This is a perfect summer read! 😍 I just loved this book! From the setting in Trinidad, the LGBTQ+ representation, and the delicious tension between Cherisse and Kieran.
This was the perfect book to ease into summer and I can’t wait for the next one!!!

The narrator was wonderful! Her voice made me get lost in the story, which (to me) is the key! I want to feel like I’m in the story and she definitely was successful with that!

DISCLAIMER: I received this book free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a copy of Sweethand by N.G. Peltier by Netgalley and DreamScape Media for review.

Overall, I enjoyed Sweethand by N.G. Peltier. This book was a great example of having black characters without their story centered around black trauma. These characters are successful in their careers, have mainly healthy relationships with friends and family, and are looking for love. While Kieran's parents are divorced, he wasn't raised by a single mother after his father abandoned the family, a stereotype often found in books with black main characters.

The author also included several LGBTQ+ characters, with Kieran being bisexual. I liked the author created a male bisexual character because bisexuality is usually portrayed only by women in the romance genre. However, none of the LGBTQ+ characters were out, and their sexuality felt hidden from their family and friends. I don't know if the author plans on writing more books from the side character's perspective. As the reader, it felt as if the author just added in LGBTQ+ characters to have background diversity rather than tell those character's stories, and I think the author could add more substance to her LGBTQ+ characters.

Cherisse and Keiren's relationship was interesting, with some parts of the relationship feeling unhealthy. Kieren was very judgemental toward Cherisse during the beginning half of the book and her childhood. It doesn't make a ton of sense why Cherisse forgave him after he had a change of heart. Some of their bickerings felt as if Cherisse was just annoyed and uncomfortable while Keiren was getting off on it.

I listen to the audiobook narration of Sweethand, and I was not a fan. I thought the narrator spoke very slowly and sounded robotic. I almost DNF'd several times throughout the book. I wish I had been reading the book rather than listening.

I would rate this book 3 stars.

While the cover is absolutely stunning and the premise sounds great, I can't get through this audio ARC! Unfortunately the narrator uses the same for the narration and every character which makes it *impossible* to tell what's happening and who is talking!

This was a lighthearted story that would make for good weekend reading. The enemies to lovers trope is fun, but doesn't go much into why they start out as enemies, so it detracts from the believability of the story. I also felt that sometimes there was too much focus on the physical description of each characters, showing over and over how attractive everyone is to the detriment of advancing the plot. I heard this on audio and the narration was very slow and with the narrator making awkward pauses in sentences to the point that it was distracted. Overall an ok story that I probably would have enjoyed more as an e-book.

I received an audioArc in exchange for an honest review.

“West Indian parents were such a plethora of contradictions. Her mother would conveniently treat her like she was still a child when it suited her needs but, of course, reminded her at every turn that she wasn’t getting any younger and shouldn’t wait too long to get a man. As if she had any control over that.” - From Sweethand

4 stars

There were a lot of things that were great about this book. The cover is amazing. The setting was described brilliantly, making you feel like you were really there. The characters were all unique, and complex. There were a plethora of side relationships that felt real and that I was engaged in. For me, all of the parts of conflict with the MC and her man didn't work. They didn't seem real, or it was forced. It made little sense why they were pretending to hate each other. I liked the rep of Keiran, and that he was shown having emotions. I loved that Cherisse swore and wasn't perfect. The narration for the audiobook was great.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in return for an honest opinion.

ahhh I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I absolutely live for bi guy characters! yes freaking please. There are so few books out there with bi men in relationships with women and we need more. I also adored how passionate Cherisse was about pastry and baking and making sure people know its a real profession and takes a lot of hard work. I've been baking professionally for years now and people still think they could walk in and do my job without any training. It's infuriating and I really really appreciated the validation.

This is a true enemies to lovers for sure. these two genuinely dislike each other, or at least Cherisse dislikes Kieran and Kieran plays along and antagonizes her to where you absolutely believe in the feud. I did have some confusion regarding Cherisse's ex. It almost felt like this is a spin off of another book and this one didn't take the time to explain because the big climax and argument seemed forced and an overreaction.

As a whole, I highly enjoyed this one and will probably listen again. Thanks to librofm and netgalley for a free copy through their ALC program.

rep: set in Trinidad, bi man MC, secondary gay character

This book is so sweet! Pun intended. It’s a fluffy cute contemporary romance set in Trinidad between two people who swear they hate each other but, ya know, don’t. It’s definitely enemies to lovers but it the cutest way. There’s no serious animosity other than them trying to prove themselves to the other.

