beautiful red head with the temper takes up every spare thought, he wants to spend every minute with her, but he accidentally offered her friendship so thats what he does. Though he sees the attraction in her when he catches her gazing at him, a heat he wishes to sample, and the struggle is real. Delicious muffins, a hunky guy, a read head with a temper and whole lot of heat makes this a perfect read to curl up with an enjoy one evening and another five star addition to the Green Valley World.

Revenge is a dish that is best served cold…..or is it?

Nothing stings like the betrayal that Tempest Cassidy finds herself grappling with. After leaving work early to get a head start on making a baby, Tempest catches her husband in bed with another woman. The stab to the heart was even more destructive when Tempest realized that her husband’s mistress is the one person that tormented her constantly throughout school.

With her life spiraling out of control, Tempest did what any gal would do when faced with such a betrayal. Tempest let her feelings show by seeking a little revenge on her soon-to-be ex-husband. Unfortunately for Tempest – her husband would call the police every time he experienced some of these tendrils of revenge. With a rap sheet that was growing by the day, Tempest is ordered to a bit of anger management to control her impulses.

Nothing could have prepared Cage Erickson for the red haired beauty that crossed his path. Tempest has captured the former MMA fighter’s attention from the moment she walked through the door of the local strip club. Luckily for Cage, his job as a bouncer give him a seat to all of the potential antics that might slip into Tempest’s mind when clouded by alcohol. The two quickly strike up a friendship, but both struggle to ignore the fire that ignites whenever they are together. What will happen when the two find themselves at a crossroads between friendship and passion?

Stud Muffin is the second book in the Donner Bakery series in the SmartyPants Romance empire. Jiffy Kate is the duo responsible for bringing Cage and Tempest into Green Valley world, and the small Tennessee town will never be the same!! Let me start by saying that Tempest is my spirit animal. Who hasn’t wanted to drive a truck in a pond, or burn a few things that belong to your ex?? The nuances of this breakup are so realistic that readers will not be able to help the giggles that escape when scouring the revenge that Tempest is able to enact upon her ex.

Cage finds himself in Green Valley courtesy of his friendship with Hank. With a shattered career hanging over his head, the job at the Pink Pony was just the opportunity that Cage needed to get his life back together. After crossing paths with Tempest, Cage found himself wanted to give the red haired beauty the affirmation that seemed to be missing from her life. Everything about this man screams HUNK!!! I loved seeing the glimpse into Cage’s family life outside of Tennessee, and I hope we will see more of those Erickson brothers in the future!!!

The way this story was woven into the Pennyverse was absolutely amazing! A perfect combination of Green Valley favorites mixed with a new cast of unforgettable characters!! Tempest and Cage captured my attention from cover to cover. Green Valley definitely isn’t the same since the Stud Muffin came to town!! Now I have to decide if I can replicate some of those amazing cupcake ideas into my own kitchen!!