HOW SWEET IT IS by Dylan Newton
How Sweet It Is was a charming autumnal escape from the summer heat and a true rom com that had me smiling my way from meet cute to HEA in a single afternoon. Like a platter of petit fours, there’s nothing too heavy, just bite sized morsels of sweet and savory delight as the story serves up slapstick silliness, chemistry laced banter, and sentimental small town moments that evoke an idyll of simplicity and connection.
The heroine, Kate Sweet, is an event planner with something to prove. Raised by a family of surgeons who dismiss her career and see medicine as the only worthwhile life path, Kate is desperate for the validation her industry’s most prestigious award would provide. The spectacular weddings that have earned her the moniker “The Queen of Happily Ever Afters” lack the gravitas to secure her the prize, but her best friend’s need for an event planner to step in and take over the book launch of a best selling horror writer could be the break she’s been hoping for.
Author Drake Matthews, the so-called Knight of Nightmares, is not only a world famous writer, but his next release has been optioned by the very producer who’s the most influential judge on the award panel. Unfortunately, Kate’s misconceptions about Drake, animosity between Drake and the producer, and an inconvenient attraction to her client leave Kate off her usual spreadsheet perfect game, toppling her well ordered plans into chaos.
Happily, a little chaos is just what these two need to grow beyond their self-limiting beliefs. Through a series of farcical encounters beginning with a meet disaster that includes both an “attack” shih tzu and accidental maiming by stiletto, an unlikely intimacy develops between them. Beneath her designer clad surface, Kate reveals grit, heart, and a selfless desire to do right by others, while Drake demonstrates that he’s not at all the cold, forbidding persona put forward in the press. Behind the batwing gates of his own Addams family-esque mansion, lives a kind, altruistic romantic for whom the weight of celebrity and confines of genre are beginning to grate.
Though he feels internal pressure to keep writing the horror novels that pay the bills and enable his support of his family and the multiple charities with which they share a personal connection, what he really wants to write is romance. Inspired by his grandparents WWII era love story, he’s been trying in vain to draft their novel, but the feelings he’s developing for Kate prove to be the key to unlocking his words. Although he’s not immediately forthcoming with Kate about her role as his muse, the deception is relatively brief, and thanks to the dual POV, his good intentions are readily apparent as he quickly falls for Kate’s blend of warmth, dedication and tenacity.
Drake and Kate’s burgeoning romance is ushered along by a cast of engaging secondary characters that includes his interfering but insightful mother and his two Marine veteran brothers. Ryker and Zander are equally adept at brotherly ribbing and touching, emotionally intelligent gestures of sibling affection, and the dynamic amongst the three siblings is one of the novel’s strengths.
I was less taken with his grandmother, whose primary contribution is gushing over Kate’s red hair and green eyes in a way I found uncomfortable despite its attribution to Nana’s enthusiasm for their shared Irish heritage. The antagonists also felt a little superficial and the resolution of the external conflict requires a significant suspension of disbelief, but I was eager enough for their comeuppance not to quibble. I was also happy to spend limited page time with Kate’s overbearing and pretentious parents, though I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her plucky, med student sister Kiersten in future books.
Another character I look forward to seeing more of is Kate’s best friend, Imani, whose clear connection to Drake’s brother Ryker I’m happy to hear is the subject of the next book. Based on the backstories we get for them here, their book seems likely to plumb greater depths and to bring the HEA beyond the white, able-bodied confines of a typical Hallmark holiday romance.
Though this story definitely shares some Hallmark romance DNA, I found its higher heat level a welcome surprise. The first ⅔ of the book is tender touches, longing gazes and a few passionate kisses, but the slow burn builds to a pretty steamy open door PiV scene in the final 1/3.
On days when you crave the simplicity of woes that can be resolved in a friendly conversation over chai lattes and pumpkin spice cupcakes, this book is a great fit. Part of its charm is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and if you’re prepared to meet it there, this seasonal romp is a lot of fun.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Content notes: secondary character with a prosthetic due to a war injury, secondary character whose mother died in a house fire when she was a teen, mention of domestic abuse and suicide, mention of mentor’s cancer death, toxic parents, blood and stitches
Disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher.
