Molly Harper did it again! As someone who has read almost all of her books, I really enjoyed Sweet Tea and Sympathy. To those who have never read any of her titles - this is a great starting point!!!

Well that was fun! I loved Margot right from the start though she isn't always the most likable person - especially at the beginning. The shrimp tower disaster was hilarious and while I don't consider myself a particularly violent person, I think she showed considerable restraint in not punching the chef hard in the nose. And when she ends up in small town Georgia there was definitely a whole lot of hilarity and a giant helping of quirkiness.

I loved the McCready family. Margot isn't quite sure where she fits when she first lands in Lake Sackett and frankly isn't quite sure she wants too. However, doing a good job is important to her and she's a hard worker so that seems to give her a little something to help get her bearings. She doesn't always understand how things are done but she tries. All the aunts, uncles, and assortment of cousins really add to the fun and I desperately want to go hang out with Duffy, Frankie, and Marianne. And while I'm not a huge fan of fried food I'd definitely give some of Aunt Leslie's creations a try. While the relationships formed quickly and naturally between Margot and most of her family her relationship with her father was a little more tricky. I really loved how Harper developed both characters and how they interacted. It felt very natural though heartbreaking at times.

I really liked the relationship between Margot and Kyle. Neither one of them has any desire to be in a serious relationship and their reasons are decidedly real. I'm not typically a big kid person in romances but Kyle's children were really cute without being obnoxious and I enjoyed all their page time. The banter is perfection and the relationship felt wonderfully real.

I really enjoyed this read. It's quirky, fun, and all about family connections and figuring out what really makes you happy. I'm so glad that this is going to be a series and can't wait to see where Harper takes it next. Now I'm off to change my name to McCready and go find Lake Sackett!

Have you ever read a book and felt like the author wrote it just for you? Like it truly speaks to your soul, the characters seem like your type of people and there is such a strong connection you wouldn’t be at all surprised if said characters jumped off the page and strolled into your home? That’s exactly what happened when I read Sweet Tea & Sympathy, I felt understood. That may sound silly as this book is a very lighthearted read, but it’s true! I loved everything about it from the setting of small town Georgia, to the characters and the sweet and funny storyline.

I think what made me enjoy this book so much is that Margot’s sense of humor is similar to my own. She’s sharp and sarcastic, but underneath her cool exterior she has a pretty huge heart. Her burgeoning relationship with Kyle was equal parts awkward, adorable and spicy which is basically my favorite combination of all time. Besides those two you have Margot’s family, which although extremely embarrassing they made me laugh so much. The residents of Lake Sackett aren’t exactly welcoming to Margot but her altercations with some of the prissy ladies in town had me rolling.

This is the start of a new series and I couldn’t be more thrilled, I already miss these characters and can’t wait to catch up with them next spring. I was utterly charmed and delighted by Sweet Tea and Sympathy and Harper is such a wonderful storyteller.

4 Sweet Tea Stars!

What a fabulous start to a great series set with southern twist! You'll fall for all the quirkiness of the McCready family. They own the town's funeral home and bait shop combo!

Margot Cary is the big city girl and when her event-planning career takes a nose dive, she finds herself unemployed and homeless. But one call from her long last family in Lake Sackett, Georgia changes everything.

Margot grew up with her mother, living the rich, city life. She never knew her father or his side of the family. She's only known what her mother has told her and the stories were never good. So when she gets a phone from her Aunt Tootie in GA to head over to help out the family business, Margot takes the opportunity, but only to stay for a while, until she can get her "real" career back on track.

Meeting her newly found family has been challenging. Not only is a she so different (the way she grew up), she's trying to get use to the small town vibe. And to have a relationship with her absent father has proven to be hard and emotional. But slowly, teh McCready family starts to grow on her, along with the single and very hot, Kyle Archer.

Margot learns how to deal with small town gossip and a new life in Lake Sackett. Sweet Tea and Sympathy will take you on a humorous and also emotional ride as Margot adapts her life as a McCready. Looking forward for more in this series!

Molly O’Keefe can certainly write any genreI think she wants to. I have enjoyed everything she has written. Sweet Tea and Sympathy is a wonderful small town story about a big city girl who finds out she has family in Lake Haven, Georgia. All the idiosyncrasies of a small town are portrayed in this book and they seem as fresh in this book as in any small town book I have read recently. The romance is a slow burn because frankly the development of the characters is well written, the romance almost felt a little like an afterthought. I loved loved loved the secondary characters, who were all mostly Margot’s (big city girl) relatives. Wonderful read especially on a cold fall day with the fire going! Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this. I loved it!

