Thank you Netgalley and Hallmark Publishing for access to this arc.

I’ve read and mostly liked several historical novels by Huguley so I was looking forward to this one but after 3/5, I had to reluctantly conclude this one isn’t for me. Allie is judgmental and prickly about everything while Jack morphs, IMO, from enthusiastic to pushy and smarmy the more he’s around her. It’s like watching a glaring hedgehog being badgered by an obnoxious, pushy Golden Retriever who won’t leave her alone. Enemies-to-lovers is not my favorite trope, especially when for large swathes of the book, there’s nothing but sniping and Jack getting all up in Allie’s business aided and abetted by her grandmother who does nothing to conceal the fact that she wants the two to marry and present her with great-grandbabies.

I was confused about a lawsuit that Allie is supposed to be working on that disappears only to finally resurface looking like Allie’s suddenly switched sides based on what she thinks might have happened. In addition, there is the issue of Allie being worried that Jack is after her grandmother’s recipes. Allie is determined to get Jack to sign legal papers guaranteeing her grandmother will be paid part of the proceeds of any book or documentary Jack makes – something Jack readily agrees to do. But despite the fact that he’s agreed and Allie is an intellectual property lawyer, by the time I stopped nothing had been signed. I’m sure she has access to a boilerplate legal agreement to cover this and could print it out and get him to sign. After a while it just seemed silly and only a way to drag out their conflict.

The descriptions of food are, however, mouthwatering and made me want to sit down wearing stretch pants at Miss Ada’s legendary feast, knowing full well I’d need to run a few marathons in order to work off the calories. My final words, before being wheeled off in a food induced stupor, would be “I regret nothing!”

It’s too bad that the good parts of the book – the history of Milford College, the multiculturalism with most of the characters being African American, showing the importance of religion and faith in the lives of Ada and the community, my gosh the food, and Allie’s otherwise indomitable grandmother, weren’t enough to keep me going and finish it. DNF

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley was a great read. I featured it as book of the day, interviewed the author, and included it in the weekly and monthly roundups of new releases on my blog and social media platforms.

Piper Huguley has an ability to paint vivedlly with her words - from NYC to a small southern community to mouth-watering foods, she puts you right in the middle of the world she has created. I found both leads as well as secondary characters to be engaging without being over the top. My only complaint was that the first chapter made references to Allie's hometown/family that I felt like I had missed a first book in the series or a prologue. Thankfully the writing was good enough that I wouldn't have stopped even if it wasn't an ARC, and the second chapter where Jack is introduced basically answers all the questions that were taking me out of the story in the first chapter.
This is a Hallmark title, so use what you know about their movies to calibrate your expectations for on-page heat.

Althea Dailey just made partner with her New York law firm and now her partners give her a case of a client who claims there sweet Tea recipe is being used by someone else to sell without their permission. So Althea decides to go to North Carolina to investigate the case she decides to take a trip to her home town of Milford, Georgia after she finds out this man is filming a documentary of her Granda (grandmother) recipes she has cooked for the family historical black college.
Jack Derwent comes from a southern family where his father wanted him to follow in his foot steps of being a lawyer. When Jack decides to not practice law at his father’s firm he decides to go into the culinary field because of his love for cooking.
When Althea comes home she feels that Jack is trying take advantage of her Ganda’s recipes to use for his own and not pay any compensation to Ganda for participating in the documentary.
The characters are well developed and the storyline kept me going to see if the sparks between Althea and Jack were going to be ignited or be a dud. I love Ganda she was a woman who had a wealth of information of not only the family recipes but also the history of how the town and colleges was founded by their previous ancestors.
I highly recommend this book to read, it is rich in historical family history, multicultural romance, and the choices one makes in their life.
Cassandra H.
I voluntarily received a ARC from Netgalley and this review is of my honest opinion and thoughts.

Sweet Tea is Piper G Huguley's debut release with Hallmark Publishing. It's a great addition to the Hallmark collection. It has everything we've come to expect from a Hallmark movie with a bit of spice. The author takes us back, "Home to Milford College." remembering its historical elements of racism and rights to education and voting.

Both Althea Dailey and Jack Darwent are intelligent and successful in their own right, but still, something is missing. Tragedy has left them with voids that keep them running and chasing to fill them. As it is known to do, Mulford offered that balm of healing, helped them understand their purpose, and found love.

