How Sweet It Is, as the title suggests, is a very sweet romance.

Kate was very type A, her lists had lists, so it was pretty funny to see everything go wrong every time she was around Drake. Drake was actually quite a cinnamon roll, he’s a sweet guy trying to support his family.

Their relationship felt a teeny bit rushed to me, I didn’t catch a lot of swoony moments between them. It felt a little like they were strictly coworkers then they were in love the next day but that’s okay.

Overall it was a fun story and I enjoyed reading!

Did not finish at 20%

First of all I’d like to thank Netgalley as well as the publisher for allowing me access to the arc. Let me start off by saying the book isn’t necessarily bad. This is a it’s not you it’s me situation.

I have been in a horrible slump since classes ended and reading on kindle makes it 10 times worse because the page count is weird and it makes the book feel too long. That being said I’m willing to read on kindle if the book captivates me enough. The premise of this book is cute but I didn’t immediately love either characters or the plot once I was reading it. I feel like there could be a lot to like further in the book but I’ve had this marked as currently reading for 2 months now and I don’t think it’ll happen.

It felt like your standard romance book but nothing was immediately special to me. The way the two main characters meets is kind of awkward and I think the dual pov’s ruins the mystery of Drake that’s set up by Kate in her pov.

It’s unfortunate that I had to dnf this but I hope someone else can find something to love where I wasn’t able to! Or hopefully once it’s released I can try out the paperback version and see it differently.

How Sweet It Is is the story of Kate Sweet, an event planner known as the Queen of Happliy Ever After and Drake, a horror author known as the Knight of Nightmares. They thrown together when Kate is hired to plan the book launch for Drake’s upcoming book. I enjoyed seeing Kate and Drake’s relationship develop as she unknowingly became his muse to overcome his writer’s block.

The supporting characters are great - Imani, Kate’s BFF and Drake’s publicist, and Ryker and Zander, Drake’s brothers. And I wouldn’t mind a book about either of these characters.

I loved the small town vibes and it reminded me of a Hallmark movie in that it was light and fun with very little conflict but there was more steam than a Hallmark movie.

I recommend for fans of:
- grumpy/sunshine trope
- workplace romance
- light beach reads

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Drake Matthews is the author of very popular horror books. When Kate Sweet, who is an event planner, is hired to plan his new book launch. Kate brings chaos with her everywhere and gets herself into some sticky situations with Drake. Drake is very closed off due to an old girlfriend but when he meets Kate he doesn't know what to do.

I LOVED How Sweet It Is. It had a very realistic story to me because I'm such a klutz. I would recommend anyone in my friend circle to pick up this book when it comes out.

First and foremost, How Sweet It Is was a super fun read. It had all of the elements I love in a romance like the quirky meet cute, the misunderstandings, the adorableness. Drake and Kate had such a solid chemistry I yearned for more of them. They played off each other really well and it made reading their story a fun time. I also loved the awkward situations they both kept getting into with the other. It added a fun lightness to their story and was woven in really well with the plot. With that said I didn’t love how quickly some of the things went at the end of the book. It felt a tad rushed and I felt like I was trying to catch up. But even will all of that I really enjoyed the journey Newton took us on. Definitely add How Sweet It Is to your TBR. Be prepared though, there is a lot of cupcake talk. You have been warned.

This was just the book I needed. It's such a fun read and had me regularly laughing from the first time our two main characters met. There's a mix of physical humor and great banter that yielded a really great book.

Kate Sweet is an event planner trying to prove herself to her family. She is the Queen of Happy Ever Afters, I'm an for creating magical moments. Drake is a horror writer dealing with writer's block. Kate is hired to help launch his tenth book, and they clash from the start. I expected a standard enemies-to-lovers trope with two opposites, but I found the story so much more fascinating. Drake's character in particular, is much more nuanced and complex than the stereotypes about him and his genre. We get peeks at his work in progress; I especially loved that book within a book aspect.

Plus I adored Drake's family. His interactions with his brothers, Ryker and Zander, were perfect. The three had great teasing and felt so real. And their mom is even better. I would like to adopt his dog, Sasha. I loved this sweet read.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

This book is, well, super-sweet and fun!

Drake is the most-perfect cinnamon roll book boyfriend ever! Creative and charming, intelligent and thoughtful with a military background, devoted to his family and just a bit awkwardly introverted, with washboard abs, he is the stuff of dark haired, golden eyed dreams. He's absolute perfection!

Kate is a great character too, an independent successful entrepreneur who rises above the numerous embarrassing disasters, powering through with grace and determination.

