Review — Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen

Bittersweet Series: True North #1
Also in this series: Steadfast, Keepsake, Bountiful,
on June 14, 2016


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Reading Challenges: Read New Authors

The new series is set in Vermont. True North is populated by the tough, outdoorsy mountain men that populate the Green Mountain State. They raise cows and they grow apples. They chop a lot of wood, especially when they need to blow off steam. (Beards are optional but encouraged.)

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the orchard.

The last person Griffin Shipley expects to find stuck in a ditch on his Vermont country road is his ex-hookup. Five years ago they’d shared a couple of steamy nights together. But that was a lifetime ago.

At twenty-seven, Griff is now the accidental patriarch of his family farm. Even his enormous shoulders feel the strain of supporting his mother, three siblings and a dotty grandfather. He doesn’t have time for the sorority girl who’s shown up expecting to buy his harvest at half price.

Vermont was never in Audrey Kidder’s travel plans. Neither was Griff Shipley. But she needs a second chance with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay—a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.

They’re adversaries. They want entirely different things from life. Too bad their sexual chemistry is as hot as Audrey’s top secret enchilada sauce, and then some.

I was provided a review copy; this did not influence my opinion of the book.

 

A sweet, second chance romance between a grouchy, bearded farmer and an upbeat, ambitious chef. A match made in heaven, right?

Audrey Kidder never made her mother proud. Her mom’s expectations were too high to reach. After failing out of the second college and losing all financial support from her mother, Audrey worked to put herself through culinary school. It wasn’t until she started living to fulfill HER dream, that she began to not feel like a failure. Even though, in the back of her head she’s still riddled with self-doubt, thanks to her mother.

In her new job, rather than working as a chef (her dream job), Audrey is given the task of being a buyer for a corporate restaurant group, BPG. She has to go to Vermont and convince farmers into selling their product to her company for them to use in their restaurants.  The problem, BPG wants the product for cheap, undercutting the farmers. If Audrey doesn’t complete the job, she could get fired…

Griffin Shipley and Audrey first met in college. After a couple of hook ups and unrequited attraction, the two hadn’t seen each other in several years. So it was quite a shock that now, in Vermont of all places, Audrey should find herself being helped out of a ditch by none other than the hook up of her past. And one of the farmers her company had sent her to try and schmooze.

Out of college, Griffin could have played in the NFL and would have, had it not been for the unexpected death of his father. Suddenly family obligations became more important than his dreams and he found himself taking on the role of man of the house and head of the family farm. Having dreams conflicted with his sense of responsibility.

As time moves on, he finds his dreams change. He has found cider making to be his (and his families) destiny. But can he talk his family into the change?

❝ My biggest fear was talking my family into this change and then bombing somehow.❞

Audrey finds herself in Vermont more than she is in Boston, thanks to BPG utilizing her talents as a buyer, rather than as a chef, which means she and Griffin spend more time together, reigniting that old flame. The two are hot for each other from the start. When they are together they can’t keep their hands off of each other!

If you are looking for a sweet romance, low on angst, and pretty steamy, Bittersweet would fit the bill!

Would you like to read the first chapter?

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Read New Authors

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