If there is one thing you know is how southern towns are particular about their sweet tea and the lengths they will go through to protect its authentic ingredients and taste. And while the backdrop is about a case involving the rights to a sweet tea recipe, the readers are sure to engage in this well-written story with dashes of realism of a small-town romance, southern traditions and foods, hope, and family legacies!

Sweet Tea is a great story with memorable characters, and I recommend it for your reading pleasure.

Sweet Tea is an entertaining and well written romance. Good plot and character dynamics. I look forward to the movie.

A Southern, interracial romance about finding out your big dreams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be and maybe what you were looking for was at home all along. Althea has reached the pinnacle; being made partner in a prestigious intellectual property law firm in New York. But she hasn’t been home to Milford, Georgia, in five years. She’s worked hard to change everything about herself, erasing her Southern accent and even wearing makeup two shades lighter than her natural skin tone. She’s feeling oddly dissatisfied, though, and when she finds out her grandmother, a legendary cook, is collaborating with an unknown filmmaker, Althea flies home to make sure her grandmother isn’t giving away her intellectual property rights for nothing.

Jake Darwent is an intriguing hero for a romance novel; a trust fund brat who has walked away from his family’s expectations and is determined to make his own way, he’s a serious foodie on a mission to document authentic Southern cuisine by interviewing the custodians of the recipes, women like Althea’s grandmother. Althea turning up isn’t going to derail him, no matter how much she apparently dislikes him.

I was a bit thrown by the fact that Jack and Althea don’t even meet until 20% of the way into the story, in chapter 6. And this is a Hallmark, which naturally means ‘chaste’ but… to me, chaste shouldn’t mean basically complete non-contact, which is what we get… they barely kissed. And yet, at one point, there’s a definite implication that Jake is pleasuring himself thinking about Althea before he falls asleep!

I loved all the foodie stuff, Althea’s family and her eventual path and the decisions she makes, as well as the history of Milford College and the way it was inextricably tied up with Althea’s own family history. I very much liked Jake as a character and I totally bought into the possibility of a romance between them, but I did want more of the actual romance to be shown on the page. You can absolutely show love and intimacy without requiring your characters to have sex, but for me, the intimacy in the romance was lacking here. I’ll give it four stars.

This is my first time reading a book by Piper Huguley and it will not be my last book. This book was awesomely written with great characters, greats sites, historical insights, tragedy, healing, forgiveness, family traditions, love and good old southern sweet tea.

Althea Daily is a partner at her law firm and she has been assigned a case that takes her back to her hometown Milford Georgia. When she arrives, she meets Jack Darwent a white male who has befriend her grandmother. Jack is a documentarian and is doing a documentary on southern cooking that is a passion of his. Althea thinks that Jack is after her grandmother’s recipes but that’s far from the truth. Althea and Jack learn more about each other soon are getting closer. Pick up your copy to see what happens next. You will not be disappointed.

This is a true Hallmark movie and I would so love to see it on the Hallmark channel soon.

I received an ARC via Netgalley and Hallmark and I’m voluntarily leaving my review. Thank you both.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley is about Allie (Althea S. Daily), who left home to pursue her law degree at Columbia University after high school. At thirty-two, she has successfully become a partner at a prominent New York law firm. Allie's first case as a partner is taking her back to Georgia and just a few hours away from Mifford, where her grandmother still resides.
The case is between two restaurants and who has the right to claim the sweet tea recipe as their own. Because the patient is taking her so close to home Allie (Tea as she is called affectionately at home) calls Granda her grandmother before leaving New York. Her grandmother, Ada Smithson, is renowned for her cooking has a visitor there named Jack. Jack has plans to create a documentary movie and cookbook about the lost art of Southern cuisine. Allie is concerned that he is trying to trick her grandmother. She feels she must check on her while in the area, although she has not attempted to come home in the last five years.
Allie wants to know who is this Jack and why her grandmother? She has left Mifford once, although its slogan is no one ever really goes Mifford. Can she escape it again? Or will it hold the answers to why she tried escaping the past? Can she return to New York? Or can she make peace with Mifford? Read it now. Sweet Tea will have you sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting to see what happens next. Watch the suspense unwind in Sweet Tea now.
Bridgett R Veltman

REVIEWER: Brenda Larnell
Rating: B+

Talk about “Hallmark for Television” ready., SWEET TEA is that story! This story has some great bones that qualify it for that outlet: 1. The allure of the exciting big city until it’s not. 2. Small town life will save you. 3. Love is magical. Talented author, Piper Huguley takes the reader back to Milford, Georgia, the town that birthed the Smithson ancestors and home to Milford College, an HBCU. The heroine, Althea “Tea” Dailey is a daughter of Milford who left the town to attend college in the North, resides in New York City, and becomes a very successful lawyer. She had her reasons that you will discover when you read the story. Jack Darwent, the story’s hero, has a passion for cooking, instead of the law, and it is that passion that leads him to Milford to document the culinary expertise of Althea’s grandmother, Miss Ada, who is known for her extraordinaire cooking skills at the college.

