I am a big judge-by-the-cover type of person. When a cover looks interesting, I sometimes go by that instead of going by the book's description. Grave mistake when reading this one. While it has an average of 4 starts, this one was not a favorite for me. Babies in books have become a sensitive subject now that I'm a mom, and this one was not it for me. Maybe later I might be able to reading it again, but for now... back of the shelf. This should not influence your decision of giving this book a chance. My mindset is not the same as yours and this might be the best book you read all year.

This book was absolutely amazing! I read it in a day because I couldn’t put it down!
Lauren and her family are given the chance to live in Greenwich Village , in a brownstone that has a retro, 70’s style while a family member is out of town. The Brownstone has a dive bar called The Sweet Spot in the basement and it’s a local favorite. Her days are filled with her three children and she’s shocked when her ceramic art is picked up by a famous TV host, successful entrepreneur named Felicity. Plus now Lauren has inadvertently made an enemy of a woman she’s never met.
Melinda’s world is turned upside when her husband of 30years ups and leaves her for a younger woman named Felicity , and to throw salt into the wound Felicity is pregnant. Furious and hurt Melinda is making it her mission to her ex and Felicity and anyone she feels was part of the end of her marriage.
Olivia has finally gotten a promotion at her job at the boutique, that is until an unhinged customer verbally assaults her. Olivia stands up for herself but someone posts a video of the altercation on TikTok but it just shows Olivia saying rude things. So she’s fired.
All three woman find their lives connecting when Melinda’s ex leaves the baby behind to chase after Felicity. Soon they begin to lean on each-other and realize family isn’t only by blood, and the small village will come together and hopefully find happiness they are all looking for! The characters seemed so real and just came off the page! I loved the book so much!

This book was a little slow to start for me as we were introduced to the main characters one at a time. And although the theme of the book starts off as "revenge", I was left feeling happy with the way these women banned together for the sake of a child and found life long friends in the process!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting, character-driven look at the unexpected relationships formed between several women. I did find it a bit slow in some parts, and I think the blurb about the book is a little misleading because it makes one of the plot points seem like a bigger part of the story than it actually is. But it was an enjoyable read and I was rooting for the characters and was interested to see how their story played out.

Set in Greenwich Village, NYC this story is about a young family and the trials and tribulations they go through as they attempt to work and raise 3 young children. Both parents have some set backs, as they try to work and take care of the children. Can family and/or friends come to the rescue? What happens to relationships when they are facing challenging situations? How do friends get through the hurt and disappointment of a marital break-up? You’ll have to read this engrossing story to find out. Throughout this book I felt as though I were right there-thoroughly invested in each character. The humor was interspersed at just the right times throughout. As a tumultuous situation would arise I found myself either cheering or despising the decisions that certain characters were involved in depending on the situation. I enjoyed every moment with this group of people. This was the first book I’ve read written by Amy Poeppel and I can’t wait to dive in to the rest.

The Sweet Spot
Author Amy Poeppel
Available now!

Thank you, @atriabooks and @netgalley, for my #gifted e- arc! I loved it so much that I had to buy myself a copy to add to my Poeppel collection! I was also lucky enough to join @annissabookishjoy and friends in an author chat earlier this week to talk all things Sweet Spot and learn what's up next for Poeppel!

The Sweet Spot is a bighearted and fun novel that I just loved! It was so easy to immerse myself in Lauren and Leo's chaotic and exciting world in their Waverly Place brownstone with their family, friends, and one scorned enemy. Lauren's a creative and loving ceramic artist and Leo is an intelligent and quirky scientist, and together, they have three wonderfully unique children who attend a private school in NYC.

But their school has a new administrator, Melinda, and she holds a serious vendetta against Lauren. Meanwhile, Olivia, a young woman with a lot of potential, gets fired when provoked by an angry customer. In one quick minute, her dreams, student debt, breakup status, and future begin to look pretty murky.

All three women end up getting tangled in each other's lives - oh, and there's a baby in here, too! And so many wonderfully endearing and supportive characters filled with connections and hilarious drama as well! Evelyn, Lauren's mother, is my absolute favorite character.

A novel of lost and found family, women supporting each other, second chances, forgiveness, and love all while juggling work, independence, connection, and finding meaning in their sweet lives.

I've also read and loved Limelight by Amy Poeppel! I have Musical Chairs on my tbr and just bought her debut, Small Admissions on Pango last night. Poeppel is now an auto- buy author for me and I highly recommend The Sweet Spot!

Poeppel's novels are the definition of cozy! Warm, funny, full of heart! I will follow Poeppel wherever she leads her readers...this title had a fun mix of characters, a vivid setting, and plenty of irony. Brava!

