Member Reviews

A cute, quick enemy-to-lover read. In order to overcome the feud between their families and merge their competing businesses, Leo proposes a 6-month marriage of convenience to Tessa. Thus begins their journey to HEA. Loved the book and will definitely recommend.
Thank you Miranda Liasson, Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.

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Fun story about 2 former classmates whose families have been feuding for over 100 years. Tessa is trying to keep their family boulangerie profitable, while Leo is trying to do the same with his family's Italian restaurant -- right next door. Blossom Glen is a small town, where everyone knows everyone else's business. Tessa has been 'stuck' there since college, giving up her dreams to help her mother and grandmother keep their shop after her father's death. Leo's come home from years in NYC to try and save their family restaurant, and is facing serious push-back from his father. Their solution: a fake marriage. The outcome? HEA for all concerned!!

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This was a good read. It was cute and had a lot of heart.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest and personal review.

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This story left a huge smile on my face. These characters were vibrant and loving and family oriented and just wanted to protect each other at all costs. Their hearts were in the right place. I think that even though Leo and Tessa start out as rivals whose families are in a century old fued, their mutual love for their respective families is ultimately what changes their perspectives on how they view themselves and each other. I really enjoyed this small town romance.

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A modern day Romeo and Juliet type story...but without all the death. This was such a fun feel-good story. It had a nice sprinkling of the enemies to lovers trope. Amazingly written.

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must read. I like this book and wanted to read more and more. Total fan of Miranda Liasson. Books are so full of love.

Thank you NetGalley for this book and the publisher.

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The first in a growing series of books in the Blossum Glen series. Miranda Liasson is a new to me author and I enjoyed her style of writing and the characters in this story: The Sweetheart Deal. this is a very easy, sweet, and fun read, something that can be enjoyed in a weekend. A very clean read, no questionable language, and no on-page sex. A small-town romance setting, which is a favorite of mine.

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Tessa Montgomery and Leo Castorini have competed their entire lives. The Montgomery's Boulangerie stands next to the Castorini's Restaurant, but these neighbors have feuded for one hundred years. Tessa and Leo don't intend to stop this until they realize that to achieve their dreams and save their family businesses, they need to work together.

Both family's share a strong value in family and tradition, so to force the two families into a partnership for their businesses survival, Tessa and Leo marry.

From their marriage, to house, to cat, Tessa and Leo join their lives, hopes, and hearts. Together, they learn to be their best selves and build their perfect future.

Leo simply adores her (though all the Castorninis do)! Seeing the little things Leo does for her happiness is beautiful. Tessa is able to heal and grow her wings with Leo, while helping him heal and grow as well. They both support each other's respective dreams and believe in them completely.

This is a very sweet romance and I hope the next book has Juliet in it!

Some quotes I loved:
"things were far worse than he thought. He was spooning his wife."
"His eyes were warm with feeling. But not pity. He was looking at her like he respected her as his equal. And more."
"Yet in his arms she felt…safe. Free to be herself. And she hadn’t felt like that with a man in, well, ever."

4.5 stars
0 spice (closed door)

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I have been provided with a review copy of The Sweetheart Deal from Entangled Publishing via NetGalley for an impartial review. This is the first book in the brand-new Blossom Glen series and this was just a great way to start off a new series. I was just drawn into this wonderful story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was just so easy to get lost in this great story. I just didn’t want it to end. I just lost myself in and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

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A marriage of convenience. Or at least that is what they bought… This was a fun book to read and first in a new series.
Many thanks to Entangled Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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The Sweetheart Deal by Miranda Liasson is a beautifully written novel about feuding families and a marriage of convenience. This book shines with families who love each other and worked hard to build their businesses that now are in peril. The unconventional solution makes for a fun, unexpected novel. Great book! I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a sweet read. The first half I zipped through thinking this was sort of what I was expecting but then the unexpected things started to happen.

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Tessa is stuck in her mom's bakery, trying to mother everyone. SHe so desperately wans to sell her pastries but her mother says its a bread store.
Leo is in town to help his father turn his restaurant around., howevrer he wants to change things and the father says no.
Two people in almost the smae situation, the families are mortal enemies. They are both stuck at the moment between a rock and a hard place. Can they work together to find a solution to both their problems?

I loved this story is was well written. The relationship between Tessa and Leo had a lot of interesting turns. It hit every wmpotion I expect to be hit in a book. I really enjoyed it

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This was such a refreshing book to read at the end of a tough year. Tessa Montgomery & Leo Castorini are great characters. Their families, the Montgomerys & the Castorinins, are like the Capulets & Montagues from Romeo & Juliet. They have been feuding for a century. They have a boulangerie (Tessa's family) & restaurant (Leo's family) next door to each other. Both Tessa & Leo want to make them better so they can keep them as they are struggling right now. They have new ideas that Tessa's mom (her dad passed a while back) & Leo's dad (his mom passed a while back as well) are having a hard time letting them do. Tessa & Leo had been big competitors in high school with Leo barely beating Tessa out for the Valedictorian spot & also winning a scholarship that allowed him to go to college out of state & live in NY for a while. Tessa had wanted to become a pastry chef but set that on the back burner for her family & because she was dating a local guy. That ended poorly (he cheated) & now she just wants to get her mom financially comfortable so she can have her chance.

