Reading the Paranormal: Muffin But Trouble by Talia Hunter [Review]

Muffin But Trouble (Donner Bakery #4) by Talia Hunter
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: March 11, 2024

Donner Bakery
1. No Whisk No Reward
2. Dough You Love Me?
3. Tough Cookie
4. Muffin But Trouble - Paperback | Kindle

Talia Hunter
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

New Yorker, Magdalena Solis, is a city cynic to her core. But when she’s threatened by a thug who demands she pay her absent boyfriend’s debts, she flees to Green Valley, Tennessee. Bewildered by her rural surroundings, and harboring a serious aversion to beards and flannel, Mags is horrified when the first local she encounters is the scruffiest brute she’s ever seen.

Cy Baxter has a tortured past, a bad reputation, and facial hair like tumbleweed in a dust storm.

With troubles of his own, Cy vows to keep clear of the rude stranger who does nothing but insult him. But he has a heart as big as the wide-open countryside, and when an adorable stray dog brings the two together, sparks fly in the most unexpected ways.

Desperate to pay off her pursuer, Mags starts work at the Donner Bakery. And as Cy becomes a regular customer, his sweet tooth turns into a longing for something spicier.

But with the relentless thug hot on Mags’ trail, can these city-meets-country misfits find common ground? Or will their love story be as impossible as square dancing in stilettos?

Thoughts on Muffin But Trouble: Magdalena (sister of Carla from Tough Cookie) is NOT a country girl. Very VERY not. So fleeing to Green Valley so she can hide out from her quasi-boyfriend's dealer is...not ideal. It's too quiet, there's no food delivery out where her sister lives, and her closest neighbor wears a lot of flannel. Plus, he has a beard. Two things she's VERY not into.

Until, you know, she is.

Cy (the aforementioned closest neighbor) isn't impressed by Mags and her rude attitude. But he does like the way she looks. And how she sasses him (when she's not being rude). Given that he's a genuinely kind man, he also forgives the rudeness because he just can't help himself. It doesn't take long before these two start seeing each others' layers (I only mildly mean that in a dirty way, btw) and realize they like what they see.

Complicated family relationships (or maybe just the perception of complicated relationships), a kind of scary dealer, preconceived notions, a whole lot of beard, a friendly dog, a lady who kills people with kindness (when she's not sassing her hunky neighbor), and a man who isn't at all who Mags imagine he is when they first meet. MAN, I like spending time in Green Valley!