I’m a big fan of Lexi Blake books and I am a really big fan of this series. I’ve grown to love the small town of Papillon, Louisiana and all the people who live there. I enjoy seeing previous main characters show up in all the books. It’s nice to see how they are doing. I read this book a couple of times before I wrote the review because I just loved it so much. This is the fifth book in this series and it focuses on Deputy Major Blanchard, who is preoccupied with medical issues with his dad; and Brynn Pearson. Brynn was a child actress and now wants to be taken more seriously as a lead actress in a major film. She arrives in Papillon to begin her research and get to know the town they will be filming in.

When Major and Brynn run into each other, the chemistry sparks right away. They do take it sort of slow because of all the complications going on in their lives, but they can’t deny their attraction to each other. I love that both the characters need to figure out things in their lives. Their characters grow and develop throughout the story. I think that they both find peace with each other and that is the most swoony part for me. *sigh* The town is fun, the characters are funny and lovable and there are quite a few laugh out loud spots throughout the story. This book is such a great choice for when you are in the mood for a sexy contemporary romance. You have got to put this series on your list if you have not started it already. So good!

Bayou Sweetheart is a much more complex story than Lexi Blake’s usual plots, and Major Blanchard is almost an anti-hero.

He is a cop in Papillon, Louisiana, caring for his father, who has Alzheimer’s. Just about the time a new drug is helping his father, Brynn Pearson comes to town to research a role in a movie. A former child star, she needs to decide if she wants to pursue a career in film, or become an artist. While the attraction between the two is strong, the distractions are even stronger. Complications with his Dad, her Mom, co-star and sister and the town itself keep the two dancing around each other.

Can Major find a way ease up on his controlling side while letting her find herself? Can he let his father decide his own fate? Can they overcome the gossip mill, the family interference, and the nature of their professions to come together? As always, the town characters are part of the entertainment factor for the Bayou books, and the animals are integral to the story.

I wouldn’t start the series with this book, but it does provide a good tool to use to learn about the characters from the earlier books.

Veena’s review of Bayou Sweetheart (Butterfly Bayou, Book 5) by Lexi Blake
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 26 Jul 22

This series is an absolute delight. Smal- town romance at its best, and if you’re looking for that extra edge, there’s a gator named Otis who adds a nice crazy twist to the character mix.

Major Blanchard – and that’s his first name, not his rank in the military – goes for a walk with his dog, gets stuck in the swamp, and ends up a star on national TV in his tighty-whities. All that happens in the first chapter, so you know you’re in for a treat when the story continues.


What were the odds that a wildlife camera on a tree would capture Major Blanchard’s inglorious moment of first being stuck in the swamp, then rescued by a beautiful young woman, only to find that his sweatpants had been swept away – and because he had been too lazy to do his laundry, he’s displaying all his assets to the nation? He is just never going to live that one down in the small town he where he resides, as well as in the sheriff’s department where he’s a deputy.

Brynn Pearson is a child television star who’s trying to transition into being an actress, even though her heart’s not really into acting. Her career rescued her family when they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Now her mother is still obsessed with Brynn’s success, to the determent of her sister who genuinely wants to be an actress. while Brynn wants to walk away from the fame and fortune to paint and discover who Brynn Pearson really is.

As Brynn tries to deal with the press and her dysfunctional family, Major is dealing with his own situation, watching his father deal with dementia and fearing the eventual loss. Brynn, with the publicity that follows her and her career, is definitely not the right choice for him, but he’s powerless to resist the chemistry. Will they be able to work through their family situations and find a path that works for them both?

Laugh, cry, love, and live with the folks in this small corner of Louisiana and let this story tug at your heartstrings. This is a great series, and this might be one of the best stories in that series.

Grade: A

I absolutely love the quirky little town of Papillion. The characters are all so much fun and entertaining. Brynn and Major were amazing. I loved the way that they met and the way their relationship developed. This story was emotional, laugh out loud funny and absolutely perfect. This was such a fun read. I highly recommend it!!!

