Farmers make the earth move.
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 … 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 chance with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay—a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.
They’re 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.
Warning: Contains sexual situations, gourmet yumminess, a steamy outdoor shower and proof that farmers don’t mind getting dirty.
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Oh the sweet scent of Crisp apples, the sinfully sexy sip of freshly squeezed cider, and the fermenting emotions in a couldron in an orchard farm. It’s a delightful combination that enveloped all my senses in a Heady aroma of LOVE in CAPS.
The narrators Saskia Maaleveld was saucy and sweet as Audrey Kidder, but whenever Tad Branson talked, I swear I swooned. He brought the grouchy Griffin Shipley to life.
Hearttouching as a bite in juicy flesh of apples, soft as a gentle breeze swaying the apple trees, colourful as all varieties of apples..this book just makes you fall in love
5 stars for award winner “Audrey”
I listened to the audiobook and it was pretty long. The book started out slowly. I did enjoy the narration. I enjoyed the information about farming, although I don’t see pork in my future anymore.
I liked Griff and his family. I liked Jude and Zach. It was obvious there were stories about them to tell. Audrey had to grow on me. At the beginning of the book, I thought of her as the flighty co-ed she described herself as while being determined to change.
The more she got involved with Griff, his family, and the farm, the more she seemed to develop a backbone. I was really surprised at her behavior about the contract considering they had proven themselves to not be trustworthy already.
I also wondered if Zara was going to have her own story. I had questions about her mystery man, and no answers or hints about his identity.
It was a sweet, romantic, interesting book, but it seemed took long. I don’t think her roommate ever got paid. There was no epilogue, and I love a good epilogue. The story just seemed to end, rather abruptly I thought.
I would give this book 3.5 stars.
NO SPOILERS!
WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO START THE TRUE NORTH SERIES?! Gah, I’m kicking myself right now!
Sarina Bowen wove a sweet, sexy, funny, entertaining, and swoon-worthy second chance romance with Bittersweet, and it was a fantastic kickoff to the True North series!
The storyline was fun, fresh, and kept me entertained from start to finish. Small town romances are my jam, and I fell head over heels in love with the Vermont setting. It was quaint, idyllic, and honestly made me wish I lived there.
The characters were equally amazing. I loved Griffin, Audrey, and the rest of the Shipley family and their friends so much. They were a wonderful cast of characters and made the book such a delight to read. Griffin and Audrey were especially fantastic, and I loved how their love story transpired. It definitely wasn’t an easy journey and certainly had bumps along the way, but I was very happy with the conclusion.
Bittersweet was a sexy, funny, entertaining, and swoon-worthy start to the True North series, and I absolutely loved Griffin and Audrey’s second chance story! I’m totally smitten with the world of True North and honestly can’t wait to devour the rest of the standalones in the series!
This book makes me want to move to Vermont and find myself a cider-making mountain man. Until then, I’ll happily keep reading the rest of the books in this series. A great reminder that great romances don’t always involve sports, million dollar endorsements, mistaken identities and unlikely billionaires in their late 20’s. It can be something as simple as drive thru rural Vermont. Love this author and everything she writes.
I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. I have read a couple of others from Sarina Bowen and loved them but I was a little apprehensive about starting the True North series. I just wasn’t interested in the farming aspect but boy was I wrong.
Seeing how passionate Griffin was about his farm and especially about cider making was so wholesome and interesting. I felt so bad for him and how much he struggled to keep the farm running and taking care of his family and younger siblings. He had so much on his plate that he didn’t take any time for himself.
Audrey was exactly the person that Griffin needed to be less of a grumpy griff and relax a bit. She was such a surprise at every turn especially to him. I loved how she was breaking out of the assumptions that people made about her as a spoiled rich kid. She was so passionate about food and I loved seeing how excited she got when she found a new produce item or made a new recipe. I also loved how much Griffin’s family loved her.