I was born & raised in the South but, have been gone for half my life and, forgot just how vital family relationships and connections can be!
Margot Cary is a well known and respected event planner in Chicago until an event goes horribly wrong! Unable to find another job, she receives a message from a grandmother she never knew she had. She feels that she has no choice but to move to the 'family' compound in Georgia, The McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. Once there, Molly realizes that her birth father, the alcoholic who left her and her mother when she was 2, lives in the compound with the rest of the family. Margot is so terrified of all of these people, dealing with a totally new way of life, people who have no boundaries, being thrust into running the town Founder's day celebration and, dealing with the grade school principal, Kyle Archer. What is she supposed to do about her dad, her new and unexpected interest in the principal and, the different passive aggressive people who don't particularly care for outsiders??!! I fell into this story without a thought and, didn't want it to end!

3.5 Stars

After losing her job and becoming homeless, Margot Cary accepts a job from her Great Aunt Tootie at Lake Sackett, Georgia in her family run Funeral home and Bait shop! She is unsure whether she fits into this world with her eccentric bunch of family members and townsfolk. Not to mention the cute school principal Kyle Archer. Being estranged from her father is an obstacle that’s also in her way of being accepted.

This is the first time I’ve read a Molly Harper book and although the heat level was sensual and not my usual Hot & Scorching I still really enjoyed this book.

I loved Margot’s family – those McCready’s. Aunt Tootie ‘Turn the other cheek’ McCready was a hoot. Even though she was estranged from her father Stan I liked the way their relationship developed over the course of the story.

The townsfolk were great. Some of my favourite books are based around small town festivals and the regular towns people. That’s what makes it so special. There is always that one person that doesn’t like change and sets out to sabotage the hero or heroine’s plans.

I liked how Margot stood up to that bully and revealed a backbone that earns her a lot of respect from her love interest Kyle and other members of the PTA who are trying to make the festival a success.

Sara Lee was the worst. She’s like one of those high school bullies that you just want to strangle, but instead of stooping to their level, you are jumping with glee when Karma comes to them.

Under normal circumstances, Margot would simply give Sara Lee a smile as warm as lake-effect snow and make some stinging observation that would leave the woman wondering for hours. But not today. Sara Lee had just insulted Margot’s father, insulted him in a way that tarnished the sobriety he’d worked so hard for, and Margot found that she took that very, very personally. A smile so acidic that it burned across Margot’s face. Several parents stood up and backed away from that smile, clearly unsure of what was to come. Even Sara Lee looked a little unsteady, but she didn’t move out of Margot’s sights. Marianne only grinned and rubbed her hands together. Because Marianne still remembered what happened when she was ousted from the PTA leadership, and she sensed McCready vengeance on the wind.

I did find it a bit slow getting to the sensual parts of the story with Margot and Kyle but in saying that I think Molly did it perfectly for them considering Kyle’s two daughters were an important part of the story. I felt they were perfect for one another and enjoyed their romance. They both had past wounds to overcome and they did that wonderfully together.

This is a funny, heart-warming story that will tug at your heart strings and it’s definitely worth a read.

~ Kim

I loved and loathed Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper. I love stories set in the South (the backstabbing “Bless your hearts” and the cordial title of “Miss”, etc.), so I snapped up Ms. Harper’s book as soon as I saw it was available for review. There are some aspects of this book that I found absolutely perfect: the oh-so-southern characters, the small town drama, and the electric chemistry between Margot Cary and the principal, Kyle Archer. That said, I found Kyle’s push-pull behavior beyond annoying. It didn’t provide angst; it just made Kyle seem like an abominable jerk.

The open scene is a career changing disaster that absolutely hooked me. I loved how Ms. Harper escalated the chaos like the building destructive power of a hurricane as it approaches land. However, Margot assuming responsibility for the situation didn’t resonate with me.

The introduction of the extensive southern, small-town family was overwhelming, but it immerses readers into Margot’s world as the city slicker is forced to move to a small town, meet her biological father’s family, and try to restart her career. You don’t really have to imagine what that would be like for only-child Margot.

Kyle is a handsome single dad. All the older women in town are vying for their daughters to date him. However, his heart still belongs to his late wife. I loved him as a principal and as a dad of two adorable young daughters. The comical banter between Kyle and Margot is fantastic, but each time he loves her and leaves her by summarily dismissing her when she becomes inconvenient in a social situation was really irritating!

