Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: Cookies For Courting
AUTHOR: Amber Kell
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 68 pages
BLURB:
After his sister’s death, businessman Marshall Hunter gains custody of his niece. Unused to children, Marshall struggles to connect with her. In an effort to make her more comfortable in her new home, he hires professional muralist Pace Barlow to personalize her room.
Pace is intrigued by his tiny client, and even more interested in her handsome uncle, but Pace isn’t certain he’s ready for the commitment of an instant family.
When Marshall decides to move for the sake of his niece, will he be able to keep his relationship with his young artist, or will he have to give up love to become a good father for a lonely little girl?
The love baked into an old-fashioned recipe might bring the two men together, but some things take more than magical cookies to fix.
REVIEW:
Yikes! This was a rough read for me. I don’t really know where this story veered off course but when it did, it really did! I honestly felt no real connection between these characters aside from lust and that really only seemed one sided. Pace was a complete mystery character, in my opinion. I’m not against instalove stories, not at all. But there has to be some semblance of a foundation for the love. I don’t understand how these two could have fallen in love so quickly. There were small conversations, here and there, and one fumbly sexual encounter in Pace’s studio, where did the love come from? It definitely didn’t seem genuine, not at all.
Pace Barrlow is a trust fund baby who wants nothing to do with his trust fund. He’s an exceptionally talented artist who wants to only rely on his talent to make it in this world. One of his past clients has recommended him to a successful business man looking to procure Pace’s services to do a mural for his niece.
Marshall Hunter is a very successful business man. He is trying to juggle work and his new status of single father. Having just lost his twin sister to a horrific accident he’s adopted his sister’s daughter and plans to raise her as his sister would. After his sister’s passing he’s been able to rearrange his priorities and put Alice’s needs first. One thing he wants to do is make his home more comfortable for her so her hires a painter to paint a mural in her room.
When Marshall goes to interview the painters, one of the perspective applicants is Pace. Marshall is immediately attracted and even tells Pace so, in the interview. Then Pace does a very strange thing I guess proving to Marshall that he too is attracted. They say several times they don’t want to mix business with pleasure but do anyway. It was incredibly confusing and just added to the overall, weirdness of the story.
Needless to say there’s lukewarm heat, then love. Throw in some crazy drama involving a kidnapping and the Russian Mob and you have the gist of this story.
This wasn’t a win for me.
RATING: 
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