SYNOPSIS:
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.
4 – 4.5 GRUMPY, SEXY STARS!!
“The massiveness of his body was such a turn-on. He was an unyielding wall of a man. I just wanted to stay right here – literally pressed between a rock and a hard place. Forever.”
WELL HELLO, GRUMPY BEARDED FARMER!! Sarina Bowen NEEDS to write more adult contemporary romance! OMG Griffin is one of THE sweetest and sexiest heroes EVER. Adored the story. Sexy, funny and smart. Fabulous beginning to what I’m sure will be a fantastic series!!
I absolutely loved this story about Griff, a super-hot and always-grumpy farmer who lives and works with his large family on their farm in Vermont. I loved the wonderful details about apple farming, organic farming and the agricultural business!! This eye for detail just shows what an incredibly talented writer Sarina Bowen is.
Audrey is struggling to make her mark in the Boston restaurant world and is called upon to visit several farms in Vermont as part of her job. She runs into Griif, with whom she had a few hot hook-ups in college. Back then he was a superstar football player, but he thought she was a sorority party girl and she thought he would never be interested in someone like her.
Flash forward to the present, Audrey is trying to make it on her own without the help of her wealthy mother. Her bosses aren’t exactly ethical in their business dealings, which Griff makes quite clear to her. BUT these two have some AMAZINGLY hot chemistry and can’t seem to stay away from each other. I must say that Sarina Bowen surprised me with the heat level in BITTERSWEET!!! Griff is hot, sweet, huge and BEARDED. Audrey is hooked! But these two could not be more different: Griff is serious, usually grumpy and completely immersed in running his farm and the business side of farming, while Audrey, who is smart and driven, is funny, outgoing and much more of a people person.
“You’re the sweet that balances out my natural tannins.”
Griff is my kind of hero. Hardworking, sexy, sweet, devoted to his family…and when he opens up to Audrey and shows his true feelings, OMG!!! Perfection.
“There was nothing I wouldn’t have given her at that moment. Skin to skin with her was the only place I wanted to be.”
There is an incredible cast of supporting characters, I would love to read a story about each and every one. BITTERSWEET has humor, heat, wonderful writing and and a fast paced story. And it has plenty of sexy times to satisfy even the most jaded of contemporary romance readers (like me!) The only thing that kept this book from being a 5 star read for me was a scene early on that I felt was out of place in a sexy contemporary romance story. Other than that, I highly recommend this sweet, sexy and funny story!! Can’t wait to read the next book in this series!!
(ARC provided by the author in return for an honest review.)
MORE IN THIS SERIES:
STEADFAST (TRUE NORTH #2)
Release Date: July 12, 2016
She’s the only one who ever loved him—and the only one he can never have.
Jude lost everything one spring day when he crashed his car into an apple tree on the side of the road. A man is dead, and there’s no way he can ever right that wrong. He’d steer clear of Colebury, Vermont forever if he could. But an ex-con in recovery for his drug addiction can’t find a job just anywhere.
For Sophie Haines, coming face to face with the man who broke her heart is gut-wrenching. Suddenly, he’s everywhere she turns. It’s hard not to stare at how much he’s changed. The bad boy who used to love her didn’t have big biceps and sun-kissed hair. And he’d never turn up volunteer in the church kitchen.
She knows it’s foolish to yearn for the man who returned all the heartsick letters she wrote him in prison. But the looks he sends her now speak volumes.
No one wants to see Sophie and Jude back together, least of all Sophie’s police chief father. But it’s a small town. And forbidden love is a law unto itself.
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