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ourxstorybegins 's review for:
Sweethand
by N.G. Peltier
Sweethand is a story about Cherisse (she/her) and Keiran (he/him), two characters who have never liked each other who are forced to work together as the maid of honor and best man of a wedding. Cherisse is a well-known baker who was recently (about a year before the story takes place) in a messy breakup with a musician. Since Keiran is a musician, that doesn’t exactly lead to her being his biggest fan. The two get closer together as they are working on their duties for the wedding, and one night they hook up. Messiness ensues!
Some Highlights:
- Look, I’m not going to rate the book higher because of the cover, but IT’S PRECIOUS and it made me smile every time I started the book.
- Keiran’s bisexuality is handled so well! He isn’t in any relationships with men in the story, of course, but past crushes are mentioned as well as rumors of him being some kind of playboy, which is an all-too-common judgment about bi people.
- The story was really cute. Despite my struggles listed below, I do think that Keiran and Cherisse had great chemistry, and I plan on reading the next book in the series primarily to see how the two of them are doing.
- The characters aren’t white! The author slipped in a good amount of info about Trinidadian culture smoothly enough that it didn’t feel forced, but as someone who knows nothing it also gave me an opportunity to do a little googling to educate myself on the foods and music mentioned that I didn’t know about.
Some Thoughts:
- Some of the dialogue felt really forced. I’m not sure if this was the writing or if it was the audiobook narrator, but I definitely felt pulled out of the story more often than I wanted to because of a line that was just a little too cheesy or a scene that didn’t flow smoothly.
- I’m not entirely sure why Keiran and Cherisse didn’t like each other? There was definitely something in the past that went down and it seems like it was because of how they were siding in other relationships, but it’s not something that was ever really unpacked. I think the author intended for their rivalry to seem petty, so I’m not docking points there but it was a little strange.
- I didn’t like the ending.
While there is a happy ending, it’s incredibly underwhelming. They end with the mutual decision that they’re going to try dating. Keiran starts to say he loves her and she cuts him off because it’s “too soon”. There’s no epilogue or anything, so this being the way things end for the reader was disappointing.
ESCAPES Rating:
Enjoyment - 6 | Start - 8 | Characters - 8 | Atmosphere - 6 | Plot - 6 | Ending - 4 | Style - 5
I believe this was the author’s debut, so I look forward to seeing how she grows as an author in future books! Also, I absolutely fell in love with Remi and Maxine and will be reading this series if for no other reason, so I can see the two of them 🥰