Seed Money

The Scarsdale Fosters #1

by B.E. Baker

Some people have all the luck, but so far, Seren’s has all been bad.

Seren Colburn's had nothing but bad luck her entire life, so she's not surprised when Dave, a possible buyer for her family mansion, mistakes her for a vagrant squatting in the unfurnished home. If she wasn't about to lose her movie-star grandmother’s house to the bank, she wouldn't even be selling it.

But after he realizes Seren’s the owner, Dave has an idea.

He suggests they work together to turn the mansion into an inn, capitalizing on her grandmother's graceful and timeless image. Seren really doesn’t want to, but she's out of options. Dave quickly realizes he wants her as more than just a business partner, but can he convince Seren that her luck’s about to change. . .if only she'll take a chance on him?

Publisher's Weekly said that Seed Money's plot is, "heartwarming and humorous, though protagonist Seren's personal life is filled with tragedy." They also said that, "the prose is engaging and easy to read. [Seed Money] is [a] familiar, charming, and comfortable read."

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Clean Romance, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Contemporary Romance

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2023

About the author

Bridget loves her husband (every day) and all five of her kids (most days).

She’s a lawyer but does as little legal work as possible. She has three quarter horse geldings, a Holsteiner (jumping) horse, and she spends too much time riding and not enough time writing. (Or too much time writing and not enough time riding, depending on your perspective!)

B.E. Baker is the romance/women's fiction penname for Bridget E. Baker, who also writes fantasy, end of the world, and dystopian books that add a little magic to the world.

Please sign up for Bridget's fantasy or romance newsletters on her website at www.BridgetEBakerWrites.com or click Follow on her bio above to get notices and updates when she releases new books!

Reviews

[Anisa Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars I listened to the audiobook version which was nicely done. A very sweet romance that deals with greif/loss all while finding family. There was no third act breakup which I love. Pure romance, lots of emotional themes discussed throughout the story but overall heartwarming story.

[Rhiannon Hinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything by B.E. Baker and Seed Money is no exception. I laughed and cried my way through the book.

What you'll find inside:
Found family
Traumatic loss (see trigger warning below)
Home renovation
Humor
Opposite societal positions
Foster Care

What I loved
🏡 Dave and Seren's first meeting
🏡 The double date
🏡 Dave's uncouth jokes
🏡Luis
🏡 Meeting Emerson
🏡 Mrs. Barrett
🏡“That’s why our family’s great. We’re like steamrollers.” Mom smiles. “We’ll flatten out any objections she may have.”
🏡 How Dave sees Seren "The kindest, most gentle warrior" ❤️
🏡 How Seren sees Dave "...doggedly persistent idiot" 😂


Triggers
-Loss of family including parents, siblings, spouse, and miscarriage

I received an arc copy, all opinions are my own

[Joan Crosson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life at Last!

What happens when the world as you know it is gone? Faith and love have a funny way of showing us strength, hope, and kindness in the most unexpected ways! Opening the hearts of giants where friendship, family, and true love account for all that is good in this world is what you will encounter here in Seed Money. Everyone needs a hug. Enjoy the journey and come out the other end wanting more!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this, and I think I would have liked it better reading it. I wasn't a fan of the male narrator. I thought that the main characters' friends were pretty unimpressive. I liked the idea that family doesn't always share the same blood, that Seren finds a new family in Dave and the foster kid. It was an interesting book, and a little out of the norm for what I read. I've read B. E. Baker before and liked her books a lot. I'll give the next book a shot, too.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and light. Needed a fluffy book, and this was it. I appreciated that the characters weren’t stupid. They were able to work out complex problems to help with communication drama that could have happened. Felt more real bc of that.

[Julie Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been eyeing this book since it was released and then watched subsequent books in this series being released and all of the synopses intrigued me so I found the audiobooks through my library and started listening.

I was completely pulled into the story and loved it. I didn't want it to end and loved that I could dive right into the next book and still see these characters that I had grown to love.

This book will touch your heart and leave you feeling inspired to do good and to help those around you. I cried at several moments while reading this book. Happy tears and tears of emotion for the characters and their struggles and desires to do good and move past pain and sorrows. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Content: This book has aspects of foster care in it but was so beautifully written. Some kisses but nothing further.

