I enjoyed reading The Devine Doughnut Shop by Carolyn Brown. The characters are wonderful and you will want to get some doughnuts while you are reading! **I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

Devine Doughnut Shop is strongly in the women's fiction genre a little more than the romance genre. It centers on a group of women who own the shop and their lives, they are multi-generational and the shop has been in the family for generations. I liked the women and loved the way they supported each other and stood up for one another. What I did not like was the teenage daughter at all, i think it was pretty relatable but also she was just so horrible most of the time. The romance was ok but the story was strongest when it was just the women.

What a great cast of characters. Two sisters, a close cousin, and a teenage daughter will delight you with their family drama. Then factor in a few snooty mother-and-daughter combinations and you have a recipe for a plate full of fun. I loved the way the women loved and supported each other. Their relationship and encouragement to each other when things weren’t quite what they seemed had me cheering the mon. And you won’t be able to get to the last page without running to your local donut shop!

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

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I was really hoping for more out of this book. The cover and synopsis really had me interested. Small town, takes place in Texas, tight-knit family, some drama in there as well. But I found it boring and hard to get through. This is the first book book I have read from author and I have heard good things about her. So I was disappointed.

A sweet story of 3 women who run a doughnut shop. When a developer comes to town he wants to buy them out, but they say no. Good characters and story, and was hard to put down. Would highly recommend this book and author. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Carolyn Brown writes a few different genres and I stick to the family drama/romance ones, because they're fun. They have quirky, strong, sassy female characters. If they get burned, it's the last time it's going to happen, whether it's love or business.. They're usually set in the South, so you have funny lines and situations that just don't seem to happen with characters from other parts of the country. They're tasteful and engaging even if they're sometimes a little heavy on bible quotes.

This book is about two sisters and a cousin. Only one of them has a child, a typical teenager who learns about true friendship the hard way. They're all in different stages of relationships, while running a doughnut shop that's been in the family for decades.

I had a problem with one of the plotlines toward the end, hence only 4 stars.

Thanks, NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are mine and freely given.

I have tried really hard to get into this book but I just can't. I don't feel any draw to find out more about the characters and I just got really annoyed by the teenage daughter's attitude.

Wanted to like this, but it felt a little too saccharine and trying-to-be-positive for me. It was also very confusing as to who was who since all those characters just get dumped onto the page, and they don't sound distinct enough to differentiate (would've worked on a screen to have the visual of each person, but they were pretty indistinguishable on the page). Also found the teenage character Audrey to be absolutely insufferable - and that's also where I think it was a miss for me: everything, and everyone, felt too polarized, too much the opposite ends of any spectrum, and this didn't make it very realistic and believable to me, unfortunately

Three women are torn between traditions of the past and unexpected new beginnings in a warmhearted novel by Carolyn Brown about family, romance, and the best pastries in Texas.

For Grace Dalton, her sister, Sarah, and her cousin Macy, the Devine Doughnut Shop is a sweet family legacy and a landmark in their Texas town. As the fourth generation to run the Double D, they keep their great-grandmother’s recipe secret and uphold the shop’s tradition as a coffee klatch for sharing local gossip, advice, and woes. But drama brews behind the counter, too.

Grace is a single mother struggling with an unruly teenage daughter. Heartbroken Sarah has sworn off love. Macy’s impending wedding has an unexpected hitch. And now charming developer Travis Butler has arrived in Devine with a checkbook and a handsome smile. He wants to buy the shop, expand it nationally, and boost the economy of a town divided by the prospect.

With the family’s relationships in flux, their beloved heritage up for grabs, and their future in the air, it’s amazing what determination, sass, a promise of romance, and a warm maple doughnut can do to change hearts and minds.

I live for stories like this that connect family members to one another. Carolyn Brown knows how to spin a story and she definitely knows how to hook a reader's interest. Will recommend this story to others.

dnf at 25%. Honestly, felt like there were too many characters - I kept getting confused at who's who - especially as it was written in 3rd person. Also, wasn't really connecting to any of the characters.

Kept trying to get into and just couldn't

A highly entertaining, heartwarming and fun adventure filled with witty and engaging charters, heart racing twists and exciting emotional turns. This journey was so emotional and inspiring family journey that was so hard to put down.

