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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Organic Farm to Market Great. I learned a lot that I hope is close to accurate about organic farming. Whatever, I really liked the story basis. The family are such awesome people I look forward to reading more about them … and Jude’s story. I found myself pulling for them Some great twists at the end. I don’t buy how they wound up the story. It is unreasonably unfinished.
I love this book! A must read!!!!
This was my first book by this author and I went into this not really knowing what to expect since I had never read a book by Sarina before. I really enjoyed this sweet romance read! First off, there is no crazy drama (which I am honestly enjoying right now—there is TOO much stuff going on in the world for me to want to read anything with a high angsty right now!) Secondly, I love how Griff and Audrey really complimented each other and Griff was so head over heels for Audrey! I sometimes wanted to shake Audrey, but it was such a good read! I will definitely be continuing to read in this series!!!
Enjoyed every minute of this adventure, Loved the cooking exposure,family interaction, surprizes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as well as the audiobook version. This book is the intro to the True North series, set in small-town Vermont, has strong well-rounded characters, and an interesting story line. I highly recommend the entire True North series of standalone romance stories set in Vermont.
Griffin Shipley is everything I love about Vermont book boyfriends!
A fantastic series. I fell in love with the entire Shipley family.
Grumpy Griff
This series has been on my tbr for the longest time. I’m such a huge fan of this author so I really don’t know what took me so long. This book was so good that I can’t wait to jump into the next one.
LOVED this book! I think I’ll be dreaming of Griffin for years to come.
Sarina Bowen paints the farm life like no other. I found myself craving a Vermont apple orchard. A little fun fact – in high school, I was a Future Farmer of America. Yep. It’s a real group. No lie. And this book reached out and serenaded those forgotten remnants of my past.
I love Griffin and Audrey’s love story. The way things happened in college, it felt so realistic. So possible. When they meet up again, years later, the way the relationship slowly builds and grows is again so realistic. But, it’s all the farm life details and the kitchen descriptions that wrap it all up for me.
I “read” this on Chirp. The narrator for Griffin… yum. He brings Griffin to life.
I have nearly all of Sarina Bowen’S books and I have liked them all, loved quite a few, and simply adored seven of them. In fact, I adored this book. Unfortunately, as far as stars go, I can’t give it five.
Griffin was adorably grumpy and had that dry wit that I find sexy. He’s also big and burly with muscles made by hard work and not in a gym. I have nothing against gym muscles but it’s a nice change to read about a farmer.
Audrey was cute and seemed to enjoy just being part of a happy family. Sure maybe she was a bit silly at times and aggravating but the fact is, I know women just like her in real life. Not every person on the planet is strong and driven and why would I want to read about the same people with different names in every book. That would get old pretty quick.
Griff’s family was a family even I could fall in love with and live happily ever after. They warm and loving. They were there for each other. They were there for the community and just genuinely good people. Griffin, Dylan, Zach, Jude, and the cousins are all good for some laughs and camaraderie.
The plot details aren’t anything complicated or exciting but it doesn’t have to be. The real story was about family struggles, country versus city, finding each other and making things work, and a bit about starting over.
Weaved throughout the story are details about farm life, orchards, selling produce and animals, and other less charming farm work. This is why I had to take off some stars. It starts at 26%. I have it all highlighted so I know what I need to skip. I know animals are slaughtered. I have, unfortunately, witnessed it as a child and I have never forgotten. I know it is a reality of farm life but under no circumstances do I need to read about it in a romance novel. Slaughtering a pig you have bestowed a name upon is horrible. I don’t live on a farm and I don’t eat meat for a reason. When I realized what I was reading my stomach turned over. This is a romance novel, not Animal Farm. There was absolutely no reason for the details. Alluding to the event would have been more than sufficient to get the point across. I probably miss important conversation because I can’t read that part. I can’t just overlook this issue. I didn’t even get a trigger warning.
That being said, if you enjoy family, romance, love and friendship, this book may be just what you are looking for. It’s still one of my favorite books regardless of my issues with it and my mediocre review, judge for yourself. I give this one a solid three stars.
This is my first, but not my last Sarina Bowen True North book. I’ve spent a lot of time in Vermont and I could visualize the Shipley Farm and the family that worked the orchard and dairy farm. Family roots are as deep as the apple trees in the book.
Audrey is completely misjudge by so many most of all her mother. I loved her strength and determination. I was cheering for her and Griffin throughout the story. I’m looking forward of reading more of the True North series.
I’m always a little hesitant when contemporary romance books are written in first person, but wow, Sarina Bowen did an outstanding job of pulling me in and keeping me engaged with the characters. While the story does start off a little slow, letting us get a good insight into both Griff and Audrey, once it hit the quarter mark, it took off. The “Shower Scene” was smoking hot. I’d put it on par with Roxanne St. Claire’s “Shed Scene” and that’s saying something.