Kieran is a music producer and Cherisse is a baker and they both happen to be forced together before a wedding of her sister and his friend. Between the wedding preparations and them attempting to prove that their careers are worthy to each other, they are forced to work together and obviously chemistry starts a-brewin’. I loved the representation in not only the main characters but the whole side cast as well. Also can we talk about this cover? It’s precious!

In Sweethand, baker Cherisse and music producer Kieran begin as enemies, turn to friends, and eventually lovers. In a surprisingly steamy yet sweet read, these two take quite the journey in their relationship, all while serving as Maid of Honor and Best Man in their BFFs' wedding. The wedding provides a nice backdrop to move the plot along, as we go from the engagement party, to Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, etc. ultimately to the wedding. The pair's friends all add color to the plot.

However, the pacing in this book leaves something to be desired. It starts extremely slow, picks up about halfway, then slows down again. It was a struggle to get through for that reason. I also really didn't understand why the characters were "enemies." It was said they've hated each other since childhood, but I really couldn't understand why. The Big HurdleTM, as I like to call it, also started brewing from halfway through the book and festered for so long it was pretty frustrating.

The narrator had a unique accent that threw me at first, but I soon learned the book was taking place in Trinidad, so I assume the narrator has an accent appropriate for that location (e.g., "ear" is pronounced like "air"). She didn't really do distinct voices for different characters, which made it a little challenging to tell when Kieran was speaking/narrating, and I think have a different inflection for the men would have aided the storytelling.

Overall, this was not a bad story. I loved the food aspect, the wedding tidbits, and the characters. But the plot trajectory could be improved.

Thank you to NetGalley, Libro.fm, and Dreamscape Media for my ALC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 stars - 6/10

This was a cute enemies to lovers, but lacked any identifying markers or language that made the reader know that this was set on the island of Trinidad. There was no indication through interactions, scenery, or dialect and I was really annoyed and disappointed.

4.5 stars rounded up

This was such a cute romance! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more books by this author in the future. Set in Trinidad, this is an enemies to lovers story where the characters aren't truly enemies, they just dislike each other. Cherisse is a talented baker who makes much sought after sweets. Keiran works in the music industry, which is an immediate count against him for Cherisse. Her ex-boyfriend was a musician and she now wants nothing to do with men in that industry.

This has great banter, funny moments, solid side characters, and steam. Pretty much exactly what I want from a light contemporary romance! We get involved families (like Cherisse's West Indian mom determined to matchmake her daughter into marriage) and casual queerness. Keiran is bisexual (love to see that normalized in men!) and their friend group has other queer characters as well. I really hope we get more stories in this world! It was a whole lot of fun. The only slight downside for me was I thought the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly. I prefer a slightly more drawn out ending once the characters are finally together, ideally with an epilogue. This felt a bit rushed. But I still had a great time with it and definitely recommend. I received an audio copy for review (great narrator!) all opinions are my own.

Nope. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book at all. The writing felt very juvenile and mediocre: the sentences were simple, lots of things were repeated multiple times that just didn't need repeating, and the author told, instead of shown a lot of details that could've easily been vastly improved. Overall, while I have no issue with cliches in writing, this book felt like the author was basing the story AROUND cliches instead of operating on their own originality. Had the writing been of better quality, this book had real potential to be great, but it unfortunately lacked character depth and general interest.

Enemies to lovers has become a very popular trope and this one does it softly. It was a nice read and while I enjoyed it I wish there was more dialogue, communication. It felt too internal and I wanted more.

I think the problem I had with this book was timing. I tried starting it and listened to 20 minutes here and there, but no time I did that was I really invested or interested.
I'm sure if it was another day or time, I could enjoy this more. But right now, I was not into it.

WOW. This was the perfect book to start of the summer! Immediately I loved Cherisse - she is so outspoken, professional, and spunky! I quite enjoy a book with a strong female lead and she is a character that a reader can look up to as she is so relatable. Keiran is the ideal summer crush that I now have - he is so kind, caring, but as Cherisse would say "damn hot!" I truly enjoyed their witty banter throughout the whole book and it gave me all the feels. The enemies to lovers trope is my absolute favourite and the steamy scenes were just an added plus. I would for sure recommend this book to friends this summer.

Also this cover - SO stunning! This is a book I want on my shelf as it is so pleasing to look it.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen and review.
Insta: @sarahsbookcase

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This is unfortunately a DNF at 57% for me. While I heard so many positive things about it I think it's mostly personal preference. I never understood what created the animosity between the two MCs. There was so much exposition, internal thoughts and not enough plot/dialogue. It made it difficult for me to invest in the story that I am going to have to move on. I can see so many people enjoying this one. The narrator and the story are just not for me.

