Book Description:
What will it take to save her family’s candy company…and end a decades-long feud?
For generations, the Evergreen Candy Company has been a beloved small-town Alaskan tradition run by Jovi Wright’s family—until now. With her grandparents no longer at the helm, Jovi’s parents are considering selling it. When her sister calls with the news, Jovi hops on a plane back home to help rescue the family business. Her plan: launch Grammie’s salted caramel chews as a new product. But with Grammie’s memory fading and the recipe missing, Jovi has her work cut out for her.
Still reeling from being jilted by her fiancé, Jovi welcomes the distraction of trying to re-create the recipe from scratch. The distraction she’s not so sure about is single dad Burke Solomon. The disillusioned author and his adorable little girl have moved in to his late aunt’s cabin just down the road from her grandparents’ home, where she’s staying. And the discovery that their families have been feuding since before either of them were born is too irresistible to ignore.
With a looming deadline and the stresses of single parenthood, the last thing Burke needs is a bright-eyed optimist like Jovi next door. But he finds himself asking for her help adjusting to life in Evergreen more than he’d like to admit. And untangling the history of what happened to the friendship between his late aunt and Jovi’s Grammie provides an antidote to his writer’s block. But when Burke unearths several shocking family secrets, will revealing them settle the feud or bring everything he and Jovi have been working toward crashing down around them?
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading A Winter of Sweet Secrets, a contemporary romance with women’s fiction story themes set in Alaska. Jovi is a travelling nurse who was jilted by her ex-fiancé. She returns to her hometown of Evergreen, Alaska, to help her sister save their family candy business.
Burke is a bestselling author and single parent of an adorable five year old daughter. Two years ago he tragically lost his wife and baby son in an accident. Burke has his reasons for leaving Charleston and temporarily moving to his family’s Alaskan cabin to write his next book.
Jovi and Burke’s meet cute at the airport in Anchorage, combined with his daughter’s antics, is awkward and embarrassing. Jovi is an optimist and the sunshine in their relationship. Burke is a fish out of water in Alaska and his challenging circumstances make him a little bit grumpy. They both need to deal with emotional baggage that includes trust and forgiveness issues. Their romance is sweet and complicated by their feuding families and mysteries that need to be solved.
Jovi and her sister are determined to find the recipe for their Grammie’s chocolate caramel chews and save their candy company. We journey with Jovi’s sister as she struggles to navigate a number of issues in her marriage.
I recommend A Winter of Sweet Secrets to contemporary romance readers who like second chances and grumpy sunshine romances with family drama, intriguing mysteries, and relevant faith elements in the story.
Many thanks to Love Inspired and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.