Rhonda McKnight's Reviews > Sweet Tea

I need to approach this review with truth. I’m biased. I am a huge fan of Piper Huguley’s work. I have loved every single thing she as written. I would probably enjoy reading her middle school essays if she gave them to me, but this book…this book was so much more than I expected.

I opened this book without reading the back cover copy. I tend to do that with books by authors I love. The blurb is not going to determine whether I buy or read the book. I prefer to let the experience happen organically and because Piper Huguley fits in the category of authors I love to read, I opened Sweet Tea blind. I had no idea I was in for not only a thoroughly satisfying romance, but a southern culinary journey. There was food. Lots of Southern food like fried chicken and homemade biscuits and collard greens. The desserts were not to out down by entrees. I enjoyed fantasizing about Red velvet cake, pecan pie, and pound cake the characters enjoyed. And then there was the pie! Grape pie from one of my very favorite Southern delight–muscadines. Through Huguley’s description, I could smell, feel, and taste the food. My mouth watered on nearly every page as I thought about the sweet tea. I even had a few glasses while I read.

I loved the heroine, Althea Dailey. She uptight and feisty and often right. In contrast, our hero, Jack Darwent was easy going, self-assured, and usually right. Huguley delivered tension, humor, witty banter, more sexual tension than I expected from Hallmark and a range of other emotions as Althea was forced to look at herself, her feelings about the past, and the choices she’d made. The third party in this romance was Althea’s grandmother. Her sass and sage advice were a blessing to my soul.

It was a delicious read.