Hello! I’m here today to talk about a small town called Harper Landing, and two characters both struggling with grief in their own ways coming together and showing each other that they don’t have to go through it alone. **And as always, the work to support the Black community is not done, whether there is media coverage for it or not, so here is the link to click in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement in any way you can, and thank you to StarlahReads for compiling these resources. You can also visit the description of this video by booktuber Jess Owens, which has links to several additional resources about global events.**
As a reading representative for Once Upon a Bookclub (a position I unfortunately had to part ways with but I wish the company all the best), I needed to find a book on NetGalley that was being published in June, or later, this year. I came across Sweet Bliss, an adult contemporary romance novel by Jennifer Bardsley, and it caught my attention because I had tried to read several novels with complex magic systems and complicated convulated plots and I was just in the mood for something simple and sweet. It’s told in two alternating narratives, following main leads Julia and Aaron in the town of Harper Landing. It has a nice calming presence to it, and I’m glad I finally get to talk about it. *I have also since learned that Jennifer Bardsley also writes young adult novels under the pen name Louise Cypress, if that’s more your style.*
In Harper Landing, Washington, Julia Harper (the great-grand-granddaughter of the town’s founder) owns the local frozen yogurt shop, Sweet Bliss, and has inherited several other store fronts and properties after the death of her mother. When her energetic dog jumps into the lake, newcomer Aaron Baxter comes to the rescue. Aaron moves to town to raise his nephew, Jack, who has come into his care after the death of his sister and brother-in-law, Sara and Jared. Together they navigate the struggles that come with living in a small town, dealing with grief, and tackling whatever life may throw at them next.
I didn’t know much going into this novel, but I loved how quiet and simple it was. Both characters are on their own journeys with grief – Julia is still reeling from the death of her mother, who passed away from lung cancer, but may also have been emotionally abusive to her throughout childhood and a stickler with finances, and Aaron lost two extremely important people in his life, his sister (one of the only family members he’s ever felt close to) and his best friend. Aaron was also thrust into a new role of responsibility with the birth of his nephew (who was born premature due to the injuries his sister sustained from the accident), and he struggles with balancing his time while also ensuring Jack receives the care that Sara (his sister) would have wanted, and not the way they themselves were raised as children (with no parental figures around aside from new nannies every few months). I felt it also captured the small town life really well – neighbors coming together to help in times of need, news spreading through gossip, and knowing everyone’s business, even if they don’t want you to. The saying is it takes a village to raise a child, and I think Aaron decided to move to Harper Landing because he truly wanted to give his nephew, Jack, the best life he could – and so Jack could be near his grandparents, as Jared grew up in town. I also appreciated how sweet and simple the romance was – yes, Julia and Aaron do strike up a romance, and it was nice to see the progression of their relationship, through catching each other’s eyes across the frozen yogurt shop, their failed date ending up at urgent care, and just the support they bring to each other that they didn’t know they needed. [If you need information on the “steam level,” the most on-page description is a kiss between the two main leads.]
Since this seems to be the first book in a new series surrounding the people living in Harper Landing, a found a few story-lines unfinished that we will hopefully get more detail about in future novels. In particular, I must make note of Frank, Jack’s grandfather and an individual who seems to be developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. I will admit I wasn’t too fond of the character, Walter – I believe he was supposed to be the main antagonist of the novel, seeing how he is the only tennent having issues with Julia as a landlord, and he reveals information towards the end that leads to Julia viewing her mother in a different light. At least he came across as a well-written unlikeable character. There was also much talk throughout the novel about a big Fourth of July celebration put on by the town, which led me to believe we would get to see the parade in detail when the day finally rolled around, but the event only took place in the span of a chapter or two, and an altercation with Walter took away a bit from the gathering itself. I guess I just wish there was more to the parade, but in relation to the length of the novel, I suppose its page time was justified.
While I didn’t have any expectations going into this novel, I closed the book [or I guess the document on my phone] with a smile on my face. There were well-developed characters, a town full of people willing to support each other, and a story that will let you breathe a little during this incredibly stressful time. I already can’t wait to see who will be featured in the next book, Good Catch, set to release in October, and Sweet Bliss isn’t even out in the world yet! Sweet Bliss is set to release on July 13th, 2021, which is only a few months away, so if you’re at all interested in a small town romance that involves the owner of a frozen yogurt shop and a new father trying to figure out how to parent, I highly recommend picking up a copy. *Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Montlake, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opnions are my own.*
Where to find Sweet Bliss:
Bookshop
Amazon
Goodreads
Jennifer Bardsley’s site
Thoughts About Things 