I will definitely be continuing this series I especially can’t wait for Zach’s book and to see more of the Shipleys.
I don’t have much to say about this book. I struggled to connect with the characters. They were nice, I liked them, but they weren’t all that memorable or unique. As an aside, the girl on the cover with the couple is brunette, while the book said in passing Audrey was blonde, so I’m not sure who that girl is supposed to be.
I’ve read books by Sarina before, only a couple of them, true, cause I’d grown disenchanted after the second one in the Ivy Years series, but since I stumbled into Bittersweet in a Kindle Freebies list, and it had a good rating and a decent blurb, I decided to give it a shot.
It wasn’t a bad book. It wasn’t great either. I think my biggest problem was that everything was kinda already set up from the very first moment. The already had a history, and they basically picked up right were they’d left off. There was no real conflict, and so the story had a very monotone feeling.
I don’t think being an organic chemist would help anyone all that much with producing fermented, alcoholic beverages (I’m a few months away from my degree, I should know). Plenty of people surely make wine, beers and ciders without having a college degree in chemistry. It probably would have been a lot more useful for Griffin to get a degree related to agriculture, or maybe even botany, if he was interested in grafting and developing new apple varieties. But I’m being unnecessarily nitpicky, I know.
I did love all the chaotic family scenes, though. I wholeheartedly agree with Audrey that Griff’s family was absolutely lovely. Best aspect of this book IMO.
Griffin and Audrey had a little fling when they were in college. Years later, they meet again and to say they don’t have chemistry will be a lie. They aren’t where they want to be in life and, in some way, they need each other in order to get closer to their goals.
Throughout the story, Griffin is trying to keep his family farm and push his cider business to the next level. As for Audrey, she’s trying to get her own restaurant and to prove she’s worthy of her career choice. So imagine them
They are both very determined, sassy and loyal. They love with everything they got and no matter the cost or what, they are always there for those they love. Also, Griffin is super grumpy, but so so sweet at the same time. There’s a specific scene that I loved and that made me fall in love with Grouchy Griff because it was so funny and so damn sweet.
We get some fun side characters, which I’m super curious about and can’t wait to read. Griff’s family are tight group and always have each other’s back. They embraced both Audrey and Jude with open arms and without question.
The story is well written, it will capture you and consume you, you will feel the chemistry between the characters, you’ll laugh and swoon. Oh and you’ll probably get very hungry every time you read what Audrey plans to cook.
This was my first book about a farmer hero and my first Sarina Bowen book and I can defiantly tell you it it won’t be the last on both accounts.
I LOVE small town books and I can not believe it has taken me this long to start the True North series.
Yummy Griffin hot farmer boy meets a gal who knows her way around the kitchen. Don’t read on an empty stomach!!!
Great book
Loved it.
I love a heroine like Audrey. She’s a little messy, tends to have a bit of bad luck which she handles with charm and grace. But she is confident in her abilities and determined to get where she wants to be in her career.
Grumpy Griffin is a broody man, with a kind heart. He’s doing what he can to keep his family’s business profitable. Including ventures into new territory for them. I really like the dynamic between the two of them. They are flirty but snarky. Confident yet hesitant. My only issue was that I wanted more resolved in the end. Maybe like a quick epilogue. Side note: I totally tried to find some of the recipes they talked about and I will be making them. This was a fun read for me. Can’t wait for the next one.
Audrey’s boss sends her to Vermont to try and make nice with the local farmers so that they can have fresh organic fruits and veggies for their restaurants. When she arrived at the Shipley Farm she wasn’t expecting to run into an old college hook up, Griffin Shipley. And she sure wasn’t expecting to spend so much time with him and fall in love with Vermont, with his family and with Griffin.
I really enjoyed Griffin and Audrey. They were a fun, romantic and steamy read. I like how they balanced each other. Griffin was all work and no play until Audrey comes along and gave him a reason to see the value in fun. Audrey has struggled to find her place and her value and she finds that in spades with Griffin and his family. It was fun to watch them all bond and fall in love. All of the side characters are fun too and I cannot wait to see their stories. Great start to the True North series
One of my all time favorite romance series.
