Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: How the Cookie Crumbles 
SERIES: Bluewater Bay #12
AUTHOR: Jaime Samms
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 345 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 15th, 2016
BLURB:
After losing a rigged cooking show competition — and a potential lover — to another baker, Frederic Jackson packs up his considerable baggage and moves to Bluewater Bay. He uses the network’s hush money to buy a new bakery where he hopes the small town’s revitalized economy will let him start anew.
Blaire Caruthers never wanted to work for his father at Caruthers Industries. He should have known that fixing the company’s show results was a mistake, and that choosing another man over kind, generous Frederic was an even bigger one. But the damage is done. As punishment, he’s been sent to Bluewater Bay to oversee the company’s interest in Wolf’s Landing merchandise.
Stuck in a small, nowhere town doing a job he hates, Blaire wants nothing more than to prove to Frederic he’s changed. However, Frederic struggles to trust the man who betrayed him once already. As Blaire loses ground with his father, and Frederic starts falling back into self-destructive habits, they both have to find the balance and control that’s been missing from their lives.
REVIEW:
This book hits so many of my buttons, I am a very happy girl right now!
We join this story somewhat in the middle, or at least after it has started for Frederic and Blaire. Frederic was a contestant on a reality baking contest show, overseen by Blaire for his father’s company. Blaire made some bad choices, thought with his little head, walked away from a potential relationship (not that it had really gotten that far yet) with Frederic, and daddy had to pay off Frederic at the end of the show. This leaves Frederic with even more trust issues. Frederic has some baggage, an alcoholic father, a former addiction, and now the drama around the tv show and Blaire. He takes his hush money, and heads across the country to Bluewater Bay Washington and sets up his dream, a bakery of his own. Unfortunately his baggage follows him. His dad bleeds him for money, his grandmother as well although unwillingly, and to top it off, Blaire shows up.
Blaire realized pretty quickly he made a huge mistake in choosing Jerry the slut over Frederic, and is quick to jump at the chance to head up his father’s company’s involvement with the merchandising for Wolf’s Landing, the popular paranormal television show filmed in Bluewater Bay. He knows Frederic is there and hopes to get back in his good graces. On one hand Blaire is a bit of a spoiled child, and doesn’t really seem to have any clue that Frederic may not want him in the same town, much less back in his life. On the other hand, Blaire seems to be a good man at heart, doesn’t want to follow in his asshole father’s footsteps, and really does want to rectify his mistakes with Frederic. But he’s so damn clueless!
Frederic is literally working himself sick, Blaire pops in, thinks he can throw some money around, say he’s sorry, and all will be well. But He has not dealt with the stubborn personality of Frederic.
I loved this story. Really loved it. Frederic is small, klutzy, damaged, focused, stubborn, needy, sweet, smart, talented, fiesty, and a little kinky. Blaire is big, smarty, sophisticated, spoiled, smooth, clueless, and sweet. Between them they have everything I like to see in a couple. As far as the plot, I liked the drama between them, Frederic is such a brat, and will NOT let Blaire back in. Until he is forced to. I liked the small town coming together to help one in need, when Frederic gets sick. There is a bit of politics between Blaire and his father I liked. I loved Blaire just stomping all over poor little Frederic’s stubbornness, and convincing him they really can work. There is the hint of some kink between them, Frederic has a thing for having his balls squished, and Blaire is quite happy to discover this. I loved the drama with Frederic’s family and his past issues. I loved how Blaire dealt with that.
I don’t think I’ve read any other books by Jaime Samms, but I have liked the other books in this series so was quick to request this one. I was very happy with the writing, Jaime gave me just what I wanted. This was a good addition to the series, she used a couple of existing characters from other books, and got the feel of Bluewater Bay just right. I have to admit to living in Washington and being familiar with the area this fictional town in set in, so I am a bit picky about the “feeling” some of the authors have given the area. Jaime got it right, didn’t harp on the weather, didn’t screw up distances (didn’t mention much really), and gave the town a realistic feeling. I thought the writing was just great, the characters were well done, the dialogue worked, I liked the plot, there was enough drama and angst to keep me interested, and it fit within the series.
My issues, and what made it a 4.5 heart and not a 5 heart rating was there could have been more sex, and the ending left me wanting more. There are only a couple of on-page sex scenes, and both were limited. I would have liked to see a bit more between Blaire and Frederic, especially since there was the hint of some potential kink there. As far as the ending, it felt a little rushed. We got this nice long story, lots of time to really develop things, then BAM! It’s over. I wanted to see just a little more, have Frederic get some closure with a thing that happens, and get settled in to his life with Blaire. But honestly those were minor issues and did not ruin this story for me at all.
This book is part of a universe of books, all set around the fictional town of Bluewater Bay, and mostly involving characters involved in the Wolf’s Landing tv show. Each are mostly standalone stories, I do think you could read this one without having read the others. Or without having read all of them anyway. If you have read the others, this is a great addition, one of my favorites actually, and you’ll probably like this one as well. If you haven’t read any of the others, you could read this one and be just fine. If you like it, I would suggest starting back at the first book and read them all.
Overall this was a great book! I enjoyed everything about it, and I hope Jaime writes another in this series, and maybe gives us a peek at Blaire and Frederic and their happy lives….
Now I want a cookie. Or a danish. Cupcake, cake, whatever!
RATING: 
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