Althea Dailey has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams: she’s about to make partner at her prestigious law firm in New York. So why doesn’t she feel more excited about it? When she has to travel South for a case, she pays a long-overdue visit back home to Milford, Georgia. To her surprise, a white man she’s never met has befriended her grandmother.
Jack Darwent wasn’t interested in the definition of success dictated by Southern high society. His passion for cooking led him to his current project: a documentary and cookbook about authentic Southern food. Althea’s grandmother is famous for her cooking at Milford College, a historically Black institution. But Althea suspects Jack of trying to steal her grandmother’s recipes.
Despite Althea and Jack’s first impressions of one another, they discover they have more in common than they’d guessed…and even as they learn about one another’s pasts, they both see glimmers of a better future.
This Southern small-town romance includes a free Hallmark original recipe for Grandma’s Biscuits and Gravy.
Available now from Hallmark Publishing Click HERE to buy.
My Review:
I need to approach this review with truth. I’m biased. I am a huge fan of Piper Huguley’s work. I have loved every single thing she as written. I would probably enjoy reading her middle school essays if she gave them to me, but this book…this book was so much more than I expected.
I opened this book without reading the back cover copy. I tend to do that with books by authors I love. The blurb is not going to determine whether I buy or read the book. I prefer to let the experience happen organically and because Piper Huguley fits in the category of authors I love to read, I opened Sweet Tea blind. I had no idea I was in for not only a thoroughly satisfying romance, but a southern culinary journey. There was food. Lots of Southern food like fried chicken and homemade biscuits and collard greens. The desserts were not to out down by entrees. I enjoyed fantasizing about the Red velvet cake, pecan pie, and pound cake the characters enjoyed. And then there was the pie! Grape pie from one of my very favorite Southern delights–muscadines. Through Huguley’s description, I could smell, feel, and taste the food. My mouth watered on nearly every page as I thought about the sweet tea. I even had a few glasses while I read.
I loved the heroine, Althea Dailey. She was uptight and feisty and often right. In contrast, our hero, Jack Darwent was easy going, self-assured, and usually right. Huguley delivered tension, humor, witty banter, more sexual tension than I expected from Hallmark and a range of other emotions as Althea was forced to look at herself, her feelings about the past, and the choices she’d made. The third party in this romance was Althea’s grandmother. Her sass and sage advice were a blessing to my soul.
It was a delicious read.
Rhonda McKnight 