Review: Sweeter Than Honey by Jessica Payseur

Title: Sweeter Than Honey

Author: Jessica Payseur

Publisher: JMS Books

Pages/Word Count: 50 pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: Sadly, this story didn’t work for me, with an ending which seemed to come out of nowhere.

Reviewed By: Sadonna

Blurb: Bradley Kim is just trying to make the time without his boyfriend Lance go by faster when he takes on an additional article for his small town newspaper. But the moment he meets Shay Wilton, amateur beekeeper, it’s definitely not the honey that catches his eye.

Bradley is lonely, and Shay is everything Lance is not — passionate, fun, and kind — and soon Bradley’s interview becomes something more intimate as Shay gives him a hands-on experience with the honey extraction.

Turning down Shay’s advances shouldn’t be so difficult, but Bradley won’t let temptation lead him to cheating. Too bad Lance doesn’t have similar scruples, and after a fiery revelation, Bradley finds himself suddenly single, with nothing standing between him and a certain beekeeper who might just be sweeter than honey.

Review: Most of the plot of this story is revealed in the blurb, so it won’t be very spoilery for me to corroborate that text. Bradley is a reporter for the local, small town paper, and he is doing a story on local businesses. He travels out to a farm outside of town to meet with a beekeeper who is selling his honey at the farmer’s market, etc. Turns out the beekeeper just rents a house there, and uses the fields of the farmers for his hives. Shay is an outgoing guy and seems to have a non-professional interest in Bradley as well. Bradley is attracted, but he does have a boyfriend, who happens to be in France on business. He tells Shay this upfront.

Bradley is lonely and he does seek Shay out at the farmer’s market. They seem to get along well, but again, there is the Lance factor. Lance seems distant and many times unreachable on the phone, and when he is due to arrive home, he doesn’t seem too excited to see Bradley—because he’s not alone. Of course, Bradley is shocked and stunned at the betrayal. He then has a clear course with Shay.

This is the first story I’ve read by this author. I liked the writing fine, up until the end. Sadly, this story just didn’t work for me, particularly because of an ending that just really comes out of nowhere and was just too much for me. As usual, YMMV. I would be willing to give this author a try again, because I did actually like the characters and their development, with the exception of the unbelievable ending.

You can buy Sweeter Than Honey here:
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