I'll admit that I primarily chose this because I like donuts, and unfortunately the donuts were the best part of the book.

The Devine Donut Shop, owned by sisters Grace and Sarah with their cousin Macy, has been around for generations and is famous in their small Texas town. There's drama on both sides of the counter - a developer wants to buy the family recipe and start a factory, Sarah discovers that Macy's fiance isn't who he claims to be, and Grace's teen daughter (Audrey) is going through a rebellious phase. Throughout the book, Grace, Sarah and Macy navigate town gossip, relationships, and the future of their family legacy.

It was a sweet story, but it just fell flat for me. I had a hard time believing it was set in the present day - there was mention of cell phones and social media, but Audrey and Raelene didn't really come across as teens. The romance was lackluster and predictable, and there was more religion than I expected.

This was the first book I've read by Carolyn Brown, and based on Goodreads, this seems to be her style (it's not for me, but I seem to be in the minority). It's certainly not a romance book - more of a women's fiction novel, bordering on Christian fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

This book is about relationships rather than romance, although it does come in, the relationships between mother and daughter, sisters etc is the main focus along with the challenges they bring.. A good read.

I really enjoyed this book! A sweet, lovely romance that made crave donuts! Five stars! Can't wait to read more by the author!

The Devine Doughnut Shop by Carolyn Brown is a gem, between the doughnuts and the feels. Three women were the proprietors, having been left the doughnut shop by their mothers, who had inherited it from their mother. They lived in the same house behind the shop that a couple of them had grown up in and the other had visited often. It is a house full of love, even with a teenager present, Audrey, the daughter of Grace. Their cousin, Macy, was engaged and seriously in love until, after one of her Saturday night romps, Sarah saw Macy’s fiance locked in a serious embrace with another woman. It was almost pornographic. She had just left her lover in the motel room after discovering he was married, with children. She was disappointed and angry. This picture of Neal cheating put the whipped cream on the sundae of her feelings about men right now. To make things worse, some developer was trying to buy the shop and their adjoining property and was not taking no for an answer.

Of course, it all came right, as it always does in Brown’s novels: one reason to read them. No doubt the sisters and their cousin had had a run of bad luck with men but that was about to turn around, as was Audrey and the attitude she had developed. Brown writes good characters, of that there is no doubt. She writes an accurate portrayal of an angsty teen, as well. OK. Everyone living a happily-ever-after isn’t realistic but it’s very often what this world needs. It was a loose plot, but the plot did exist and was resolved quickly and quietly. A terrific read, as always.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Devine Doughnut Shop by Mortlake, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Mortlake #CarolynBrown #TheDevineDoughnutShop

I really enjoyed this book! I will definitely look for other books by this author! I would recommend this book. It was a sweet romance book and made me want donuts!! :)

I just LOVE Carolyn Brown! If she writes it I will be reading or listening to it. She has never let me down. This was another fabulous book. It had laugh out loud moments and was just so cute. I found this to be a quick read but I think all of her books are. I highly recommend this book if you love small town romance books then you will want to read this.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

The Devine Doughnut Shop read like a movie! Strong female.characters. I loved how the voices of those they lost reminded me of my own southern family. Hard lessons learned made the book that much more intriguing. Highly recommend this book to everyone.

I really enjoyed this story about family, friendships, and second chances. It was a fun read that included a trip to my favorite vacation spot in Florida, and the ending was perfect!

Carolyn Brown excels at small-town stories involving people whose lives feel like they could be yours or your neighbor's. This is a story of love, family - by blood and of the heart, and dreams. Two sisters, Grace and Sarah, and their cousin Macy are the fourth generation of women who have run the Devine Doughnut Shop. The doughnut recipe is a cherished family secret, and the shop is the center of the town's information-sharing community. Drama abounds on both sides of the counter.

Grace is the oldest and the mother of sixteen-year-old Audrey. She had Audrey while she was young, with a man who bailed when he found out he would be a father. With the support of her family, Grace manages single parenthood well. But as the story opens, she's ready to send Audrey to boot camp or a convent. Audrey has been caught with contraband cigarettes and alcohol on school property and refuses to say where it came from. Grace believes in accountability, and Audrey isn't happy to find she's expected to work in the shop from 3 a.m. to noon every day during spring break. I love Grace's down-to-earth attitude and parenting style.

