Harper and her aunt have shared their love for baking over the years. But with the latter's health problems, it's no longer possible for her to run the bakery on her own; therein enters Harper. She traveled to Tilikum to help her aunt, eventually taking over the bakery that she passed onto her.
It's only been a few weeks since she came in town. But her aunt wanted her to have a life aside from baking, so said aunt decided to conspire with Garrett's aunt to set up these two for a date. 🤭
Everything was already set; Harper (31) and Garrett (30s??) both agreed to the blind date. But something came up with Garrett's work, and he had no choice but to bail on her.🤷♀️ Don't worry, he let her know that he couldn't make it. Harper was, to put it mildly, unsurprised by this news since she's already used to having so many misfortunes these last seven years when it comes to life, and not just with dating. 🫣
See, the thing is, she's superstitious. She broke a mirror six years ago; it's nothing sentimental, just a plain mirror. But she strongly believed that the incident was a curse and that she'd suffer for the next seven years of her life. I guess the law of attraction came into play because ever since that broken mirror mishap, a lot of unlucky events happened to her. She keeps thinking nothing's good will go her way and always looking for the other shoe to drop. She conditioned herself not to believe in luck and not to fully enjoy the good things coming her way because one way or another something awful would happen that would eventually ruin them. So this failed date of hers is nothing new, it's literally one of the many unfortunate things in her life. 🥲
Anyway, after that failed date, I think weeks passed before they officially met. Garrett's kid, Owen (14), decided to cut class and stole cookies from Harper's bakery. Garrett brought him to her to apologize and to find ways how his son could make up for what he did. Despite the fact that this was their first real in-person meeting, insta-love struck straight away and took hold for both of them. 🤭
Owen's supposed one-day assistance became a regular thing after school. He came to love baking and enjoy working as Harper's assistant. They sort of bonded over cookies and developed a real friendship. I think it helps that Owen's really a good kid, respectful and not troublesome at all (the stealing is an anomaly). And sometimes it's Garrett who dropped him off or one of his uncles. And as the days passed by, Garrett has been slowly getting obsessed with Harper, and he has no clue what to do about it.
If readers are not into insta-love, then I don't think they would appreciate the MCs whirlwind romance, because these two really moved so fast (like 20%-ish mark). 😂 It was definitely a fast burn and basically smooth sailing relationship from the beginning until the end. The first half was all about their romance and all the lovey-dovey stuff they had going. Garrett's family and son accepted Harper, and she felt their genuine and heartfelt welcome and has loved every moment she's slowly becoming part of their fold.
Once the romance had been established, the second half became mostly focused on the suspense aspect and Garrett's effort in finding the serial killer that's still freely roaming around in their town. He became so invested in this case, and a lot of hurdles were thrown his way to prevent him from moving any further with his investigation, but he's hellbent on putting this person behind bars so nothing could stop him. 😅
When Garrett figured out the person behind the murder, he got abducted by the suspect and was put in a freaking freezer. The psycho planned to frame Garrett for a murder-suicide case (Harper). There's some action and violence (a bit), but of course, at the end of the day it got resolved and the bad guy was put into place (or rather six feet under). 🫣
Anyway, it was good, and I enjoyed it mainly because of the suspense. 🫣 I was more invested in it than the romance. The romance wasn't entirely bad; I had fun seeing them together. The MCs were sweet, honest, and open, there's no mind games or push-pull stunts. It really was a healthy relationship, and these two were green-flag walking. Even Harper's relationship with Owen was so freaking adorable, and I love how he 100% accepted her for him and his dad. I love their instant family and their love for one another. 🥹
But like I said, I'm really, really curious who's the killer and how he got away with what he did for almost a decade. I had my own guess of who it could be, so I'm eating up all the crumbs Garrett's investigation has found. And, tbh, I didn't expect the bad guy, which made it intriguing for me because I didn't see it coming. 🤭
Anyhoo, I'm rambling again, but overall, it was really an enjoyable book and definitely worth reading (for me).
Book info:
— Small town romance
— Romantic suspense
— Insta-love
— Single dad
— Deputy/Detective x Baker
— Serial killing
— Fast burn
— No cheating, OM/OW, separation
— No V (no info)
— Surprise pregnancy
— HEA (married with newborn daughter)
— Bonus epilogue (yrs later, married with 2 daughters)
Note:
— No info on Garrett's ex; she walked away years ago (unsure how long). He said marrying her was a mistake, but he didn't regret his son.