Enjoyed both the grumpy hero and the heroine who was also not perfect, but she was sweet. Loved the whole family dynamics. ( )

All the stuff around apple growing, cider production, and farm to table in general was a great setting.

This novel was released in 2016, 6 years ago. It's embedded in the hook-up culture, which is so unromantic - so into treating the body and the person as separate - though of course in the hands of a romance novelist, the physical enters emotional territory, and human interaction becomes more layered, thank goodness.

It's so strange that in this culture, intense physical attraction precludes knowing much at all about the other person. But this is the plot line of Bittersweet as we follow farmer (and organic chemist) Griff and chef (and restaurant big business produce procurer) Audrey.

I've read a farmer and chef mc combo before - can't be bothered looking up the name of the book - as it wasn't as good as this one. I wouldn't call this cutesy, which is how the other one played. This dealt with real problems around farming, and making it as a chef.

And the blooming relationship between Audry and Griff was a nice thread pulling the story along.

Once again, it's staggering how bad the hook-up culture protagonists are at communicating or knowing how the other feels, as if sex communicates nothing. Why Audrey has such awful self-esteem issues is well drawn, but how she downplays Griff's interest in her is so constipated!

So sad! but overall a fun read. ( )

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Let's go with 3.75 ( )

Audrey, (I can't help but think of Little Shop of Horrors with this name) needs to get local farmers in Vermont to sell their goods cheap to the food group she works for as an intern, while she waits for the chance to pitch her restaurant idea. But the prices she's able to offer are laughable, and they've been warned off by Griff, a former fling from her college days. Audrey and Griff, who grows apples to make hard cider, still have the same hot chemistry they had in college. Reading how they worked things out was fun, and a nice change from some of the other romances I'd read lately. ( )

A sweet story.
Introduction to the Shipley family and their non blood family.
Really funny 'Star Wars' references.
It just has all the 'feels'. ( )