I was really excited for this book and it was a bit of a let down. I did enjoy that there is a strong female lead who is not dependent on a man to save her and was driven by her education. The story just felt that it surrounded too much around the wine/ property or learning about the vineyard and not enough about Rowen and Harry’s love story. 3/5 ⭐️ Because the last 5 chapters did captivate me.

I love a book with great family dynamics- the coming together and working to help a business and you can genuinely feel how close knit a family is and the love there. The main character, Rowan is a little quirky and has some oddities as she loves being with plants and nature more than people, but then it’s that much sweeter once she starts letting Dr. Harrison into her life. I’m also a sucker for any story about wineries!

Rowan McKinnon doesn’t believe in love. With a botany PhD, two best friends who embrace her social quirkiness, and some occasional one night stands, she thinks she has everything she needs. But she is hiding a life of emotional hurt from the past. The only love she’s ever known came from her grandmother Edie, who taught her to care for all things that grow.

After a chance encounter at a future winery, Rowan takes on the restoration of the property’s abandoned vineyard, immersing herself in nurturing the grapes back to their former glory—and trying not to think about Harrison Brady, part of the Brady family clan owners of the vineyard.

An obstetrician profoundly struggling after losing a patient, Harry Brady is struggling from loosing a patient. He is no longer practising and recovering from a broken relationship. Harry leaves LA to emotionally recover at his parents’ new vineyard in Pennsylvania. He’ll work to get the place ready to open, and try to figure out his life.
As the two meet and get to know each other they do everything they can do deny their deep connection.

This is A powerful, emotional novel about the power of love, friendship and healing. The characters are relatable all dealing with their own demons. You find yourself rooting for them and feeling their pain. This is a great book if you want a deep beyond the surface romance. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This romance had a lot of depth. Mental health was tackled in here, as well as trauma and grief. Both characters come such a long way and you can't help but feel for them in their journey, and root for them as they find each other.

Top notch romance! I would say the gem of this book is its characters. You cannot help BUT root for Rowan and Harrison. It's emotional and poignant, and packs a punch.

If ever, my only complaint is that it takes a while to fall in love with Rowan as a character. She is extremely prickly, and very detached, and as a reader, you start to really feel for Harry because he is all in. He wants a relationship with Rowan. All the strings. But Rowan keeps on resisting, (until the end, of course) but it's done in such a long, drawn out way that I can't help but wonder why Harry is that in love with her in the first place.

The ending ties up beautifully though, and be warned, you may shed a tear or two.

This a beautifully written and hearfelt story about love, loss and finding your way. I loved all the very funny one liners they made laugh and sometimes shocked me.

I liked how Dr Rowan Mc Kinnon was a botanist and taught you things along the way. I liked the her fierce friends and how candid they talked to each other.

I liked the tension and energy between Rowan and Harry and how it was very discriptive and gave you a full visual,

I liked how the Brady brothers bantered with her other and wished to be able to play a game of team Tag.

This book was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day giving you all the warm fuzzy feeling just a sheer delight to read and entertain you.

Harry is a hopeless romantic and Rowan romanticizes everything but love.
I love that this story took place over the course of months rather than being crammed into a few weeks.
The book was cozy and had just the right amount of spice. The friendships and Harry’s family were all so endearing. This was a really enjoyable read!

Good god the angst! This book oozes it out of every single page. It’s a beautiful journey of two broken people trying to fight their magnetic attraction. It captivated me right away and if never let go.

Jen Devon’s writing is beyond gorgeous.
The setting is stunning (you will feel like you’re basking in the sun at a beautiful vineyard.)
And there’s science (straight to my STEM loving, nerd heart.)

My poor pandemic brain can only take so much intense emotion on a page and I felt Jen Devon did an excellent job of making the reader pine along with the characters, then give us an emotional break with banter and humour.

It’s a truly wonderful romance. I give it all the stars!

This gives Netflix meets Hallmark in the best way possible. The pining love interest. Emotionally unavailable main character. The world building. The secondary characters being flawless.

This could be off putting to some since it reads syrupy-sweet (hence the Hallmark comparison). Also okay the lead is low key trash until you get her whole back story at like chapter 30 which is so many levels of annoying. But I still give it 5 stars 🥳🤍

Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon is a wonderful, deeply emotional story of how two people navigate their evolving romantic relationship. Rowan McKinnon is a botanist with a troubled past who is struggling with postdoc life when she is hired to help restore the Brady family vineyard. Harrison Brady is returning home after struggling with the loss of a patient. Together, they explore their growing feelings for one another while helping each other cope with their inner demons.

This is a very emotionally heavy story with a great deal of angst from both characters. While that can make it a bit hard to read, it was also such a beautiful telling of the nature of love. Rowan's past heavily influences her behavior through most of the book, but the reader gets to see the subtle changes in her as she opens herself up to Harry. Harry is a lot more emotionally available and open to exploring his feelings with Rowan. Although both characters are very different emotionally, they are both relatable to the reader. Their interactions with one another were so real that I know I will be thinking about and processing this book for quite some time.

This book is very immersive and the environment that was created within the story was beautiful. The Brady family along with Rowan's friends were some excellent side characters that definitely added an entertaining and light-hearted element to the book. I am very much looking forward to reading successive novels which will hopefully be based on some of the minor characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially readers of women's fiction, general fiction, and romance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bend Toward The Sun by Jen Devon was such a beautiful story. I love a book that is so well written especially from a debut author.

This is a perfect contemporary romance, it is not cliche or gooey, it feels real. The characters are written to be believable and relatable as were the secondary characters, they were also very well placed.

The descriptions of the vineyard were stunning and lush and the location was a major draw to my love of the story.

