I’m breaking my MFA thesis hiatus to write a quick review of the super fun romance novel I managed to find time to read this weekend: The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky by Summer Heacock.

I got an arc of The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky via NetGalley back in the summer months when I had time for things like pleasure reading and not wringing my hands over the essays in my thesis. This weekend, I realized I needed to read something not thesis related, so I dug up my copy and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.

If someone had been writing specifically to an audience of Amanda, they couldn’t have done much better than this book. Cupcakes! Awkward issues preventing successful sexy times! Banter! More cupcakes!

Now, I read romance fairly irregularly because it takes a very specific level of awkwardness for me to enjoy it, so I could be off base here, but I’ve never personally encountered a book that deals so deeply with physical issues in the bedroom while also somehow providing steamy sexual tension.

Main character Kat has somehow forgotten to make time to deal with some physical issues preventing successful sexy times with her longterm boyfriend and as the two year mark approaches, she gets a little bit desperate to find a way to reignite her spark.

While Kat was sometimes oblivious to her own emotions and behaviors, it was still fun being along for the ride. Plus, the side characters each had their own fleshed-out backstories and personalities, which lent her girl gang of cupcakery coworkers some authenticity–even if one of them is named Butter, which seemed a bit far fetched. The love interest was also adorably nervous and nerdy, which is more or less catnip for me, so I was 100% head over heels for this story.

As is often the case for me when I read romance, I felt that the plot pacing was a bit odd at times, with everything speeding along after a given point. But as someone who likes a good slow simmer (see: Jim and Pam in The Office) that’s probably just personal preference speaking.

All in all, spending my weekend with this book was a delightful way to reset and refresh. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks sexy times can be a bit awkward or who loves some good banter. Or cupcakes, for that matter.