Sugarcoated

What an amazing start to a new series!!! No one does small town romance like Erin Nicholas.

Aiden & Zoe’s is the ultimate friends-to-lovers/brothers best friend romance. So many fun things in this story.

I can’t wait for more from Appleby!!!

Sugarcoated is a best friend’s sibling romantic comedy which is told from the third-person point of view and can be read as a stand-alone or as the first novel in the Hot Cakes series.

Zoe surprised Aiden on Christmas Eve asking him to take her v-card which he equally surprised her by saying no and returned back to his life in Chicago. After five months Aiden has decided to purchase Hot Cakes so that he can return to Appleby and confess to Zoe that he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her but also has to let her know that he just bought her biggest rival in town.

Sugarcoated is a great start to the new Hot Cakes series by Erin Nicholas. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to the upcoming novels in this series. Aiden and Zoe had great chemistry and their flirting and teasing was perfect for them. The Fluke guys are really funny and had me laughing out loud while reading and making me wish I could binge read this whole series right now but will have to wait for the novels to release. I recommend this book to everyone who loves sweet and funny romances.

*ARC was generously provided in exchange for my honest review*

Welcome to Appleby sit back and enjoy the sassy heroine and the sexy brothers best friend. Once you start this one it’s almost impossible to put down, it will make you laugh with the funny lines and the sexy banter between Aiden and Zoe. I loved that Aiden gives up the job to come back and prove to Zoe that she is his. One of the best cake pop eating funny stories the I’ve read and makes you smile all the way thru. I can’t wait for the next one in this series.

Sugarcoated is book one in Erin Nicholas’s new Hot Cakes series!

I loved Zoe and Aiden from the very beginning. They have known each other since they were kids. He is best friends with Zoe’s brother and for a long time he seemed like a brother to her. That definitely changed for both of them over the past couple years, though. Aiden has decided he is moving back home to make Zoe his, and he’s sure his plan will work.

Both Zoe and Aiden definitely have their stubborn streaks. She is determined to keep things the same as they’ve always been at the family bakery. He is sure they will end up together and pushes her to move outside her comfort zone.

The plot moves pretty quickly and takes place over a short time period. My only frustration was with Aiden putting off telling Zoe he was purchasing Hot Cakes, the snack cake company in town that her family hates. He keeps planning for the perfect time to tell her, but honestly is there ever a good time to say, “I bought the company you and your family wish would go out of business”? I understand why he did it, as it is true to his nature as the planner and organizer of his company, but he had to know it would not go over well no matter when he told her.

If you are looking for a sweet romance with heat and heart, I definitely recommend picking up Sugarcoated today!

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for an honest review.

Uber Fun start to Erin Nicholas new series. Pink is the theme in this fun lighthearted romp to the bakeries! I will never look at frosting, cake pops or pink satin the same way again!

Overall Grade:

I guess this week finds me reading bakery-inspired romance with Katana Collins’s Beefcakes and Erin Nicholas’s Sugarcoated. This is my first foray into the literary world of Erin Nicholas, and I am finding myself hooked with the first book in her Hot Cakes series. If you don’t want to be hooked too, then you’ll want to stay away from Sugarcoated. However, you’ll want to read about the guys of Fluke, Inc, in this series because there is a hero for everyone.

In Sugarcoated, we follow Aidan and Zoe. These two have known each other most of their lives because Aidan is Zoe’s older brother’s best friend and business partner, and his mother was best friends with her mother. Their past is deeply intertwined. As a twenty-five-year-old virgin, Zoe decides that she wants Aidan to take her virginity and prepare her for any future men in her life. She’s attracted to him, but she only wants his help, or so she thinks. When he spurns her request, it makes her feel foolish, and she believes her request is behind her…until it’s not. Five months later, Aidan is back in town, and he’s come for Zoe. See, Aidan realizes his attraction and interest in Zoe, and he’s back to claim her forever, but he has a secret. He and his partners in Fluke Inc. are also interested in purchasing her competition to her bakery. A life-long rivalry aims to derail Aidan’s plans for his future with Zoe. Will Aidan claim her heart and her virginity, or will his purchase of her competitor, Hot Cakes, burn his future?

In one word, Sugarcoated is sweet. This isn’t a “clean romance” by any means. Both Aidan and Zoe are dirty talkers, and their bedroom antics offer the spice of the story. However, their $exiness is really tertiary to this book. Instead, this is Nicholas’s story of accepting change and finding surprises in life by jumping in first and asking questions later regardless of success and failure. Aidan and Zoe are two sides of the same coin. As Nicholas develops their story, it’s clear that these two sometimes “play it safe” or do what’s “easy” to avoid failure. As the story progresses, we find Zoe taking chances and making herself vulnerable to Aidan even though the price is potential failure. Aidan encourages this in Zoe but fails to do this for himself. This conflict/double-standard becomes the tension of Nicholas’s story. As such, this contemporary romance becomes more sweet than sour. Nicholas allows you to breathe as a reader as Aidan and Zoe quickly troth themselves to each other. There is something comforting about that for this romance. You can simply sit back and be entertained by Zoe and Aidan falling deeply for each other, instead of worrying over some level of desolate angst.