I loved watching their relationship grow, although I would have liked to have seen it go a bit faster so we could have had more couple time!

If you're looking for a light and breezy rom-com, with nothing too heavy weighing it down, this is the perfect escape!

Event planner Kate Sweet is the Queen of Happily Ever After always put together and she always gives her clients an "aww" moment for their events. When her best friend asks her to plan a book launch for the Knight of Nightmares, bestselling horror author Drake Matthews, Kate knows it's going to be challenging. After an initial meeting that is full of chaos, Kate is determined to plan the best event she can for Drake's new book launch. And Drake, well he's just happy that being around Kate is inspiring his latest novel.

How Sweet It Is is an adorable read. I loved how Kate and Drake had awkward interactions that also had humor and made me chuckle. I enjoyed watching them get to know each other and that they seemed to fit well together, despite being opposites. I think having the story told from both Kate and Drake's perspective allowed for me to invest in their relationship.

Despite being the Knight of Nightmares, Drake was a big cinnamon roll. He was so sweet to Kate and his fans. Kate made me laugh because it seemed like she was pure chaos whenever she was around Drake, which was so different from how her life was before meeting him. I loved how being around Drake helped her realize what she wanted.

I loved all of the references to Western New York! I also hope that either Imani or Drake's brothers get a book, because I want more of them and Wellsville. I want to live in a small town like that, oh and have some of Drake's mom's cupcakes.

If you're looking for a romcom without a lot of angst, check this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

If you’re looking for a sweet, zero angst, fun book, then this is the one for you! The plot is very much like that of a Hallmark movie--with some humor, the setting of a small town just outside of New York City, and adorable interactions between the hero and the heroine. 

Kate Sweet works as an event planner, and her primary focus is on planning Cinderella-like weddings for her clients. The book opens when her best friend, a publicist for a book publisher, reaches out to her for help. She has to plan an infamous horror author’s book launch party in only thirty days. Kate agrees to do this, but this type of event is a lot... spookier than what she’s used to…

Right off the bat, the first chapter sets the tone for the book. Despite the implications that the book’s description gives, there’s very little conflict in this book. It’s light and airy, and despite the hero being a horror novelist, there is absolutely no gore or scary bits (unless you consider accidentally making a child cry at a pumpkin carving contest horror).

Despite the lack of a fear factor, this book is chock-full of second-hand embarrassment-inducing scenes. If something can go wrong, Kate messes it up. Kate is ordinarily very organized. She’s an event planner, after all, and she takes pride in having everything she plans go down without a hitch. But from the moment she takes this assignment, everything seems to go wrong. Kate and Drake’s first meeting is just like this - with a humorous misunderstanding and some physical comedy thrown into the mix. 

Drake is used to being stereotyped. He’s a horror author, people think his house is haunted, and they generally either worship him or call him a freak show. But he’s far from his nickname the Knight of Nightmares. He’s just a guy who likes to write stories that scare people. 

Because this book is set in the month of October, and the book launch happens on Halloween, this is a perfect read for the autumn. I’m surprised that the cover is the way that it is--why doesn’t it represent the contents of the book at all? Kate herself would be offended that the book cover has streamers and balloons. She’s an event planner, not a party planner, which she reminds characters frequently throughout the book. The cover should have some pumpkins, maybe a representation of the animatronic spider she was so dead-set on getting for the launch, maybe a cutesy little ghost or a backdrop of Drake’s grandmother’s beautiful Victorian house. 

Honestly, the event planning aspect of the book was quite interesting. The entire time, I was low key jealous of Drake’s book launch and just how big of an ordeal it was going to be. 

All in all, this is a cute read, recommended to those who need an escape this summer.

Two and a half stars. This book didn't land for me. It isn't bad, though it isn't necessarily good either. The storyline is unique and promising, which is the only thing that kept me reading til the end. I wanted to see how things turned out, and I kept hoping my reading experience would approve though it never did.

The premise is fantastic for a romance novel. We have an event planner known as the Queen of Happily Ever Afters who is desperate to win an award, so she takes on planning the book launch for a famous horror writer known as The Knight of Nightmares. What a great idea! Their meet-cute is hilarious and I had high hopes there at the start, then things quickly fell flat. The writing is weak in spots (lots of adverbs and over-explaining) and the dialogue often felt forced.

I never connected emotionally with the characters. Nor did their connection feel believable to me. There was a lot of physical chemistry, then the author never delivered on it. We get one steamy scene and there's no real foreplay (a new pet-peeve I have with romance novels) I believed they were attracted to each other but no so much the feelings stuff. They were simply too shallow as characters.

