Format: ebook
Release Date: October 6th, 2022
Age: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Goodreads
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This is the second book in the Love in Swans Cove series, and after I read and loved #The Leftover Bride, I was really excited to dig into this, featuring Leftover Bride Sorcha’s sister, Aisling. Running a struggling bakery and trying to balance being a mother with her work, Aisling has always considered herself the most put together of the siblings. She’s the one who doesn’t fall apart, doesn’t ask for (or need) help, and really can do it all herself, thank you very much.
Except she is struggling, but her pride prevents her taking Sorcha and Ryan up on their offer to help with the bakery. Even though there’s an active social media campaign against Aisling and the bakery itself, and for a while, nothing seems to go right. She needs to relax, and bumping into a handsome stranger at a Christmas in July event, a man she’ll never see again, seems like the perfect opportunity to throw caution to the wind and indulge herself. Except a year later he turns up, as part of a production company offering Aisling a very good opportunity to save the bakery by appearing on a new show on the Happily Ever After channel: Sweets for Love.
Alessandro, head of security for Sweets for Love, is only there because he’s trying to make amends – to his family, his crew, and himself – for what he thinks of as his past mistakes. He’s the brother of a famous, beloved actor. Once he’s finished, he can move on, away from Hollywood, away from the lights and sets, and start afresh. Yet Aisling and Alessandro are drawn together, over and over. One full night, finishing what they started, couldn’t hurt, could it? Just to get it out of their system so they can both focus on other things.
I loved Aisling, and I loved Alessandro. And I wasn’t surprised by that at all, as I adored both Sorcha and Ryan in the previous book. Aisling and Alessandro are different, but Nowodazkij crafts these characters with such care, and it’s impossible not to cheer them on throughout the book, as they get closer yet try and ignore their growing feelings for each other. Alessandro is protective in the best way (meaning not too much!) and Aisling cares so much about how her daughter sees her and the example she’s setting for her! Some of this book might be themed around Christmas, but it makes for a nice summer read with the ‘Christmas in July’ idea.
The premise is really good, too, and executed nicely. Aisling is not the kind of person who wants to be on TV, but she’s in a position where she doesn’t really have a choice. And we see her conflict as those on set try and convince her she needs to portray herself differently, though it soon becomes clear people love her for who she is. Added to this, Alessandro struggles with his family’s own fame, and his past hurts, convincing himself he needs to stay away from Aisling to prevent a repeat performance of what happened before.
Just as the title suggests, this book is sweet, but make sure you have plenty of baked goods within reach, as I found my mouth watering at points with all the different treats Aisling was making! I really enjoyed this trip back to Swan’s Cove, and hope for another visit in the future!
Unwrapping Words 