Mocha Lattes and Candy Hearts

by Peyton Holmes

Kelly is ready for an exciting new chapter after inheriting his grandmother's rundown Cupid Café. But when it comes to baking and brewing, he's not as skilled as he'd hoped—until he meets the tattooed and captivating Mitch Carson from across the street.

Mitch offers his handy expertise to help fix up the café, and what starts as a friendly collaboration soon becomes a playful rivalry filled with cheeky heart-shaped cookies and plenty of banter. As Spring approaches, the stakes rise with the annual festival, putting their budding romance to the test.

With insecurities and misunderstandings standing between them, will Kelly find the courage to embrace love and the community he’s always dreamed of? Join these two adorably mismatched men on a heartwarming journey of discovery, laughter, and unexpected connections.

Genres: Contemporary, M M Romance, Contemporary Romance

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2025

Reviews

[Ed Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard book for me to rate and review. For the most part I enjoyed the story. However, there were a lot of things that bothered me. I felt like I never really got to know either Mitch or Kelly very well. I wondered where Kelly came from and why he didn’t seem to own anything when he moved to town. I wondered when his grandmother died and why the cafe was in such bad shape. I also thought it was strange that a cafe only seemed to serve cookies and coffee. When they made love where was the discussion of safe sex or the use of condoms and lube? Also what was that fight about?

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted more from this. The characters were one dimensional, had no personal background, and I didn't buy their relationship. The timeline of everything was really fuzzy- was the cafe open or was it being renovated, when did Kelly make those cookies he gives to Mitch the first day he arrives at the store, how long was this festival, where did Mitch's friend Sam come from 3/4 of the way through the book, why did no one ever seem to actually work at their job? Also, why did people bring Kelly coffee when he makes it in the cafe (as one of the two things besides cookies this "cafe" seems to serve)? It was also very slow and repetitive and I was bored.

[Susi June · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like over the top Hallmark movies, this book is probably for you.

Eventhough I love these kind of movies I have to say, it was sometimes a bit too much for me.

We didn't get any character descriptions, except what Mitch is wearing, like serious, probably 10 outfits but I have no clue how he looks. The characters didn't have a lot of depth to be honest.
At first Mitch can do anything, like he is an artist, can bake, is a barista, is handy, worked in construction, good with dogs etc.
On the other hand Kelly can't do anything at first, like he can't paint, bake, doesn't know much about the coffee maker etc. I don't know, at first he was painted as this incompetent dude and later he was a master in so many things. It was confusing.

We only got 1 pov, except for some little sentences where we get Mitch's pov. I dislike that, I wanted to meet both. There also wasn't a real epilogue, which disappointed me quite a bit.
The big fight they had, came kinda out of the blue and didn't make any sense. Honestly it was a stupid fight, like seriously annoying but at least something exciting happened.

I read another book by Peyton Holmes before, what I loved way more! Still it's not a bad book at all!

[Cyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I DNF’d this book at 18%. What I thought I was getting—a cute hallmark cafe / tattoo shop owner story—was also weighed down by annoying/meddlesome/nosey neighbors who just *assumed* the MC’s sexuality right out the gate in the first meeting, and clearly needs to get a life of their own so that every other sentence isn’t dropping hints about the cafe owner dating the tattoo shop owner. And the other MC? Kind of a dick imo. I don’t subscribe to the notion that being an asshole makes someone hot, so this was such a turn off. In no way should he have told the cafe owner, mid-ramble, to shut up and it be ok just because he “smirked” and is “hot”.

I saw another review that said they skimmed at 43% and honestly? Brave of them to have kept going. I really was going to, but I realized life is too short to read books that raise your blood pressure.

[Pamela A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝑴𝒐𝒄𝒉𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑷𝒆𝒚𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒛𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 😍😍😍😍

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕! 𝑲𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍-𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒎 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔! 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒋𝒐𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒃𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍-𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕! 𝑨𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌. 🥰🥰🥰☺️☺️☺️

[Linda Finney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive and disappointing

I have to say that this is the worst mm romance I've ever read. It was more about the cafe than anything else. And various events they held. It was so repetitive and there was no real depth to it. I only carried on reading it because I thought it had to get better at some point!

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As cute as this story was I also found it rather slow and a wee bit boring now and then. The two main characters were totally sweet in there shy attraction and approach but that was so drawn out. I kept going hoping things would improve but finally at 48% I began to skim a little.

[heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

slow reading

It dragged through the whole book. Thought I would never finish. Why was Kelly so scared? Never said why if there was trauma. Just kept saying he was scared and nervous all the time.

[Ken Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tat for a cookie

Meet cute to an nth degree, Holmes presents a small town rivalry that is overwhelmed with sugary romance. Throw in Scout, A grandmother, and flowers, it's a happily ever after.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humor, romance and nosey neighbors.

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has the manic quality of a fever dream. It’s a little like when a small child watches a movie and then tries to explain the plot. I feel dumber now.

[DeeNeez · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK predictable read.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay. little confused on timeline but didn't really grab my attention