Review: Hearts and Flour – Tara Lain

Heart and Flour by Tara Lain
Published by Etiopia Press on 30 January 2013
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Romance
Pages: 162
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Unlimited

"A raw food fanatic and a cupcake baker--can two hearts rise above the flour?"

Healthy, vegan food is Micah Truveen's religion. So when his devoted customers start showing up with white flour cupcakes, Micah's ready to scream. When he discovers who's been spreading the cupcake poison to the community, there's going to be trouble. And to make a bad day even worse, Micah comes home to find his boyfriend in bed with someone else--on the day before Valentine's Day! In frustration, he throws the rat out and agrees to go to his friend's orgiastic Anti-Valentines party. Not his style, but lately, his style seems to be crumbling around him like stale baked goods.

Southerner Quentin Darby wishes he could stop wearing women's clothes. He desperately wants to live up to the glowing opinion his grandmother holds of him, so he's never even told her he's gay. And now there's this guy from the party who makes him wish he could just be who he is--a man who likes women's clothing, loves to bake, and thinks everything's better with cupcakes. Until a man with an axe to grind decides the time to grind it is now...

Hearts and Flour is a sweet and sexy story, with so many food-quotes I’m still trying to count them all 🙂

Micah and Quentin happen to meet each other at a un-Valentine party for single people… while Micah has always known he’s gay, there is something about one of the girls at the party that really touches him, and he understand why when he realizes Quentin sometimes likes to dress like a girl. They have a very hot and heavy encounter, and they both want more. However, Micah just got out of a very toxic relationship, and Quentin isn’t exactly out of the closet yet – neither as gay, nor as a man who enjoys women’s clothing and make-up every now and then. Add to those difficulties that Micah has a small raw food restaurant, where he tries to convert his clients into becoming healthier, and Quentin makes delicious cupcakes that are as far from raw and healthy as they can be.

Just as their relationship is in the starting block, the things that can make things difficult for them happen as well. Micah’s toxic ex blackmails him, and so, Quentin thought it was all over before it started. Added to that was the fact that Micah understood that it was Quentin’s cupcakes that tempted his clients to not stay healthy, and he had a small melt-down over that.

Heart and Flours has some really great characters, and I enjoyed Micah and Quentin a lot, however, Quentin’s grandmother was the best of all! She, of course, had known for a long time both that Quentin was gay, and that he liked women’s clothing. I love it when characters in a story have the support they need, even if they might not always know it in advance. This story also has Ms. Lain’s trademark good humor, and that was good, because there was also a tad too much drama for my taste, even if everything turned out well in the end.

Written in third person point of view and past tense, the story flowed easily, and Hearts and Flour is a pretty quick read. If you’re a Lain fan, this book is a must! And if you haven’t had the pleasure to meet her characters yet, this is definitely a good place to start before you go on to her different series.

Micah put a finger under Quentin’s chin. “I don’t think anything about you could disappoint me.” “I hope that’s true.” He so did.

“Hey. You look lower than Michael Phelp’s resting heart rate. What’s going on?” Kathy peered over his shoulder from behind. “Yeah. I let Dharmaram move back in.” He cringed. He’d been avoiding telling her because he knew – 
“You what? Jesus Fucking Christ!”

“Ma’am, uh, you referred to me as Quentin’s boyfriend-” Quentin put a finger on Micah’s arm. “Shh.” He covered Quentin’s finger with his hand. “No shh.” He looked back at Mary Beth. “Can you tell me what you meant?”
She smiled. “Well dear, where I come from a boyfriend is someone who comes to call and pays attention and steals kisses in dark corners and maybe more if the opportunity arises.”

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2016 HW Challenge
• 2016 LGBTQIA Challenge
• 2016 Winter COYER

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