This was a cute read, but I only could give it 2.5 ⭐️.

Firstly, I do love a small town romance, it's not my favorite but I do love them. I just wasn't in love with the characters, I struggled to connect with them. Also, the pacing was a bit off. I wish the story and plot was revised a little, and the FMC was given more depth.

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

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review

Farm Cove Bliss by E.D. Hackett was a quick, easy read. I found myself rushing through the pages and I think that was due to the simplicity of the story. I was not necessarily intrigued by either of the main characters. Did I like them? Yeah, sure. Though, I was not really rooting for either of them. It seemed quite obvious how the book was going to go so I was hoping for some interesting parts in the middle. There wasn’t much. I think one of the main things that happens in the book that made me go, hmmm, I wonder what will happen next was something that was mentioned in the synopsis so it was meh.

Now, this book may not be a favorite of mine; but like I mentioned above it was a quick read. If you want something sweet and simple this is the book for you. Even though I didn’t adore it as much as I’d hope I would still pick up another one of Hackett’s books.

3 shiplap stars out of 5

Crystal is reeling from the death of her mother, a recent divorce, and her son's learning disability.

Derek is reeling from the death of his wife, Vanessa, when she was killed in a car crash 12 years previous. He keeps his focus on his 18 year old daughter and his job and that suits him just fine.

Crystal heads back to Farm Cove, NY to prep her mother's farmhouse for sale. Noticing that the house needs more work than she was prepared for she hires a contractor to help. In walks Derek and the sparks fly.....I guess. (womp, womp)

Ugh. I did NOT enjoy this book at all. I have never hated a female lead character as much as this pity party, sad sack of a woman. She was so pathetic that I was embarrassed for her rather than feeling sorry for her. Derek fared slightly better in likeability but not by much. This was much too much insta-love for this cynical reader to appreciate.

The dialogue was just so awkward and cheesy. I had to continually remind myself that these were two people in their forties. They spoke to each other like they were two teenagers having their very first crush on one another and it made me cringe so hard. The miscommunication trope gets a work out here. Every conversation they have leads to tears shed and then they won't talk for days when if they just expressed themselves to begin with they'd have realized what morons their acting like.

Early on in the book, before the romance has started, there is a scene when Derek walks into the bathroom where Crystal has just come out of the shower finding her stark naked. He knew she was staying in the house and yet he still let himself in with the key, went up the stairs, and just opens the bathroom door without so much as a knock in order to retrieve a tool he had left behind. I would have punched him right in the face and fired him on the spot. This isn't your house. You're a hired contractor. You don't just come and go as you please knowing your client is living there temporarily. That's just creepy on so many levels.

The writing itself is amateurish at best and uninspired at worst. Needless to say I was incredibly disappointed. I'm blaming the adorable cover for requesting this and the brief length the only reason as to why I even bothered to finish it. 1 star!

Thank you to NetGalley and E.D. Hackett for my complimentary copy.

This was my first time reading this author. This was a quick and easy read. I love a good small town romance, but this one just wasn't for me. I felt it was choppy at places and lacked transition from one thing to the next. I missed having the build up of the relationship in this book. It just seemed to be right off the start. The relationship also reminded me of high schoolers and not adults in the 30s-40s.

I was having fun in the beggining of the book then everything started going bad, the pacing, the characters, the plot dragging. I couldn't finish the book and had put it down before the end because felt everything felt forced and the characters felt they were just unpleasant for no reason. It had potencial it just didn't fulfill it.

This book was sent to by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

My review is not a reflection on the author or the writing or even the story. It is fully based on my own personal experience.

This was too much grief for me? I really feel like it could get better, especially once Crystal and Derek really meet. And I don’t usually have a hard time reading about people losing loved ones despite my personal experience…but this one was tough. Crystal was feeling so much guilt because she couldn’t be there for her mother at the end, and that made me too sad. And Derek felt the same too. He was so sad about his wife. In the first few chapters he talked multiple times about how his daughter looks so much like his wife. When he first say Crystal, his first thought was that she was cute but he’d never move on. Which means when they eventually try and get together it’s going to be so rough.

The premise of the book was right up my typical wheelhouse, small town romance and a fixer upper? Sold.

Unfortunately the pacing just felt really off for me, very fast at first and then all over the place. The FMC bothered me, I had to remind myself that she was in her 40s and not a teenager. I did really like the MMC and thought the author did a really great job with handling the grief journey, even years after a loss.