This one started super slow for me and I kept thinking that there were entirely too many characters to keep up with. However, by midway through, I became fully invested. I love a good found family story and this one was pleasantly sprinkled with some humor.

4/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and Amy Poeppel for allowing me to read and review this book.

We follow many different storylines within this book. All of which come together and entangle in some way or another. There is love, hate, revenge, and pettiness all within this book.

Each character and storyline is well written and interesting. Although some characters are not exactly loveable. You will love some characters and not so much others.

This is a well-rounded story about many people, how their lives intersect, and how one bar seems to somehow helps everyone involved.

I had such high hopes for this book after seeing positive reviews from bookstagramers I trust. Sadly, this book was just not a good fit for me. So after several tries and 62% of the way through I ended up DNFing it.

It is rare that I DNF a book and even more rare that I do so after reading more than half of it. The premise sounded super interesting, the lives of five women (Felicity, Olivia, Melinda, Evelyn, and Lauren) intersect due to an extramarital affair. The fallout of the affair effects each woman in a different way and forces them to reevaluate their next steps.

My biggest grievance is the idea that Melinda, a woman in her mid fifties, would stoop so low as to ruin careers, attempt to break up relationship, and treat students poorly. It was super off putting and juvenile. Some reviewers said they found the book to be filled with witty banter. I guess we have different opinion of what constitutes humor.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I absolutely loved this book! The cast was silly and quirky, but I was along for the ride. It was fun to immerse myself in all of the characters drama and get lost in each of their story lines. I would highly recommend this book, especially for people looking for a light beach read!

Per usual, Amy Poepple’s books are charming and heartwarming, life affirming and filled with fun banter and totally readable characters. I loved the found family element in this one and will absolutely pick up whatever she writes next!

A book that is full of humor and drama. A large cast of characters that are have highly entertaining personalities.

Centered around a family in Greenwich Village and the people who they come in contact with through a string of unfortunate events. I loved how the story was told through multiple points of view throughout the book. I was able to get a full picture of what was happening with each character and how all the misunderstandings came about to link each of them in a very unique way.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. At first it was a bit of a challenge to keep all the different characters and how they are connected straight but it quickly came together and was a truly charming story. By the end I felt like they were my neighbors and I will miss them very much now that their story is over.

I highly recommend this heartwarming complicated story full of family dynamics, revenge, forgiveness and friendship. It is full of laugh out loud moments and left me wanting to read more.

This is not a book that I loved at first. So many different threads, so many people making strange choices... but the threads did all pull together eventually. I rather like the idea of a family that is both found family and actual family intertwined, and how a community can be built on the most tenuous of initial connections. This did not work for me as much as I would have hoped, but by halfway through I was invested and really cared for the characters and was rooting for them all to get over themselves. This is indeed a sweet little novel, hitting the "sweet spot" between twee and cloying, and between redemption and disbelief. I do recommend it! 3.5 stars, rounded up for pure entertainment value.

I normally love Amy’s books. They are always in my top favorites of the year.
Unfortunately, I could not get into this one at all. I am going to put it down and try again at a later time.

This enjoyable read has many multi-faceted characters. The author intertwines them in mostly humorous ways. I felt like I wanted to move next door to the brownstone that is the central setting of the story and sit downstairs for a drink or two. I love the way each character evolves. I would say it’s like an onion as the outer layers are peeled away and we find the core resilience of each one. It also delves into how often we judge people by their surface appearance. Everyone has a unique story and it’s important to learn it, before we judge. The story has lessons we can learn in a humorous light. At times I was even laughing out loud

Ok I did not go into this book expecting much and was really obsessed with it! Initially, I was unsure how the story was going to pull the various characters and plot points all together in a way that makes sense, but the addition of baby Hank was just so sweet and added a level of comedy that was on point.

I think that this book would be good for people who enjoy Elyssa Friedman’s books and other dramatic yet casual slice of life fiction? Not sure if that makes sense, but this book is lovely and I will definitely recommend!

I loved these eclectic characters and found this story to be very entertaining.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this book was so quirky and adorable, I loved it. I found as soon as I started it, I did not want to put it down. There was such great plot development in this book. It was such a unique and memorable book. I loved the quirky characters in this book, the family drama, and the New York setting. It was just the perfect feel good story that I needed to read. I would recommend checking it out!!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a delight! I loved how all of the characters intertwined + how each chapter, though written in the third person, took on the voice of the individual who was at its center. Amy does a great job of depicting the complexities of human relationships + how love + support can come from the most unexpected of connections + circumstances.