Beef Cake by Jiffy Kate

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Title: Beef Cake
Author: Jiffy Kate
Series: Donner Bakery #4, Fighting for Love #2
Published by: Smartypants Romance
Release Date: March 17th 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 248
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: Smartypants Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

If opposites do actually attract, then Gunnar Erickson and Frankie Reeves take the cake.

Frankie Reeves is complicated, even though she won’t admit it. She fills her days working as an ER nurse, taking care of her mom, and searching for the father she never knew. Anything else has no place in her perfectly compartmentalized, purposefully simple life. Attachments? No thank you. She has no time for that.

Gunnar Erickson recently moved to Green Valley to train at Viking MMA with his brother Cage. Being the youngest of the Erickson clan, he’s always felt like he has something to prove, and now that he’s finished with college, it’s his time to shine. But before he can step into the ring, a freak accident sends him to the ER and into the care of one Frankie Reeves.

While he’s immediately smitten, she pretends to be unfazed by this six-foot-three, two hundred and thirty-pound beefcake. Gunnar sets out to prove to Frankie that, not only does she like him more than she wants to admit, but he’s not the uneducated, brute she assumes he is. To Frankie, he’s the worst kind of complication, but that doesn’t make it easy to stay away.

‘Beef Cake’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #4 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Smartypants Romance in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — This was a FANTASTIC new addition to this series!!  I did read Stud Muffin before this one, and while I’m personally glad I did, you wholeheartedly could read this one as a standalone without missing anything.

Frankie was such an intriguing heroine!  She was SO CLOSED OFF it was insane!  But for very good reasons, as you find out in the book.  I loved the way the authors showcased her journey, so you saw her natural reactions, her defense mechanisms, saw when she wanted more, saw Gunnar breaking through those walls, and saw her genuinely getting help when her past was revealed and she knew she couldn’t do it all on her own.  It was just a fantastic illustration of one possible reaction to abuse PTSD.  I think in many ways I could have easily grown frustrated with her and the way she would slam those walls up, but I didn’t…I was able to understand where it was coming from, and I had hope it wouldn’t be forever.

Gunnar was absolutely adorable.  Like, another A+ book boyfriend.  Occasionally I would feel like he was almost too similar to his big brother Cage (presuming you read Cage’s book), but the differences were subtle.  He really had a deeper intuition about him, and I loved the way that came through in his courtship of Frankie.  I loved that he was persistent, but not just for the sake of the challenge.  He was sweet, sensitive, caring, open…and so passionate about his sport.

I loved what they brought out in one another, and how they fit with one another so perfectly.  I adore the way, like his big brother, he was constantly checking in with Frankie and not pushing her past her hard boundaries…but nudging her to help her open up.  I loved the way Frankie appreciated all the little quirks of Gunnar, and wanted to break her barriers for him.  It was definitely a satisfying build up and resolution.

As always, great side characters.  I loved the story with Helen and the shelter and what we learned about Frankie because of it.  I loved seeing more of the fighting with Gunnar (even if that’s not a sport that interests me) — I especially adored the benefit fight, and seeing him interacting with his brothers.

Yup.  It’s seriously always refreshing when you can read two books in a row in the same setting and get a completely different story out of it.  I seriously hope we get Vali’s story next!