I love visiting Butterfly Bayou!


Bayou Sweetheart is the latest edition to Lexi Blake’s small town Romance series Butterfly Bayou. This is one of those types of stories that I love we’re both our main characters find love when they least expect it.


Brynn Pearson is an actress dedicated to her craft. Brynn has come to Pappyon to film her latest movie. Doing research and getting a jumpstart on what her role entails yet she questions whether acting as what she really wants to continue doing. Her family depends on her and she doesn’t want to let anyone down. Yet acting does it make her as happy as it once did. Being in Papillion and the to do of Hollywood, Brynn is finding out who she really is and what she actually wants in life. Running into the small town sheriff has sparked many feelings and emotions within Brynn. The girl is not looking for love but love has a funny way of finding you when you least expect it.

Major Blanchard Is ex ex-military and has relocated to Papillon, Louisiana to be with and help care for his aging father. He finds himself a position within the sheriffs department and has nicely settled into small-town life on the Bayou. On the other hand he’s been trying the dating scene and has not worked out too well. It seems like everyone wants to try but no sparks are flying. Just as he’s about to give up, a bombshell of a beauty makes her way into town and takes him by storm.


Bayou Sweetheart is a fantastic small town romance. I love this quirky little town and all the crazy yet amazing things that happened within it. Major and Brynn have chemistry and then some. I love that they look beyond the surface of each other and see who they truly are. The way that Major talks to Brian makes my heart feel pitter patter. There is a good deal of humor and a great deal of emotion lining the pages story. Both of them have their issues that they’re dealing with very different but yet choices that will affect their lives and those around them. They always say when you’re not looking for love is when you find it and that was the story for Major and Brynn.

5 Stars

Back to Papillon and all the crazy happenings! It is impossible to not fall in love with every character Lexi Blake creates in this mixed up, hilarious and always accepting town. This time we get a close look at Major Blanchard, deputy and a man who is always in control of everything around him, except when he’s not! So many laughs between the townspeople and Brynn’s family that readers will not want to put this book down! There are also plenty of moments of passion, love and even some sadness, but one thing is for sure, from start to finish this story has everything a reader could want!

Cara - Alphas Do It Better Book Blog

We finally get Major’s story and he has meet his match in Bria Knight real name Brynn. She’s a really Hollywood actress who has come to the Bayou to make a movie.
Their first meeting is uncharacteristic as you can get. I was laughing up a storm the entire time.
But Major is dealing with some family troubles that no one should have to deal with alone. It makes it hard to really want to get involved with Brynn. Plus with her being an actress she’s not staying.
Brynn is dealing with her own troubles with her family and a relationship that the media had twisted around to make her look bad. She’s got a true stage mom. Which makes it interesting. But Brynn isn’t sure she wants to keep acting since she’s been doing since she was 5 years old.
A love story you don’t want to miss and this Bayou’s small town is brought together we get to hear from all the characters and I love to hear updates about past stories.
I received a ARC and am so happy I was able to read this book. Can’t wait for the next one. I also love that each cover has a cute this doggie on all the covers. This is one of my favorite covers.

Give me a Lexi Blake book and I'm a happy camper! I adore this series more with each book!

Major and Brynn are so sweet and perfect for eachother.

Loved seeing how everyone else in Butterfly Bayou is doing as well. This tight knit community just reminds me of why I love small town living.
Who wouldn't want to visit this little slice of heaven?

Grab this book to read while on vacation, it's a perfect beach read!

This was the first book I read in this series and it’s strong enough that I didn’t feel out of sync. Really enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters and all the quirky townspeople. Sweet book.

Adored this small-town, down home romance filled with engaging charters, witty dialog, heart racing twists, emotional turns and edge of your seat passion. An exciting and emotional journey from beginning to end.

