Perfect cover!
Sweethand
by N.G. Peltier
After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry, and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry chef business.
When Cherisse's sister announces her upcoming marriage, Cherisse, as the maid of honor, is forced to plan all the events with the best man, Keiran King, who happens to be a music producer and her long time nemesis. When things turn heated after a rainy night of bedroom fun, they both have to figure out if they can survive the countdown to wedding day, without this turning into a recipe for disaster.
First thing first, look at that amazing cover! The contrast between the peach background, the dark green, and the bright orange is so visually pleasing. His headphones play into the idea that he's in the music business. She's feeding her a delicious cake. The tropical plant in the background and her floral dress give you a hint of the Trinidad setting. Then there's a cat. You can't go wrong with a cute cat on a book cover. It's an absolutely perfect cozy book cover.
Imagine my surprise then when I opened my kindle to the first page and discovered the first word in the book was "Shit!". I laughed at the dichotomy. That was my first clue that this book was more than meets the eye. Cherisse has a sweet persona that she upholds at events, but has the mouth of a sailor and I absolutely loved it.
This is a dual perspective story, so we get both Cherisee's and Keiran's points of view throughout. They have a history, have known each other since they were teens and have had a rivalry going since then, despite having a mutual good friend. we see them together for the first time at a music awards after party that she's created the desserts for. Their banter is teasing and you can feel the chemistry between them right away. He makes a remark to the press about how easy her job is and that leads to a snarky dessert being sent his way and sexist online comments being sent her way.
After a public apology, they start working together on the wedding events. While planning the events, they actually discover they have some things in common and become tentative friends. Then a rainy night and a red velvet cake in a shot glass lead to a steamy night and they both have to figure out what it means for them.
I have to say one of my absolute favorite things about this book was how sensitive Keiran was. He was supposed to be a bad boy, womanizing music producer, but he had secretly had a crush on his best friend as a teen and showed vulnerability when dealing with his family. It was nice to read a romance where the main love interest wasn't this strutting alpha male. Plus bisexual rep. At one point, he's talking to Cherisse's best friend and they have this conversation:
"Someone's going to get hurt," Remi announced. "I won't hurt her." "Yeah, I didn't mean her."
Their friends made me laugh on a regular basis with things like "Wear the fuck me heels!" Yet they weren't afraid to call their friends out when needed or have those difficult conversations.
I found I had a difficult time putting this book down. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I'm looking forward to seeing what else the author writes in the future.
About the Author
N.G. Peltier is an anime watching, book reading, video-game playing, story writing kinda girl.
A devourer of words and books from a young age, she enjoys writing romance and creeping people out with the Caribbean folklore stories she grew up hearing.
A Trinidadian born and raised, she currently lives in Trinidad with her mountain of ideas and characters battling each other for whose story get told next.
https://ngpeltier.com/