I listened to the audiobook through my library but have also purchased my own copy. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to start another contemporary romance series by Bridget E. Baker. I've loved her Finding Home Series and her Birch Creek Ranch Series, and I think she shines the most as an author when she writes this type of book. I had a hard time putting this book down, and I ended up breezing right through it in just over a day!

I like the way we're introduced to Seren in the book. The way she and Dave meet is really cute and funny! Overall, I liked the humor in the book. There are some seriously devastating events that have happened in Seren's past and I was tearing up a couple of times, but the humor added a nice balance to the story so those parts didn't weigh it down too much.

Seren and Dave both have big hearts, and it was good to read a book that included fostering. My parents fostered a couple of times when I was a teen. They weren't orphans, but they came from homes that they were temporarily removed from, and they were much younger than the boy in this book, but I could still relate to the subject matter, and I can still remember how much my parents wanted to adopt the little boy they fostered for a whole year, starting at 18 months old. There was a bond that grew there. Eventually he ended up being able to go back and live with his dad, and it was both a happy and a sad thing for my parents.

If there were any negatives about the book, I would have to say the events in the book felt a little more rushed than I would have liked. Also, there was too much gushing done by Dave over Seren, but other than that, this was a great book that I really loved. At first I thought things might have worked out too perfectly for everyone in the book, but I think this is the rainbow after the storm for both Seren and Dave—especially Seren. The storm just happened before this story, and the story is about the beautiful and healing part after.

This is definitely a setup kind of book. It sets up the relationship between Seren and Dave, and the beginning of fostering. I'm not sure if subsequent books in the series will be about Dave and Seren adopting more children, or if they will be about other couples, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Review also posted at Writings of a Reader and my Facebook page.

[Branalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a former foster (now adoptive) parent and I received an advanced copy of this book to review. Normally, I avoid books that deal with the foster care system because it’s incredibly misunderstood by those outside of it, because I read to escape reality and don’t want to read about my actual reality (or a really bad caricature of it), and because I like reading books with that HEA ending and *any* outcome for a foster parent is always bittersweet.

BUT

I’ve read a lot of Baker’s books (nearly all of them) and I know she has an outstanding attention to detail, can write about tragedy and hard things well, and I know a touch of her background and that she does have some related personal experience in this world to inform her writing.

So I gave Seed Money a try. It took me a bit longer to read than usual for me because I was still a little apprehensive.

I shouldn’t have been worried.

Is it a perfect depiction of foster care? No. Honestly, foster care factors into this book fairly minimally (though I think it will feature more in future books if I understand the direction the series is going). And it’s kind of hard to accurately depict the realities of foster care without first giving people a massive information download about how foster care works. Plus, the book is set in New York State and my experience as a foster parent is in Texas.

Do you get a HEA? Yes. A very realistic one, in my opinion, though everyone may not see it that way. There’s a bit of an emotional roller coaster in this book but it’s done very well and ends happily.

Will I read the rest of the series? Yes. Probably. Future books that deal more heavily with the realities of foster parenting may end up being something I don’t enjoy reading but, as of this book, I think it’ll be okay.

***Slightly spoil-y trigger warning:*** This book also deals with miscarriage and resulting infertility. The character’s experience at a baby shower is hard to read when you’re living the reality of infertility but, again, it was well done. There was a time I wouldn’t have been able to read that chapter because of my own grief. It definitely got to me but not as intensely as it once would’ve.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another start into a series by the fabulous B. E. Baker. Yes, this is book 1 but it can be considered a stand alone. If you are familiar with her you know what you can expect, if you are new let me tell you. An incredible story with well developed characters, an author that is very familiar with certain subjects, and an incredible ability to make sure to research anything she doesn’t. I enjoy all of her books because her way of writing is engaging and enjoyable. This book is a little different, it involves some heavier subjects such as miscarriage, loss of family, and youth incarceration. But if this has not scared you off, believe me when I say you will enjoy this book and I am anxiously awaiting book 2 in this series.

Seren feels very unlucky in life and is sure that she will never be able to have anything good happen to her. Having lost her grandmother is hitting her hard and she is struggling to move on, this sadness is starting to get very serious. But then one day with a cheerio stuck on her cheek her life is thrown on its head. Will Seren take the plunge, risk it all, and maybe come out on top?

Dave is a young man with a mission. He has some money and he knows what he wants to invest in. Real estate, because no matter what time it is, it's usually a good idea. With his best friend in tow, Dave is looking at location after location but nothing really jumps at him and gives him the feeling that it is just right for his future inn, that is until he enters a house that has a cute vagrant girl with a cheerio stuck on her cheek living in it. Is his investment going to pay out or will Dave have lost everything and might lose himself in the end?

