Keepsake by Sarina Bowen

Title: Keepsake (True North #3)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: October 25, 2016

Source: ARC from Publicist

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

There’s a first time for everything.

Lark Wainwright used to be fearless. Her life was a series of adventures, each one more exhilarating than the last. But her recent overseas adventure was one too many. Now she’s home and in one piece. Mostly. But her nights are filled with terror.

When her best friend offers her a stay at the orchard in exchange for help at the farmers’ markets, Lark jumps at the chance to spend fall in Vermont. But her nightmares don’t stop. Desperate to keep her fragile state a secret, she relies on the most soft-spoken resident of the Shipley Farm to soothe her when her dreams prove too much.

Zachariah is a survivor, too. It’s been four years since he was tossed aside by the polygamist cult where he grew up. He’s found a peaceful existence on the Shipley’s farm, picking apples and fixing machinery. But getting thrown away by your own people at nineteen leaves a mark on a guy. He doesn’t always know what to make of a world where movie quotes are the primary means of communication. Before hitchhiking to Vermont, he’d never watched TV or spoken on the phone.

Actually, there are a lot of things he’s never done.

Zach and Lark slowly grow to trust one another. One night they become even closer than they’d planned. But Lark may still be too broken to trust anyone. When she pushes Zach away, he will have to prove that he’s good for much more than farm labor. 

If you love romance and have yet to read any of Sarina Bowen's books, then you are seriously missing out. I have loved every one I've read and am always left begging for more. Her latest, Keepsake, was everything I hoped it would be and I loved reading every single page of it.

I absolutely LOVE getting to read a new Sarina Bowen book, especially when it's one I feel like I've been looking forward to reading for forever. Reading one of her books is like reconnecting with old friends after not having seen them for a while and feeling like no time at all has passed. And I love that feeling. So it really should come as no surprise that I loved reading Keepsake. In fact, I pretty much devoured it. Zach's story was one I had been curious about for such a long time and I was so happy to finally be able to read it. And the story completely lived up to my expectations. Lark and Zach's story wasn't always an easy one to read, especially when you find out everything's that happened to them to bring them to where they are today. But at the same time, their story gives you hope that no matter how horrible things are at one time, there is always a chance they will get better. that you'll meet someone that will help you leave that horrible past behind. That's very much what Zach and Lark were for each other and I loved seeing their unlikely relationship grow and develop. They might have been an unlikely match, but they just worked and somehow made sense. And I had full faith that they would make it through everything and come out stronger together on the other side. 

In the previous two True North books, Zach was always there in the background, quietly doing his thing. And because we only ever found out the bare minimum about him, I was beyond curious as to what his story was. I loved getting to know him in Keepsake. Even though it wasn't pleasant, I loved finding out about his past and seeing how that past still affected him today. And there were moments where my heart was breaking for him. Because Zach never deserved what happened to him, and despite his doubts, he deserved to be loved and he was worthy of it. And obviously I loved Zach, but that's pretty much a given at this point. Lark was the perfect balance to Zach's quiet nature. Even if she was putting up a front after everything that happened to her in South America. She was struggling so much with everything even though she didn't want to be struggling. I wanted so badly for Lark to find her way back to herself without too much pain, but at the same time the pain was necessary to get her to where she needed to be. It wasn't easy to read, but I loved reading it and seeing it all come together. 

Sarina Bowen's Keepsake was an absolutely beautiful story. Though it wasn't always easy to read, I loved every moment of it and would have happily kept reading about Lark and Zach. And the Shipley clan in general. Based on the ending of Keepsake, I may be getting my wish about that at some point...

Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen + Q&A

Title: Bittersweet (True North #1)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: June 14, 2016

Source: ARC from Publicist

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the orchard.

The last person Griffin Shipley expects to find stuck in a ditch on his Vermont country road is his ex-hookup. Five years ago they'd shared a couple of steamy nights together. But that was a lifetime ago.

At twenty-seven, Griff is now the accidental patriarch of his family farm. Even his enormous shoulders feel the strain of supporting his mother, three siblings and a dotty grandfather. He doesn't have time for the sorority girl who's shown up expecting to buy his harvest at half price.

