Jill Shalvis returns with THE SWEETHEART LIST, the next book in the Sunrise Cove series. Harper Shaw is in the middle of rebuilding her life in a way where she can finally be happy, but it involves a lot of hard work to build the bakery of her dreams.
As she settled her bakery between a tavern and a bookstore, she encounters new friends and a new love interest in Bodie Campbell. However, a teenage runaway is the first one to capture her heart. As she takes her under her wing, Harper begins to discover things she never knew.
Jill Shalvis’s writing continues to be simple and easy to follow, so I find myself reading this book pretty quickly. Although I do prefer her books more when they didn’t have so much extra conflict in them, I’ve come to enjoy her more complex novels. In addition to the romance, there’s still a lot of humor and heart and the dark aspects sometimes make the biggest impact.
Shalvis also delves quite deep into her characters, which I can definitely appreciate. As a reader who enjoys a focus on characterization rather than plot, it’s easy to fall in love with the characters. Or at least understand where they are coming from.
That being said, I recommend THE SWEETHEART LIST to those of you who enjoy contemporary romance with a women’s fiction emphasis. It will definitely tug on your heartstrings.
When Harper Shaw’s life falls apart, she knows it’s time for a change. She removes everything that doesn’t spark joy—from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists—and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn’t feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.
With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she’s never experienced since…well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets…
When those secrets explode, it changes Harper’s new world, and she’ll learn, it’s never too late to start over, it’s never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it’s never too late to let yourself believe in love.
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