No Whisk No Reward by Ellie KayMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was released on November 11, 2019.
This was another hit in the Donner Bakery series and Smartypants Romance Universe! I'm going to petition the authors for a cookbook. Their recipes sound amazing and as a home baker, I want to be able to make some of these amazing creations.
This follows Sophie Copeland, a professional pastry chef who has a bad case of stage fright. She appeared on one of those reality TV baking shows, and while she is competent in the kitchen, when the camera started rolling she forgot all of her training and pastry awesomeness. In the aftermath of her TV failure, her work at a swanky restaurant began to suffer. Determined to get back to a place where she could be the great chef she knows she is, she begins a trek across the country to help her bestie open her own bakery in Boston. On her journey, she finds herself in Green Valley after nearly colliding with the handsome, yet stoic Joel Barnes. After their near miss, Joel guides Sophie to safety on the winding Green Valley roads and helps her with a place to stay for the night. When her trip is further derailed by car trouble, she finds herself with a job at none other than the Donner Bakery and as Joel's new tenant. Sophie is determined to find out why Joel and the Winston's don't get along, and why the entire town looks down their noses at him. As she gets to know him, she learns that not everything is what it seems and she is determined to help Joel in anyway she can. In the meantime, the girls at the bakery are determined to help Sopie to get over her stage fright and get back in front of the camera and show the world what she can do in a kitchen. As Sophie and Joel get to know each other, a romance begins to take shape, but they both know that he can't leave and she can't stay.
I really enjoyed this. I loved Sophie, I liked that she had fears that she was working on but she didn't quit when things got hard. I think we've all experienced something that has impacted our self-confidence, but continuing to be herself in spite of it made me love her. I also loved that despite all the rumors surrounding Joel and his family, she took the time to get to know him and form her own opinion instead of taking sides with the gossip mongers. She saw a lonely soul and cared enough to be his friend when he needed one. I also really liked the appearance of the other characters from the other books. I will say if you are expecting Ellie's Cletus and Jenn to be the same as Penny's Cletus and Jenn, they aren't. That is what you get when you are writing about someone else's characters, they aren't 100% the same. It was still fun and they are close enough that you get what you need from them to add to the story.
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