herding cats & burning soup: [AtoZ Quotetastic] Blow Me Away (Mile High Matched #2) by Christina Hovland

Yall. This book. I was dying. DYING! It was amazing and hilarious and you just have got to read it. I am so glad I tried Hovland out this year. I think Sophia recommended them. Anywho. This scene. It was just the best thing ever...

“Hey, you can’t go in th—” Cash-register lady started to say, but he was already through the door.

He skidded to a halt.

There, laid out before him, were trays and trays and trays of cookies shaped liked penises and iced in bright colors. Fuchsia. Yellow. Teal. Neon green.

Hair-netted Heather glanced up from where she was icing the tip on a batch of blue-balled man rods.

He had thought the day was weird before. It wasn’t. “That is a lot of dick,” he said to no one in particular.

Two of her staff were boxing them up, and one was arranging several dicks-on-sticks into an arrangement in a vase. The symmetry was on point, and one truly had to look closely to see the phallic shapes of the cookies. They looked like an adorable assortment of cookie flowers. Until you did a double take and realized they were a handful of multicolored edible erections.

“Jase?” Heather asked. The tip of her icing bag leaked blue icing onto the table.

“Okay, so first...” He shook his head. “We’ll get to that. Second”—he waved an arm toward the erectile bouquet— “what the hell are these?”

Heather raised her eyebrows. “You’ve never seen a penis before?”

“Of course I’ve seen one. Every day, in fact. But why are they in cookie form?” And what alternate reality had he been transported into that morning?

Heather dropped the bag to the table. “They’re cockies. They sell like crazy. What was the first thing?” She moved a finished tray to the waiting rack.

Right.

Oh. My. Word. Blow Me Away was an absolute blast! I seriously loved every second of it.

The Gist: Sometimes family is just too much. So you have the brilliant idea of faking a break up and broken heart to get them and their matchmaking ways off your back. And sometimes your gran is a little crazy and takes revenge on the tart that "broke your heart" and totals her cookie delivery van. And somehow you wind up for real dating the chick you fake broke up with but can't tell your family about it because they're...your family and crazy. Yeah. Jase's simple life as a florist just got all kinds of messy.

Jase and Heather were a freaking hoot. He's a former military man turned florist and she owns the cookie shop across the street. I loved them. It wasn't any one thing about them just...them. They both have some slight issues they're dealing with but they're successful, creative, love the people around them even if they exasperate them a bit. They've both generous and just people you'd want to have in your corner. I couldn't get enough of them.

The romance was fun, too. A little crazy but fun. They really suit each other. Things do steam up nicely and there are some super sweet moments, too, as they fake break up and fake date and real date and deal with all the insanity around them.

Aaaaaand that would be family. Holy! I mean. They are one crazy, loving in-your-face insanity inducing bunch. Bless Jase's heart. Yes, I understand trying to keep all that crazy in check. They were an absolute riot.

All in all, Blow Me Away was a delight. I seriously hope there will be more books from this series. Hovland had me in stitches and rushing over to share the laughs with my group. From the characters to the romance to the heat (yum) and the killer humor it was just spot on fantastic.

Jase Dvornakov has always loved women, 80's hair band music, and things that go boom. He used to disarm bombs in the Navy, but he's back in Denver after a mission overseas went sideways and destroyed his future, including his marriage. Now he arranges flowers in his family's floral business because flowers don't explode.

Cookie-baker extraordinaire, Heather Reese, has had one too many rounds of heartache, so she's sworn off men and prefers to spend her evenings binge-watching game shows. Plus her no-men rule gives her time to focus on her dream come true--Heather's Cookie Co.--her very own bake shop with an underground following for naughty shaped treats. She refuses to be interested in the hot-shot florist across the street. He is trouble with a capital T. Sexy trouble, but still, a hook-up with Jase is a hard nope.

Desperate to avoid his family's incessant matchmaking, a fake breakup with the beautiful Heather is just what the florist ordered. If his family believes Heather decimated his heart, they'll leave him alone. Heather isn't so keen on the idea, but Jase is determined to make it worth her while. When a pretend breakup becomes the real romance neither was expecting, together they'll have to decide if it's finally time to light the fuse on love...

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