“…it turns out that I am sort of an asshole…”—Kyle

Going back to the aspects of the story that I loathed…why did Margot keep going back to him? She should have given him a “bless your heart” and left him to wallow in his grief. For a woman who doesn’t do relationships and is trying to kick start her failed career, I would have preferred that she had more self-respect than to let a man treat her that way.

Margot’s extended family, the McCready clan, are quirky secondary characters. However, it is Kyle’s daughters, Hazel and Juniper, who steal all the scenes. These young girls were huggable and yummy, and Kyle’s doting, patient, yet firm parenting somewhat makes up for his relationship faux pas with Margot.

The story has an easy flow, and Ms. Harper’s sense of humor is evident in both situational and conversational comedy. I loved the realistic love scenes and the snappy banter. I wasn’t won over by some of the cartoonish depictions of some characters or the stiff, awkward dialogue between Margot and her father. Some plot points were perfect—confrontations with the power-hungry PTA president—while others just didn’t work for me—drunken encounter with a stranger in the only bar in town.

Even though much of the storyline is about Margot’s interactions with Kyle via their shared project, Sweet Tea and Sympathy is more about Margot reconciling with her estranged biological father and finding her center and what makes her happy and fulfilled. Ultimately, what makes Margot happy? All the things she proclaimed she didn’t want in life. She just needed her family to help her figure that out.

3.5 - 4 stars

I love a small town romance - so I was completely intrigued by the premise of this book. Unfortunately - it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The "small town" and "southern" pieces seemed played up to the point where they felt a little over the top for me (and perhaps a smidge - shoved down my throat). And the romance comes late enough in the game that my interest had already waned. Indeed, this isn't exactly a romance. It's a southern small town tale of family, and discovering your roots. But unfortunately it missed the mark for me. DNF at 40%.

Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper

Southern comfort in the form of family support. Big city girl learns to love rural southern hospitality and the unwavering loyalty of her extended family. Meeting a man that appears to have tragedy in his eyes but that can kiss with abandon is a huge endorsement for staying.
Small town, southern contemporary romance with a few quirky characters make this romance a delightful read.

I liked the dialog interaction between Margot and Kyle. A little sarcastic, a little playful. Neither is afraid to be forthright while their relationship grows. Margot’s lack of knowledge in dealing with children lead to a few funny quips.
A bit heavy on the insightful self awareness in family relationships.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Big city event planner Margot Carey has had the mother of all bad days.  Between the ass of a chef, tower of food the hostess is allergic to, and angry birds there’s apparently a meme dedicated to her fowl up (ha ha!).  What there isn’t, is job offers.  Having lost her place at her prestigious event company, she sends her resume to everyone- the only bite being a “what not to do” learning session for interns.
When the aunt she never knew about contacts her, she grudgingly takes the job working with her estranged father’s family at the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop (yes, you heard that right) in Georgia.  The city girl in her hates that you can’t get good coffee and everything is sweet enough to induce a coma…. but there’s another side.  A side that revels in having a large, messy family after years of feeling alone.  Getting to know her cousins and Aunt Tootsie is a definite plus.  Then there’s Kyle who looks like a hot lumberjack but is in reality the principal of the elementary school.  Yes, Kyle is a definite perk.  He comes with his own drama, though, in the form of two little girls.  Can Margot, who has never really been in a relationship or had a good parenting role model, take on this family?
Let’s begin with the pros for this book- the character interaction is hilarious.  I loved watching Margot and her family get to know each other.  This was well written and fast paced, keeping my interest the whole time.  I think I read it within a few days ( a feat seeing as I was working and had family functions vying for my time).  I liked these characters so much that I will be looking into the rest of the series in hopes of seeing more of them.
On the other hand, there are moments where the book seemed so outlandish and the characters so catty that I found it hard to swallow- surely these things just don’t happen!  I also found her relationship with her father to be overly stilted and painful- more so than it had to be because we were bludgeoned with it several times.  Lastly, more often than not her relationship with Kyle seemed contrived and there were just too many misunderstandings.  That aside, I still had a lot of fun with this book.  It’s a four star book for me.  
On the adult content scale there’s language and sexual content.  Let’s be real, this is an adult romance novel and as such was not written with teens in mind in anyway.  I would say seventeen and up at the very least.  Let’s give it a six.  
I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Gallery books in exchange for an honest review.  My thanks.

Favorite Quotes:

Margot didn’t know how well she would function in a rural environment, much less a place where she would constantly hear the banjo music from Deliverance in the back of her head.

