Icing on the Cake

by Ann Marie Walker

Publication Date: January 30, 2018

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

 

 

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks

 

Notting Hill meets The Prince & Me in Icing on the Cake, the second standalone laugh-out-loud romance in Ann Marie Walker’s Wild Wedding series

 

Cassandra Miller doesn’t have time for men. She’s far too busy trying to open a cupcake shop with her silent partner and best friend, not to mention catering her brother’s wedding. And let’s face it, it’s not like Prince Charming is going to stroll into the bakery and sweep her off her feet.

 

Henry has been a prince his entire life but for one wild wedding he wants to be nothing more than an “Average Joe”, or in this instance, “Average Hank”. However, when a case of mistaken identity and a batch of burned cupcakes ends in a night of passion, Cassie and Hank must decide if theirs is a recipe for disaster or the makings of true romance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icing on the Cake by Ann Marie Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the Wild Wedding series. This book can be read as standalone novel. For reader enjoyment and understanding of the series, I recommend reading in order.

Cassandra is busy trying to build a new life for herself. She is starting a new business, and really does not have time to date. Going to her brother's wedding gives her the chance to have a fling with a sexy someone.

Henry AKA "Hank" just wants to be a normal guy for the weekend. Just wants to enjoy hanging with his college friends without the paparazzi following him around. Then he meets this amazing woman he wants to spend time with.

I loved this story from the start. The banter wasn't the only thing zinging all over. The heat in this book was seriously turned up! Had a steady pace and characters that were so much fun to read.

***This early copy was given in exchange for an honest review, by Netgalley and its publisher.

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 About Ann Marie Walker:

 

 

Ann Marie Walker writes steamy books about sexy boys. She’s a fan of fancy cocktails, anything chocolate, and 80s rom-coms. Her super power is connecting any situation to an episode of Friends and she thinks all coffee cups should be the size of a bowl. If it’s December she can be found watching Love Actually but the rest of the year you can find her at AnnMarieWalker.com where she would be happy to talk to you about alpha males, lemon drop martinis or supermodel David Gandy. Ann Marie attended the University of Notre Dame and currently lives in Chicago.

 

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This is the 2nd book in the Wild Wedding series.  This book can be read as standalone novel.  For reader enjoyment and understanding of the series, I recommend reading in order.

 

Cassandra is busy trying to build a new life for herself.  She is starting a new business, and really does not have time to date.  Going to her brother's wedding gives her the chance to have a fling with a sexy someone.

 

Henry AKA "Hank" just wants to be a normal guy for the weekend.  Just wants to enjoy hanging with his college friends without the paparazzi following him around.  Then he meets this amazing woman he wants to spend time with.  

 

I loved this story from the start.  The banter wasn't the only thing zinging all over.  The heat in this book was seriously turned up!  Had a steady pace and characters that were so much fun to read.  I give this book a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

 

 

***This early copy was given in exchange for an honest review, by Netgalley and its publisher.

Icing on the Cake - Lisa Pattinson There are no reviews here on Goodreads and only one one-star rating on Amazon but I read this story anyway. It looks and reads like an author's first book and there is some quality I enjoyed about the story. Nothing really dramatic happens - it's more a day to day story of a group of women. If there were grammatical errors, I'm sure I skimmed over them.

I never had the sense of any physical intimacy (detailed or 'fade to black') between Winona and Heather or real emotional closeness, especially given the last tenth of the book.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at The Romance Evangelist.

ICING ON THE CAKE is the second story in Karla Doyle’s Close To Home series, and picks up a few months after the first book, CUP OF SUGAR, where we are now about to see Conn and Nia walk down the aisle. After all the shenanigans Nia’s sister, Sara, had pulled in book one, I was curious to see who could possibly her love match. When Conn’s love ‘em and leave ‘em brother, Curtis, appeared to take an interest in Sara, I knew I would be in for a rollercoaster ride until the very end. What I didn’t expect was how ICING ON THE CAKE would manage to show the hidden sides of both Curtis and Sara, and how she wasn’t the only one who needed that perfectly matched someone to care and understand.

Even though we got a fairly decent explanation of why Sara behaves as she does, and why Nia’s family continues to support her no matter what, it’s in ICING ON THE CAKE that we see exactly what her past actions and present stubbornness have brought her. Nia and her parents still have no idea how Sara really lives, and only by virtue of his desire for her does Curtis manage to wedge his way into her existence and ultimately her heart. 

