Rachel is no stranger to responsibility—or heartbreak. As the eldest of three sisters, she’s the glue holding their small-town bakery together, juggling taxes, recipes, and endless layers of frosting while quietly nursing the sting of her boyfriend’s betrayal earlier this year. Love? Not on the menu.
Her best friend, Jae, has other ideas, especially when it comes to the hunky local firefighter, Nick. Too bad Jae doesn’t know about the incident from their teenage years—the one where Nick burned down the bakery.
Nick’s spent years thinking Rachel despises him, and honestly, he wouldn’t blame her. But when Jae signs Rachel up to help with the fire station’s fundraiser, he and Rachel are forced into close quarters. As sparks fly that have nothing to do with fire safety, Nick starts to wonder if there’s a chance to rebuild what they lost—and maybe even something more.
Rachel can’t ignore the heat between them, but trusting Nick means letting go of the past. Can she take the risk, or will the flames of their shared history consume them both?
| Title: | Frosting and Flames |
| Author: | Allie Winters |
| Series: | Aurora Bakery (Book 1) |
| Pages: | 331 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Small Town Romance Enemies to Lovers |
| Point of View: | First Person, Present Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
| Location: | Aurora, US |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 19 June, 2025 |
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Sets the cupcakes alight
Allie Winters is back (which I’m delighted about) with a new small-town romance series, of which this is the first novel (which I’m even more delighted about). This book focusses on Rachel, the eldest of three sisters from small town Aurora, who run the town’s bakery. I’m assuming and hoping that the younger two sister will get their own stories after this one.
But onto this story – the romance between Rachel, the strong and responsible older sister, and Nick Henderson, who may have grown out of his bad boy ways, but has never grown out of his crush on Rachel. Oh and there’s the teeny tiny problem of the fact that Nick had once burned down Rachel’s family bakery.
Most people would be able to, I think, identify with Rachel. She’s the older sister, running her family bakery, spiralling under the weight of the responsibility – all while nursing a recent heartbreak. She was hard not to like. I liked her honesty, her spirit and how she couldn’t help herself but fall in love with Nick.
“It goes without saying that Allie Winters writing is superb. She brought Aurora and it’s characters to life…”
Nick was an absolute delight as a hero. From his first scene, it’s really obvious that he’s head over heels for Rachel and it was so stinkin’ cute. He was so unsure and awkward around her – in all his sexy, fireman, tattooed, buff glory. I loved it. But he was far from a flat character – he had layers and baggage – and I liked how he had changed and grown into the man he was during this story.
As a pairing, Rachel and Nick were perfection. They started off awkwardly dancing around each other, then becoming friends, then into something more. I don’t know how Ms Winters does it but she manages to infuse so much emotion and feeling into their interactions, but still have it coming across as honest and believable. I just love the way she weaves a couple together through their romance. And of course, they have chemistry, too. Sexually. It may not come until nearer the end of the book but goodness, it’s a good job Nick’s a firefighter and has a fire extinguisher to hand. Fans self
It goes without saying that Allie Winters writing is superb. She brought Aurora and it’s characters to life, while always focussing on the main thing we’re interested in which is the romance between Nick and Rachel. It was oh so satisfying and definitely another winner from this excellent author. And I’m already excited for the next book in the series about younger sister, Sydney. 5 stars for this one.
* I received this book in exchange for my honest review *
Allie lives in sunny Florida with her husband, daughter, and two cats. A librarian by day, she spends her nights writing happily ever afters. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and all things Disney.
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Aurora Bakery Series:
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