Bayou Sweetheart is filled with everything that I love in a small town romance from interesting characters to crazy situations and a town that over all is the perfect amount of quirky and caring.
Major Blanchard is the deputy for the local sheriffs department and when his dog, Dolly gets him stuck in the mud he never expected his rescuer to be a beautiful woman who would rock his world.
Brynn has been an actress since she was five years old and is in Papillon, Louisiana ahead of her filming schedule for research. What she didn’t expect was to fall in love with the small town and its people, especially one hot deputy. She also is realizing what she has missed out on most of her life and has some big life changing decisions to make.
I really enjoyed Major and Brynn together. They not only has chemistry but they got to know each other on a friendship level and then so much more. They both were struggling with important decisions and that seemed to amplify their connection and helped each other work through those important moments.

Don’t let that cute dog on the cover fool you, this book is plenty steamy.

Bayou Sweetheart starts off with a great meet cute - Brynn rescues Major and in the process he loses his pants. The entire rescue is caught on wildlife cam. I like the idea that although Major is a Deputy Sheriff, he needs Brynn to save him!

I loved the characters and backstories of Brynn and Major in this book. Be prepared, Brynn‘s family can be awful!

I thoroughly enjoyed this small town romance between a hot cop and the a Hollywood star!

Thanks to Lexi, the bayou has now become one of my favourite places for romance stories to take place in.

Bayou Sweetheart is my first Lexi Blake book, but I can tell you it won’t be the last. I must admit that I went out and ordered all the other books in this series as soon as I was done with this book. It was that good. Bayou Sweetheart is the fifth book in the Butterfly Bayou series, but it can be read as a stand-alone.

There are so many moments in this book that had me laughing, the not-so-legal taxi service called “Guber,” a seemingly organized group of raccoons wreaking havoc on the town, and a couple of adorable dogs. I like when romance authors add those humorous moments to their stories. It just adds so much lightness and charm to their stories. I tend to escape the world by losing myself in a good romance book, and I just love it when a love story not only makes me swoon but also laugh.

I love the bayou!! Usually, I am a sucker for a romance book in the countryside or England. I was not expecting how much I would fall in love with the bayou. It is a unique and breathtaking place, and Lexi did a marvellous job bringing the setting to life. There was this romantic, mysterious off-the-beaten-path feel to the bayou, and it was nice to be transported to a new place I would not usually visit via a book.

There are some more serious and emotionally tougher moments in this book. Major’s father has been diagnosed with dementia. Throughout this story, we watch Major struggle with caring for his father. My heart was breaking at times; I just can’t imagine what it would be like watching the parent you know and love slip away from you day by day. Lexi tackles this tough issue with grace, understanding, and much thought. Even though the scenes with Major and his father were heartbreaking, they also felt heartwarming. When you know the time you have with the person you love is limited, you make the most of every day you have with them, and that was what Major and his father did.

The cover of this book made me instantly think that this would be a more clean romance, which it wasn’t. Not that the sex scenes were overly explicit, but there were definitely spicy moments. Major and Brynn have that instant chemistry, and even though they may have gotten off on the wrong foot (Brynn thought Major was incredibly cranky), that connection between them is hard to deny. I really enjoyed these two as a couple and as main characters. They both are great romantic characters but have enough depth and uniqueness to keep readers interested. Their relationship follows that typical romantic journey, but I loved every moment. My heart fluttered, broke, and rejoiced in all the right moments. Overall it was really fun being with this couple.

This book is the whole package, funny, heartwarming, and sexy as hell.

Thank you, Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored Brynn and Major's story! They had chemistry and once Major got out of his own head they were great together. Major's father and Brynn's mother definitely added to the story. I love how down to earth Brynn was and how the drama resolved around both her family and her career. It was another wonderfully written book in this series and I want more because I love this world.

