Book: Farm Cove Bliss by E.D. Hackett
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trope: Grief/loss, Single mon and dad, Divorce,Small town Romance
Publication: 9th February 2023

Crystal is a single parent who is going through a lot emotionally, mentally and physically, having just lost her mother, she is back in her hometown, healing and spending the summer trying to flip her ancestral farmhouse as soon as she can.

Derek comes in as a hunky single dad who is still grieving from his loss of losing his wife And trying to keep his business as a contractor up float while taking care of his daughter.

This story was so beautiful written and was packed with so much heartfelt emotion and real life experiences with angst and guilt and doubt that at some point I wanted to reach out to the main characters and tell them to get out of their minds and overcome the insecurities clouding their judgements but as I said, having experienced such situation I could empathise with the story and the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and E.D.Hackett for the ARC copy.

My first experience with E.D Hackett's work was through this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great way to get to know the author better.
It is a lighthearted rom-com focusing on parenting, grief processing and different types of relationships. I appreciated the different take on a romantic story, as it featured characters that are around my age, have lived and loved befaore meeting each other. I really enjoyed this book overall.

Crystal and Derek need to grow up!
Both of them are in their late 40s and their characters read like they were teenagers!
Don't get me wrong I love a good YA with young characters but these was lacking.

The story had potential is dual POV so I was exited but I didn't like that the main focus of Crystal were her insecurities with no coherent growth, she was stuck in her mom role. Dereck had better character development, and there was the chance to see him pushing Crystal out of her comfort zone but it wasn't enough!

What I loved the most: The book cover, it's so beautiful!

3.5 Stars
This book had me intrigued by the blurb. I love a small town setting and a single parent romance. This one took me a bit to get into at first. I'm from the Rochester area so that was pretty cool to see in a book. There is a lot of healing for both characters. Life puts us on the path we are meant to be on. I will say I wish Crystal's son was in the book more. He was cute and I liked him getting to know Derek. This book shows how important communication is because if you don't have the whole story hurt feelings most likely result. It was a very therapeutic experience for Crystal renovating her parents house. It was also a healing process for Derek too because he is finally feeling alive again and not going through the motions. It's a beautiful story that touched my heart.

Farm Cove Bliss is a heartwarming story about a divorcee and widower getting a second chance at love, of course they have their hang-ups and hiccups along the way. This book does cover some possibly triggering content and thought it was handled well. Since the characters were old the miss communication rubbed me the wrong way and our FMC had s few inner thought about cleanliness that didn't make sense to me or do anything for her character. Was an ok read not my favorite though.

The miscommunication trope, and excessive angst, just don’t really do it for me. That being said, I could see others really enjoying this book, exploring the death of a loved one through romance and learning to be intimate again. While I didn’t love this book, the writing was good and the story flowed well.

I wanted to love this book but just didn't,

The pacing felt way off, the characters were boring and dull. The writing was rough to read and is in desperate need of some editing.

I dont know if I have disliked 2 main characters more than Crystal and Derek

This book follows Crystal and Derek. Crystals estranged mom just passed and was left the house and a few assets, but she has to drive 3 hours to Farm Cove to deal with her mother's estate. A single mother with more baggage than a grocery store, she takes off to farm cove for the weekend to assess current standings, The house is trashed, the elderly neighbor who was supposed to be caring for it had passed away 2 years before, so in order to sell her childhood home, which is riddled with bad memories, she hires Derek and his company to fix the place up to sell.
Derek, who was a transplant to Farm Cove with his wife Vanessa was now a single dad and a soon to be empty nester. Vanessa died 12 years prior in a car accident and Derek has never moved on. His relationship with his daughter Molly was really endearing.
There was a brief period of interaction between the two where things were incredibly awkward, as the author intended. But then all of a sudden there are sparks flying. And you soon realize Crystal's baggage is ALOT to deal with.
The characters chemistry was likeable; however, I didn't think the bathroom scene was very likely. But then again Derek did take a lot of liberty with a client's house throughout the story, but having lived in a small town myself, that's not super surprising. Christinas character was really obnoxious though and I felt like her character needed more development. Who comes on that strong to a widow, after being warned that he's very flighty when it comes to dating. It wasn't super believable. I get that her character was needed as a protagonist, I just felt like it needed refining.

Overall, this was a super easy read, the spice level was a 2. Closed door nods at intimacy at best. It was a sweet book with kind of a slow burn, since it's based mostly on a long-distance relationship. The third act break up wasn't as dramatic as most, and I enjoyed that, third act breakups are getting tiresome to read. Both characters had issues, several issues, and I think if there were any more issues, I might have had an issue.

Overall, I would have rated this story 3.5 stars out of 5 but I rounded up to four, Because I could really pick out what didn't work for me as a whole. I finished the book and don't regret finishing it, so I think that deserves a round up on rating.

You will like this book if you like:
**Sweet books
**Single Parents
**Small Town
**mid-life love
**Healing from past hurts
** Low Spice Levels
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book to read and review. Happy Pub day to ED Hackett.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC.
📖📖
This book was actually okay, I loved the storyline, it was fast paced and I loved how it was written. I'd have given it more stars, but I didn't, because of Crystal.
📖📖
Crystal did something I can never forgive, she abandoned her own mother to die alone in a home. I kept reading on to understand why she did that, I admit that her mom was wrong in insulting her ex-husband and stopping Crystal from visiting. That was the only wrong thing her mother did.
📖📖
Throughout the book, I kept reading about how good her mother was, what she good she treated her(before she got married)she even left money and a house for her!
📖📖
The only excuse she had for abandoning her mom was that she was going through a divorce and her son. I'm not trying to make light of her troubles, but that doesn't justify her abandoning her own mother, that's really heartless.
📖📖
It was because of this I gave this book a low star. Crystal was a detestable character.
📖📖
However, the only good part of this book was Derek, the MMC, I really liked him.