I told Frankie to take it easy on you. The first time you tangle with moonshine is like dancin’ with a good-looking carnie. Sure, it feels great at first, but you wake up sore and soaked in regret.

There’s a real distrust of technology around here. Hank Mason hooked his son’s iPod into the church’s PA system to play a hymn he found on the Internet and one of the seniors smashed the ‘devil’s rectangle’ with her shoe.

The tutus are an after-school-only accessory… We have a whole policy about it. We had to write one, after the great tutu war of 2015… Many lives were lost.

My Review:

Warning – I wrote this review while in a rapturous fog after reading this delightfully clever and smartly written book. I adored this charming and thoughtfully crafted book from beginning to end. This was my first experience reading Molly Harper’s work and she is found treasure! I had three pages of favorite quotes notated on my kindle and suffered through a painful process to select which ones to include in this review. The premise was entertaining; the storylines were superbly developed and deviously clever; and the writing was captivating, highly amusing, and laced with small-town quirkiness and insightfully humorous Southern eccentricity. I smirked, snorted, and frequently laughed aloud as the uptight “big city” woman struggled to find her footing while starting over among newly found relatives in a small Southern backwater with a dying economy, petty politics, and a shockingly vast consumption of pork and deep-fried foods. Molly Harper has an instant fangirl. I greedily want all her words.

Very enjoyable! A great blend of sass, romance and small-town southern living. The quirky characters were so funny and unique. I had a hard time putting this one down and I'm sorry my visit to fictional Lake Sackett is over.
Many thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for a complimentary copy.

Fast paced,cute and sweet story.If you are looking for a quick read with a lovely romance this is perfect.I loved it and the characters were so memorable!The story centers around Margot who has just been fired from her dream job as an Elite event planner in Chicago. She's humiliated and running out of money. She received a call from her Aunt Tootie, who offers her a job to help work in the the family business.There she will meet a strange man who will intrigued her a lot.The main character, Margot, is easy to like and relate.

Margot Cary had been curious about her biological dad for a long time, but nothing ever tempted her enough to leave big city life for a pack of estranged relatives and their rural southern lake life. Until a giant embarrassment at work got her fired – and blackballed from the industry. When a McCready relative offered her a job, she reluctantly went for it.

I loved that Margot took her job seriously at the Funeral Home/Bait Shop. I mean, this girl gave 100% every day. She even showed up in heels. I think Harper did a fantastic job with the cousin relationships, making them believable and three-dimensional without casting a shadow over the main events. And the main events? Meeting her dad of course, and … drum roll … a little sweet southern romance. Except the guy is pretty much just as southern as she is. I appreciated that Harper had Margot stay true to her non-southern-belle self!

This book had a little bit of humor (perfect denizen in the funeral home), and a lot of spunk. One liners abounded as Margot tried to take over running a town event. I think I also read a few Bless Your Hearts, and Harper provided some physical humor as well. All that fun was a good respite from the ever serious issue of Margot wanting to repair the relationship with her dad. Margot even used humor herself when uncertain about her romantic situation.

All in all, I loved this slice of southern life, with fresh characters I believed in, a big and loving family to find comfort in, and a couple of city folk who were making lake life their own.

Molly Harper is a new to me author and after reading this one, I'm wondering how I've missed her. Sweet Tea and Sympathy is packed full of the charm and wit that is so often associated with small-town Southern life. Margot's journey from working with the Chicago elite to a job in the family business is a completely engaging tale that I found impossible to out down. With quirky characters, a rumor mill that spreads news faster than any media source, and small town politics, I found myself laughing out loud, oohing and ahhing, and genuinely rooting for this sweet Southern family - sometimes all at the same time. This is an absolutely charming tale of life, love, family, and finding happiness and contentment in the most unlikely of places. This author has quickly become one to watch for this reader and Sweet Tea and Sympathy is a book that I highly recommend.
On a personal note, living in a small, Southern town (not quite as far South as Lake Sackett) and connecting with my own father late in life, I found so many things in Margot's journey that touched me in more ways than just an entertaining story. And I have to agree with Aunt Tootie - if you add sugar to cornbread, it's cake! (Just sayin')😉

Margot Cary’s life just fell apart. Hoping for a partnership with the elite event planning firm she’s given ten years of her life to, Margot finds herself fired and blackballed after an event for the upper crust of Chicago implodes with dramatic flare. Her only option for help is her estranged birth father’s family back in Lake Sackett, Georgia. Margot’s mom left Lake Sackett and her first husband behind when Margot was three. She remarried and her step-dad adopted Margot when she was four. Margot knows nothing about her biological father’s family.