Enter Leo with an idea to help them both. His dad has old fashioned ideas that if Leo was married, his ideas for the restaurant might work. So Leo proposes to Tessa that they get married, business relationship only, for six months. That should give them time to implement their plans for each place of business. Then they can divorce & go their merry way. Most people know how this is going to go but the ride they take is so much fun, you won't want to put it down.

I love all of the characters from these families & hope I get to see more of them in future novels,. Highly recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

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This is book 1 of the Blossom Glen Series. Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery is well aware that people in her tine town think that she is past her prime, She's not worried about it until her mortal enemy and fellow business owner makes a proposal that could change things for both of them for the better. Will she accept and will it work for them?

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ARC for honest review with no compensation Received from NetGalley. Entangled, 4.5 stars

The Sweetheart Deal is book 1 in the new Blossom Glen series by Miranda Liasson about pastry chef Tessa also known as the Ice Queen and chef Leo, mortal enemies decide to propose a business plan to help both their families business…by getting married!

What happens when feelings begin to change their dynamics…will this be a recipe for success or a disaster…only time will tell…

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I love, love, love so very much this author's stories and this book has become my top one of hers books.
Tessa and Leo's relationship with their family and their willingness to end their feud and improve their business was wonderful to read. Their love story was so sweet.
Miranda Liasson create a very tasty, light and romantic fake marriage. I loved the couple so much and loved their family too.

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The Sweetheart Deal by Miranda Liasson is just about the cutest story. I just finished it and was fully invested from beginning to end. It is about Tessa Montgomery and Leo Castorini, lifelong foes due to a family feud going back generations. Unfortunately for them, their family businesses are located right next to each other and could easily work together to improve finances for all involved, but the ancient feud keeps them at each other's throats. Tessa and Leo decide to end the ridiculousness of it all by marrying each other and then parting after six months, enough time to heal old wounds and set positive financial plans into motion. Things go awry even before their wedding, enough to make you even wonder if the plan can be set into place. I found the book to be charming, sweet, and fun, one I would highly recommend.

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I am reading a book by author Miranda Liasson for the first time. She is well-known for her Angels Falls series and "The Sweetheart Deal" is the first book of her new Blossom Glen series. I actually opted to read this book as I was interested in the 'marriage of convenience' storyline this book was touted to contain.

Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery and chef Leo Castorini have always been in competition all through their school lives, not unlike their feuding families, particularly for a most sought after college scholarship. Leo won the scholarship by the smallest margin and went on to make a good living thanks to his education. Tessa, who had always dreamed about going to pastry school, had put her dream on hold and stayed back in Blossom Glen to look after her family and their boulangerie. Now, Leo is back in town to help his father with the restaurant.

Both the restaurant and the bakery are not doing well financially; still, Leo's father and Tessa's mother don't want to pay heed to the ideas their children are putting forth to turn around their businesses. At his wit's end, during one of their rare meetings, Leo puts forth to Tessa, the idea of a marriage of convenience for a few months; he reasons it will help to bring their parents around to their way of thinking. Though reluctant at first, Tessa eventually agrees to his business proposal.

Did they manage to get their families to accept their marriage? Were they able to gain the confidence of their parents to make the changes that would enable the success of their businesses? Was Tessa able to achieve her dream? Did their marriage stay the business arrangement they had imagined it would be? The story answers all these questions in quite an interesting way.

Both Leo's and Tessa's characters are fairly well-crafted. Their motives and priorities have been defined clearly providing a good basis for their unusual decision. Both of them have some emotional hang-ups, creating roadblocks in their relationship and their growth as a person. The author has done a fairly decent job of describing how work through their issues.

But I felt certain aspects of the story development were not handled as well as they could have been. Certain developments felt abrupt and some of characters' decisions were not convincing enough. Moreover, in spite of an interesting premise, I felt the story was not sufficiently engaging. I just couldn't connect with the people in the story at all. To conclude, for me this is a fairly good story, apt for fast, holiday light-reading.

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The Castorinis and the Montgomerys have a deep rivalry and hatred. The Castorinis have a traditional Italian restaurant next to the Montgomerys traditional French bread shop. Unfortunately, both businesses are on the decline. When Leo Castorini and Tessa Montgomery come up with a plan to save both businesses, they have to get married to carry it out.

This book was so much fun! I love the fake relationship trope and I loved the execution of it. I fell in love with Leo and Tessa along with them! I can't wait to read more in this series!

*eARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

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