This was such a cute small town romance. The story was so good seeing them go from strangers to lovers. This was a quick read for me. I always love to pick up a book and just flow through it. I would recommend this book especially if you love good small town romance.

Thanks NetGalley and E.D. Hackett for allowing me to read this ARC in advance.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

Publication Date: February 9th 2023

Author: E.D. Hackett

Review: This book was picture perfect feel good in the soul type of book. It hinted to romance but it never really crossed over that line. I for the vibe farm cove was more like stars hollow cute and very small. This book did have 53 chapters BUT they are every short and you could honestly fly through this book if you really sat down with it.

This was my first book by @e.d.hackettwrites. Everyone needs a book like this on their shelf.

Crystal’s mother passed away so she returns to her small hometown to get the house ready to sell. She hires a local contractor Derek. They begin to work together on the house and start to get to know each other. They both have baggage from their past- Crystal is divorced due to her husband’s cheating ways and Derek lost his wife in an automobile accident.
This book was frustrating at times because it felt like there were so many misunderstandings and Crystal always reacted over the top. She does not come across as a lovable character.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is definitely not what I was expecting.

The beginning was good, it was a good setup for the rest of the story, letting us know about Crystal and Derek's past and how they got to meet each other, how their stories connected and the kind of emotional baggage they both carried. The fact that it had small chapters was a plus for me.

And yes, it had its sweet moments and there were parts where I really liked Derek and Crystal together but then everything felt just the same, over 200 pages of her never trusting Derek and always excusing her outbursts with the fact she got cheated on before and him always feeling guilty for trying to move on after his wife passed away 12 years ago and always, ALWAYS being the one who went after Crystal when something went wrong. Even then, there was so much miscommunication it became annoying.

I know this kind of situations (being cheated on and the passing of someone you love) can be really bad experiences that leave you with some trauma and insecurities, I'm aware of the delicacy of this topics and how they can mess up with someone in so many levels but in this case it just felt like an excuse to create more drama, I never felt like there was truly some development and growth within the characters in a way that helped them heal from those wounds.

I feel so bad about DNFing books that I don't do it but with this one I really wanted to do it, it just wasn't for me I guess. So instead of DNFing it I just skimmed from around the 60% til the end, reading the dialogs and bits that seemed important. I really just wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

Thanks so much Netgalley and the author for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I'm sorry to say I couldn't get into this book. I don't know if it was the wrong time for me but the writing nor the characters meshed for me. I was eager for something cutesy, but something in the way the dialogue and the characters were written felt somewhat disjointed

Farm Cove Bliss is a slow, cozy read in the best way. The settings and the characters are simple but familiar, like hearing a story about your hometown from your best friend. Derek and Crystal's relationship starts slow but blossoms under stressful circumstances. The way they both process grief and hardship is very relatable but doesn't bog down the story. Overall a very warm and cozy read, good for a snow day or a rainy day next to the fire.

Sweet small town romance is the best way to describe this book. It was a cute at times too cute quick read that felt like watching a hallmark movie. It was pretty predictable and the characters for me were just ok didn’t really connect to them and the side characters were pretty one dimensional. I liked the dual POV and the short chapters made it a quick read but it was just ok for me started to border on a little too cheesy for my tastes. I want to thank NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book really wasn’t for me. I was drawn in by the cute cover & the “small town romance.”
It completely lacked in small town vibes (where everyone knows everyone - Crystal came from this town but she knew NO ONE? Usually most don’t leave a small town).

The writing was choppy & I was confused a lot, by the characters choices and by where the story went (like when Mason went to live with his dad - it came out of nowhere). A lot of what happened seemed sudden and didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

This would have been a DNF for me if it weren’t to review. I forced myself to get to the end but I knew pretty early on this book wasn’t going to be one I enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Going into this story I really wanted to love it - I typically love fast paced romances. And I am a sucker for small town romance. However, other than being fast paced, nothing really drew me into the story. Usually there is at least one character that I can connect to in a story, and this one did not really have one.

My first indication of not being a fan of the characters was when Crystal couldn't even be bothered to leave work when her mother DIED. And then all of a sudden she wants to rebuild this house for her mother and her legacy. So you can focus on a house but not your actual mother?! And then for it being such a small town - how did she not know so many people. I really wanted to love this story, but I just couldn't get into it.

This is really a 2.5/5 stars - but I figured I'd round up.

DNF at 43%.

It started off fine, but it’s called a sweet small town romance, but how small town is it if she grew up in this town but miraculously no one who knew her in HS is still there? Also no service for her mom who lived there, put a child through school? No one cares she’s dead, no one knows whose house it is? I actually grew up not far from the area the book takes place in. And I can guarantee I still know people when I walk in the local diner.


In addition, the dialog just kept getting cheesier and cheesier. At one point the FMC compared herself to a caterpillar and her growing love for the MMC turning her into a butterfly. And she talked about changing the batteries in her heart to shine a light into the mmc.

I was given this book by NetGalley and my opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited when I received this arc because I am a sucker for a small town romance. I was especially excited when I seen it because it had the single parent trope with a single mother who had to go back to her hometown to redo and sell the family house and a single father who owns a construction company. Plus the cute cover was a bonus.

Sadly, I felt like the book was rushed and felt very choppy to me. I know it was an ‘insta-love’ situation but I found it lacked character development and just felt awkward coming to the end of the book.