Book Title: Baking Battles (Scandinavian Comfort 3)
Author: Sophia Soames
Publisher: Self-published
Cover Artist: Christina Stern
Release Date: June 15, 2020
Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance
Trope/s: Bisexual awakening, Single Dad
Themes: Coming out, Parenting, Reality Baking show, Family.
Length: 82 500 words
It is a standalone story in the Scandinavian Comfort series.
Scandinavian Comfort is a series of standalone novels set in Scandinavia, sharing the common theme of Hygge. Hygge is a Danish word that is impossible to translate into a single English word. It’s a concept of finding happiness in the small things, of towing the middle line instead of always aiming for the top and finding joy in your home and sharing time with your family. In Scandinavia you will find that especially Friday evenings are often seen as Hygge time, where families eat favourite foods, light candles and watch a movie, preferably whilst wearing slippers and pyjamas. Another Scandinavian word that is very fitting to this series is the Swedish word Lagom, meaning ‘not too little, not too much’. Just right. This sums up the Scandinavian people in a nutshell.
Live your life well. Not too little, not too much.
Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Are you brave enough to stay? Or strong enough to walk away?
Blurb
Mattias Strømme’s life is a recipe for disaster. He is a single dad of a 2-year-old, has an ex-wife who scares him, and a job in finance where he scares everyone else. And now he has been dragged in as a last-minute filler contestant on Baking Battles, the hit reality baking show. Mattias can’t bake. He can barely dress himself in the morning, and he definitely hasn’t got the skills to charm the viewing public, or the wannabe celebs who make up the rest of the show’s contestants. He’s not a nice person. He’s just… nothing. Mattias left his wife when life became unbearable for him and he fell apart. Now, when he is suddenly drowning in a mess of rumours, male supermodels, and unicorn glitter? Will Mattias be brave enough to stay? Or strong enough to walk away?
“Mattias, how did your love of baking come about?” he hears Christopher’s voice somewhere on his right as Isolde dips a teaspoon in his almost-finished batter.
“Cardamom.” Isolde interrupts, with a smile to the camera. “You are staying traditional in your flavourings, Mattias. A safe choice if you can pull it off. Cardamom is notoriously tricky in baking due to its tendency to produce a dry end result.” She nods into the camera, then turns to Mattias with another perfect smile. She’s made for this kind of work, just like Christopher is. Her perfect features, and slim frame, showing off the designer jumpsuit she has been poured into. Red lips and bouncing curls hugging her shoulders. She’s pretty, yet not Mattias’s type, at all. He shudders at the thought. All that perfection, the expectations and everything else that comes with trying to live up to someone else’s ideals. Nope. No. Never again.
“I am hoping to produce a moist sponge with just a hint of flavour. Something sweet to go with a morning espresso. To start off Christmas morning.” Mattias responds, feeling a little faint. He can do this. He can. “And to answer your question, Christopher, I discovered baking late in life, as an activity to do with my young daughter. Baking is great for little hands, exploring flavours and textures as well as developing an early grasp of maths.” Mattias is just making it up as he goes along, but as no one is shouting, “Cut!”, he just smiles and breathes out in relief as the camera moves on to Pablo. Pablo, who goes off on a tangent about colour schemes and napkins and the health benefits of coconut oil, even before Christopher has had a chance to introduce him.
He’s surprised how well he manages to keep it together. His muffins rise to high pretty mounds, just like he had been hoping, the colour the right side of brown. His pancake challenge works out more than satisfactory. They all need to produce a stack of twelve pancakes, and Mattias does. His pancakes are uniform and clean, stacked in a pile like they have been asked to. Ida bursts into tears when her batter runs out after pancake number ten, Alima burns every single one and Jacob causes the days first, “Cut!!!” after setting his apron on fire.
Magnus Steingrímsson turns out to be a clear danger to them all, producing twelve perfect pancakes without much trying, and Paulina risks the wrath of the judges by sneaking in a wholemeal flour instead of the required wheat. Siv-Linda has agreed to an egg substitute and her pancakes are surprisingly perfect whilst Mehmet hasn’t started frying when the timer signals the end of their pretend hour.
And Mattias has his shirt changed again and Pablo claims to sport a boner behind his apron. It’s funny how Mattias just laughs.
“I’m too much man for you to handle, Pablo.” He teases, turning around to wink at the man who pouts in his face, curling his fingers, teasing him into moving closer.
“If you would let me, my dear Baby-Bi-Boy, I would drag you off and show you what a real man feels like, right now.”
“If I would let you, you wouldn’t survive it.” Mattias teases back, his face flushing with embarrassment at the words his mouth is churning out. He’s never like this. Ever. And Pablo’s laugh just eggs him on.
“You just can’t handle the fact that you want me, baby.” Pablo purrs from behind his bench.
“See?” Mattias snickers and turns around to face him. “Illusions of grandeur, Pablo. I’m quite sure I can resist you.”
“Resist who?” Christopher asks, stopping to lean against Mattias’s workbench as Mattias gratefully grabs a towel from the purple-haired stylist. He needs to ask her name. He needs to stop being ridiculous with Pablo. And he needs to figure this Christopher out. This Christopher who just smiles at him and makes his face radiate more heat than he is comfortable with. He blames the studio lighting. He thinks. He hopes. Damn this. Damn Everything.
“Mattias here, wants me.” Pablo purrs. “I mean, do you blame him? Because look at all this, Christopher.” Pablo lets his hands shimmy down his hips, twirling around, making the flour on his apron form a little cloud around him. Smiling seductively at Mattias, who has gone full-on tropic, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. “He could have all this.” Pablo continues. “And he still tries to resist me. The boy is confused, these baby bi-boys are all confused. We just need to rein him in, Christopher. Bring him over to the right side of the rainbow tracks, because Mattias here needs cock, don’t you Mattias? Come on Christopher, put him right.” Pablo looks at Christopher like he is begging, then pouts at Mattias again, who now feels just as uncomfortable as he probably looks. Wiping his hands on the towel over and over, trying to figure out how the hell to respond to that.
“I’m not really bi, Pablo.” he tries.
“Of course, you’re not, baby.” Pablo snickers. “Who would be with all these glorious men on this set? I mean, look at Steingrímsson in those leather pants.” he continues, a little too loud for Mattias’s liking.
“What about my tight butt in these pants?” Magnus shouts back, not skipping a beat.
“Yum.” Pablo teases.
“Watch it, biscuit boy.” Magnus warns, picking up a broken shard of something surprisingly purple from Pablo’s workbench. “What is this?”
“Lavender shortbread.” Pablo sighs. “Both nutritious, calming and pretty. Just like Mattias here.”
“Pretty indeed.” Magnus says, and looks back at the biscuit. “Don’t think I want to eat it though.”
Sophia Soames should be old enough to know better but has barely grown up. She has been known to fangirl over TV-shows, has fallen in and out of love with more popstars than she dares to remember, and has a ridiculously high-flying (un-)glamourous real-life job.
Her long-suffering husband just laughs at her antics. Their children are feral. The Au Pair just sighs.
She lives in a creaky old house in rural London, although her heart is still in Scandinavia.
Discovering that the stories in her head make sense when written down has been part of the most hilarious midlife crisis ever and she hopes it may long continue.
About the Cover Artist
Christina Stern is a Russian based artist. Quick sketches and portraits drawn in pencil are what she likes to do the most. Her work can be found on @christinastern on Instagram
Social Media Links
Facebook | Twitter: @sophiasoames | Instagram: @sophiasoames
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