If I had any criticism about Nicholas’s story, it would be its feeling of repetition. Zoe and Aidan seem to cycle around the same issues: Aidan’s want for Zoe to accept Aidan’s purchase of her “competitor” and Zoe’s worry over changes in her life and the need for “surprise” since her life is safe. There is quite a bit of reminding about how long these two have been attracted to each other. If I was a beta reader for Nicholas, I would recommend revising out these constant reminders, as they oftentimes slowed down the story progression.

For me, Sugarcoated is a set-up for the rest of the Hot Cakes series of standalones. Yes, Nicholas has a prequel for this series on her Facebook page that introduces you to the Fluke Inc. guys. However, Nicholas has also used Sugarcoated to introduce us further to the personalities of Aidan, Cam, Ollie, Dax, and Grant. This is where she will hook you. You want to know more about the dazzling playboy Dax (his book is coming next with Forking Around), the creative, but flighty Ollie, the straight-laced Grant, and the cocky and oftentimes aggressive Cam. This is where Nicholas will grab you and help you push the button on your Amazon preorders for her books.

If you like friends-to-lovers, brother’s best friend romances, then you will want to read Erin Nicholas’s Sugarcoated. It’s a little bit of sweet, some spice, and a lesson on letting go and accepting life as it comes your way.

Erin Nicholas is one of my go-to authors so I was very excited about the release of her newest series – Hot Cakes! One thing you may not know about me is that I am a cooking show junkie (i.e., Chopped, Top Chef, The Kitchen, Guy’s Grocery Games, Pioneer Woman, Buddy vs. Duff, Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America, etc… – you get the picture). The Food Network is my guilty pleasure. When I saw that this series was about a bakery and a snack food company, I knew that it was the series for me! Erin starts the series off with the story of Zoe and her brother’s best friend, Aiden. Grab your glass of wine and let’s chat about Erin Nicholas’ Sugarcoated. If you have cake pops or cupcakes in the house, you might want to grab some of those as well.

Aiden and Cam left Appleby for college and never looked back. The best friends, who developed the biggest online video game to hit the market in a decade, now live five hours away in Chicago. They just sold the company for millions so, why is Aiden dead set on moving back to their small hometown in Iowa? Aiden made a promise to his mother before he died. He was going to do something important with his life, something that mattered. When the snack cake factory in Appleby when on the market, Aiden know what he was supposed to do. It also gave him a reason to move home which is what he’s wanted to do since he discovered that he was in love with his best friend’s little sister – Zoe.

Zoe McCaffery hated two things: change and Hot Cakes. That’s why the menu at her family bakery, Buttered Up, had not changed in years. The pie recipes were made exactly the way that her grandmother made them. The cakes and icings may look different depending on the order but they always tasted the same. Zoe’s family had been feuding with the family who owned Hot Cakes for three generations…all of the way back to their grandmothers who founded them both 50 years ago. When Aiden walks in the door, after the humiliating Christmas situation, he brings in enough changes to complete throw Zoe for a loop. Will she be able to embrace Aiden and the changes that he brings or will she shut him out?

I’m pretty sure that I say this every few books but, Aiden is my newest book boyfriend! The man is just about perfect…he looks as good in jeans and a t-shirt as he does in an expensive suit. He is smart, sensitive, determined, romantic, and just naughty enough to keep things interesting! Erin Nicholas has laid the foundation for a great series with Sugarcoated. I can’t wait to read more. My rating of Sugarcoated by Erin Nicholas…5 out of 5 propellers!

I am an avid reader of all things by Erin Nicholas, so of course I was eager to get my hands on an ARC of this book from her new series – Hot Cakes!

I absolutely love the friends to lovers trope. Aiden had grown up with Zoe and her family after his mother had passed when he was young. Aiden and Zoe’s brother (Cam) are in business together. Zoe’s parents love Aiden like a son… but how is everyone going to react when Aiden decides that he and Zoe are meant to be together.

There’s plenty of heat and tons of sweetness to be had! This book seems to set up a lot of the storylines for the other books in this series. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the books – make sure you check out Hot Cakes!

Oh, Erin Nicholas – how I adore you.

First of all, ya’ll should have seen my face when I received an email telling me I made it on her arc team for this Hot Cakes series. SHUT. THE. BAKERY. DOOR! Not only that – which that was HUGE – but I got to read this amazing, swoony book with all the feels. Erin is the master of small-town romance with witty characters that you fall in love with.

In this book, we meet Zoe and Aiden. Zoe is Aiden’s best friend’s little sister. They have known each other almost their whole lives. Zoe makes a decision to lose her v-card and asks Aiden for his help. However, Aiden says no. Zoe is devastated, as one would be and carries on with her life working at the bakery! It’s not that Aiden didn’t want to help – he just also wants to be her last, as well as her first. *Heart swoon*

If you like the sibling’s best friend trope, small-town romance, witty, interesting characters – you’ll love this book. There is a bakery!!! I don’t know about you, but I love books that have characters that cook or bake in them and all that descriptive text just makes you feel like you are there with them. It’s so good, ya’ll! This book has been the ICING on my quarantine adventure. Erin Nicholas – you are an amazing talent and I can’t think you enough for trusting me with this book. I adore you, and I can NOT wait for the next book in this series. Seriously, ya’ll – it releases tomorrow 3/24/2020 – GO GET IT!!!

Sugarcoated is sweet and spicy! Aiden and Zoe have basically grown up together. Then they surprise each other by falling in love. A definite must read for all book lovers. This book is packed full of sweetness and just the right amount of hotness.