Review: Sweet Nothings by T. Neilson

Title: Sweet Nothings

Series: Amuse Bouche: Book One

Author: T. Neilson

Length: 248 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: For the most part this is an easy read, a lightly paced story with a HFN ending, and I definitely recommend it.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Will a bitter bite from the past spoil a sweet romance?

Tristan Love, the youngest of seven brothers, is back in his hometown. He’s left the New York food scene and an abusive relationship behind him, but he holds his love of French pastries close to his heart and is determined to put his skills to use in a bakery of his own.

Returning to his childhood home means his meddlesome brother Simon will butt into his business, but before the bakery even opens its doors, Tristan’s delectable creations have the town’s mouths watering, and Jake, a cute mechanic, asks Tristan out. It all seems worthwhile….

That is, until the bakery burns down, Jake’s criminal past comes to light, and Tristan’s nasty ex rears his head where he is decidedly not wanted.

Review: Ok. Wow. This was a new author for me and I have to say, for the most part, I was impressed. The only bad thing I can say about this book is that it wasn’t longer. I would gladly have kept reading about all those Love brothers, their mom, and the people in this quirky small town. Could some things have been more fleshed out? Sure, but for what this book was aiming for, which is an entertaining beginning to a new series, I think it accomplished that hands down. And, I love it when I find a new author who writes well enough that it makes me go look at their body of work and want to read something else they wrote. This is an almost insta-love romance. It has a certain amount of tension brought into play by the ex-boyfriend, and it is full of interesting secondary characters whom I’m sure we will be seeing more of as the series progresses. There is an element of abuse in this book, but it is all off page and only alluded to, as it is in the past of one of the characters, and that character has moved on from the circumstance.

Tristan escaped. He took his self-respect and his pride, and he left the guy who would eventually have killed him if he’d stayed. He’s come home to the small town of Lake Balmoral and essentially bought a bakery located in the downtown corridor, sight unseen. It’s time to get his life together and remember his first love—cooking French pastry and the influences from his early years that led him to culinary school in the first place. He’s the baby of seven boys, and that brings a certain amount of angst when they all need to accept that you are a grownup and can make sound life decisions on your own. No, it doesn’t seem like lately he’s been very good at that, but now he has his head on straight and life is looking pretty sweet.

Jake was a naïve young adult, caught in a cycle of poverty and family issues. He confessed to a crime he didn’t commit to save the person who did, never realizing the lifetime consequences of doing so. His life is starting to look up. He’s working for his sister in her auto body garage and managing to put a little money in the bank. He works hard on staying glass half full instead of glass half empty, but it’s hard when all the townspeople around you are continuously judging you on your past. They don’t know the whole story and Jake isn’t going to enlighten them. Tristan is a breath of fresh air and pastries. For the first time, Jake is presented with a person who likes him, just for him, the person he is today. Tristan doesn’t see the person everyone perceives he used to be, he just see’s Jake, and likes him.

We have the trope of the abusive ex-boyfriend who ends up being nuts, and frankly, you know what the storyline is going to be long before the book gets there, but that’s ok because the journey is an entertaining one. The secondary characters lend quite a bit to the story, and I am already matching up which brother will match up with the personalities we met in this first book.

Sweet Nothings has an abrupt ending, which I regretted, and there were definitely parts that I wish were expounded upon, but on the whole, I enjoyed it and I will absolutely read Simon’s story which is coming up next. For the most part this is an easy read, a lightly paced story with a HFN ending, and I definitely recommend it.

You can buy Sweet Nothings here:
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