I hope to read more from Jen Devon in the future

Bend Toward the Sun is a beautiful romance novel with a lot of different levels to it. Rowan and Harry are great leads; they both have difficult backstories with a lot of hurt and damage that they carry around. It's these characteristics that make their bond so special, and also trying at times. The book spans a good amount of time, so the reader really gets to see this relationship develop. One big standout for me was towards the end of the book when Rowan details her past relationship to Harry: the way that this was written made me feel it deep in my bones, it was so honest. Bend Toward the Sun is a good romance novel with a lot of depth that readers will definitely enjoy.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sweet and tender romance where two broken people find each other and fall, in love. Harry Brady, a young obstetrician in a thriving LA practice has his whole career ahead of him. His relationship has ended due to mutual neglect and when he loses his first patient he suffers from a mental breakdown. He comes home to PA where his parent’s have a newly purchased rundown winery, to lend a hand and hopefully heal. The Brady clan, where he is one of 5, has the kind of warm loving and supportive dynamic we all wish we had.
Rowen had the exact opposite experience, and was essentially orphaned at 12 when her loving grandmother died. Her mother was present, but just couldn’t bother with her. Rowen threw herself into academics and is now working towards a doctorate. She had one romantic relationship, but it went horribly wrong, and now Rowen trusts neither herself or love in herself . When Harry and Rowen meet, they are instantly attracted to one another- and while Harry is open to love, Rowen is stubbornly against anything other than a casual no strings hookup.
Such the story goes as Harry falls deeper in love, while Rowen continuously pushes him away, despite him doing everything right. I really felt for him. He is the perfect man, the complete package. Impossible not to love.
Rowen on the other hand grated on my nerves despite how hard I tried to empathize with her awful prior experiences. But on the other hand, Rowen had many redeeming qualities- her humor, intellect, work ethic, her kindness. She was so closed off to love, I’m not sure if IRL Harry would have found her so attractive..
One further comment about this modern romance story- consent is always asked for in all sexual relationships.,❤️

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🌶

When I got this book in my heads I could not wait to read it. I started following the author on Instagram and I loved her whole page and vibe.

I deeply enjoyed this book so much. All the references to nature and the way she painted a very beautiful and well described picture was breath taking.

The characters, wow, I fell in love with every one of them. I loved the whole family and I want more. I really hope there is more. 😉

Rowan and Harry's story made me smile, laugh and cry. Their "relationship" was comical and it had me wanting to slap them both, if Temprence didn't basically do it for us.

* I also want to note that for me (I swear I read) the vocabulary was more intellectual than what I have read in the past. Thank god for my kindle word search! Obviously I did not give the author any less stars because it broadened my own vocabulary!!

This book was magical! The writing was so beautifully descriptive not just in the setting but the emotions and the perfectly developed characters. Every word is brilliantly placed to make you feel like you are using all of your senses when reading...

This book has heartache and humor and heat and heart and...I want the Brady's to adopt me or at least let me visit! I hope this book is the first of a series because there were some serious breadcrumbs scattered about!!

5 Stars

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Rowan McKinnon has a PhD in botany, two friends that she cannot imagine life without, and trying to get her paper published. After finding out that her assistant falsified some of the data, Rowan is beside herself. She is crashed on her BFF's couch feeling sorry for herself instead of redoing the paper. Rowan has deep emotional and psychological scars due to a mother who did not care for her - in every way imaginable.

Rowan is invited to by the BFF to a party at a local soon to be winery. While there, Rowan meets Harrison Brady. His friends call him Harry. Rowan calls him Harrison. He is one of the sons of the winery owners.

Harrison comes home after the unexpected loss of a patient. Harrison is having issues coping and decided a break would do him good. He did not expect to be intrigued by Rowan.

The family that owns the winery hired Rowan to assist with getting the land back in shape after several years of neglect by the previous owners to open the winery. As time passes and they make progress on the winery, Harrison makes progress with Rowan. However, will their no questions about the past policy get in the way of their future??

I inhaled this book in a day. I could not put it down - I had to know what happened next. I look forward to more books by this author.

what a debut! wow. devon had my attention from the very beginning. just the right amount of worldbuilding for the characters and romance to flourish, and flourish they did. harry is such a beautiful character, and i love him for rowan. here’s hoping we get a brady family series!

#netgalley

A sweet, swoony romance between two damaged people who find a way to make each other whole. Rowan is a brainy botanist who has decided that plants are the main relationship in her life and her dealings with people are strictly no strings attached. Harrison is part of a large loving family, but a terrible accident has left him scarred and hurting, Smart dialogue, a gorgeous vineyard setting and well-rounded supporting characters all add up to a romance for the ages as Rowan and Harrison overcome their own demons to find their way to one another.

To start off simply, Bend Toward The Sun is one of the most beautiful books I have had the pleasure of reading this year. I can’t believe this is Jen Devon’s debut! This novel is filled with gorgeous prose, deep feelings of love and loss and uncertainty, and SO MUCH ANGST!!! This has everything you could possibly ask for in a romance; beautiful descriptions and portrayal of trauma and healing, sizzling sexual tension, and overwhelming, raw emotions and feelings. On top of all that, we have two MCs in STEM, and the scientist in me absolutely loved the integration of botany and medicine through the story.

I can’t recommend this book enough!!

I requested to read and review this book for free from St. Martin Publishing Company. This book was fantastic. It had drama, romance, mystery and so much more. Can we escape the past for a better future or is there no escape? Rowan is a girl that has survived so much in her years. Can she really trust herself and is love for everyone? Harrison is a guy who thought he had it all until he didn't. Can he learn to trust himself and the one around him? Can two very different people be together. How much does one family play a part in our future and decisions. This book is for a mature reader and can be read anywhere.