REVIEW: In The Mood For Love by Beth Ciotta

In The Mood For Love (Cupcake Lovers #4) by Beth Ciotta takes us back to small town Sugar Creek, Vermont. Sam is a widower with two children who is finally feeling reading to move on after his wife’s death. He’s had a few dates, but none of them have felt right. None of them can measure up to Harper, the woman he’s had a very secret sexual affair with. The same woman he’s intensely attracted to and wants to know better. Harper is a celebrity publicist who became involved with the Cupcake Lovers to help promote them and the charities they support. She’s never been looking for long term or attachments. She keeps busy and doesn’t really connect with anyone. With a mysterious past and an uncertain future, Harper is not only scared to let people in, she just doesn’t know how. Sam is a hot former Marine, but he’s also a father and she’s never thought of anything beyond their affair.

Unexpected circumstances bring them together again and Sam is determined to win her over. What he proposes to solve one of her problems could bring them closer than Harper ever anticipated, if she can trust her heart and Sam.

In The Mood For Love is a great addition to the Cupcake Lover’s series, and I fell in love with Sam as much as Harper struggled not to. He is patient, caring, and understanding…a hero who will steal your heart. Harper has her struggles. She’s used to dealing with everything alone, and I really enjoyed seeing Sam slowly break through her walls. Harper especially really grew through In The Mood For Love, and it was so great to see this and experience it with her through Beth’s fantastic writing. As different as Sam and Harper are, in this case opposites really do attract. I could feel them getting closer, and really hoped for them. Sam and Harper are both people who have issues that are real, and this realism draws you in to their characters.

I love the small town feel and closeness that Beth manages to portray in In The Mood For Love, the ups and downs of small town living where everyone thinks they know everyone else’s business. The secondary characters bring so much into the story, especially Daisy…I love that woman! She is full of spice and the humor she sparks even as a secondary character nicely balances out the seriousness in In The Mood For Love. I also really enjoyed a couple of the secondary romances Beth weaves into In The Mood For Love, they made the people all the more real.

In The Mood For Love is an entertaining, smoothly written story with characters I came to love. Beth shows us that sometimes the opposites who attract actually bring out the best in each other…and it’s always nice to have someone to lean on.

I have read all of the Cupcake Lover’s books, and even though I think you could read this one on it’s own, you’ll enjoy your visit to Sugar Creek, Vermont all the more if you read them all. I recommend this to all romance readers who enjoy humor along with the serious side of life, characters you can relate to, and a great love story!

Book Info:

Published July 1st 2014 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks | (Cupcake Lovers #4)

When Harper Day blows into the small town of Sugar Creek, Vermont, she takes the sleepy community completely by surprise. A stunning beauty and frenzied workaholic, the celebrity publicist based out of L.A. maintains she will only be in Sugar Creek for vacations. The cozy atmosphere of Sugar Creek, however, has other plans. Haunted by a troubled past and insecure about her future, Harper finds solace in doing publicity for the Cupcake Lovers. Now if only she could get her life back in line, and put a stop to this newfound attraction she has for one of the members…

Sam McCloud feels an intense connection to Harper, which makes things way more complicated. Still reeling from his wife’s untimely death and focused on raising his two young children, Sam doesn’t have the emotional strength to get close to a woman again. But when he finds Harper in a jam and the best solution leads to them constantly being together, Sam cannot deny their attraction. True, Harper is from a different world and still struggling with her past, but Sam is determined not to lose another woman he loves…