Audrey and Griff were cute as a couple. Definitely a case of opposite attracts, but I loved how Audrey brought out his softer side. And Griff, while a little on the grumpy side (she even calls him Grumpy Griff), when it came to Audrey and his family, he was everything you’d want a romance hero to be. I found the story to be sweet, sexy, and charming. The secondary characters, everyone from Zara, the bartender, to the hired hands, to Griff’s extensive family made this story come to life.
I will give one trigger warning: the scene with the pig…Let’s just say he’s going to be dinner, and I might never eat ham again. I had to skip a few pages there.
Otherwise, it was a great story and I’m really looking forward to reading more by Sarina Bowen.
Beautiful!
Why did I wait so long to listen to this! I’ve had this series thrown at me for years by my friends, I have no idea why I resisted. I loved it so much! Growing up on a farm, this book was like a warm hug. It was just perfect, and the narration was superb. Grumpy Griff and sparkling Audrey were like a cool dip on a hot day.
Good romance and erotica
A chef and a farmer get a second chance and their story was one crazy adventure. I’ve had this book sitting on my kindle for ages and I am kicking myself for taking FOREVER to finally get around to it. Grumpy Griff has to be one of my favorite heroes ever and Audrey, she is hard working and wants to prove to everyone that she can do anything.
I LOVED this book so much. Griff and Audrey met in college, hooked up a few times and that was that. Flash forward years later and she is randomly showing up on his farm. Insert grumpy Griff, the farm you can’t help but fall completely in love with and his AMAZING family.
The chemistry between Audrey and Griff was amazing from the start and only grew throughout the story. Farmer Griff has such a sweet side to him. I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved how involved they were in each other’s lives, their dreams and their goals.
Bittersweet has the perfect fall vibe to it. From the description of the farm, to the glorious apple orchard to the amazing sounding cider. I can’t wait to devour the rest of the series and get to know more about the Shipley family and the workers on the farm. This story is steamy and heartwarming and definitely a MUST READ!
Never thought I would be into sexy farmers, but I will literally read anything by Sarina Bowen at this point.
Griffin and Audrey knew each other (ahem, very intimately) in college, but it’s been a few years since they last saw each other. Audrey has since gone to culinary school and is now working for a big restaurant group. Griffin is now in charge of his family’s farm and all of the responsibilities that come with taking care of them.
I absolutely love a second chance romance and the chemistry between Griffin and Audrey was there from the beginning. I loved learning more about how they came to know each other in college and why they drifted apart.
Audrey was such a strong and independent heroine and I loved that! She wanted to hard to stand on her own two feet without the help of anyone, but at what cost? Griffin has his own dreams and ambitions of making his own cider, but how can he justify doing that without putting his family in jeopardy if things go sideways?
These two were so complex and their decisions always affected not only themselves, but others that counted on them. Audrey and Griffin’s life choices were always pulling them in different directions and yet I was rooting for these two to end up together. Griffin was so tender with Audrey and I loved that about him. Even though he was so tough on the outside, he was an absolute sweetheart and a big teddy bear!
I loved all the secondary characters as well and I can’t wait to read more about them in the other books in this series! If you’re looking for a sweet, sexy romance with a gruff farmer and a spunky heroine then this it the book for you!
*4 Stars*
I finally got around to read this book, after previously having read only one book from this series so far, which was Zara’s book. I really enjoyed this one, and I loved the whole Shipley family and their friends, not just Griff and Audrey.
This was a nice and easy read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I need to find myself a farmer! Somebody help me find a man like Griff, haha.
Definitely recommend, and look forward to reading the other books in the series!
Griffin Shipley, swoon! And what a cute family! I love the Shipleys and Grumpy Griff and Audrey’s dynamic. It was adorable how Audrey fell in love with the Shipleys and finally could feel at home with them more so than with her own family. She had so much to give and finally found people who could appreciate what she had to offer. Griff was a good guy although perfectly grumpy in the best way and I’m a sucker for HEAs.
Release Date: June 14th 2016
Spoken in: Dual POV
Read: I read this in 2018 and did a re-read 2019
Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen is the first novel in her True North series and it was absolutely incredible.
I adored this story so much. It was beautiful, sweet and so damn hot. Audrey was such a breath of fresh air with her bubbly personality and then we have the worlds grumpiest farmer Griffin who deep down was a total sweetheart. When these two meet again years later after having a bit of a fling back in college their was no way they could deny the intense chemistry they had even after all those years.
It was so entertaining and fun to read and I loved all of Griffin’s family and the workers at Shipleys Farm. Amazing and totally recommend x