Curtis may be less self-destructive than Sara, but he’s still a badass, and just as resistant to romantic relationships as she is. His police job puts in him danger every day and women are just a off-duty distraction. Any time one of them gets close, it’s all over, and he’s on to the next one. But even Curtis knows that as much as he wants Sara in his bed, he still needs to be especially careful with her heart. If only he was looking after his own as closely.

As much as I loved Nia and Conn’s sweet and passionate romance in CUP OF SUGAR, I was even more taken by the rough and tumble path to love for Sara and Curtis in ICING ON THE CAKE. So much of what keeps them apart is a lack of trust, but you have to give trust to get it, and that’s one thing neither Sara nor Curtis seems to be particular good at. Thank goodness that their mutual sexual attraction is so incredible that it keeps bringing them back together even as they resist acknowledging their deeper feelings for each other. By the time Curtis and Sara stop denying the obvious, each has finally stopped putting on the front they keep for everyone else and the result is a happy ending that is not only satisfying but realistic for both characters. ICING ON THE CAKE is a lovely continuation of the Close To Home series, and I quite enjoyed it.

4,75 stars

The book I've been waiting for ever since I finished CUP OF SUGAR is finally here! The book about the main couple from COS's siblings: Curtis, the hero's tattooed hot cop brother and Sara, the heroine's free-spirited, defiant sister.

I don't even know where to begin about this book. This is one of those books that I just want to yell at people to go buy and read. The mix of emotion, conflict, heat and humor was perfect. Karla Doyle is a master at combining these for elements into books I can't stop reading and when I have to, I can't wait to get back to them. Her writing always, ALWAYS hits the mark with me and every book seems to get better and better.

The chemistry, connection and vebal sparring between Sara and Curtis was off the charts! Sara is a smart-mouthed spitfire and Curtis is a dirty-talking alpha cop. I loved them both as individual characters with their issues and hang-ups and as a couple that slowly but surely made the journey from one-night stand heat to something meaningful and lasting. Sara doesn't want love as it leads to loss and Curtis doesn't believe in love and HEAs. The sexy scenes were panty-melting hot and my only very minor complaint is that I would have loved to have more of them in the book. On the other hand I understand that the pages were needed for the emotional story arc and that always trumps sexy scenes in my book.

Again I not only loved the main couple of this book but also the secondary characters, who formed an awesome supporting cast. In particular Jake Campbell, Curtis's partner grabbed my attention from the minute he appeared on the page. Teasing and baiting Curtis about Sara. I hope he's getting a story of his own too in the future. I also really liked Lindsay even though she was a bit bitchier than in the first book! Saw her book is up next and I can't wait!

Memorable Scenes:
- the one in Curtis's hotelroom after the wedding > sweet lord, any hotter and my e-reader would've exploded!
- the one with the proposal > I got all teary-eyed and it's my favorite scene in the book

Favorite Quotes:
“Just making sure everything goes smoothly for my brother. And your sister.”
She yanked, and his fingers tightened around her wrist. “By handcuffing me to six feet of good behavior?”
“Six-two. And babe, if and when I put the cuffs on you, you can count on my behavior being very, very bad.”

She stuck out her tongue, revealing a small white candy. “What can I say, I’m a fan of fresh breath.”
“Then I hope you have more of those candies for later.” He pulled the cash from her fist and flicked it aside, then guided her palm to his fly. “I’ve got plans for that smart mouth of yours, and they involve several four-letter words, none of which are ‘mint.’”

“I like these,” he said, depositing the stilettos on her lap as he filled his side of the car with his big frame and even bigger presence. “Put them back on.”
“Ooh, are we going to role-play ‘dirty cop fucks a call girl’? I like that one.”
“I don’t role-play.” The look he gave her while bringing the car rumbling to life would have made an erupting volcano seem frigid. “I don’t need games to make sex exciting.”

“All I want from you is a record-setting number of orgasms.”
“What’s the number to beat?”
“Depends. Who you want to compete with—a human, or my vibrator.”

A thousand miniature suns must be racing through his bloodstream, because he felt like he was going to explode. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he just might. All over the mattress.

There was no good way to answer. Jake was a buddy as well as a damn good cop. He’d know if Curtis fed him a load of bull, and he’d have far too much fun with the info if Curtis told him the whole truth. Best he could do was shoot for the middle and hope a partial version floated like shit from a high-fiber diet.

In the middle of the most serious conversation of his life and she managed to make him chuckle. “Stay here and figure it out. With me. Let’s find out how many ways you can make me crazy. How many ways I can piss you off and calm you down. I want to count how many times you call me ‘dude’ before admitting you’re in love with me too.”