I really enjoy reading Lexi Blake's books, and while I enjoy her spicier, darker Masters and Mercenaries series and its spin-offs, I always marvel at how varied her writing is from that series to the Butterfly Bayou series. Both are so well written but completely different from one another, so to me that really just is a testament to how good of an author Lexi Blake is.
Hollywood actress Brynn Pearson is tired, she's been acting since she was five and now twenty years later she's ready for a break. But as she's been the bread winner for her family since she was five and her mom is a classic momager so she doesn't know how to tell her mom the truth. Being able to spend a few weeks in Butterfly Bayou relaxing and preparing for her next role being filmed there is just what he needed. But then when out for a walk with her corgi, Duke, she stumbles across something she never expected, a man...
Sheriff's Deputy Major Blanchard is in a bit of a bind, he's stuck, physically. While out for a run with his rescue pup Dolly when she gets stuck in the sticky Louisiana mud in the water, in an effort to rescue her he ended up stuck in the mud himself and stuck holding Dolly. Luckily a Brynn finds them and much to his embarrassment saves him, unfortunately he loses his sweats in the process. Major doesn't know who Brynn is but he can't help but be intrigued by the beautiful woman who saved him. Both Major and Brynn have a lot going on in their lives and while everything is saying they can't and shouldn't be together they can't stay away from one another.

Received an ARC for an honest review.

This was very sweet. Major and Bryn meet under pretty unusual circumstances, but the attraction is there from the start. Unfortunately, they aren't really super available. She's about to start filming a movie in the small town before taking off for the next set and he's the small-town deputy taking care of his father, who has early on-set dementia. Add in a wild stage mom and a band of thieving raccoons and this is quite the adventure.

I like when we get to see the secondary characters and these were great. Don't get me wrong, Brynn's mother and sister rode a fine line of PITA and sweet, but I liked their dynamic. I loved Brynn's relationship with Gavin, but I would have loved to see her interacting more with the other residents of the town. We got little tastes, but I wanted her to have girl friends. All in all, very sweet and I definitely teared up (and I definitely wish I had known about the dementia aspect given some events happening). It had some fun twists at the end, some were a tad predictable, but some were a surprise.

All in all, a very sweet read.

From the moment Brynn and Major met, I knew I was I for a fabulous ride. Brynn is an amazing soul as she works to always take care of anyone in need. For her family, she became the main bread winner at a young age through acting. Her latest project brings her to Papillion where she meets the sexy deputy, Major. Major is known for all the blind dates he goes on but meeting Brynn opens something up in him that didn’t expect. When the craziness of Hollywood descends and puts his father in danger, he makes the choice to stay away from Brynn but that’s not really what his heart wants. Dealing with his father’s dementia has been a strain on him and he carries a lot of fear from the people he loves in his life always leaving him. Brynn is at a crossroads with her career because her true passion is drawing but for years, she has done what her mother has asked her to do. Will she be able to breakaway and stand up for herself to embrace her true self? Can Major push through his fears and open himself to love and all the risks that brings? I love how everyone in town is in everyone else’s business. I enjoyed how everyone supported each other and embraced all the quirks, this made it feel like one big extended family. I voluntarily read an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.

Brynn's meet cute with a grumpy but gorgeous guy in the small town she's come to film a movie, is the stuff of rom-com dreams. Too bad Major (yes, that's his real name) wants nothing to do with her, or so he says, because she wouldn't mind spending time with him while she's here. But does Major really not want to spend time with Brynn? What if he can't get this ray of sunshine off his mind? What if he feels at peace when he's with her, when the rest of his life is chaos?

Major has a lot going on in his life. He's come back home to care for his father, he's the deputy sheriff, and the entire town keeps setting him on dates that never go anywhere. Then a gorgeous sunshiney woman rescues him and his dog from the mud bog and suddenly his life takes on a layer he never expected. But she's not going to be in town forever, and he'll have to remember that, even if his heart ends up wanting her to stick around forever.

Oh God...small towns are a lot. I know because I grew up in one, and it was too much for me, it's why I got out after college, moved to the big, bad Bay, and will never move back. But I digress...I know small towns, and this depiction is spot on, from the gossipy, obnoxious neighbors, to the meddling snoops, but with heart that might not be found in a big city. I actually enjoyed the setting, and it was perfect for this couple. Brynn certainly took to it and fit in as if she had lived there her whole life. As she came to a crossroads in her life, one way leading to more Hollywood craziness, the other leading to fulfillment with someone and something that made her happy, I applauded her character growth. Major experienced his own growth, though not as much as Brynn's, and only came about after a very revealing talk with his dad (whom I loved!). Grumpy/sunshine with two lovable, layered characters, a ton of heart, and a supporting cast full of family and friends. There's not much more you could ask for in a good contemporary romance.