Cute premise, just not for me.

Thank you for the opportunity!

This was hard to get through. The storyline just didn't click for me and the characters seem like they have backstories, but they're not easy to get attached to and they're pretty shallow at times.

I wanna start out by saying this book has dual pov (which I love) and in 3rd person pov (which I don’t love as much) but this book wasn’t hard to follow with this change in pov. This book contains both a single mom (with a young son) and a single dad (with a older daughter) which I love that it represents single parents (even when the other parent is still involved (:) I honestly felt like Derek’s daughter was really rude lol. She makes a comment about Crystal’s weight which I did not like at all. I also didn’t appreciate that Derek didn’t tell her she was rude of shouldn’t make comments like that but proceeded to say she wasn’t wrong in his head. Crystal deserved better. It also seemed like Crystal and Derek’s relationship was forced like they needed to date for the story (haha) and they lacked some chemistry. Overall if you can overlook these minor details it’s a really good book. It’s always a good book when it has a happy ending!

Farm Cove Bilss started out good but quickly become one of my less favorite books I've read this year. I had a hard time believing the chemistry between Derek and Crystal. The plot of the story seemed like every other small-town romance with no real substance to it. The chapters were very short and lacked detail for me, which made it hard to finish the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bliss is definitely the right word for this book. I like a good small town romance… I don’t like it a lot but I’ll still read them lol. Anyways, both of our main characters are not exactly “young” or like in their 20’s or early 30’s like a lot of small town romance these days. Derek is a widower and a single father of a 20-year-old daughter, and Crystal is divorced, and a single parent as well with a 10-year-old son. I like how it’s almost “realistic” when it came down to expectations of each other. Especially with Crystal. This book was surprisingly a quick read for me, despite the number of chapters. It was… blissful. I just wished there was more in terms of Derek and Crystal’s characterization. I wished there was more bonding between their respective child and them. I would love to see that.

This was my first experience reading an E.D. Hackett book and l can confidently say that it won't be my last.

I am a sucker for a small town romance and the tension between Crystal and Derek was everything!
Starting this book l really related to Crystals struggle with grieving her mom. Being sad that she's gone but also dealing with the guilt/anger that she didn't know her that well. I felt like she handled it well and her character development was really well done.

How the money conflict was handled made me slightly uncomfortable. I understood it needed to be dealt with and knew it would most likely result in a conversation like that, but reading it stressed me out.

Although I liked this book I felt that the relationship moved very fast and l couldn't stop thinking about how Mason was going to fit into the life Crystal and Derek were planning for themselves.
2.5/5

I thought this book would be deeper than it was but unfortunately it wasn't.. I wanted more bonding moments with her son and Derek. I expected the trauma to be more rooted and entangled in the story but the romance just felt very forced and unearned. I wish I liked it more. I do think people who love small town and starting over romances would love. Thank you netgalley for the arc.

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Farm Cove Bliss
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: E.D. Hackett
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 09 February 2023

“ Α must-read for your TBR! ” - @dupuisshowreads

If you’re looking for an easy-to-read romance, look no further than Farm Cove Bliss by E.D. Hackett! This sweet and light read is for your TBR if you’re into sweet small town romances, characters with interesting backstories, single parents, and healing from loss.

Crystal is a newly single mom who has just suffered a huge loss. Through this loss, she inherits her needs-some-work childhood home. Α home which holds many tumultuous and negative feelings for Crystal. While attempting to come to terms with everything, she meets Derek, the man she ends up hiring repair the home. Derek is a single dad grieving the loss of his late wife, and while he does feel α slight spark for Crystal, he fights his feelings incapable of moving on.

This was my first read from Hackett and I found this to be a fun introduction to her work. It offered so many layers that I found it hard to put the book down! The story features α single mom, α single dad, and the struggles of parenting with situations of divorce and heartbreak, along with grief and loss. I found the story to contain relatable yet bittersweet, real life experiences. Both of the main characters are living lives and having experiences similar to so many. I enjoyed how Hackett developed the characters and showed their growth throughout the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and E.D. Hackett for the eARC!

