Heather may have sworn off men following her last breakup, but all it takes is one schmexy florist and his intrusive family (babushka included) to completely melt her heart.
What’s it About?
Jase Dvornakov has always loved women, 80’s hair band music, and things that go boom. He used to disarm bombs in the Navy, but he’s back in Denver after a mission overseas went sideways and destroyed his future, including his marriage. Now he arranges flowers in his family’s floral business because flowers don’t explode.
Cookie-baker extraordinaire, Heather Reese, has had one too many rounds of heartache, so she’s sworn off men and prefers to spend her evenings binge-watching game shows. Plus her no-men rule gives her time to focus on her dream come true–Heather’s Cookie Co.–her very own bake shop with an underground following for naughty shaped treats. She refuses to be interested in the hot-shot florist across the street. He is trouble with a capital T. Sexy trouble, but still, a hook-up with Jase is a hard nope.
Desperate to avoid his family’s incessant matchmaking, a fake breakup with the beautiful Heather is just what the florist ordered. If his family believes Heather decimated his heart, they’ll leave him alone. Heather isn’t so keen on the idea, but Jase is determined to make it worth her while. When a pretend breakup becomes the real romance neither was expecting, together they’ll have to decide if it’s finally time to light the fuse on love…
Quick Review
The first book in this series captivated me, but this second installment has stolen my heart. Apparently all it takes is one devastatingly shirtless florist dancing solo around his shop to the beat of his own drum, and I’m a total goner. Not to mention the intrepid baker across the street who is the epitome of a leading lady with whom you want to be best friends. This novel presented us with a fun twist on your typical “fake relationship” trope in that in an attempt to keep his nosy family out of his personal life, Jase has told them a little white lie in that he and the town baker have recently broken up. Surely they’ll take a brief respite from their constant attempts to set him up with someone when they learn he needs some time to mend his broken heart. Three weeks perhaps? Little did he expect his mildly psychotic (in the most delightful of ways) babushka to seek revenge against the woman who dared turn down her precious grandson. Heather may have been turning down Jase’s repeatedly flirtatious attempts to ask her out for months, but she has now been pulled fully into his web of lies when pleading with her to play along with the ruse so that his family will now leave them both alone.
I found myself smirking with joy from the first moment Heather spies on her handsome neighbor from his front shop window as he dances around, and with each turn of the page I became increasingly delighted with every new scheme and disastrous plan that continuously built this web of half-truths and fibs into a ball of hilarious mayhem. While Heather and Jase certainly paint themselves into a corner a time or two in some ball-busting ways, it is undoubtedly the infamous babushka who steals the show by bringing her own brand of hilarity into the mix. The no-nonsense attitude and repeated hijinks of this woman will have you cracking up, from her insistence that the best steaks in town are to be had at the local strip club, to her afternoon romp with the owner of said strip club utilizing a stack of conveniently-placed pillows for support. This is a silly read with characters you can’t help but love and ultimately wish you could share a glass of vodka with, maybe even alongside one of Heather’s famous bachelorette party “cockies”, cookies in the shape of a particular part of the male anatomy.
All of this havoc certainly tests the willpower of Heather and Jase, but through it all they also find themselves laughing with each other along the way. Is there anything better than when a romance hero and heroine can share in their laughter together? As Heather and Jase’s deceit continues, it doesn’t take long at all before their supposedly broken romance turns into a real one. From strangers, to friends, to something more. Amidst the lies, they admit truths to each other that they’ve kept hidden for years from family, friends, and in some instances even themselves. The uproarious situations presented throughout the novel are certainly over-the-top, and yet at the heart of this read lies a budding relationship that feels wholly real. From those first flutterings of butterflies, to the debate over whether the other might be feeling what they are, questioning whether or not they should take a chance at something more, and ultimately coming to the realization that perhaps this is the real thing after all. Their love is what grounds the read to the point where it’s not all ridiculousness, but rather there is something beautiful and pure at the center. This is a couple you root for, not just because it’s a romance where you want to see a happy ending, but because these two have overcome heartache and heartbreak where they both deserve that happy ending.
Series: Mile High Matched, book 2. I will definitely be reading every book in this series, please and thank you. I can’t wait to see what might be in store for this group of friends in the next installment, and I can only keep my fingers crossed that one outrageous babushka in particular will make a reappearance.
Would I befriend the heroine? She bakes phallic shaped cookies, we’d be besties.
Would I date the hero? Without hesitation, even if his family does seem completely unhinged.
Final Impressions: This is the ideal book to bring along on your next beach vacation, pool adventure, or simply when you need a good laugh. Keep in mind you might need to hide your snorting laughter behind your hand or in the very midst of the pages themselves as you hold up your e-reader in a useless attempt to shield others from your giddy smirk. There’s a tease of seriousness to certain parts of the read, particularly as it relates to Jase’s troubled military background, but all in all this read will warm your heart faster than a fresh batch of naughty cookies ever could. I loved it from start to finish.
Smut Level: Jase certainly knows how to put his military training to good use, especially when it comes to holding his breath under water when sharing a bath with a very naked Heather.
Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $4.99 Kindle Price. Independently Published. 286 Pages.
Romance Novels for the Beach 