Sweet Tea and Sympathy is everything I hoped for in Ms. Harper’s new Southern Eclectic series. On the “woman’s fiction” side of contemporary romance, the book is first and foremost the coming-of-age tale of Margot. Having lived under the constraints of her mother and step-father for years, Margot doesn’t know how to relate to her southern relatives. Moving to Georgia allows Margot to blossom and grow in ways she never would have expected.

The story works because Margot doesn’t show up in Lake Sackett looking down her nose at her southern relatives. She has questions and harbors hurts, but she doesn’t let those prevent her from swallowing her pride and taking up Aunt Tootie’s offer for help. She doesn’t let stereotypes and small town politics keep her from getting to know her family, and realizing she genuinely enjoys being around them. While she’s used to upper-crust, she doesn’t complain about her living quarters or jobs. It all works because deep down, Margot is a beautiful, caring person, with a bit of an edge and a lot of snark. She takes each day as it comes, and although she’s working hard to get out of Sackett, she doesn’t resent the need to be there.

Sweet Tea and Sympathy is also a slow burn, sweet romance. She does find a hot widowed dad, which raises some eyebrows when she’s seen in Kyle’s presence. While the lovin’ is not the major focus of the book, the romance is a huge part of who Margot becomes. I love their sweet walks and sexy kisses, but mostly it’s their honest friendship that makes it all work.

In the end, I found myself utterly engrossed in Sweet Tea and Sympathy. The story is a gentle romance, but also Margot’s story of finding herself. I laughed out loud in several places, and certainly was never bored. Ms. Harper created interesting characters that drew me in. The entire time I was reading, I wanted to know more, I wanted to see Margot succeed and find happiness, and in that, I was greatly rewarded.

My Rating: A- Enjoyed A Lot

4.5

Molly Harper begins a new series with Sweet Tea and Sympathy centering around the McCready family who have lived in Lake Sackett, Georgia for generations and somewhere along the way began operating a dual bait shop and funeral home.

When she was three Margot Cary's parents divorced. Margot's mother took custody of her, and they moved to Chicago never hearing from her father again who, admittedly, was struggling with being an alcoholic.

Fast-forward thirty years and Margot is an event planner, one of the best in the business. She works with one of the best firms in Chicago, that is, until one of the events she's coordinating goes terribly wrong. Now, fired from her job, a laughingstock within the business, and getting no responses back on her submitted resumes, Margot is at a loss for what to do next.

She's given an answer when long-lost Aunt Tootie calls her and offers her a job in the family business. Having no other option Margot heads back to Lake Sackett, Georgia, a place that she barely remembers. As Margot grows close to the family she never got to know, and the father who she feels abandoned by, she'll start to question what exactly it is that makes her happy. Throw in an attraction to the school principal, a man still healing from heartbreak of his own, and Margot will find out what really matters in life.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Margot's journey was definitely heartbreaking in some spots especially her initial dealings with a father that she barely remembers who hasn't spoken with her going on thirty years. That relationship was the crux of the story, overshadowing the sweet romance.

Sweet Tea and Sympathy is about family. More specifically it's about fathers and daughters. As we see Margot and her father's relationship somewhat mirrored by the relationship between Margot's love interest Kyle, a widower, and his two young daughters. The latter's relationship is indicative of what could have been between Margot and her father had her mother not taken her away. At first it sounds really harsh, the idea of Margot's father not trying to reach out to her in all those years, and you somewhat see her mother in a not-so-pleasant light as well, you know, taking a child away from her father and not trying to bridge that gap between them. But as the story progresses it's clear that some perceptions are only surface deep, and sometimes you have to dig in order to discover the truth of the matter.

The McCready family is wonderful. Full of colorful characters each with their own unique quirks. None of them give Margot grief for possibly not wanting to stay in Lake Sackett if another job opportunity comes along, but they all welcome her with open arms even with the potential leaving hanging in the air. It's through their embracing, that she learns what families are truly all about.

There's a prequel novella Save a Truck, Ride a Redneck, that focuses on Margot's cousin Marianne. It takes place more than five years before Sweet Tea. Having read the novella previously, I was thrown by things that transpired off page, and the fact that so much time had passed between, but if you haven't read the novella there should be no problems getting into this full-length story. It would just enhance your reading.

I can't wait to see which McCready family member will get their story told next. And since they are a pretty close group, I look forward to checking in with the rest of the clan and seeing what trouble they can cause next!

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.