Beef Cake

4.5 Stars This is book 4 in the Donner Bakery series and one that had me hooked right from the beginning. I love Gunner. He is prime yummy hero material. I loved watching him with Frankie. She needs someone like him in her corner. She keeps emotion inside and no attachments, but Gunner is going to slowly pick away at her walls. This book has plenty heart and humor, but it also has action and suspense elements. This is a story you don't want to miss. It will be hard to put this one down. One of my favorite parts of the book is the healing and blossoming Frankie does in the book. It made my heart so happy for her. She deserves an HEA.

4.5 stars — This was a FANTASTIC new addition to this series!! I did read Stud Muffin before this one, and while I’m personally glad I did, you wholeheartedly could read this one as a standalone without missing anything. Frankie was such an intriguing heroine! She was SO CLOSED OFF it was insane! But for very good reasons, as you find out in the book. I loved the way the authors showcased her journey, so you saw her natural reactions, her defense mechanisms, saw when she wanted more, saw Gunnar breaking through those walls, and saw her genuinely getting help when her past was revealed and she knew she couldn’t do it all on her own. It was just a fantastic illustration of one possible reaction to abuse PTSD. I think in many ways I could have easily grown frustrated with her and the way she would slam those walls up, but I didn’t…I was able to understand where it was coming from, and I had hope it wouldn’t be forever. Gunnar was absolutely adorable. Like, another A+ book boyfriend. Occasionally I would feel like he was almost too similar to his big brother Cage (presuming you read Cage’s book), but the differences were subtle. He really had a deeper intuition about him, and I loved the way that came through in his courtship of Frankie. I loved that he was persistent, but not just for the sake of the challenge. He was sweet, sensitive, caring, open…and so passionate about his sport. I loved what they brought out in one another, and how they fit with one another so perfectly. I adore the way, like his big brother, he was constantly checking in with Frankie and not pushing her past her hard boundaries…but nudging her to help her open up. I loved the way Frankie appreciated all the little quirks of Gunnar, and wanted to break her barriers for him. It was definitely a satisfying build up and resolution. As always, great side characters. I loved the story with Helen and the shelter and what we learned about Frankie because of it. I loved seeing more of the fighting with Gunnar (even if that’s not a sport that interests me) — I especially adored the benefit fight, and seeing him interacting with his brothers. Yup. It’s seriously always refreshing when you can read two books in a row in the same setting and get a completely different story out of it. I seriously hope we get Vali’s story next!

Cleverly written in my favorite dual POV, this maddeningly paced story swung from angst to sharp wit, to tragedy, to heart-squeezes, to potential peril, to amusing humor, and on to a sweet wooing romance and then back through all the cycles, multiple times. And I was rooting for these lovely characters throughout the entirety, although I wanted to stamp my little foot at Frankie’s mixed messages, and inconsiderate and snappish behaviors toward sweet Gunnar. She was an ER nurse with hard edges and a tough outer shell yet filled with fear and anxiety as well as confusion and nightmares about her past. In vast contrast, Gunnar was a hulking Viking cage fighter who was a rather anomalous character as he fought like a demon in the cage yet was well educated, profoundly insightful with people, and had a tender heart and the patience of a saint. Luckily, Gunnar didn’t back down from a challenge, and Frankie was certainly that, she was several in fact, and a total mess. The engaging storylines were certainly original and oddly absorbing yet evolved slowly with an ever-annoying one step forward and two steps back dance while I grew increasingly fretful as I had an inkling as what was coming in the big reveal of Frankie’s repressed childhood, which was even worse than I had imagined yet handled in a stellar manner by these clever scribes. I adore the entire line of Smartypants Romances, which appear to be amassing an uncannily well-cultivated grouping of talented wordsmiths. I am well and truly hooked and plan to read each and every one of them.