Deborah Fletcher Mello - The Sweetest Thing

Love is the best treat of all. . .When the owner of Memphis's most mouthwatering bakery, Just Desserts, suddenly dies, pastry chef Quentin Elliott and his brother, office manager Troy Elliott, are distraught. Everett "Pop" Donovan was more than their boss, he was a beloved mentor. So they're shocked to learn that Pop left the business to his beautiful, estranged daughter a woman they know nothing about and who knows nothing about running a bakery...
Harper Donovan intends to sell off Just Desserts as quickly as possible. She has no interest in Memphis, much less sweets. However, handsome Quentin has definitely sparked her appetite and business aside, the feeling is irresistibly mutual. But soon a powerful, smooth-talking rival appears, vying for Harper's heart and her bakery. Harper might have a taste for Memphis after all and Quentin might have to prove he's exactly what she craves. . .

Comment: I had this book in the pile for years because I've read somewhere that it would feature a sort of enemies to lovers trope and, as I have shared before, I tend to like that one as well. Sadly, I was not convinced and this didn't really work out for me that much.

In this book we meet Harper Donovan, a young woman whose father has recently died. They never had a good relationship for she took her mothers' side when they separated. Now that he is gone, he left her some inheritance, including Just Desserts, a pastry shop/bakery managed by Quentin Elliott and his brother Troy, who have been kind of adopted by her father. When Harper arrives for the funeral, she expects to quickly get rid of everything so she can go back to her own life, but some things take time and she stays, meaning more time for her to get to know the brothers, especially Quentin with whom she clashes but with whom she also shares attraction...

Quentin is ready to hate this woman who never cared for her father, a great man in Quentin's opinion. But this woman has her own vulnerable side and the longer they spend together, the more he likes her and it seems he might be reciprocated. There are issues to solve, but could he dream of a happy future for them?

I think the idea of this book was very appealing to me and I was eager to read about these characters. However, I simply could not appreciate the author's style and that affected my reading experience, to the point I skimmed some passages here and there.

I liked the idea of two people separated by geography and who had different interactions with a person in common would now deal with one another. Quentin has had a loving relationship with his "foster" father but Harper didn't and this influences how they think of the man and of what he has left in his will. Obviously the idea would be to force them now to spend time together and this would cause them to realize the other person isn't simply an antagonist but the path to these discoveries wasn't that fun to me.

The writing style didn't captivate me, the way the characters would speak of one another put me off often. For instance, Harper already had an opinion of the owners of Just Desserts because of how her father treated them and while this is believable - who wouldn't resent their loving relationship when she didn't have the same? - the way the author wrote this and wrote Harper's thoughts made me think of her as someone very unfriendly and immediately made me less eager to know things about her. I also disliked the way she talked to her best friend. I understand the goal was to show how close they were and how at ease any conversation between them was too, but their dialogue felt a little churlish.

Harper wasn't someone I would like to be friends in real life even though, as the story advanced, it seemed she mellowed and started to be more open to understand Quentin's side. As for him, he acted a little resentful he and his brother Troy couldn't simply inherit the bakery since they were the reason why it has been so successful... although we learn it had not been their original dream, they went into it to help their friend/father. I didn't exactly dislike Quentin, but I wasn't that taken by him either and when he started to think of Harper practically only in terms of sexual attraction... this, again is expected but the writing just didn't win me over.

Another issue in the novel is the bakery's situation. It's successful and the brothers want to keep it, but Harper doesn't want another responsibility at first. In come secondary characters who help or antagonize this, namely the couple Dwayne and Rachel. She is a lawyer who wants to be with Quentin and he is his former friend. Despite this, quickly we have many scenes of Dwayne and Rachel together, sexually. I mean... ok they are single but should she be that easily with someone else when she claimed to love Quentin and knowing he is hurt by how his friendship with Dwayne ended? I just couldn't with these characters and soon lost interest in them.

I think some situations could have been interesting to see develop, such as how all these connections would affect the decisions Harper would need to take, especially once she is falling in love with Quentin, but the whole vibe of this story annoyed me, with so much focus on sex and apparently quirky/cutesy attitudes by the key characters, Harper in particular, made me eager to see this ended. I don't think I'll keep fond memories of this novel and I assume I won't remember much about it in a few weeks.

Grade: 4/10