Crystal has had to deal with the demise of her marriage, problems with her son, and now her mother’s decrepit house needs a lot of attention. Derek, who, lost his wife years ago, is her contractor and they get along well.
There were plenty of misunderstandings due to assumptions, jumping to conclusions, and miscommunication.
Derek stunk at running a business and Crystal was unrealistic about paying him. She should have decried her funding ahead of time.
I also thought Crystal was cruel for not visiting her mother after placing her in the nursing home.
It’s billed as a romance but there’s a lot more to ot.

I'd first like to thank NetGalley ,Xpresso Book Tours, and E.D Hackett for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book I've read by E.D. Hackett and I was instantly drawn to the beautiful, eye catching cover!

This book was wholesome and cute!
I'm a sucker for a small town romance and this book fit the bill. I enjoyed that both of the characters were realistically flawed and had their own real life problems to work through before they could consider a relationship.
I read this book quick because its relatively short, but also because I enjoyed it that much. I also liked that this book wasn't super predictable.

Tropes: strangers to lovers, dual POV, small town romance , grief/loss, cheating, single parenting

Overall, this book was a fun, cute, and quick read that I think most romance lovers will enjoy!

Teacher and single-mom Crystal Whitman didn’t think her life can get anymore chaotic until her mother dies. After her mom’s passing, she inherits an ancestral fixer-upper farmhouse in her rural hometown.

Single-dad Derek Fischer is struggling to move on. After his wife passed, his heart beats only for his daughter, and he has devoted his time running a home-improvement business.

When Crystal hires Derek to fix the farmhouse, they fight their attraction. She wonders if she’s destined to be alone; he wonders if his wife will forgive him for moving on.

This is a pretty wholesome story about two people trying to move on from their past relationships. Crystal and Derek went from strangers to lovers but they had other things to consider as they continued to move forward in their relationship. I haven’t read many romances that focus on single-parents, and so I found that aspect refreshing.

I want to start off by thanking netgalley for sending me an arc for an honest review.

What pulled me in to this book was the cover.. so cute!! I had never heard of the author, but the description and the cute cover drew me in. I was so excited when I was approved! I really wanted to love it but instead I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Here are some of my takeaways:

Liked:
- different storyline than what I'm used to
- the main characters seemed to not come from a picture perfect background.. it felt different
- I loved the cover & it was a quick and easy read

Disliked:
- once the main characters met, it felt like a lot of back and forth in their relationship. and they never truly grew their "love story"
- i didn't really like the "money" conflicts. it felt unnecessary and just made me feel uncomfortable with how it was handled
- the ending still felt predictable.. but to be fair, this tends to happen a lot with Romance novels

Overall, I'm glad I gave it a go and I did enjoy the book. Thank you netgalley!

Thank you to netgalley for sending me a arc for a honest review.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this book! I’m sad to say that I really wanted to like this book I got to chapter 13 and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I feel like the main characters have no chemistry and maybe it’s just me I know it maybe early but it was not my cup of tea. His daughter was also pretty rude to her and made a rude comment which honestly shouldn’t have been said because was does her weight have to do with anything. His daughter wants to live in a apartment with roommates but yet she is still really immature for getting mad over food.

It also seemed at first that crystal had no family at all but out of nowhere she has a cousin and aunts and uncles that appeared out of no where? That got me really confused.

And that bathroom scene! Like why does she mention that he has a cellphone up while looking at her taking a bath like do you just walk into peoples bathrooms like that? Did I read that part wrong?

In all honesty this story is described as a cute small town romance but it left me so confused from the very beginning.

Crystal is a hard working teacher, single mum to Mason and now, an orphan. Reeling after the loss of her estranged mother, Crystal heads back to her home town of Farm Cove to finalise the estate. To her shock, her mother's home (once the pride of the neighbourhood) is run down and in need of serious renovation before it can be sold.

In a stroke of luck, Crystal connects with local handyman Derek, a widower and single father, who agrees to take on the daunting task. As Crystal commits to spending her weekends and holidays in Farm Cove, she and Derek grow closer. Will romance bloom or are the walls they've built around their hearts going to sabotage them?

I really enjoyed this book and found it nice to have a slower, more natural paced relationship. Crystal is a Mum first, so her priority is her son and what is best for him rather than simply running away from her existing life to follow romance. In the same way, Derek is still grieving the loss of his wife and is understandably cautious. For me, it made the time they did have for each other even sweeter.

I'm grateful that I was given an ARC copy of this book to read and review by Netgalley, Author E. D. Hackett and Xpresso Book tours! Keep an eye out for this book on its publication day of 9th February 2023!