Jacqueline's Reads: Bittersweet (True North #1) by Sarina Bowen [Review]

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.

5 Farmer me Stars Please
Sarina Bowen is becoming a new favorite of mine. I read some of her book in the Ivy Years series and I loved them. I went into Bittersweet blindly and I read it in one sitting. When I finished, I could have easily read it again. Bittersweet is a pure romance book, it was sweet, interesting and I didn’t stop reading until the last page.

What I loved most about Bittersweet was the way it was written. The flow as nice and the pace was easy. I enjoyed the characters and I loved the concept and theme of the book. Griff is a farmer. Just think tanned, muscles and a hot beard. Yup and Yes!

I loved Griff. He’s exactly the kind of Hero I picture in romance books. He loves and cares for his family, he puts everyone before him, yet he’s strong, smart and he loves what he does. I can’t think anything more attractive than that.

Audrey and Griff shared a mild fling in college, its years later and Audrey shows up on Griff’s farm land. Audrey is a chef, but she’s also a buyer. Griff’s farm is on her list to purchase produce from and both are surprise to see each other.

“Every hour she spent in Vermont served to remind me of exactly how hot for her I’d been in college, too”

I loved Audrey and Griff’s relationship. There’s some nice banter and the chemistry is very apparent. Of course, they are attracted to each other, but Audrey is just there on business and Giff doesn’t want to take it any further.

Throughout the book we know that Griff’s farm isn’t doing well and he struggles to keep it in the black. Audrey also struggles with her job, since she wants to simply cook, not buy food for her company. I liked how both have problems, it adds to the story and it kept me glued to the book.

I learned a lot in this book about farming and I really enjoyed those parts too. I felt like the book was real and it really connected me to the story, not many authors can do that. I found it cute when Griff slaughter a pig in front of Audrey and she didn’t bat an eye, she actually wanted to butcher it, I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Audrey was unnecessarily beautiful. She was like butterflies I saw every day hovering over the meadow – they were more stunning than all the other pollinators. It didn’t really seem fair to the bees who did the same work”

I didn’t want the book to end and I could have read hundreds more pages of Audrey and Griff. I was consumed in their world and I am so happy Sarina Bowen too me there.
A must read!

An ARC was provided