Despite my issues with the book, I'm glad I finished it. The event planning/book launch angle was genuinely interesting. Plus, I love reading stories about writers. If the writing quality of a book doesn't matter much to you, I'd say give this one a try. Otherwise, there are lots of romance novels out there that are stronger and deliver a better reading experience.

This is such a fun fall themed romance and I would definitely recommend picking this one up in October. This one follows Kate who runs an event planning business and loves to create magical moments for couples on their wedding day. Drake is a bestselling horror writer known as The Knight of Nightmares but he secretly wants to write a historical romance. Kate gets asked to help create an epic book launch for Drake's newest release and the two clash on how they think this should be done. There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book and I loved reading about Kate's parties and Drakes stories as well. Kate has a great best friend who is also Drake's publicist, I loved their friendship so much. I also love Drake's relationship with his two brothers ad his mother. Im hoping that this will be a series and we will get the brother's books too. Again I highly recommend picking up this one especially if you love seasonal reads. Thank Forever and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review. This comes out 7/13/21.

How Sweet It Is was a really cute romance! When event planner Kate Sweet, a.k.a the Queen of Happily Ever-After's, is unknowingly roped into planning a book launch for horror writer, Drake Matthews, known publicly as the Knight of Nightmares, she's hesitant. But regardless of his scary reputation, she goes forward with just as much motivation and vigor as she would any other job. But from the moment she steps foot into his town, chaos ensues. One thing after another goes wrong but Kate persists and finally starts to find her footing.

But for all her planning and spreadsheets, she didn't count on falling for the real Drake. The kind, soft-hearted person underneath the surface. The one who's been spending the last decade trying to write a historical romance inspired by his grandparents while feeling stuck and stifled under his reputation as the king of horror.

From the second Drake meets Kate, it's like his mental block has been removed and the words just start pouring out of him. He's finally able to put the story he's been seeing in his head on paper and tell the story that's been haunting him his entire career. And along the way he just so happens to start falling for his muse off the pages and in reality.

This book starts off with a bang. It has one heck of a meet cute and manages to maintain that emotion throughout! On paper, Kate and Drake are exact opposites. With reputations as the Queen of Happily Ever-After's and the Knight of Nightmares, you don't really expect them to have a whole lot in common. But the people behind the personas are not what either of them expected and there's only so much time they can spend together before their feelings start to surface!

The book was dual POV, which as always bumped up my feelings about this book! Just getting both perspectives made this so much better than if it had been a single POV. The writing and pacing was good and the whole book flowed really well. It didn't really feel like a debut rom-com because it managed to hit all the major points and ended with a picture-perfect HEA!

As an event planners, Kate's signature detail is that every one of her events has an "Aww Moment." It's exactly what it sounds like. A moment that just makes you go, "Awww," and this book had plenty of those moments! The dialogue and the moments between the MC's was super cute, and even when they were hanging out in places like a graveyard (he's a horror writer, it was bound to happen at some point), they still managed to hold on to their chemistry and keep you hooked!

This book was as sweet as the title suggests and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for a light, fun rom-com that is heart-warming and sure to make you smile! :)

CW: mentions of suicide and domestic violence/physical abuse, military related injury resulting in amputation, blood/stitches

How Sweet It Is was a cute and fun romcom, but it also addressed some emotional topics as well. I thought that balance was well done, getting the point across without being overly preachy or in your face. The book features one of the most hilarious (and painful) meet cutes that I've read in a while and I don't think I will look at stilettos the same way ever again.

Read this one if you:
- are a fan of grumps who are ooey gooey cinnamon rolls on the inside
- enjoy tropes like enemies to friends to lovers, forced proximity, and taboo/forbidden
- love meddling (but well intentioned) family members (Patty, Zander, and Ryker were the best!)
- want to laugh out loud
- ever wondered what the inside of a crypt is like, including past and present inhabitants ;)

I really enjoyed the chemistry and build up between Drake and Kate, but I did feel that the OW drama and conflict at the end felt a bit forced. I'm glad it was resolved quickly, but more groveling was definitely needed after that blow up. Overall, an entertaining read and the epilogue gave me my own 'Aww!' moment. I'm hoping more books for the Matthews brothers are in the works!

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

This romance is endearing, comical and of course “sweet!” When Drake Matthews, Knight of Nightmares horror writer, meets Kate Sweet, Queen of Happily Ever After event planner, all things scary and sugary align in this opposites attract, slow-burn rom-com.