Dave and Seren are an unexpected business couple, but can it turn into more, or will it jeopardize their professional future?

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

This humorous story immediately captures the reader's attention. The characters, particularly Seren and Dave, are well-crafted, entertaining, and remarkably resilient. Despite their traumas, they continue to navigate life with courage and determination. Dave, who always felt like damaged goods due to his father's occupation, and Seren, who lost her entire family in a tragic accident, are testament to the human spirit's ability to endure.

Seren has recently lost her whole family in an awful auto crash into a bus. After all the deaths, the estate was liable for lots of lawsuits. All she has left is her (movie star grandmother's) home, which she cannot afford to maintain.

When Dave proposes renovating the mansion into a B&B and becoming a financial partner, Seren jumps at the chance. In addition to bringing the property to the partnership, she is also a Cordon Bleu chef. Before the end of the story, the last shoe drops when, on a chance encounter with a youngster, Seren decides to foster him rather than let him slip through the cracks of a group home or foster care.

This is an emotional story about characters the reader cares about because of their interesting lives and choices. A real winner.

[Bev Walkling · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will laugh and you will cry

This is the second book I've read by this author and I will happily read more.

Dave has always been known as the garbage body because his father owned garbage dumps. He has always been able to take broken things and fix them. When he finds himself financially flush, he starts looking for a property like an inn, that he can revitalize. He finds what he believes to be the perfect space, but the owner, who has recently been involved in a tragic accident (I won't tell you how many family members died, but I went through several kleenex here), is in a bad space emotionally and financially. When Dave suggests they partner to turn her grandmother's home into an inn, she agrees, as long as he promises that if he ever dates her, he must pay her off.

What follows is a heart-wrenching adventure with quirky characters, misunderstandings, but also signs of light breaking through the darkness. How does it resolve? You'll have to read it but you won't be disappointed.

Favourite quote: "So if you feel like your luck is down, or that your month has been a mess, brace yourself. The good news is probably right around the corner. Be smart enough to see it."

[Leslee Willmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, Seed Money… boy I cried a wide range of tears with this book! Sad tears from poor Seren’s “The Accident.” Sweet tears from moments that were so heartwarming my eyes leaked, and like, big sobbing ugly crying tears from certain things people did or said that were so full of love I just lost it! I also found Dave quite funny. But even more important, Seren found him funny! Their love story was endearing and probably super realistic actually (instead of reading a book and rolling your eyes at how that would never happen in real life) but this books wasn’t Baker’s most ooey gooey butterfly romantic book. BECAUSE of Seren’s wounds. Dave had to tread lightly. This is what I meant by it being realistic. It wasn’t a sweet and silly rom com…it is a deep and meaningful, heartfelt and wholesome dandy of a book and I loved it! Bridget Baker loves to make you feel all the feels and she definitely accomplished that with this book! It is WORTH the read!! And then read the next one Nouveau Riche which has more “butterfly romance” and also all the wholesome feels. ❤️ Baker is an auto-buy safe read for me and I haven’t read a single book of hers I haven’t loved!

[Christine Biesheuvel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, Sweet, Sad And Wonderful!
Terrible, inappropriate jokes that just do the job by lighting the sad mood. And of course it is sad when you have lost your whole family – and the family’s money in the resulting process – within one week. And friends and people you meet treat you like somebody broken and to be pitied. Dark gloom. And then this funny, very good looking guy comes around, says incredible things and offers you a chance to break out of it all and keep the only thing that is left: your grandmother’s house.
It’s the beginning of a rollercoaster relationship, business like, but a lot of feelings underneath. Ending in a double HEA with a foster kid becoming a son.
To me this book gave me a lot of laughs (I just loved the funny stuff), and made me shed plenty of tears. It doesn’t delve very deeply into the traumas the three MCs went through, but leaves enough to the imagination of the reader. The book really caught my attention and I read it in one go. Recommended!

[Teri Easterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

sweet love story

Serendipity feels unlucky, broken, and unloved since the accident that claimed her entire family. She is also the heiress to her grandmother’s mansion that she has no money to keep for taxes and maintenance. She does have two very good friends who watch over her.

