Review: Always Room for Cupcakes by Bethany Lopez

One day I was be-bopping along jamming to the music in my head while wondering if my thighs could handle grabbing a cupcake on the way home. The next thing I knew, my entire world crashed and burned.

I used to wake up at night in a sweat, crying because I’d dreamt that my husband was cheating on me, or that he hated me, and resented my kids. He’d always hold me close and tell me it was all just a dream, that he loved me and our family and that he’d never let me go.

He was a fucking liar.

Now I spend my days taking photos of scum just like him, trying to be a champion for other's being taken advantage of by the losers in our town, and my nights being a single mom to my beautiful twins.

I've got great friends who have my back, and a sexy, mysterious motorcycle man who keeps showing up when I need him. Maybe things are starting to look up, and one thing's for sure... There's always room for cupcakes. 

4 Stars!

Review by Trinette Dungee 

When I first saw the title of this book I wasn’t sure what to expect; and considering the synopsis didn’t give me too much I was more than a little skeptical. You know what they say “Never judge a book by its cover”.

Lila is a thirty-something divorced mom of twins just trying to make ends meet. When she’s not working part-time in her bestie’s bakery she doing undercover photography for the local P.I. Insert Cade, he just shows up on his bike one day and whisks Lila away while she’s running from the latest perp who just happened to catch her snapping pics. And that’s all I’m going to give you, the rest you’ll just have to read for yourself and I highly recommend you read this book. 

This is a departure from my normal romance-HEA reads; there’s a little bit of mystery/crime-solving involved definitely some other things that I didn’t see coming. The biggest departure is just the story itself, this isn’t your usual “single mom-meets rich guy who sweeps her off her feet-angst driven-drama driven storyline. Not every love/romance story has to have a triangle, a jilted ex-lover, a really rich guy, etc. driving the storyline. Sometimes shit just happens, life gets in the way and two people just have to muddle their way through it all to make it work. And that is just what this was! I loved it! 

Lila was going through her stuff, dealing with her emotions, managing her hatred for her cheating ex (a.k.a The Douche), but she was moving on. Cade is definitely a departure from her “type” and he keeps her guessing. C’mon be honest, who hasn’t had that one guy that you meet, you hit it off but he seems a little evasive at times, gives you the best sex of your life, doesn’t call or text the way you’re used to and has you wondering just what the hell is going on? This was a “real character” she was someone you could relate to, she could be your sister, your cousin, your best friend, she couldn’t even be you. Don’t get me wrong, I love my love-swept, fantasy HEAs but this was great. 

This is my first ever Bethany Lopez book, I can’t quite put my finger on it but I absolutely love her writing style. The conversations between the characters seem so real, like I could insert myself and any number of my girlfriends into the scenario and it would be the exact conversations we have! What I also liked about it was Lila was not a victim. Yes she was wronged but she also acknowledged her part in the failure of her marriage. Also, she had friends that didn’t just agree with her, they gave her real feedback and made her pause to think. And through it all, she always makes time to indulge in a cupcake.

That’s it, that’s all I’m going to give you. Great story, great laughs.