A bright, fun, steamy romance with great main characters who have legit chemistry between them. The pacing got a little slow for me, with some scenes starting to feel repetitive toward the middle/end, as Cherisse endlessly rehashes the reasons why she definitely totally absolutely shouldn't be into Kieran. And I didn't entirely buy those reasons, anyway - after the initial hostility between them has passed, the obstacles standing in the way of the pair having a real relationship seem kind of vague, especially since Kieran pretty quickly gets over any issues on his side and would be happy to jump into something. It's enemies to lovers, but I never really got why they were enemies to begin with. The incident I expected to be a much larger source of drama didn't end up happening as soon, or taking as much space, as I'd anticipated, so the conflict just kind of fizzled out. But it's still a fun read, and the relationship - both as friends and a romantic couple - works beautifully.

The narrator of the audio version reads soooooo slowly, I had to speed it up to 1.75 or 2x to not get distracted in the middle of sentences (and I'm someone who's normally pretty stubborn about listening to audiobooks at their intended speed). She had a good voice for the story, though, not doing off-puttingly dramatic changes when switching between Cherisse and Kieran's POVs, which I appreciated.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advance review copy!

DNF @ 27%. I really liked the setting and Cherisse, but the pacing felt really slow to me and I’m not sure if I missed something on audio, but I didn’t really understand why Cherisse and Kieran hated each other so much. There were also a lot of characters and I tend to prefer when the couple is the main thing going on. Even from the sample I really liked the voice of the narrator — really warm and engaging — but for me it felt a little slow and speeding up the track felt a little too fast. I think that’s partly what made the pacing feel slower, so I might try again in print.

This was an contemporary romance story about two people who grew up together and always had some sort of animosity towards each other. After reuniting and ending up maid of honor and best man for an upcoming the wedding, the two have to spend time together more and more often as they prepare to support their friends and loved ones for their big day. This was a classic enemies to lovers romance. The pacing was a bit slow in the beginning as it took a while for the two to acknowledge their attraction to one another and longer still to act on that attraction. The attraction early on in the book was exclusively a physical attraction which gave it a bit of an insta-lust vibe. Overall it was a light romance story, complete with two hard working and career oriented people who finally after lots of strife and some frustrating miscommunications were able to find their way towards their own happily ever after. Thanks to netgalley for the a copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Cherisse has sworn off guys in the music industry and in general to focus on growing her pastry chef business. She will be the maid of honour at her sister wedding and soon finds out someone she hates is actually the best man. Cherisse and Keiran are always fighting and bickering, but what happens when things turn headed on a rainy night.

As soon as I saw the cover I knew I had to read it, especially since it's not about white people. This is an #ownvoices romance that takes place in Trinidad and Tobago and gives you a glimpse of West Indian culture. I was listening to the audiobook and enjoyed the voice and hearing the accents and common phrases. Hearing the descriptions of the food made me so damn hungry.

As someone who loves enemies to lovers, I was so happy that the characters had great tension and romantic build-up. They were both so willing to grow and try harder and I enjoyed watching them fall in love and try to hide their feelings. All the character were so progressive and I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation and the inclusion of clear consent.

The overall story is fairly simple, believable and straightforward, with a lot of sweet moments, hot smut, character development and yummy food. Kieran is such a brilliant love interest that you can't help but fall in love with. I am just really happy with how everything unfolded and highly recommend picking this book up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was fun contemporary romance. I enjoyed the audiobook narration - thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to review.

While SWEETHAND was, should i say it, a sweet rom-com, I don’t think it will end up being very memorable. Nonetheless, here’s what I loved and what I didn’t:

LOVED:
- THE QUEER CAST. Not only was it incredible to have a bisexual male love interest, this book featured a great cast with several queer characters. It was lovely to see on-the-page queer representation be unquestioned - there was no external struggle related to any of the characters being queer.
- THE FRIEND GROUP: Briefly touched on above, this book introduced a lot of fun side characters. I’d be interested to read several more books in this world..

DIDN’T LOVE:
- THE PACING: In true romance fashion, there was a third act breakup that readers could see coming from a mile away. Not only was this plot point predictable and not very creative, but I would have preferred for the conflict to be resolved before the last two pages.
- THE FAT REPRESENTATION: The main character is described as curvy throughout the story, but the cover does not reflect this. I didn’t dock a star for this reason, but I’m not quite sure the book did enough to challenge the fatphobia the MC experiences as other characters commented on her body.

I had no other major qualms, but my socks we not knocked off when it came to the romance. I liked the leading pair and I was ultimately rooting for them, but I wasn’t extremely invested in their HEA.