Dave is a “rags to riches” guy who has not forgotten his roots or the taunts of classmates. He enjoys fixing broken things. He wants to buy a big house to make into an inn. He also has two lifelong supportive friends.

They form a strange partnership to repurpose grandmother’s house into a bed and breakfast inn. The relationship grows from their daily contact.

Emerson, a 13-year-old shoplifter, plays an important role.

Sorrow, humor, grace, and love bring a lovely ending.

I enjoyed the book.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although there were good parts of this book, so much of it was just so plain silly and juvenile. The book follows Seren, granddaughter of a movie star, who has just undergone an incredible loss. She is now about to lose her family's mansion. Then, in walks Dave as a potential buyer. He happens upon Seren in the house and on the spot, they decide to go into partnership to turn it into an inn. Although there was no profanity, there was plenty of unpleasant talk about other people and how they disliked them. The chapters alternated between Dave and Seren and it was a bit irritating when the exact same dialogue was repeated as the chapters went from one person to another. I will not be reading any more of this series.

[Lindsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the beginning of this story I figured it would be a 3 star for me. Really close to a 3.5 but I didn’t realize how much tragedy this book would have in it. Plus the MMC just wanted to change the FMC I felt like. Kind of a love triangle which was a little predictable even though the FMC didn’t want to date the MMC at all. Even made a clause in the contract about it even though she didn’t have any money.
I was frustrated with the MMC in the beginning with how he talked about fixing things and fixing her etc etc. I did finish this story even though I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It definitely made me cry more than once. I just felt like everything was rushed and it was just one thing after another but thankfully these two figured things out.

[Michaela | Reading in the Heartland · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You can’t keep the windows closed forever. Someday you’ll have to let the light back in.”

This book started off with some humor and I instantly connected with our hero. I commiserate the feeling of being in the wrong time where if it’s broken you trash it rather than fix it. A money hunt that destroys all respectability and morality.

This book wasn’t what I was expecting, it was so much more. Totally engaged in this he falls first business partnership, I couldn’t put the book down. There was humor and pain and friendship and family. There were also a lot of good and solid lessons. It was a wonderful read.

I received a review copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ended being a bit of a hate read for me by the end. The beginning was cute enough, and it was a nice clean romance but ugh - could you have hit anymore stereotypes.

This completely lost me when it was revealed that Seren could no longer have children and there was the scene with Dave's mother at the baby shower where she went on and on about "how cute their babies would be". The adoption plot point was obviously necessary because no family is complete without kids, so they couldn't have just been happy together with their inn. They had to find some way of fulfilling Seren's role as a woman by adopting instead because she was unable to have her biological children. No thanks.

[Regal Princess · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was way too cheesy, with characters that had exaggerated, caricature-like personalities. It was a bit of an OTT hyper-unrealistic story, like a magical fairytale where everything ends up perfect. Irritatingly, two characters kept referring to the main character (a grown woman) as "girl" when talking directly to her - who does that? There were also characters giving unsolicited, deeply personal advice to strangers, so unrealistic. The book read as if it was written by a teen/young adult. In several places, it mentions how the male lead keeps trying to "fix" the female lead & rescue her, which was irritating to read. After halfway, I didn't want to continue but did to get the ending.

[Barbara Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve listened to most of the Finding Home series & love it! I’ve read The Bequest & love it! I will finish both of these series. I was looking for a new audiobook, I decided to go a different route and listen to book one of the Scarsdale Fosters series .. “Seed Money.” I loved Dave & Seren & oh Emerson! ❤️ I love the depth & complexity to all Bridget Baker’s works I love that she doesn’t avoid the difficult & grittier parts of life. I love that her characters are real… flaws & all .. and while there may be a HEA at the end of the book, it isn’t all neat & tidy …wrapped up in a predictable bow.

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful read! We find ourselves meeting two great characters who are likeable and relatable and a storyline that’s real and lifelike and heartwarming and I just couldn’t put it down. I will admit it had me in tears in places and laughing in others as we find Seren’s bad luck change to good when she meets Dave and he comes up with a plan. Theres grief, theres loss and there’s unhappiness and sadness but there is also joy and love and romance in this sweet and emotional read. I cannot wait to read more.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words are not enough... but their all I've got!

This is the first time I've read this author's work, and I absolutely loved it. The tale hooked me in from the first and kept me on the edge of my seat (mentally). I liked all the life stories that blended together. Along with the real life "not so happy about it all character" thrown in the mix.... I never knew exactly how things were going to turn out. I'd definitely recommend this lovely, yet "edge of the seat" tale... SO interesting all the way through! Masterfully written!!

