Fireworks & Frosting

by Kristin Cast

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the House of Night and Towerfall series comes a sun-soaked, high-heat summer romance full of fake flirting, small-town rivalry, and an ordinary woman who never meant to fall for the fox shifter she’s pretending to seduce.

Lila Hart has one goal this festival season: win.
Win the Frosting Queen title, beat her lifelong rival, Candi, once and for all, and finally prove she belongs in a town where everyone else seems a little more magickal. The plan is simple—bake and decorate the perfect cupcakes, charm the judges, and keep her focus. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Until the tie-breaking judge turns out to be tall, highly sought after, and shifter-god-level gorgeous.

Max Lark is new to town and determined to make it his home. He signs up for everything—beach volleyball, pier cleanup days, even judging the annual Frosting Queen contest—and quickly becomes the man everyone wants on their team. The last thing he expects is a gorgeously curvy, frosting-smudged woman who talks too fast and tries too hard to end up on his doorstep.

Lila wants his vote—no matter what it takes to get it.
Candi is determined to outshine her.
And Max is trying very hard to remember he’s supposed to stay impartial.

Between hand-delivered goodie baskets and late-night taste tests, Lila’s carefully planned seduction strategy starts to feel a little too real. The more she plays her own game, the more she risks her heart on the fox shifter with every reason to choose someone more magickal.

One fox. One human. And one summer that proves magick isn’t the only thing that makes sparks fly.

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

103 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2026

About the author

Kristin is a #1 NYT and #1 USA Today bestselling author with over 30 million books in print.

She is proudly neurodivergent (ASD + OCD) and deeply consumed by character-driven chaos, emotionally vulnerable heroes, and smart, sexy heroines who always get the last word and the hot guy. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her devouring thriller, horror, and romance novels, practicing witchcraft, and being the exact kind of unhinged that makes group chats worth opening.

Reviews

[ya.]

Миленька новела, цілком звичайна. Думаю вже пора змиритись з тим що новели в цій серії звичайні, і ефекту вау від них не добʼєшся. Але тут хоча б були мої любимі тортики 🍰

[JuLiterally]

Ця історія все-така ж чарівна, як інші в серії, але слабша. Мені не вистачило тексту, щоб повірити у все, що відбувалося між героями. Хотілося б більше деталей, оскільки менша кількість сторінок не дала історії розкритися повноцінно.

[Faye Anne]

Fireworks and Frosting is one of the Crescent Cove novellas, and at 108 pages it's a fun and quick read! It has a bit of spice in but I wouldn't say it's excessive for the page count. The whole series is a good time, and definitely worth picking up if you like paranormal romances. It's also all included on KU!

[Vicky]

Super quick read. This is a 8 book series. They are all stand-alone. All written by different authors. Spice level i’d give would be 🌶️🌶️. While not overrun with spice when those scenes hit man oh man did they hit hard 🥵 🤤. I can no longer look at baked goods the same way, and I will no longer be able to bake without this book entering my mind. The FMC and the MMC were perfection together. Takes place during summer in a town filled with magical humans. Summer festival is the main theme! I found myself giggling and having an all over great time with this book. First read by this author. All books are available to read on KU!

[Melissa Locke]

I’m taking a Star off only because the cat was licking himself on the counter while she was frosting a cake to give to someone followed by almost hacking up a hairball on said counter. This is why I don’t eat other people’s food. I know I’m pretty ridiculous.

[Nicole H. ✨️nicoledreamsofbooks✨️]

101/150📚
Soooo cute especially if you love a summer festival and baked goods! The spice was just perfect and I loved the FMC Lila and MMC Max together.

[Donna]

Right off the bat I’m confused because people with no magical abilities aren’t supposed to be allowed in Crescent Cove with few exceptions. Yet here we have Lila who appears to have lived there her entire life. There’s no explanation as to how this came to be. Were her parents magical and she’s just a dud? Who knows.

Max, a fox shifter, is new to the community and is tapped to be a judge at the annual baking competition. His rolling stone lifestyle is made out to be a major factor but doesn’t really play an important part that I can see. I am curious as to how he supports himself if he never stays in one place for long.

There is a mean girl witch who uses her powers to make Lila appear even more incompetent than she actually is. Said witch always wins the baking competition and goes out of her way to flaunt it. Lila is bound and determined to be this year’s winner. Both women try to gain an advantage through Max. Candi, with an “i” is ruthless. Lila less so but she does have a few tricks up her sleeve.

Max’s fox recognizes Lila as their mate when they first meet. It seems that as a human Lila doesn’t get the same vibe, although she is eventually drawn to him. Her diabolical plan to win the bake-off comes to light and their budding romance is on shaky ground. Will love win out, Candi get her comeuppance and HEA be achieved?

[Liz Young]

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A fun summer read, especially if you love small town contests! Lila wants to win the Frosting Queen crown after years of being beaten out by her high school bully, and Max is new to town and roped into being a judge.

I was flabbergasted about what happened at the carnival. I was not expecting that at all, and I’m glad the person who did it was held accountable. Trying not to give spoilers, but it is wild that this individual has gotten away with treating Lila that way for so long. I’m so glad the tides turned in the end, but I was very nervous for a second.

I love that Max and Lila each find a new reason to call Crescent Cove home. Max is so conditioned to moving around every few months, and Lila wants a fresh start, and it’s wonderful to see them both come to realizations about life and what they truly want.

[Ashley]

Probably my least favorite book of the year. Compared to the rest of the books in this series, this one was lacking. Sure the spice was good, but the story was meh at best. The unnecessary dump on military families “moving every few months” that caused the MMC attachments issues to finding a and keeping a home really took me out of the story and almost made me dnf this extremely short book. This is why researching your topics is important. I feel like if the author had written more or not rushed the plot completely it would’ve been decent. Oh well.

[Coral Garcia]

Welcome to Crescent Cove Short Story🧁 Max the Fox Shifter Judge that just moved to town and the cute Human baker Lila that needs his Vote so Candi the Frosting queen doesn't win Again she wins every year but it does help she has pink magick that
Helps things to go her way but the min Max and his fox seen Lila walking up to his house with a cake that wasn't so Stright he know thats she was going to be his and right along for this ride
LETS JUST SAY Candi wont win after all

Get your lemon cream and spatula Ready its So Hot great story to read smile refresh great ready for such a good Time

[Ashley Richard]

I may be a bit bias because it's written by Kristin Cast but this was a great book. Just enough spicy but not overly spicy to where I could read it on my lunch break with no worries. A mixture of magic and normalcy to take your mind off of reality for a short read. It is a short read, but it closed the plot lines nicely.

[Katerina Kuhlmann]

Such a cute quick read!

Lila was a girl you could root for. I wanted her to win the baking contest so bad! And the connection between her and Max was instant. The spice was delicious in more ways than one! Overall it was a cute summer read!

[Katerina Kuhlmann]

Lila was a girl you could root for. I wanted her to win the baking contest so bad! And the connection between her and Max was instant. The spice was delicious in more ways than one! Overall it was a cute summer read!

[Centaine]

DNFed at 68% when the alleged fox shifter still hadn't shifted, and the book had not explained why a non-magical woman had grown up in a town that (as established explicitly in previous entries in the Crescent Cove series) was magic folks only.

[Lila]

Lila and Max are so sweet together. I like the twists where the guy is a judge and the girl is a contestant instead of them being both contestants. I absolutely don’t like Candi.

[Glynne Wheeler]

cute novella

This was a quick sweet little novella with a basic plot that still worked to pull you in and make it enjoyable. A bit of afternoon fluff :)