Bakery owner Piper Carter is the last single member of her friend group, but
she's too busy building her business to make time for dating. Besides,
she's convinced that she's fine on her own. Ignoring her protests, her blissfully coupled-up
friends decide to set her up on a blind date. The evening ends up being
even more awkward than Piper anticipated when her date turns out to be
Maverick Donovan, the popular romance author with whom she had a
one-night stand a few weeks earlier. Maverick is happy to have another chance with Piper,
but she's clear that she's not interested in dating him, so he comes up
with another way to spend time with her. He's writing a book about a
baker but doesn't know how to bake himself, so he asks her to teach
him and also come up with a few new recipes for him to include in the
book. Against her better judgement, Piper agrees, knowing that the
publicity will help with her future plans to franchise the bakery.
Maverick and Piper were a lot of fun together, with great chemistry and plenty of flirty, witty banter. I liked that Piper recognized her growing feelings for Maverick relatively quickly and was willing to give dating a chance, though she did try to keep the relationship from her friends at first. I also enjoyed the play on traditional gender roles and stereotypes; not only was Maverick a romance writer (traditionally a genre written for women, by women), he was also the one who wanted a serious relationship. By contrast, Piper was mostly content with a series of one-night stands before they met.
Maverick and Piper were a lot of fun together, with great chemistry and plenty of flirty, witty banter. I liked that Piper recognized her growing feelings for Maverick relatively quickly and was willing to give dating a chance, though she did try to keep the relationship from her friends at first. I also enjoyed the play on traditional gender roles and stereotypes; not only was Maverick a romance writer (traditionally a genre written for women, by women), he was also the one who wanted a serious relationship. By contrast, Piper was mostly content with a series of one-night stands before they met.
As is often the case with Emma Hart's books, I found the secondary characters to be a real highlight of the story. I absolutely love the friend group that has been featured in the White Peak, Montana books. They embody the concept of found family to me. They sometimes bicker and meddle in each other's lives, but they always do it out of love. It was also great to have White Peak's senior citizens back for one last outing, and they were as feisty as ever. I was highly entertained by their continued bickering over the ducks and chickens, as well as the art class gone wrong involving inappropriate paintings of fruit.
Overall, I loved "The Introvert's Guide to Blind Dating" and highly recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Just like its predecessors in this series, it was a funny, sweet, fast-paced read featuring endearing characters and an engaging plot. If this really does turn out to be our last visit to the quirky little town of White Peak, it was certainly a good one, though I hope the author will find a way to revisit this town and its lovable characters in the future. At any rate, I look forward to whatever Emma Hart writes next.
*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.
About "The Introvert's Guide to Blind Dating"
Blind dating: the act in which you date a stranger and hope it’s not the kid you once babysat. And try not to freak out when it’s your one-night stand from two weeks ago.
As the last woman standing, I, Piper Carter, am officially a loner.
Apparently, that means it’s time for me to get out there and find myself a man. My protestations that I have no time for it falls on deaf ears and the next thing I know, I’m on a blind date with someone my best friends assure me will be perfect for me.
Maverick Donovan, the guy I, uh, know very, very well…
After one conversation that makes my disdain for this setup very clear, the superstar playboy author asks me for only one thing: my help with his research for his next novel.
Turns out, the heroine in his next hot romance is the owner of a bakery, but all his ill-fated efforts are baking is the batteries in his fire alarm.
I agree. I’ll create some recipes for his leading lady, and he’ll credit me and my store, giving me the recognition I need to help me on my way to franchising.
If only we didn’t have to spend almost every free waking moment together to make it happen.
I don’t want to give my heart to the guy with a trail of broken ones behind him, but there’s a fundamental problem with that plan.
I’m pretty sure I’m doing just that…
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