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book one of a series built around Seren and Dave, their child fostering, friends and family, set in Scarsdale. Start here to get a good foundation, as well as a sweet meet-cute. Seren does NOT have it all together after serious family tragedy and is absolutely NOT dating anyone. So you know how that is going to go! She truly has a heart of gold and you get to see her shine through her struggles to come back to herself from the depths of depression and hopelessness.

Content warning for talk of miscarriage/infertility but is not a main topic.

[Dianne S · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started off with Dave telling us all about how everyone called him Garbage Guy all through school - grade school, high school, college. The reason? Because he would take broken things that he found and fix them - and then he'd either sell them or give them away. This sounds like something that would make him kind of popular with other kids, not picked on - and definitely not for so long.

Then we get to hear about Seren who's been unlucky all her life.
1. She looks just like her grandmother who was a stunningly beautiful actress. But Seren is shy so that makes her beauty more of a curse.
2. She doesn't like chocolate, soda or candy so she stays thin. But on special occasions she never got a gift because no-one knew what to get her. Seriously??? nobody ever buys anything but chocolates and candy as gifts for people?!
3. She's naturally athletic. Except she hates having people look at her so playing sports was pure torture.
4. She's academically gifted. But this caused her parents to send her to an Ivy League school when she just wanted to learn to cook. Which she did anyway by taking cooking classes at night.
5. She was born into a wealthy family. She does admit she was lucky there but then all the money went on lawsuits after The Accident.

So she's beautiful, thin, athletic, smart and has an ivy league education. And those cooking classes she took? She went to the best cooking school in America and then to a top French cooking school in Paris for 6 months. But we should feel sorry for her because she's so unlucky.

And then we have The Accident. Lots of romance books start off with one of the mcs (often the fmc) losing someone close to them before the start of the story. A parent, a sibling, a best friend.

But Seren loses everyone. Both parents, her grandmother, her brother, her sister, her brother-in-law, her nephews and her husband - to whom she'd only been married for 6 months - are all killed in a car accident! Seren was the only survivor. And then we find out that her nephews were twin toddlers. I'm sorry but that did it for me. As if killing off her whole family wasn't enough, the author had to kill off two small children as well so so we can all know how unlucky Seren is.

But don't worry everyone, that all happened a whole twelve months ago so now she's ready to move on with life and fall in love with someone new.

DNF at 25%.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was a diamond in the rough! This was the first book of B.E. Baker’s that I’ve read. Very well written story of 2 people who felt down on their luck in life, but add a dimension of magic to each other’s lives when they meet up to restore the mansion of the young woman’s grandmother. They work together to turn the mansion into an inn and each one owns 1/2 the mansion. Add in a boy that they commit to fostering together and it gives them all a fresh start together. Make sure you have some tissues handy for their HEA ending!

[Erin M. Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweet sweet book between Dave and Seren has so many different moments where you want to laugh, and cry; sometimes both at once. Starting off with Dave going to look at a house to buy, meets Seren who is looking to sell her family home after a tragedy that she has endured about a year ago. At first glance Dave fell in love with her, without realizing it and suggested going into business with him and opening up an inn type place of her family home. This book was a discovery in self for both of them, of discovery in each other and in healing.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love every book that Miss. Baker has written so far and this one is not the exception. The story is heartwarming with characters that feel real and a plot that will keep you laughing, engrossed, guessing and cheering.
There is lost, longing, sadness, but also lots of love, pulling up in life and starting over. The book is romantic, emotional, funny and sweet.
Can’t wait to read the next one in the series.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored both of these main characters and watching their progression as people and partners. Some of my favorite parts: the pain and healing that the lead female goes through (it's so real, and evokes all the feelings!), what the caseworker said at the final home visit (as a foster mom, this also made me cry), and the beautiful relationship between father and son. It's such a lovely story that sets up a great series to follow!

[Susan Brenning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Struck so many chords that I’m a symphony

I love the brokenness, healing, and new life. Rebuilding, refurbishing, and reinventing of home and family. The characters are so cool and don’t even know it. Just the kind of person you would want to be. Besides the rebuilding, other areas that strike a chord with me are food, gardening, family, and friends. The only thing I missed was a pet, but the space was so full and complete a pet would have gotten trampled under your feet.