Title: Dough You Love Me?
Author: Stacy Travis & SmartyPants Romance
Series: Donner Bakery #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Small town romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2023
This is my first every Stacy Travis story, but not my first SmartyPants Romance book. I love how dives into this world inevitably lead to a new author to obsess over… and add to my overgrowing TBR. In this revisit to Green Valley, Julia and Shane are able to get their second chance at a first chance to be together. It’s a really cute story in which they are able to revisit and forgive the past, and recognise the mistakes of stupidity and youth. I love that this second chance romance isn’t really about two people who have managed to couple up before. Rather, they missed their shot the first time around, and are trying to figure out what they want and how to go forwards this time.
As teenagers, we’re all insecure. I mean, I think as adults, we’re all insecure about something. But, as teenagers, this sense of lacking self-confidence is even more severe. I love that Stacy Travis writes a story in which the biggest mistake of the past is that they let their insecurities get the better of them. Yet, these mistakes are exactly what encourage both Julia and Shane to grasp their lives with both hands and gain control. It helps them to grow into who they need to become, before happily and lovingly committing to one another and finding their happily ever after.
Although this was a romance, I really enjoyed that it was a story about finding one’s happy place. For some, this is the value of money and, for a long time, that was the case for Julia. To build her empire and to create a legacy that she could be proud of. Rather than this never being her dream, it is just one dream of many. I love that Shane helps her to try and find a new dream to aim for. Plus, whilst accomplishments are wonderful and something to be proud of, it’s not about the accolades and being known, but about what we have to say goodbye to. It’s about the friends, the family and enjoying every day. However, Travis writes this in such a way that you also know that to live everyday for those around you, you actually have to have the money and the means to do so.
As with every book I’ve had the pleasure of reading in the SmartyPants Romance Universe, I absolutely adored this book. It was fun and light, and revisited characters that I absolutely adore (it’s also inspired me to go back and read the original Penny Reid books). Plus, alongside the romance and the soul searching that I honestly couldn’t get enough of was food. The making and baking of bread. The love and joy that goes into making food and sharing it with others. I was not only hungry reading this, but pleasantly happy with the idea of two people finding their happily ever after together.
Earth and Skye 