Review: Samantha SoRelle’s SUSPICIOUSLY SWEET.

Thanks to the author for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 Q: If you were going to have any *one* sweet treat, what would it be? I think I would go for a piece of white wedding cake since I literally had a dream I was describing what it tastes & looks like to George Clooney last night (🙄 WTH, Jess 🤷🏻‍♀️😆).

Stories with MCs who are starting over always hit me in the feels & I found Samantha SoRelle’s Suspiciously Sweet to be particularly moving.

First off, the tropes—foodie romance meets grumpy & the glib one with a dash of deception—are all working for the good in this novella. Grumpy & the glib one is one of my fave tropes bc I live for seeing the grumpy one get agitated 😆.

Second, the initial premise is stellar: one MC—Owen—opened a bakery after getting out of prison that he named after his beloved grandmother. The other MC, Trevor, is a food critic of many insults who visits the bakery anonymously & is absolutely stunned by how good the food is. Of course he still finds some overall minor things to critique about his experience & that’s how Owen develops nasty feelings toward Mr. Tasty, the food critic.

But IRL, Owen is discovering Trevor, the man who keeps visiting his bakery & even offers to help with the books, isn’t so bad.

What else did I love about this one? Two older heroes who reluctantly can’t stay away from each other—there’s something so magical about seeing people drawn to each other over & over again—a dynamic that goes from antagonistic to combative friends to lovers, a really cute epilogue, & this sweet moment where a disgusted Owen does something food-related for Trevor that made my heart smile.

This romance was such a boost to my day! I adore it.

4.5 ⭐️. Release date: 02/08.

[ID: the ebook rests on a white apron with blue strings. I put marshmallows in my cup of coffee bc I am a wild thing & it’s above the ebook. To the left an arrow made out of gum points to the book and below that, gummy words leads out of a bowl of muffins to the ebook.]