I had purchased "You Belong with Me" Book 1 of the "Love and Dessert Trilogy" by Shannon Guymon right before Christmas from amazon for my kindle because it was on sale for 0.99. To be honest, I typically only buy books for my kindle when they are on sale for 0.99 or 1.99. I love reading, but I'm really cheap when it comes to books. Especially when I'm not familiar with the author.
So I read book one and I LOVED it!! I literally could not put it down... The story line was fun and I was immediately drawn to all the characters and HAD to read more. I went online and saw she had 2 more books in the series ( I LOVE LOVE series books!) but they weren't on sale. GASP! Because book 1 was so good, I felt compelled to pay full kindle price for book 2 and 3 just so I could finish the series and know what happened to the sisters. (well played author, well played! hehe) I do not regret it!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading all three books in less than a week and can't wait to read more from this author Shannon Guymon.
Briefly about this trilogy: 3 sisters inherit a bakery from their estranged Gramma and all move in together to start running it. Because of their upbringing, they all personally go thru emotional crap regarding their dad, trust, love struggles and their life/job purpose. Book 1 is about sister Layla, Book 2 is about sister Kit, and Book 3 is about Jane. I love how all the books tie together and that they pick up where the last one left off so you get more character development and story line.
Book 2 is called "I belong with you" and book 3 is called " My sweetheart". I thought it was cute that the series is called "love and dessert" because they own a bakery. I guess because I'm so health conscious, I do worry about these characters and diabetes because they eat so much sugar-yikes!! ;-)
I found the author's blog this week and read that she's writing another trilogy (whoohoo!!) which will include Rob. (see my complaints about Rob further down) Really hope she can make him look better! I'm a blog reviewer for a couple other authors (thank you Heather Moore!), so I'm thinking about contacting Shannon to see if she needs any reviewers for her books.
You will not regret reading these books!! I would consider them clean fiction-there are no swear words or sex scenes in these books!
Here are the amazon book descriptions for each book:
Book Description-book 1
Layla Kendall is the oldest of three sisters. She's a burned out social worker one step away from a major depression and she needs a fresh start. When she and her sisters Kit and Jane inherit their grandmother's bakery, she doesn't know if she can trust her good fortune or not. Life has taught her that happiness is just an illusion. But the chance to be with her sisters and get away from the heart ache and pain she's faced day in and day out is a chance she's going to take. The fact that they don't know anything about running a bakery won't stop them. With Layla's new life, come new connections and friendships including Michael Bender, a single dad and someone who wouldn't mind getting to know Layla better. She doesn't trust men and she doesn't want to change her mind but Michael's little girl Stella grabs her by the heart and won't let go. When Layla and her sisters realize that there are people who want to see them fail, it will take a lot of heart and courage to keep going. Layla will have to let go of the past in order to grab onto the future if she'll ever find the love she needs.
Book Description-book 2
Kit Kendall moved to Fircrest with her sisters, Layla and Jane in the hopes of starting over. Baking bread instead of painting is quite the transition but she's never been happier in her life. Too bad life has a habit of throwing her curve balls and Rob Downing, the owner of the Iron Skillet might just be too much to handle. She's not sure whether or not she should catch him or throw in her mitt. Especially when Hunter shows up and decides she's the woman for him. As Kit tries to figure out what her heart has been telling her all along, the bakery comes under attack from a saboteur intent on ruining Belinda's Bakery. With Layla and Michael's wedding only weeks away, they're determined to find the culprit because no one's getting in the way of this happy ending.
Book Description-book 3
Jane Kendall loves her new life. She loves baking. She loves working with her sisters. And oh yeah, she loves Tate Matafeo most of all. Which would be great if he loved her back. Jane refuses to let heartbreak rule her life though, so she turns to Google and finds 10 easy steps on How To Fall Out Of Love. As helpful as Google is, Tate Matafeo is a hard habit to break especially when her new friend Meredith insists she come to a Rugby game and Tate happens to be on the team. Alex Foster is one man willing to take her mind off of Tate, but Jane knows trouble when she sees it and ends up getting a restraining order. Between Kit’s wedding, Tate’s mixed signals, Alex’s obsession and her father’s rehab, Jane wonders if she’ll ever get her happy ending.
I do have two complaints about this series: ***SPOILER ALERT***
First, in the second book with Kit, the author made Rob into a complete and total psycho!! Like ALOT of a psycho!! I really think she should have toned it down with him because he's in book 3 and doesn't seem to act like that at all and its hard not to totally hate him after book 2.
Second, in the third book towards the end, the author made Kit into this total jealous witch during her wedding that her sister Jane was sharing with her. Who acts like that towards her sister during her wedding? It was a little (okay, alot!) over the top and totally ruined the last couple of chapters for me.
Here is Shannon's blog:
http://shannonguymon.blogspot.com/
Here is her amazon page if you're interested in buying any of her books!
http://www.amazon.com/Shannon-Guymon/e/B001JP26SY/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1389110369&sr=8-2-ent
Hi Rachel! Just read your blog. So glad you decided to buy You Belong with Me. What a fun blog! I'm glad I have the chance to redeem Rob for you. I'm working on it right this minute actually. Who knew there could be so much drama owning a restaurant? Thanks again for blogging about my books! Have a wonderful New Year - Shannon
ReplyDelete