The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis

 

The Sweetheart List (Sunrise Cove #4) by Jill Shalvis

Publication Date: June 13th 2023 by Avon

Pages: 352

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Harper needs a change. Her fiancé dumps her, her job fails to bring joy, and her father barely acknowledges her existence. So, she decides to take life by the horns and move to the last place she was happy: Sunrise Cove, a town by Lake Tahoe. She’s going to go forward with her dream of running her own bakery and as luck would have it one of the downtown shops is up for lease. It’s a little run down but with some work it will be quaint and cute. Harper doesn’t expect help, doesn’t expect to make friends so quickly, but she’s but she’s gifted with both.  Romance is far from her mind, but of course when you least expect it is when you fall hard.

Bodie, her landlord isn’t looking for romance either, he’s just home to run the family bar after his dad’s unexpected death. But sweet and kind Harper is hard to resist.

Ivy, a teenager with a mission, has nowhere to stay so she sneaks into Harper’s shop for a night to sleep safe and out of the cold, thinking the place empty. Instead, she’s surprised by Harper who doesn’t kick her out. Harper’s an unexpected refuge and friend.

I love the thought of picking up and moving if a place is not bringing you happiness. Something I did a year ago, and coincidentally, to a place very close to the setting of Truckee/Lake Tahoe! I kept picturing downtown Truckee because it sounded so like the cute downtown area described.  

There were some bumps in the road from Ivy’s past and just from being a teenager! I thought she was pretty darn lucky because Harper and Bodie were so lovely to her.

The Sweetheart List was a feel-good romance full of love, friendship, and laughs! Loved that little surprise twist in the epilogue!

4 Stars

Book Description:

What makes life sweet?

-Freshly baked bread
-A cool lake on a hot summer day
-The comfort of a cozy bookstore
-Second chances and new beginnings

When Harper Shaw’s life falls apart, she knows it’s time for a change. She removes everything that doesn’t spark joy—from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists—and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn’t feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.

With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she’s never experienced since…well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets…

When those secrets explode, it changes Harper’s new world, and she’ll learn, it’s never too late to start over, it’s never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it’s never too late to let yourself believe in love.