3.5 Hearts
SJ, Romance Junkies

This Harlequin Special Edition romance, SECOND-CHANCE SWEET SHOP by Rochelle Alers, is a second-chance, feel-good romance between new bakery owner, Sasha Manning, and the hunky single dad/small town dentist, Dwight Adams.

It's a small town romance between two people starting over, a woman trying to get over a failed marriage and a man who failed once, with responsibilities, who needs to learn to open himself to love again.

The romance works, the characters are lovely, including my favorite, Dwight's daughter, Kiera, but the pacing seemed a little bit slow, and a lot of information was fed to the reader instead of letting the story happen. It took a while to get through the backstory-laden beginning for me.

Still, an enjoyable romance by a wonderful author.

New bakery owner Sasha Manning was totally not expecting that the teenager she hired would have such an attractive father. Now that she is back home after being away for years Sasha is still dealing with feelings from falling for a man who seemed too good to be true. Divorced single dad Dwight Adams will have to prove to Sasha that he is the real deal and he will also have to learn to trust someone with his heart along the way.

I love Rochelle Alers work. This cover and title sounded so promising. But, Dwight and Sasha's romance lacked chemistry. I think it was because they were so doubtful the entire way through. One minute they wanted to be just friends and the next more. Then, they seemed to jump into love. I will continue to read more from this author.
Thank you, #Netgalley.

This book started out around four stars for me but then I was so bored I was going to give it two stars because the premise was cute and I did enjoy familial bonds. So why is it one star? The last 10% has absolutely infuriated me!

Natasha “Sasha” returns to The Falls after divorcing a country music star in order to open her own patisserie and while building her business she hires Kiera, a Black teenager whose father is the local dentist and whose mother is in New York with her new husband of 12 years. When Sasha meets Dwight there is an immediate level of attraction, but both of them have baggage from previous marriages and are hesitant to develop anything other than friendship, especially with concerns of how it may affect Kiera as Sasha’s employee.

The idea of this story definitely has potential, but I very quickly got bored reading. It also felt like the pacing was inconsistent, things developing quickly one scene and then nothing happening in the next. I actually ended up mainly skimming the last half of the book and couldn’t read the last several pages with how much the book pissed me off.

Sasha‘s ex-husband was emotionally abusive and is described as narcissistic. He comes back to town, uninvited and without notice, so he can inform Sasha that he recently received an ALS diagnosis and to seek her forgiveness for how he treated her. When he starts to cry, she decides to forgive him, and that felt way too easy to my mind, especially after Sasha had yelled at her mom for being willing to welcome Grant back into her home despite knowing what he’d put Sasha through last several years. After she grants him absolution, she gives him a kiss, and OF COURSE Dwight sees the kiss from a distance. And what really pushed my button to the point I couldn’t finish and gave this book 1 Star is Dwight wondering if she made up the story of abuse to make herself a victim rather than a villainess. Abuse victims, especially of non-physically-violent abuse, have enough trouble being believed and getting resources without having the hero of a romance doubting her story of survival as a reaction of his own securities. I just couldn’t root for them to find a happy ending at that point because Dwight doubting Sasha’s history like that feels like he would potentially bring it up as a point of she’s a liar or something if they get into an argument.

This has a cute premise, but for me this book very quickly was boring to read and then to have an abuser receive absolution so quick and easy just ruined any good feelings I had for this story.

I really wanted to like this story, but the execution fell short. Sasha and Dwight had so much mistrust from their previous relationships that it kept interfering with their developing one and by the time the both did something about it...well, the ending was really rushed.

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley/Harlequin and this is my honest review.

Nice sweet story. I read this during a rainy weekend, relaxing and sipping tea. This was a perfect pairing. Slow to start but worth it to continue.

Loved it, loved it, loved it!!! A sweet and touching love story with great characters you will really start to care about.