Review: Latte Love by Andrea Cumbo

Latte Love (The Red Flag Dating Club #1)
by Andrea Cumbo

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Romantic Comedy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
She hates him with a passion so strong it would steam milk, and the feeling is mutual.

When Trinity Essex hires Jeremiah Jordan to give her advice on good investments for her thriving coffee shop, she immediately regrets her decision. He’s arrogant, bossy, and far too attractive to be safe.

She is stubborn, unrealistic, and so fascinating that he thinks about her all the time.

Her friends in The Red Flag Dating Club have lots of things to say, and Trinity isn’t sure she wants to hear any of them.

This just isn’t going to work. . . right?

My Review

I received a copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I know this author from her cozy mystery books under another pen name and I was excited to see how she would write romance books as I always like the daily life and romance aspects of her cozies. Latte Love is a fun start to this series and I enjoyed seeing how the author wrote a different genre. The writing style felt familiar because I already knew the author and I could easily get into this book. It reminded me of her cozy mystery stories but then without the mystery and more romance instead.

Latte Love is told from dual point of views of both Trinity and Jeremiah. Trinity runs her own coffee shop and Jeremiah is the business consultant her father hires for her. Trinity is none to pleased with her father’s interference, but she finds Jeremiah is not only hot, but also has a lot of great advice. Reading about the coffee shop and how Trinity ran her business was one of my favorite parts of the book. Her passion for her store really comes through. It’s just so fun to read about business owners and seeing how she could increase her profit and do more to help others and her community was great.

I liked the romance between Trinity and Jeremiah, although I struggled a bit at times with how Trinity had some baggage which made her think badly of men in general. Later in the book she explains why this is and I thought that helped explain a lot, but I still didn’t like reading about it. I was glad to see she did realize she had some baggage and also recognized her hot-and-cold behavior or when she was being defensive and how she explained things to Jeremiah. Jeremiah handled some things not right, but I liked how he was always quick to apologize and made sure it wouldn’t happen again.

I liked how the romance was low on drama even though they have to figure some things out and how to be together. There are some very sweet moments with the two of them and I thought their romance and the way they interacted felt realistic. I did think the ending felt a bit rushed and I would’ve liked another chapter or two before the epilogue. Trinity has some great friends and I look forward to seeing more of them in future books, I assume all of them get their own book.

To summarize: This was a great start to this series! I already knew this author from her cozy mystery books and was excited to try her new romance series. The writing felt familiar and I could easily get into this book. I liked reading about Trinity and Jeremiah, as well as Jeremiah’s dog and Trinity’s friends. I liked the fact that Trinity owned her own business and I enjoyed reading about how she ran things, this is probably one of my favorite parts of the book. I also liked how she wanted to help others and her community as well. I liked the romance between Trinity and Jeremiah, I thought their romance felt realistic and I was glad it was low on drama even though they have to figure some things out. Trinity has some baggage where she doesn’t think as well of men in general, which I didn’t like reading about. There is a reason for her behavior and I liked she was aware of it herself. I liked seeing the two of them figure things out and there are some very sweet scenes between them. The ending felt a tad rushed and I would’ve liked another chapter or two before the epilogue. I look forward to the next books!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.