This is the fifth book in the Butterfly Bayou series and it can be read as a standalone. Readers are back in the quaint town of Papillon, Louisiana where the food is savory and the people are friendly. It is that place where everyone knows everything and there is little privacy. Major moved to the area to be near his father who has health problems. Brynn is an actress who comes to the town to film her next movie. The pair meet under some unexpected circumstances that set them on a course of self discovery. What makes this series so lovable is how Ms. Blake crafts this storyline so one feels as if they are at home with these characters while shining a light on a debilitating illness. She artfully describes the challenges that one may face when dealing with the illness. Through it all, there are moments that will have you smiling, laughing, and tugging at your heartstrings. Grab a drink and curl up in your favorite reading spot because once you start, you will not want to stop. I recommend this book. I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.

4.25 stars--BAYOU SWEETHEART is the fifth instalment in Lexi Blake’s contemporary, adult BUTTERFLY BAYOU erotic, romance series focusing on the people who live and work in Papillon, Louisiana. This is thirty-three year old Papillon Deputy Major Blanchard, and twenty –five year old actress Brynn Pearson’s story line. BAYOU SWEETHEART can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Brynn and Major) BAYOU SWEETHEART follows the building romance and relationship between thirty-three year old Papillon Deputy Major Blanchard, and twenty –five year old actress Brynn Pearson. Brynn Pearson, her sister Allyson, and their ‘momager’ Diane Pearson, and fellow actor Gavin Jacks are in Papillon, Louisiana in preparation for an upcoming movie, a movie the ‘momager’ is hoping will make Brynn Pearson a star. Brynn has worked in the television industry since she was five years old, and jumping from childhood to adulthood in the world of movie stars meant missing all of the steps in between. Meeting local Papillon Deputy Major Blanchard went viral when our heroine had to rescue said deputy when he got himself and his dog stuck in the Bayou bog. From the outset Brynn and Major’s attraction was instant but Brynn was only in town for a few weeks, and the incoming paparazzi was about to blow up any chance of a relationship when scandal meets reality on the front pages of the news. What ensues is the building but struggling relationship between Brynn and Major, and the potential fall-out as a family emergency pulls Major out of Brynn’s life, and a scandal is about to destroy any hopes of Brynn’s burgeoning jump from child to adult star.

Brynn Pearson has been working since the age of five but work she no longer finds rewarding or fun. Wanting some time to recoup and reconsider the next stage of her life, Brynn considers setting down roots in Papillon Louisiana but Major Blanchard fears disappointment is only a matter of weeks away. Major Blanchard is struggling with family issues of his own but meeting Brynn gave Major hopes for something more but something more is going to have to wait in the wake of a paparazzi nightmare, and an ailing father who is caught between independence and his son.

The relationship between Brynn and Major is one of immediate attraction. As one of the few remaining single men in Papillon Louisiana, Major is has caught the eye of many women including women willing to set them up with somebody’s daughter but Major only has eyes for our story line heroine, a woman he refuses to tie down in Papillon Louisiana. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including many of whom we have me in previous story lines: Armie and Lila (Butterfly Bayou 1); Seraphine Guidry (Bayou Baby 2); Roxanne and Zep Guidry (Butterfly Dreaming 3) as well as the introduction of Brynn’s sister Allyson, their mother Diane; actor and mentor Gavin Jacks; several social pariahs and paparazzi reporters, as well as local gang leader and thief Brian.

BAYOU SWEETHEART is a story of family and relationships, power, control and acceptance ; fame and scandal; purpose and love. The premise is captivating and entertaining; the romance is seductive; the characters are charismatic and charming-there is plenty of witty banter, back and forth between many of the characters.



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