SWEET TEA is a sweet interracial romance that had me wondering if the hero and heroine would ever get together. The intellectual property lawyer, Althea, does not trust Jack, the trust fund scion of a prestigious Southern family. She thinks he is out to take advantage of her grandmother, and to steal her recipes. In spite of her mistrust of Jack, with his help, Althea is able to shed some of the layers that she has shielded her true-self with, and to rediscover what she is missing in life. Jack is also fighting some demons of his past that Althea calls him out on. While they are both struggling to get their lives together, Miss Ada or Granda, as Althea calls her, sits back in all her wisdom and shakes her head at the young folk trying to figure it out.

However, the one thing that this engaging story is missing is the spark that stokes the fire between Jack and Tea. There’s not enough intimacy which makes their romance a little sterile. It has nothing to do with sex, but everything to do with those special moments that signal that a couple is going to be fire together. I don’t get that with Althea and Jack, whom she announces at the end of the story as her “very special friend”.

All the minor characters contribute to the intrigue of the story and the development of the main characters. Ms Ada, Althea’s grandmother, stands out! I love the foodie aspect of the story. There is some fantastic southern cooking happening that will have your mouth watering. Kudos to Ms Huguley for including a couple of recipes at the end of the book. The HFN is satisfying.

SWEET TEA has a lot of layers, and I enjoyed them all. I recommend this entertaining story for your reading pleasure.

Piper Huguley takes the reader back to Milford, Georgia, the town that birthed the Smithson ancestors and home to Milford College, an HBCU. The heroine, Althea “Tea” Dailey is a daughter of Milford who left the town to attend college in the North, reside in New York City, and become a very successful lawyer. She had her reasons that you will discover when you read the story. Jack Darwent, the story’s hero, has a passion for cooking, instead of the law, and it is that passion that leads him to Milford to document the culinary expertise of Althea’s grandmother, Miss Ada, who is known for her extraordinaire cooking skills at the college.
SWEET TEA is a sweet interracial romance that had me wondering if the hero and heroine would ever get together. The intellectual property lawyer, Althea, does not trust Jack, the trust fund scion of a prestigious Southern family. She thinks he is out to take advantage of her grandmother, and to steal her recipes.
However, the one thing that this engaging story is missing is the spark that stokes the fire between Jack and Tea. There’s not enough intimacy which makes their romance a little sterile. It has nothing to do with sex, but everything to do with those special moments that signal that a couple is going to be fire together. I don’t get that with Althea and Jack, whom she announces at the end of the story as her “very special friend”.
SWEET TEA has a lot of layers, and I enjoyed them all. I recommend this entertaining story for your reading pleasure.

I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary romance. Althea -Tea - has left the small town where she grew up and become an intellectual property attorney in NYC. Jack is from Tennessee, with a father who was a civil rights attorney. But Jack doesn't want to use his law degree, he wants to make films and great food and celebrate the women who were/are the backbone to southern cuisine. And one of women those is Tea's grandmother. Tea comes home to protect her from Jack, only Jack isn't a swindler.

This is a heartwarming story about family and ancestors and history, growing to be yourself while not forgetting those who came before. Tea and Jack are impossible not to root for. Southern traditions and food are celebrated. Family is celebrated, including the family of your community. I could hear my own grandmother speaking in this book. And I loved the larger community and how family grew when Tea met Sherry. Sherry was welcomed to Milford, to the traditions, bringing her own traditions.