Vermont was never in Audrey Kidder's travel plans. Neither was Griff Shipley. But she needs a second change with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay--a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.

They's adversaries. They want entirely different things from life. Too bad their sexual chemistry is as hot as Audrey's top secret enchilada sauce, and then some.

In the past year, Sarina Bowen has quickly become one of my go-to authors when I want some good romance. I have yet to pick up one of her books and not find myself completely charmed by the characters and swept up in the romance. And it was no different with her latest, Bittersweet.

If you're familiar at all with Sarina Bowen and her books, then you know that her books tend to revolve around sports and athletes. But Bittersweet is a departure from the hockey players, skiers, and snowboarders she's written about in the past. Instead, it's about chefs and farmers and cider makers (as a side note, if you don't find yourself craving hard cider by the time you finish reading Bittersweet, there's something wrong with you...I'm only mostly kidding). Just like with the world of high level sports, Sarina Bowen brings the world of Vermont farmers to life. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Bittersweet made me want to hop into a car and take a roadtrip to the Vermont countryside to see some of the sceneries Griffin and Audrey describe in the story. And if it were fall, I would totally be heading to an orchard for some apple picking. It honestly felt like the setting was a character in this story just as much as Griffin, Audrey and the whole Shipley clan. It just came to life while I was reading. And it wasn't the only part of the story that felt completely real.

Whenever I read one of Sarina Bowen's books, I always want to be friends with the characters by the time I finish reading the story. There's just something about them. As you might have guessed it was no different with Griffin and Audrey. I absolutely loved both of them. I loved Griff despite his grumpy and gruff tendencies. Though I wasn't sure about Audrey's flightiness at first, I was completely charmed by the end of the book. And they just balanced each other out so well. Audrey made Griff less serious and all business all the time by reminding him to just have fun sometimes, while Griff showed Audrey that she was more than the disappointment her mother had led her to believe she was her whole life. They were just so freaking great and adorable together. But Audrey and Griff weren't the only people I wanted to be friends with. By the time I finished Bittersweet I wanted to be an honorary member of the Shipley family. I loved reading about the whole family, and seeing the way they were all there for each other, regardless of if they were related by blood or just someone they had taken in. And I'm more than excited to keep getting glimpses of this big, crazy family in future True North books.

In case it wasn't completely obvious by now, I absolutely ADORED Sarina Bowen's Bittersweet. I completely fell in love with the story, setting and characters and I was sad to reach the final page of the book. Thankfully, Steadfast, the next in the series, is out soon because I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

Q&A with Sarina Bowen

All your previous books (and your new series kicking off in the fall!) feature athletes, what made you was to move away from that?

I love athletes, but I’m surrounded by the coolest, hippest innovative farmers, and I thought it would be fantastic to explore their world. And Griff is an ex-football player, because I couldn’t help myself.

In Bittersweet, Griffin makes artisanal cider. What was the research process like for that aspect of the story?

You should see my recycling bin! #notkidding. We drink lots of tasty ciders at my house, and many of them are locally made. Vermont (and New Hampshire) are ground zero for cider appreciation. It’s awesome.

When you’re looking for your next story, where do you look for inspiration?

I don’t even have to look, they just find me in newspaper stories and blog posts and on Twitter.

What about the romance genre appeals to you as a writer?

Happy endings are really important to me. I love that quest.

Describe Bittersweet in one sentence.

Take one perky chef, add one grumpy farmer, season until scorching and serve hot.

The Fifteenth Minute by Sarina Bowen

Title: The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years #5)

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Release Date: October 13, 2015

Source: ARC from Publicist

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

Freshman Lianne Chalice is known to millions of fans as Princess Vindi. But sometimes a silver screen sorceress just wants to hang up her wand, tell her manager to shove it, and become a normal college student. Too bad that’s harder than it looks.

She’s never lived a normal life. She hasn’t been to school since kindergarten. And getting close to anyone is just too risky—the last boy she kissed sold the story to a British tabloid.

But she can’t resist trying to get close to Daniel “DJ” Trevi, the hot, broody guy who spins tunes for hockey games in the arena. There’s something haunting his dark eyes and she needs to know more.

