Forking Around

Hot Cakes Book 2

By: Erin Nicholas

Narrated by: Jason Clarke, Lili Valente

A Cinderella story with a hot boss so charming even a fairy godmother couldn't do better.

Everyone thinks Dax Marshall is a prince of a guy. And he’s definitely charming.

But Jane has enough going on without adding a torrid fling with the boss to her life. Between her father’s illness, her wicked-ish stepmother, her little sister’s teenage drama, and the coworkers who depend on her - she can’t handle another mess. No matter how tempting and gorgeous the mess may be. Or how messy he wants to get with her.

Dax has spent his life being very serious about only one thing: proving you can be successful while still having a helluva good time. But he’s just met the one woman who might break his I-can-charm-anyone streak.

She’s actually taking him seriously, and she seriously thinks they have nothing in common and can’t be together.

Maybe, he’s the one who needs a new view of happily ever after. It’s time to stop forking around.

©2020 Erin Nicholas (P)2020 Erin Nicholas

Could any two people be more different?

Forking Around by Erin Nicholas is a romantic comedy with some serious moments encompassed within the fun. Dax Marshall is one of the new owners of Hot Cakes. He is one of the fun ones, along with Ollie. Grant has his bottle of Tylenol labeled "Dax." At the new ownership announcement party he had met a girl. She had red hair, a killer body, and loved cake pops. She didn't hesitate to admit it. She wouldn't tell him her name, though. Not that that was a big deal in Appleby. The next day he had a bouquet of red velvet cake pops delivered to her at work. He really liked her. At the same time, he was busy making things better for the employees at Hot Cakes: a cappuccino machine, a ping pong table, a big screen TV, all in the employee's lounge. He wanted Jane and made no secret of it. She wanted him right back, but he was her boss. AND she was too busy for men; her life was too complicated.

This is a great book. It has it all: spoiled teens, spoiled adults, a disable person, a nursing home, people falling in love, friendships. It also has comic relief in the person of Max, Jane's best friend and unabashedly gay. He's always right there drooling over Dax or pestering Jane for details. He's great. It didn't surprise Jane that she was in love. It did surprise her that Dax was. He seemed more of a fling guy. He bought the nursing home, but he had a short attention span. These were people's lives and Jane was worried. Dax's friends jumped in. No doubt about it. The relationships between these five guys are worth the price of the book. You knew it was going to work out; that there would be a happily-ever-after. It was the charm of the journey that captured my attention and kept me reading. What a terrific, feel-good novel. Congratulations, Erin Nicholas!
The narration through Audible did the author proud. Rather than reading characters the male and female readers, Jason Clarke and Lili Valente alternated chapters. It was a good approach and was so natural that I didn't notice fore several chapters. They were comfortable and low-key, letting the words speak for themselves. It was the perfect listen for days at the gum. I recommend it.

I was invited to listen to a free ARC on Audible by the author. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Strawberry Sweetness

Dax and Jane are really cute. He's a millionaire and Jane's boss at Hot Cakes. They meet when she's eating cake pops and won't share. Jane is attracted to Dax but doesn't want to date her boss. He makes a grand gesture so she will feel comfortable dating him. Jane takes care of everyone else and feels overwhelmed. Dax trues to lighten her load. He's taking their relationship seriously when he hasn't ever done that before. He just needs to convince Jane that he's not fooling around. I love this series! Jason Clarke and Lili Valente are great as Dax and Jane.

An absolute gem

This is a fantastic follow up to Sugarcoated! I absolutely love the idea of a small town girl and a millionaire CEO bonding over cake pops, lol. There is something genuine and lovable about Dax that makes him an irresistible character. I can’t wait to listen to more books in this series.

Hot & Sweet

Another sweet (but not overly so) book in the Hot Cakes series. Not only was this book hot, but it totally woke up my sweet tooth. Jane is this strong, independent woman who is carrying so much stress and pressure around with her. This was relatable to me in certain ways, especially her struggles with a family member’s health. And she does her best to help everyone without asking for anyone’s help in return.

Enter Dax. At first glance, Dax is a light-hearted goofball. But deep down, he is always doing his best to help people. To make them happy. And he is also super friendly, whether it’s bantering with Jane’s friend Max, dealing with catty teenagers, or working with seniors at a nursing home, Dax is always kind and respectful. And he treats everyone with dignity. He may come off as immature, but he loves hard. He give the term “hero” new meaning.

I enjoyed every second of this book. And the narrators really brought the characters to life, as they always do. I highly recommend this series so far.

Perfectly hot and sweet

This book has the perfect blend of fairytale sweet and fan your face sexy and the narration by Jason Clarke and Lili Valente just adds to the depth of the characters. Jane and Dax’s love story has all the feels. They appear to be opposites on the surface. Dax is the fun-loving, impulsive, never serious guy and Jane has so much serious responsibility in her life that she cannot juggle one more thing. There are Cinderella elements to this story too - a wicked stepmother and step sister with Jane and her sister doing all the chores while her sick father is relegated to a nursing home plus there’s the charming fun rich boss who wants to make everyone happy with extravagant presents and makeovers. On their way to their HEA, Jane and Dax find they have more in common than they thought. They want the same things for the people in their lives they just go about it in different ways. Like the first book in this series, Forking Around includes a number of secondary characters, some we’ve met before and others are new. Rather than being overwhelming or detracting from the main love story, these characters are central to the main love story and to the heart of what makes small town Appleby, Iowa so wonderful. I am excited to hear what happens next for Hot Cakes and rest of the town. With Forking Around, Erin Nicholas once again proves she’s a fantastic storyteller. And now all things strawberry will forever make me feel like blushing.