At the same time, we also see real issues addressed. Tea is a black woman in her law firm, who just made partner, with all that goes with that. Jack is a white man who is helping cook and is collecting stories for a fundraising lunch at an HBCU. Tea struggles with her history, the history of her ancestors, and trying to put that history in context in the present. Jack's father was a civil rights attorney but he and his sister note how hard that was for his family in their own small southern town. By not ignoring these realities of the world, presenting them as the facts they are and what the characters experience, the story is well rooted in place and time, and not some fantasy world. Tea is a stronger character and firmly claims her space. When she stands up to Jack's dad and to her law firm partners, I was cheering her on. Jack is simply charming. He is in conflict with his father but he doesn't let go of his dreams. And in the end, he knows how to make the big gesture to show his love.

Tea's grandmother, Granda, is the greatest character, I love her. She's a take no prisoners grandmother with her granddaughter, while being a teaching matriarch for students at Milford College. She's the one you want to hear all the stories from, and hope she makes you some biscuits, but oh boy, watch out if you mess up. I can see her in her chef's coat and her Chuck Taylor's, as easily as I can see her in a dress and matching hat for church on Sunday.

This is a no-heat romance, all about the journey and the characters arcs of both Tea and Jack. The black moment is realistic and one that's more easily rectified, than most of the manufactured conflicts we see in a lot of romance today. I can easily see this on the screen and I hope Hallmark Publishing does it without editing out anything. It will be a joy to watch..

I highly recommend this for fans of small town contemporary romances and those looking for a no-heat romance. And fingers crossed for the Hallmark movie!

CW: loss of parents, racism

When intellectual property lawyer Althea travels from New York to Charlotte on business, she takes some vacation time to visit her grandmother. There she meets Jack, who's filming a documentary about traditional Southern cuisine. Althea suspects that he's trying to steal the recipes of her grandmother and the other women involved. Can he persuade her of his good intentions?

Piper Huguley is a brilliant storyteller. I enjoyed the characters in this book, and how they helped each other overcome their hurts from the past. Jack was incredibly patient with Althea, working to win her trust.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This is a sheer delight of a clean romance novel, one that touches on getting comfortable with your roots but still being open to love when it shows up to surprise you. Althea Dailey has finally made partner at her intellectual property law firm in New York City but, now that she's achieved her life goal at the ripe old age of thirty-two, is starting to wonder whether there's more to life than money and career success. Being sent south to North Carolina on her first big case as partner also has her feeling guilty about not doing more to stay in touch with her beloved Granda down in Milford, Georgia. But when Granda starts enthusing over the young man who's been such a help to her with her cooking, who wants to make a documentary and cookbook of her recipes, Althea finally has an excuse to overcome her reluctance to head home, booking the first plane back to make sure her Granda isn't being scammed by some crook.

Jack Darwent is a trust fund baby who found himself chafing at the life that his father, a civil rights lawyer, had mapped out for him. Eschewing law school for culinary school, he now travels the country gathering material for a documentary he wants to make celebrating the too-swiftly vanishing art of authentic Southern cooking. One of his subjects is the legendary Ada Dailey, whose endearing manner is at stark odds with the attitude of her high-powered attorney granddaughter who suddenly shows up in Milford with an entirely skeptical view of Jack's efforts and intentions.

The way that Althea and Jack eventually come to understand and fall for each other while making peace with their own pasts and present is charmingly depicted in this low-heat, almost-Christian romance. I say almost-Christian because while the AME church plays a significant part in the proceedings, it's clear that religion is seen as an intensely personal matter -- while Piper Huguley clearly has a lot of Christian faith, she's not about to force it on her readers. As a Muslim, I felt very comfortable reading this book, which gives a joyful impression of a Christianity that accepts and heals, but also makes it clear that you don't have to go to church every Sunday to be considered a good person. I do wish that the book had been a little less heteronormative but that is an extremely minor quibble in an otherwise affirming, modern tale of interracial romance.

What I do really wish this book had done better was put the same amount of care it had used in the first three-quarters or so into building out the last quarter of the story. Things went by way too quickly after the May dinner. How exactly had Althea discerned the connection between Sherri's grandma and Cassie? What is she planning to do to rescue Milford College beyond funding one scholarship? What's up with Jack showing up at her office? I also didn't really understand what was happening on Decoration Day -- I get the basics, but the attitude of the other ladies is still unclear to me. I felt that there was so much story still to build out there in the last quarter, instead of the brief series of sketches that it felt like the narrative had dwindled down to post-May-dinner. I know that Ms Huguley is capable of telling a terrific tale, so it was mystifying why the last part felt so rushed and underdone.

