Hearts and Flour

By: Tara Lain

Narrated by: Ry Forest, Stephen Kurpis (Vitruvian Sound)

Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Can a raw food enthusiast find love with a guy who bakes cupcakes?

When Micah Truveen’s devoted health-food customers start showing up with white flour, Micah wants to chew nails! To make his misery worse, he finds his yoga teacher boyfriend in bed with another guy the day before Valentine’s Day. Micah decides to drown his misery at a friend’s anti-Valentine’s Day orgiastic hookup party - and meets the beautiful Queen, a gorgeous cross-dresser who’s got Southern sugah in his mouth and the right equipment under the dress.

But when the hookup turns serious, Micah has to compromise to protect Queen’s secrets from his beloved grandmother. With everything against them, can two hearts rise above the flour?

©2018 Tara Lain (P)2018 Dreamspinner Press

Hearts and Flour

3.5 Stars Overall (book & audio)
This book is ridiculously over-the-top cheesy and funny. A fluffy, cute romance with zero angst and just enough drama to keep you entertained. I wanted to love this book for the premise and story, but was just thoroughly entertained by it instead. Everything about this was just okay for me. I think I might have liked this one more reading it in e-book form than I did listening to it in audio. I'm not quite sure how exactly to word my review so let me just recap a bit and add some feelings in.

~ This book really makes me want to eat some cupcakes.

~ Micah is scandalized by all of his friends and customers eating those Devil Cupcakes from the new bakery in town that are NOT being made with vegan, gluten-free, raw ingredients. How dare they?!?

~ Micah finds his boyfriend cheating on him right before Valentine's Day, in his own bed. Eewww.

~ Omg... And what is with some of the character names... Dharmaram? Furtwrangler? Yancy? **Can't stop giggling**

~ Then... BOOM... Anti-Valentine’s day Party Orgy...

~ Micah meets Quentin "Queen" at the party, they have some hot sex, made hotter by the narration, and actually exchange numbers afterwards, turning a random hook-up into more. I liked how they totally hit it off right away and that Micah was completely fine with everything about Queen. Even him being closeted, and his cross-dressing and makeup and southern niceties and all. Things are going good between them until Micah realizes that Quentin is actually the owner of that horrible bakery leading his health nut friends astray. LOL

~ Re-enter the Jerk-Face & now ex-boyfriend with a supremely lame blackmail scheme... I was furious and hurt for Micah and upset for how this would affect his relationship with Queen when they were already on rocky ground trying to get past their differences. The ex-bf is a horrible person, and I hope Karma gets him back for it.

~ Grandma Mary Beth casually mentions Quentin and Micah being boyfriends like it’s nothing and she knew the whole time *Mic-Drop*

Audio - I'm not sure how, but I simultaneously liked and disliked this narration at the same time during the whole 3hr long book. It's my first time with this narrator, Ry Forest, and he did a good job and put a lot of enthusiasm into this book. I was amused and entertained by the narration of the story and the portrayal of the characters and their personalities really stood out. But the overly southern drawl was just a little too much for me (personally) at times. I think if you want a nice and easy fun and quick listen this book is probably a good choice for you.

Short, Sassy, and Sweet!

Short, sassy, sweet, and highly enjoyable! Likable characters and interesting realistic plot. Hot sexy times and romance at it's finest. Narration excellent. Highly recommend!

Such a fun story

this s a sweet, fun, romance. It is full of charming characters, the plot may be predictable but the writing, characters, and pacing all make it worth the read. If you are looking for a fun valentines story or just a charming read this is it! I absolutely loved it!

I think the narration made the story! I loved the different voices, the sighs and emotion. The narration made a good book even better!

A Quick Fun Listen

Yeah, so I wasn't a fan of Micah at first. He really comes off as judgmental and intolerant. But as the story went on and I learned more about him I came to understand his attitude....a little.

Now Queen/Quentin I adored from the beginning. He was caring and thoughtful and sassy.

Queen's line - " Funny how we shape our lives either in concert or opposition to our blood kin." I felt summed up the whole book and couldn't be truer.

This is a quick listen and the narrator has fun with the character voices and accents.