But Audrey isn't Grace's only problem. Three of their oldest customers have invited a younger friend to try the doughnuts, with an eye to buying Grace and the others out, building a factory, and taking the pastries national. Travis is a handsome and charming man who doesn't give up easily, no matter how often Grace tells him they won't sell. Complicating matters are the sparks that fly between them.

Sarah has never been married and wants a family of her own. She's spent a lot of time looking for love and finally found a man who checks all her boxes. Everything comes crashing down when she discovers that he hasn't been truthful with her. Brokenhearted, she wonders if she'll ever have the family she longs for.

Meanwhile, Cousin Macy busily prepares for her upcoming wedding to Neal. They have big plans for her cousins to buy her out while she and Neal wait for him to be promoted to manager at the hotel where he works. Then an unexpected encounter shows that he isn't what he claims to be, and Macy joins her cousins in the love-lost ranks. And though Macy is the more spiritual of the group, she has no trouble playing the part of an avenging angel on his sorry hide. I laughed out loud at that scene and cheered her on.

Audrey is one of those teens who must learn things the hard way. She wants to be popular and has ditched her old friends to hang out with two of the school's queen bees. She has blinders on when it comes to those two and doesn't see that she is being used. Grace gets nowhere when she tries to point that out and suspects there will be trouble when it finally happens.

One of Audrey's former friends, Raelene, comes to Grace looking for a job. The grandmother who raised her has died, and her mom has left town with a boyfriend, leaving her behind. Grace's big heart steps up, giving Raelene a job as a housekeeper for them and inviting her to move in. I loved Raelene. She is a young woman who has had to grow up fast and has a good head on her shoulders. But things going on in her life could upend everything she's worked for.

Travis is an intriguing man. The head of his company, he has a talent for selecting people who share his vision. His best friend, Calvin, and oldest employee and friend, Delores, round out the trio that keeps Butler Industries growing. Travis is a workaholic whose marriage crashed when he and his equally workaholic wife grew apart. Grace had his attention from the moment he walked into her shop and offered to buy her out. She turns him down flat, both for the sale and for a date, but he isn't one to give up easily. What he must decide is whether he is interested in buying her out for the business or as a way to spend more time with her.

I enjoyed watching the fun as Audrey learned her lesson the hard way. I liked the effect having Raelene around had on her once she got over her snit fit. Once Audrey's eyes opened to her "friends" true natures, she got that look in her eye that didn't bode well for them. I laughed at Grace's sense of impending doom because she knew her daughter well. And when that moment of reckoning came, it was a doozy. I loved how it turned out, thanks partly to Raelene's intelligent actions.

Small towns being what they are, the gossip was out of control after this. I loved seeing the three ladies decide it was the perfect time to take the vacation they'd never had. Within hours the whole family was on their way to Florida, and two weeks of rest and relaxation. Grace never expected Travis to follow her down there, nor that she'd be so happy to see him. Travis won my heart by including everyone in his plans while he was there. He's a good man, and it shows in everything he does. But Grace is wary of rushing into anything and is honest with Travis about her concerns.

I loved how the two weeks away gave each person a new perspective on their past, present, and future. The two teens are given an opportunity that could change the futures they thought they had in ways they'd never imagined. The doughnut shop is no longer the be-all and end-all of the three ladies' lives now that they've seen what a little life balance adds to their lives. And Sarah and Macy discover it's never too late for love.

I always enjoy the variety of characters that populate the author's books. The three older men who come into the shop every day for their doughnut and coffee fix would fit in any small-town gathering place. Beezy, the honorary grandmother was a hoot with her joy of life, adventurousness, and sense of humor. I also liked her support for the family. The two so-called friends were spoiled brats and bullies, and I loved seeing them get their comeuppance. Their mothers were even worse. I liked what little I saw of Brock and Jimmy.

The epilogue was a grand wrap-up to the story. I loved seeing where they were a year later. Some things were surprises, and some weren't, but I loved them all.