Or next to last part, I should say, as there was a recipe for Biscuits And Gravy included at the very end! I'm really tempted to try it out even tho I barely have time to do all my regular cooking as is, that's how good the recipe as well as all the wonderful food descriptions in this book sound. Ooh, maybe using beef bacon instead of sausage for the gravy, tho that might be far more decadent than finding a suitable non-pork sausage. Anyway, don't read this book hungry: I had chicken and rice for dinner and still couldn't stop salivating over how good the fried chicken here sounds as I read afterward, despite being quite full already!

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley was published today July 13 2021 by Hallmark Publishing and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781952210204">Bookshop!</a>

Sweet Tea
by: Piper Huguley
Hallmark Publishing
Sweet Tea is a multi-cultural, contemporary romance intertwined with historical family legacy. It flows softly like a Summer Southern breeze. The story, set in the small Georgia coastal town of Milford, is richly rewarding. From layers of complex family history to layers of red velvet cake and heirloom tomato sandwiches on crusty bread, Huguley's writing is about acknowledging, coming to terms with, preserving and sharing ancestry and heritage.
Althea, also known as Tea, is a successful partner in a New York law office. After accepting a case on the ownership of a sweet tea recipe in Charlotte, North Carolina, she takes an overdue side trip to her home of Milford to visit her Granda, Miss Ada. Former attorney Jack is also visiting Milford for research on Southern Treasures, a cookbook and documentary film on preservation of family recipes and food heritage. He bonds with Tea's Granda to capture her legacy with the Milford College Cafeteria. Jack describes Tea as both sweet and tart, as she has unresolved, painful connections to her past in Milford.
As the relationships and futures of these three emerge, there is laughter, tears, fear, and anger as trust and reconciliation are explored. Homemade Southern food is central to the story, prepared by both Granda, Miss Ada, and others: angel biscuits, cornbread, fried chicken, and sweet potato butter, to name a few. Oh yes, there are colorful vegetables, fruits, and nuts of collard greens, green beans, okra, peaches, muscadines, and pecans. All meals are wrapped up with deserts of pound cakes, pies, and even buttermilk ice cream.
This memorable book has inspired me think about ways to preserve the legacy of my own Georgia family's treasured cooks, recipes and stories. Thank you to Hallmark Publishing and Net Galley for the advanced reader's copy and opportunity to review Sweet Tea.
#SweetTea #NetGalley

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley is a cute summer read, yet it depicts topics not usually found in Hallmark stories.

I loved Jack and Ada’s characters; however, I was not a fan of Althea. She was quite rude to Jack and her grandmother at times. I wish that there had have been a bit more romance between Jack and Althea. Overall, a good read with a lot of wonderful description of Southern food and scenery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hallmark Publishing for a digital ARC!

Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley is being released by Hallmark Publishing. It reminded me of a Hallmark movie and a lot of ladies love Hallmark as much as I do. It was a good book and well worth the time to read it.

There was a lot of angst between the characters and was probably the one thing I wasn’t fond of. Tea goes back to her hometown to make sure her Grandmother was safe from a filmmaker and he wasn’t stealing her recipes. Jack, the filmmaker and Tea as you would expect have a lot in common and a rough time with each other. She also had a rough past with her Grandmother and Jack with his father. So…a lot of angst.

This was a fun book even if it was a little predictable. I’m a softie for these kinds of books and movies. This would make a nice little book to take to the beach or the pool. Sweet Tea was the first book by Piper Huguley that I’ve read and I won’t hesitate to read another of hers.

I received a copy of this book from #Hallmark Publishing/#Netgalley for a fair and honest review. Thank you!

Sweet Tea has summer written all over it. From the title, the setting, this book will keep you in that state of mind as you journey through the romance between Jack and Althea.
Hallmark fans will love the way this book marks all the things that make a Hallmark movie great. Small-town atmosphere, secondary characters to add wisdom and fun, and a sweet romance to make your heart fill good.
What I appreciated the most was the diversity, the history of Milford (which if you've read Piper's Milford series you'll really love), and two people who think they're different find out how much they really do have in common.
*I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley. My review was not required nor influenced.

I found the characters in this book to be really interesting. I liked how Althea butted heads with Jack even though they had so much in common. It was funny how her friend called her out on it. I also liked how Althea made Jack feel. It was interesting that Althea could not wait to leave Milford and how much she enjoyed being back, seeing her Granda, who raised her , and how she finally dealt with the past and her parents' deaths. I liked that her heart was opening up to love which was so unexpected. I received an advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.