3.75 stars Memorable Scenes: - Todd and Blake's banter in the gym's locker room > very funny- Bakery tour in NYC > sweet in every sense of the word, and made me crave cupcakes THE ICING ON THE CAKE is a sweet, contemporary romance about Michelle Snow, who puts up her profile on an online dating site after a talk with her longtime friends about dating or rather, the lack thereof, Cute and witty software consultant Todd Bracken is the one picked by Michelle based on his online profile. They hit it off immediately, both online and in real life after their first face-to-face meeting and a lovely romance develops through emails, texts and dates, which were funny and endearing.Michelle is the middle child of three and in real estate marketing but she dreams of opening her own cupcake bakery. She’s independent, considerate and not a loner but used to doing things alone and on her own. Slowly she learns to lean on, trust and share with Todd. Todd is the youngest child of three and the proverbial anchor in the storm. He’s dependable and romantic. He’s also cute and funny. He uses humor as way of defense and coping with stuff. Though he’s had plenty of dating experience he has never met and felt immediately so comfortable with someone as he does with Michelle.Both Michelle and Todd are sweet and easy-going, yet driven and with passion for everything they do. It’s a perfect match, completing and complementing each other and compatible in many, many ways.Though both True Vows books I’ve read cover different stages and origins of a romantic relationship and do this on different intensity levels I think each one describes romance, love and relationships in it’s own original and unique way. What I did miss in THE ICING ON THE CAKE was a bit of intensity, a bit of conflict and yet that’s also what makes it real, because that’s funny enough I saw a lot of similarities with my own love story (I also “met” my husband online and there isn’t much conflict in our relationship). Alison Kent delivered this lovely book through very smooth writing and laced it with the humor I love so much in my romances. Subtle humor and teasing banter alternated and gave the book a genuine feel-good vibe.THE ICING ON THE CAKE is a contemporary romance that initially starts as an online dating romance but quickly moves on to a true real life romance and slowly evolves into a solid and deep loving relationship. It's very hard to pinpoint what I love about these Reality Based Romance ™ books but I definitely love the down-to-earth, boy/girl next door, "real" characters, they appeal to me on a whole different level than non- Reality Based Romance ™ characters do. I find them wonderful to read as they form a down-to-earth counterpart to the high-intensity imaginary romances I normally read and I am definitely looking forward to the next one in this series.One last thing about THE ICING ON THE CAKE. It made me crave cupcakes like mad and if I wasn't on a diet I'd whipped out the cake pan and made myself some of the cupcakes described in this book because they sounded just heavenly and delicious!Favorite Quotes:Was The One really out there? Someone not to complete her, but to complement her? To see the good in her and make her better? To allow her to do the same and to build on that trust, creating something together that would be bigger than either of them could be alone?PWOR-Rating: 7.5/10