This is my first book from this author and it won’t be my last. I loved everything about this book. From the characters, to the story, to the scenery, to the sense of humor. I’m usually relectant when I start a new contemporary romance but this book pleasantly surprised me. I didn’t skip any paragraphs or any chapters, I just kept reading! Loved It!!!
Read: 7/14/2016
Bittersweet is the first book of the new series, True North, by Sarina Bowen. It’s set in the beautiful Vermont Country amongst acres of farmland and the hearts of good hard working people.
I loved everything about Bittersweet: the sexy and humorous characters, a plausible storyline and a girl next door vibe. It was a refreshing change from the over the top angst within the bad boy biker series that I had currently been reading.
Griffin Shipley had everything going for him and was set for a shot in the NFL until one fateful day when his father died unexpectedly and he went home to Vermont to run the farm in an attempt to provide for his mother and three younger siblings. Audrey Kidder was the exuberant, eccentric, fun loving girl that appeared to have the charmed life, when in her reality she seemed to mess everything up. Their paths had crossed briefly during college and they would never have guessed to cross again years later.
Bowen had me hooked from the beginning with the brownie fiasco. The storyline was well written and well developed with an abundance of humor that added tremendously to the storyline.
Bowen also included an intriguing supporting cast of characters that were well developed and increased the depth and substance of the storyline. It was also a great set up for potential future stories with the siblings (Daphne, Dylan, and May), cousin Kyle, employees (Zach and Jude) and town friend Zara – some of which are likely included in the same story.
Bittersweet was a great start to a new series. The only negative was an abrupt ending. It needs an epilogue badly. However, it does link us to the next book regarding Jude, but it left us hanging with what to expect for Audrey and Griff’s future. Hopefully they will have prominent roles and continue to be developed in the remaining books of the series.
All in all, an excellent read and I look forward to more.
I don’t know why I waited so long to start this book. Sarina Bowen has never let me down.
Bittersweet is the story of grumpy farmer (and cider maker) Griff and his one time hookup Audrey. Audrey is an aspiring chef, interning for a major restaurant group and attempting to purchase local produce from Vermont farmers…just like Griff.
While I will say I could see the major event/conflict coming from a mile away, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this story. There was so much about farming, apples, and cider, and I felt like it added to my enjoyment. I just love food really, so any romance that includes some tasty sounding food and drinks just makes me even happier.
The chemistry between Griff and Audrey was delicious, and the interpersonal relationships between him and his family were worthwhile.
Truly, Bittersweet was a great mixture of easy reading yet not boring or dumb, steamy yet emotional, and fun but not trying to hard to be funny. A great start to this series that I’ve sadly ignored for far too long.
This is my first book by this author and won’t be my last! I absolutely loved this swoony, second chance romance! The characters were a perfect fit, the Vermont farm setting was idyllic and made me want to eat apples and sit at the Shipley’s kitchen table and share a big, rowdy meal with them, and the sexy, hot chemistry between Audrey and Griff warmed me all the way to my toes. The series is addictive too – even though each book stands alone you won’t be able to resist starting the next one. Truly well done!
3.5 Grumpy Griff the Farmer Stars bumped to 4 Stars. Holy cannoli! The world’s grumpiest farmer/cidermaker meets possibly the world’s bubbliest, but insecure, independent woman. Opposites do attract. Griff and Audrey have a history that both hurts and helps them in figuring out their whole relationship. Griff and his family will become some of your favorites. This is a fun and entertaining story that will have you smiling more often than not.
I really enjoyed the character development of Griff and Audrey. Touching…good growth. Nice to see them get over their blockers to happiness.
this was a really fun book to read. A few tears were shed, but for the most part, life could really happen this way and it was absolutely fun to read.