How Sweet It Is is a light-hearted escape, full of sexual tension and entertaining chemistry. Their meet-cute is the best and who doesn’t love an adorable dog bringing two people together.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the complimentary copy for an honest review.

Kate Sweet is exactly what you would think of when you think of an event planner: punctual, kind, bubbly and over the top on cuteness. However, when she agrees to plan the book launch of famous horror writer Drake Matthews, dubbed the Knight of Nightmares, he doesn't expect to start falling for this mysterious author...

Y'ALL! I was already into the premise of this book as it gives Beach Read vibes and I love me a grumpalicious lead so Drake was right up there for me. And the book was cute and adorable and I loved their chemistry, from the get go. I feel like I've been reading a lot of books where it takes until the halfway point for there to be an ounce of chemistry and this book delivered it early.

However, what I was not expecting was that steam. WHAT! Granted, it happened pretty late in the book but when it happened my mind was blown. Drake was a zaddy, stern brunch daddy, whatever you want to call it. That nasty talk started and I was like WHO IS THIS MAN AND WHERE HAS HE BEEN THIS WHOLE BOOK?!

Highly recommend this cute and unexpectedly steamy read, and my only complaint is that this would've been a legit good Halloween release!

What could possibly happen when, two completely different worlds collide, between The Queen of Happily Ever After and The Knight of Nightmares 🎃

This is a sweet romcom that takes place in a cute small town. Dylan Newton literally transports you into the story! You can tell that she really did her research as she paints the picture in your mind, of the town and the victorian house! However I must admit the pace was slow and dragged but I really enjoyed the book. It was a very unique storyline.

4.5 stars

This one was soooo overly cute!!!! "Queen of Happily Ever Afters and Knight of Nightmares" meet! Clever and I was ready for a opposites attract romance. I loved the story, the characters, Drakes family. My only gripe is the incident with Kate and Drakes book, I just couldn't handle how careless she was. Although, I can't wait for the next book!

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The beginning of this book is so “Hallmark channel movie,” I almost gave up reading. A ridiculous meet-cute followed by one mishap after another. It did get better, and the characters deeper, as the chapters went on, but only after I decided to read it like a fairy tale with a suspension of disbelief.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A fun and frothy book, this was a perfect book to bring to the beach and just enjoy the ride as Kate and Drake meet and begin their HEA. Some good points about celebrity and assumptions. I would've liked a little less showboating on Drake's part and to have seen a little bit more of his family because their ties seem awesome and a bit more of Kate's family and their eventual acceptance of her career choice. I am hopeful that his two brothers and Kate's bestie, publishing agent Imani, might be some sequel-bait.
Kate Sweet has one goal in life, to win an EVPLEX, a major award given to Event Planners. But, while she has some great renown for her weddings, wedding planner don't usually win. So when her best friend calls with a proposition for Kate to fill in and complete a horror writer's book launch, she's hesitant but decides to take a chance.
However, the first meeting with said publisher goes horribly with a series of events that culminate in Kate being on top of him when Imani walks in... with the director who is optioning Drake's book (but also helped Drake's ex publish a tell-all about him).
Drake is bemused by this woman who comes in and plans the exact wrong kind of event for his book launch. In fact, he fires both her and Imani. But then he realizes that he's being a jerk and rehires her. And then he realizes that she is actually pretty good at her job and that he just needs to slow down and listen because she and he might be creating something pretty grand together.

Four stars
This book comes out July 13th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. The cover, while darling, does not do this book justice. I’m honestly surprised that this is a summer release rather than an October release as most of the story surrounds the Halloween release party for Drake’s next horror novel, but whatever, the book is cute at any time of year.

I adored both Kate and Drake. The way Kate’s brain worked just made me laugh, especially when she would accidentally say her internal thoughts out loud. Usually when book characters do this it is cringe, but the things she accidentally let slip were so relatable. Drake also made me laugh. The irony of a horror writer who faints at the sight of blood was just too funny. I was expecting these two to be a typical sunshine one / grumpy one paring but both of them were sunshine, though Drake’s was hidden behind his dark reputation. I also adored the side characters. Drake’s whole family was absolutely wonderful.

I loved the random bonkers moments that can only be found in a romance novel. Their entire meet-cute with Kate climbing Drake like a tree in order to get away from his dog was adorable and hilarious. The fact that Drake took Kate to a graveyard in order to be locked in a mausoleum for an hour for “research” was just *chef’s kiss*. I love books that don’t take themselves too seriously.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(Bookstagram post coming June 21, 2021 after 5 PM MT)