Event planner extraordinaire Kate Sweet is known for her “Awww” moment, that little something extra that makes the day extra memorable for those she plans events for. That’s why she’s known as the Queen of Happily Ever After. Her calendar is filled with weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs that she will plan to the second, her spreadsheets for each event scheduled to the tiniest detail. Her parents, both surgeons, may still be trying to get her to take her MCATs and go to med school, but with each perfect event, Kate knows in her heart that she is doing exactly what she is supposed to be doing. All she needs now to prove it is the big event planning award, the EVPLEX.
Kate’s best friend is a publicist for a publisher, and one of her authors is needing an event planner for a book launch. It’s last minute, so Kate doesn’t have much time to plan, but the event planner who had to step away had gotten things started for them, so Kate just has to fine tune the details and supervise the event. In mere weeks. For Drake Matthews, the writer known as “The Knight of Nightmares.” Since Kate is not a horror fan, she looks him up online and sees stories about how his house is haunted and he has a giant Doberman guarding the place.
So Kate may have been a little stressed when she showed up at Drake’s house. The suit she’d brought—her only black one—was a little tight. But the stilettos she chose, black with a sharp silver accent, said nothing but power. No matter what Drake threw at her, she was ready. Or she thought she was, until the cold wind blew her umbrella out of her hand. And when she went to pick it up, her sharp shoes stuck in his lawn, and then there was the barking behind her. In her mind, Kate saw that giant Doberman and knew that she was in trouble. So when Drake showed up on the porch, giving her a hand to help her up from where her shoes were stuck, and the barking got louder, it wasn’t entirely her fault that she vaulted herself into his arms, climbing up to save herself. From his dog. Which turned out to be a Shih Tzu named Sasha.
Once Kate realized that she wasn’t in danger from the dog, she climbed down from Drake and started over in a much more professional way. Until her shoes left a large, bloody gash in his arm. And when she tried to clean it and bandage for him, the sight of blood made him faint. Which Kate noticed, so she tried to catch him, but he was a lot bigger and heavier than she was, so she really just slowly broke his fall when he went down and was stuck laying underneath him when the door opened to his publicist and the Hollywood director set to make his next book into a film. When Drake comes to, he fires them all.
But Kate does not give up so easily, and with a little encouragement, she tries again. Drake agrees—the even was part of his contract, after all, and once he calmed down, he realized he had to go through with it—but he did have one caveat. Kate would have to help him with his research for his next book. But he has a secret. His next book isn’t a horror book. It’s a love story that he’s been working on for awhile. He’d been trying to find the words, and ever since he met Kate in his yard that first day, he’s been itching to get the words from his brain onto the page. If she helps him get this romance novel out of his brain, then he can go back to the horror books that pay the bills. And if he can help her win that award, then all his sacrifices will be worth it.
As the weeks go by, Kate works on the event and Drake works on his book. Kate comes to see what a good and generous man he is, and Drake sees that Kate’s grace under pressure helps protect him when his fans are getting too close. But as when Kate makes a mistake that threatens to screw up Drake’s professional reputation, will they be able to recover the relationship they were developing? Or will the book launch turn into an ending for them both?
How Sweet It Is s a romantic heart with heart and smarts. The wacky situations these characters find themselves in are truly crazy but work perfectly in the story. The heat starts out on high but the relationships still develops slowly, making you want to root for these two to figure out how perfect they are together. Author Dylan Newton masterfully weaves these characters’ stories together, crafting their chemistry through a series of very funny situations that add so much charm to this love story.
I loved reading How Sweet It Is. There are several delightful surprises along the way, and these characters are good people, and watching them get closer reminds you that there is a lot of good love stories in the world. This book is funny, charming, and it just makes you feel good. It’s lots of fun from beginning to end and will fill your weekend the way a good movie rom com would.
Egalleys for How Sweet It Is were provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) through NetGalley, with many thanks.
