Reviewed by Sadonna and True

TITLE: Suspiciously Sweet

AUTHOR: Samantha SoRelle

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 137 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 8, 2022

BLURB:

Trevor Hill has a secret.

By day he’s a mild-mannered journalist, but by night he’s the hottest—and most hated—food critic in town. When he walks into Nana O’Neill’s Bakery looking for his next scathing review, the last thing he expects is someone like Owen behind the counter. The scowling man looks more like a bouncer than a baker, but after one bite, Trevor is in love—with Owen’s baking at least.

Owen O’Neill has secrets of his own.

Scarred, tattooed Owen would rather be in the kitchen whipping up pastries than dealing with actual people. But with the business failing, he can’t bring himself to kick out any repeat customers, even ones as annoying, dismissive, sarcastic, funny, and gorgeous as Trevor.

All Owen wants is to be left to run his little bakery in peace—a task made more difficult not only by Trevor’s distracting presence, but also by the legions of fans that show up following a review by a famous yet secretive critic…

A 35,000 word novella, Suspiciously Sweet is as light and fluffy as a genoise sponge, but served hot and filled with plenty of spice!

TRUE’S REVIEW:

I looove stories about food and food orgasms, about croissants and pastries to be exact.
Trevor is a food reviewer slash journalist, he loves to take bakeries or restaurants down. No matter how hot the scowling baker is, he will be critical, very!
What he didn’t expect was a knee-buckling, mouth-watering box full of delicious orgasms.

Ugh, Owen hates stupid haughty men, who think they can criticize his work. Even though the man was attractive, he was pretentious, ugh again! How can he satisfy this annoying man’s taste? Headache coming up.

Owen doesn’t look like most bakers, he is huge, rough, full with tattoos, bulging arms. Thanks to his Nana he’s where he’s now, she learned him everything she knew about baking.

Owen and Trevor get involved with each other, in exchange for pastries Trevor helps Owen work efficiently. Owen can never know Trevor is in essence a nasty critic.

Gosh, this was an amazing story, fun, entertaining, sexy, with a great balance between fondness, fun, and hurt, nothing excessive, just all the beautiful feels!
My heart reached out to both men, they were adorable, and marvelous together!

A new for me author, I was thrilled by the smooth writing style, the story was clearly outlined, nicely layered, it had something frisky, something honest, real. I loved it!
For me, this whole picture was a winner!

RATING:

SADONNA’S REVIEW:

Owen is busing his behind trying to make his bakery a success.  Sure he’s not on the best side of town, but his pastries are the best in town. He learned from his Nana, hence the name – Nana O’Neil’s Bakery.  His croissants are *chef’s kiss* perfection – as are his tarts and cookies and other delights.  He has one employee who is his trusted friend – even if she is a grad student who runs a little late sometimes.

Trevor Hill is the first customer of the day – and Yvonne is late.  So on top of baking, Owen has to also man the counter.  Trevor is a bit pretentious and loves to yank people’s chains.  He’s intrigued when he learns that the big muscled, tattooed and scarred man with the perpetual scowl is actually the creator of these delicious treats.  And he hits every one of Trevor’s buttons 😉  But Trevor delights in pushing all of Owens buttons by baiting him with little digs about his pastries.  All false of course because they are the best things Trevor has ever tasked.  He’s addicted to Nana O’Neil’s treats.  But m ore to the point, he’s addicted to Nana O’Neil’s grandson, the pastry chef at the bakery. He’s also got a pretty big secret :0

When Trevor’s rave review (as Mr. Tasty, the most caustic food critic in town) appears, the bakery is overrun with customers.  Owen is struggling to keep up with demand and sells out early every day.  He’s exhausted and he’s not sure how he’s going to be able to meet the demand.  Trevor is appalled by the way Own manages his orders, his suppliers, his books, pretty much everything except for the baking.  So he offers to help Own get organized and streamline the business side of things.  This seems to work out pretty well.  But when he finds Owen dead asleep one morning in the bakery, he knows something’s gotta give.  So he makes Owen get some rest and he takes care of the bakery, closing it for the day and getting things together. Owen is grateful and offers Trevor dinner.  They have a wonderful dinner and Owen tells Trevor his story.  Trevor is gobsmacked – but mostly he’s impressed.  But he realizes that he can’t reciprocate without spilling the beans on his secret identity and his role the bakery’s success.  So instead he leaves.  He doesn’t see a way to reveal the truth without Owen hating him 🙁

What a perfectly delicious romance for the week before Valentine’s Day!  I absolutely adored this from start to finish.  This is a new to me author, but I hope she keeps writing because this book was a treat.  I loved the vulnerability of Owen and how he eventually shared his past with Trevor.  For his part, Trevor is in awe of Owen and everything he’s been through and everything he’s accomplished.  His assumption that his little ruse has gone on too long and Owen will never forgive him for not revealing his secret identity was a little bit heartbreaking.  I was really thankful that the author didn’t drag out the separation since it was obvious that these two were like planet and moon, and they rightfully needed to return to their orbit 😀  These guys were sweet and sexy and grumpy and prickly and had a delightful push/pull relationship going on for much of the book.  But they each brought out the best in the other.  I loved the supporting characters – particularly Yvonne and Rachel, Trevor’s boss.  The writing and dialogue in particular is crisp and funny and snarky.  The banter between all the characters was just so fun to read.  I really can’t wait for more from this author.  Highly recommended for lovers of sweet and sexy low angst romances sure to leave you with a smile.  And a craving for dessert 😉

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon