Review ~ Sugar and Spice: A Karma Cafe Novella by Tawny Weber

ebook downloaded for free on Amazon

Description:
Hot kisses, sexy shoes and a midnight rendezvous – the perfect recipe for Happy Ever After. Throw in a fairy godmother with a personal agenda, a midnight deadline and a marriage-of-convenience and you have a hot and sassy twist on a modern day Cinderella story.

For over a hundred years, the Karmanski women have been cooking up delicious treats, and a little magic. But now their business, Karma Café, is in trouble and each of the Karmanskis has a different opinion on how to save their livelihood. The matriarch, Odette, is old-school, and more than ready to rely on magic. Natalia is sure if she can just marry her daughter off to a wealthy suitor, all their problems will be solved, and she has just the suitor in mind – the gorgeous CEO of Chastain Shoes. Anja’s just as determined to foil her mother’s plans and stay single. She cooks up a scheme to serve up the perfect match for this prince of a guy. With the aid of a little magical help, she’s going to put a Happy Ever After twist on her mother’s matchmaking.

Administrative Assistant, Dedra Hanson has three addictions. Gorgeous shoes, yummy treats and her sexy boss. Her credit card balance and bathroom scale do a pretty good job of keeping the first two addictions in check. And the third? Love of her job has always kept her from acting on her passion for Paul Chastain. But now she’s leaving her job because her playboy CEO boss is about to become engaged to a chilly socialite to save his business. Paul Chastain is fair game.

All she needs for one wild fantasy night? The nerve to seduce her boss, and a little bit of magic. The only question left is, can she leave when the clock strikes midnight?

My Opinion

This was a quick, flirty and steamy read that was good to relax with for just under an hour. It's perfect for a break from what you are doing but I wasn't blown away by it. The romance is a standard secretary-falls-for-her-boss and although I don't mind predictable romances I felt this one could have been so much more with the addition of the 'witches' in the cafe.

There were a lot of questions I needed answering about the witches and I felt their part was under described considering their importance in getting Dedra and Paul together--what they did needed further description too. I found that because of the lack of detail the writing just felt slightly disjointed as you never really learn who people are or why they are like that.

The parts with Paul and Dedra were steamy and crafted better. I liked the speech between the two as it flowed well and did give a good sense of the character's personality. However, for me the ending wasn't what I wanted. Because the witches aren't explained in detail I found myself not caring about them in the epilogue and I didn't really see reason for it. I would have liked it do end on a note about the relationship with Paul and Dedra and sum some things up.

Overall, it's a good quick read to break up time and OK for a freebie, I just feel parts need more development as I need more than just sex in a book and this had the potential to do that.