Book Review: The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap

You might remember celebrating the release of The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap way back in September.  This has nothing to do with the book itself, but I was a little disappointed with Amazon, because I thought the point of pre-ordering a book was that it would arrive when it was released!  Finally, more than a week later, my pre-ordered book and my hold from the library arrived at the exact same time, so I went from having no books to having two copies! 

 

 

The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap is a Christmas Anthology, a trio of stories from three separate authors, brought together with a well crafted prologue and polished off with a satisfying epilogue.  I have never before read an anthology by several different authors that entwined the same characters and built upon the relationships and friendships between the stories (though I have read a series that was written this way).  It was absolutely delightful, but I am also one of those people who looks for connections in everything that I read and watch, and am absolutely excited by seeing people or things I have already "met"! 

 

 

I do have to add a caution, for those of you who are milder readers.  I read this book because a friend recommended it, and the stories were fantastic.  However, I generally stick to cozy mysteries, YA or children's novels, and Christian fiction, so there is a lot more steam and heat then I would usually have in a review!  If this offends you in any way, you don't want to read this book, because it is definitely there.

Where There's Smoke by Donna Kauffman

When flames from a recipe gone disastrously wrong send hunky fire-fighter Will Mason to pretty Clara Parker's rescue, the sparks really begin to fly! And once Will gets a taste of Clara, he aches for more than just a little sugar from the famously single food columnist...

The Gingerbread Man by Kate Angell

Folks have always told fun-loving Abby Denton that her anatomically correct Gingerbread cookies are...impressive. But those erotic cookies have nothing on the sexy stranger Abby saves from a snowy country road. Could Lander Reynolds be the Christmas treat she's truly been longing for?

Sugar And Spice by Kimberly Kincaid

When caterer Lily Callahan goes up against hotshot pastry chef Pete Mancuso in the bake-off of the season, the stakes are high - and scandalously passionate. Will the gorgeous gourmand steal Lily's heart - and the top prize in the Christmas cookie competition?

The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap by Donna Kauffman, Kate Angell, and Kimberly Kincaid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those books where I'd like the option of more than five stars! Drawn in from the beginning of the prologue, I dove deeper and deeper into life in Pine Mountain and felt woven into the lives of the characters by the time I'd finished all three stories. I do have to tell you I fell in love with Tennyson, who you'll have to meet in The Gingerbread Man by Kate Angell.

The book flamed to life with Clara's story (Donna Kauffman, Where There's Smoke), filled with lots of exciting twists and a lot of heat :). Cookies weren't the only thing heating up in The Gingerbread Man by Kate Angell! And I absolutely loved Sugar and Spice by Kimberly Kincaid. I wasn't too sure about her hero, Pete, because he doesn't make a very good first impression when we meet him in the prologue, but she really does a great job bringing these two together!

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I lost a very special friend the week that I read this book, and my heart naturally gravitated toward Tennyson, who is my very favorite supporting character in this entire book, maybe my favorite of all.  It would be a spoiler to tell you who Tennyson is, so you'll just have to read the stories to meet him!