DJ’s genius is for expressing the mood of the crowd with a ten second song snippet. With just a click and a fade, he can spread hope, pathos or elation among six thousand screaming fans.

Too bad his college career is about to experience the same quick fade-out as one of his songs. He can’t get close to Lianne, and he can’t tell her why. And the fact that she seems to like him at all? Incredible.

Over the summer, I read the first four books in Sarina Bowen’s Ivy Years series in the span of a week. While traveling. That’s how addicting the books were. And the moment I finished, I was dying for the next one. And when I got The Fifteenth Minute, I read it all in a day.

Lianne Challice hasn’t had the most normal life up until now. To most of the world, she is Princess Vindi, a sorceress in a series of blockbuster movies. Now in her second semester of freshman year, all Lianne wants is to be a normal college student. And that includes a boyfriend. But when you’re famous, finding a boy who won’t sell your relationship secrets to the tabloids is easier said than done. When she meets DJ, the guy in charge of music at hockey games, Lianne knows she can trust him. But DJ isn’t having the best year, and the last thing he needs is to be getting close to Lianne. But no matter what he does, Lianne keeps coming back. DJ can only keep pulling away for so long before Lianne doesn’t come back.

I binge read series pretty often. It’s kind of something you end up doing at some point or another when you’re an avid reader. But binge reading a series while also travelling with a friend is something I hadn’t done before. But it’s something I did when I picked up the first four books of Sarina Bowen’s Ivy Years. Basically, any time I wasn’t doing touristy stuff, I had my face glued to my Kindle (thankfully, the friend I was travelling with reads just as much as I do so she understood). And once I finished those four books, I was DYING for more. And so the moment it landed in my inbox, I started reading The Fifteenth Minute. And Sarina Bowen did not let me down. I DEVOURED this book. Like, stayed-on-my-couch-all-day-couldn’t-put-my-kindle-down devoured. It was just that good. And it should come as no surprise that I totally loved the romance between DJ and Lianne. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the kind of romance that just puts a smile on my face and makes me hope they can overcome all the obstacles standing in their way. It was just adorable.

But one of the things that I have absolutely loved about Sarina Bowen’s books is how she weaves serious subjects into the story without taking away from the relatively fun nature of the book. And she did it again in an interesting way in The Fifteenth Minute. It’s a pretty well-known fact that universities everywhere have serious issues when it comes to sexual assault cases. When we hear about these cases, it’s typically because the schools aren’t doing anything to help the victims. But with this story, Sarina Bowen showed the other side of the problem. She showed how schools struggle to investigate cases and sometimes someone gets wrongly accused because the schools are so worried about making sure they don’t get any flack for not doing anything for the victim. Through DJ’s story, Sarina Bowen really showed that this can happen and how it can be really damaging to someone. 

I shouldn’t really have to say it, but I loved DJ and Lianne. They were just so freaking adorable together. On the one hand you had this girl who is an actress and has connections to all these famous people, but who really just wants to get away from all that. On the other, you have this boy who can’t believe that someone like Lianne would like him. But they were so perfect for each other. And I loved them individually as well, obviously. I just wanted people to stop giving Lianne grief about being a famous actress and just let her live her life. And I loved how much of a geek she was, whether it was writing scripts for her favourite video games or making pop culture references in conversation. I just loved her. And DJ might officially be my favourite boy that Sarina Bowen has written. I loved him, plain and simple. And I felt horrible for what he was going through. And I wanted everything to work out for him. And he was just adorable and I loved him. I don’t really know how else to say it. Maybe I should have gone to my university’s hockey games in case we had a cute guy in charge of the music. But that’s besides the point. The point is that I loved Lianne and DJ something fierce. And I loved all the glimpses I got of the different people from the previous books, and those just reaffirmed that Bella is awesome.

In case it wasn’t clear by this long and ramble-y review, I absolutely loved Sarina Bowen’s The Fifteenth Minute. This story had just the right amount of fun and serious that made it so I just couldn’t stop reading. If you love NA romance and haven’t picked up any of Sarina Bowen’s books, do yourself and favour and read one. You won’t regret it.