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The Love We Brew: Hope and Healing Blend
"Sometimes the perfect blend requires a little bit of darkness..."
Connor Ebin thought he had his grief hidden from the world around him. As a widower and the CEO of a successful gaming company, he's mastered the art of keeping busy enough to ignore the empty spaces in his heart. But when he saves a young homeless woman, the carefully constructed walls around his heart begin to crumble.
Shelly Lockhart wasn't looking for a hero. Surviving on the streets means trusting no one, especially not an older man with haunted eyes and a gentle touch. But as their paths continue to cross at a local coffee shop, she discovers that some connections are impossible to resist.
When danger threatens to tear them apart, they'll learn that the strongest loves are brewed from equal parts passion and protection, sweetened with understanding, and that sometimes the strongest loves are brewed from the darkest grounds.
A modern romance dramedy about finding love in the spaces between grief and hope.
Connor Ebin thought he had his grief hidden from the world around him. As a widower and the CEO of a successful gaming company, he's mastered the art of keeping busy enough to ignore the empty spaces in his heart. But when he saves a young homeless woman, the carefully constructed walls around his heart begin to crumble.
Shelly Lockhart wasn't looking for a hero. Surviving on the streets means trusting no one, especially not an older man with haunted eyes and a gentle touch. But as their paths continue to cross at a local coffee shop, she discovers that some connections are impossible to resist.
When danger threatens to tear them apart, they'll learn that the strongest loves are brewed from equal parts passion and protection, sweetened with understanding, and that sometimes the strongest loves are brewed from the darkest grounds.
A modern romance dramedy about finding love in the spaces between grief and hope.
389 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2025
3 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Ethan Jakob
4 books19 followersEthan Jakob is a full time nurse, husband and father. He is a veteran rugby player and gym enthusiast that developed a love of ttrpgs and rpg video games at an early age. His love of writing fantasy started early in life and became a semi serious act when he began to write short stories of flashbacks for a character in a long running D&D campaign he was in. Soon that translated into the desire to write book. He is currently working on his third novel, the sequel to Lavender & Ginger: A Callus Kordec Tale.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 8, 2025
“You make me want to open up, to let someone in, and that terrifies me more than any night I spent on the streets…because good things don’t happen to girls like me. They just don’t.”
This is a story for fans of a Pretty Woman type story, but with a lot more healing. This will tug at your heart strings and give you warm, fuzzy feelings.
Connor is still grieving the loss of his wife and daughter (five years later) when he serendipitously meets Shelly, a homeless woman. He feels called to help her, but in the process of doing so, they form a friendship, which develops into much more.
The story is a slow burn, friends to lovers kind of story, and it’s sweet and thoughtful and dripping with respect - which I love to see in a romance novel. There are some interesting side characters, and plot storylines, both good and complicated, that keep the entire story moving forward.
Cheers to finding the love you deserve!
This is a story for fans of a Pretty Woman type story, but with a lot more healing. This will tug at your heart strings and give you warm, fuzzy feelings.
Connor is still grieving the loss of his wife and daughter (five years later) when he serendipitously meets Shelly, a homeless woman. He feels called to help her, but in the process of doing so, they form a friendship, which develops into much more.
The story is a slow burn, friends to lovers kind of story, and it’s sweet and thoughtful and dripping with respect - which I love to see in a romance novel. There are some interesting side characters, and plot storylines, both good and complicated, that keep the entire story moving forward.
Cheers to finding the love you deserve!
March 12, 2025
If you thought the cozy cover meant you would be safe from emotional damage, let me tell you right now that you are so wrong! This age gap romance is about so much more than falling in love, actually, I would say the romance is almost secondary. And that's not a bad thing. Because the main focus is really about healing from trauma and learning how to live again after the unimaginable.
Connor and Shelly are two very broken people who have gone through some horrible things in their life. Connor is a man who had it all, a loving family, his own successful gaming studio, but after the death of his wife and daughter, he's a shell. How Ethan writes this character feels deeply intimate, giving the reader an up-close view of how grief can continue to drag you down even after years, and how some people feel that continuing on with life and being happy feels like a betrayal to the ones you lost.
Shelly is a young woman on the streets because the system failed her for her entire life. I've never wanted to hug a character so badly, because she never had someone love her. Her character is written with a good balance of maturity while still staying true to the character's age.
What I like best about Shelly and Connor's relationship is that it was organic. They were strangers, then friends, and then lovers. But they never set out to fix each other; that happened naturally as they saw each other's broken parts. Rather than try to fix those parts, they patched the holes with their own broken pieces.
For Ethan Jakob's first plunge into contemporary romance, this was wonderful, and I'm eager to read more, (give me Ashlyn and Manu, I am begging you). There's also some fun nods to gaming and the gaming community. And don't worry, this does have a HEA, but it is work to get there.
Triggers:
Death of a child (before story)
Attempted SA (on-page)
Drugs (not mains)
Violence
Trauma bonding
(I will not explain, read it yourself)
Connor and Shelly are two very broken people who have gone through some horrible things in their life. Connor is a man who had it all, a loving family, his own successful gaming studio, but after the death of his wife and daughter, he's a shell. How Ethan writes this character feels deeply intimate, giving the reader an up-close view of how grief can continue to drag you down even after years, and how some people feel that continuing on with life and being happy feels like a betrayal to the ones you lost.
Shelly is a young woman on the streets because the system failed her for her entire life. I've never wanted to hug a character so badly, because she never had someone love her. Her character is written with a good balance of maturity while still staying true to the character's age.
What I like best about Shelly and Connor's relationship is that it was organic. They were strangers, then friends, and then lovers. But they never set out to fix each other; that happened naturally as they saw each other's broken parts. Rather than try to fix those parts, they patched the holes with their own broken pieces.
For Ethan Jakob's first plunge into contemporary romance, this was wonderful, and I'm eager to read more, (give me Ashlyn and Manu, I am begging you). There's also some fun nods to gaming and the gaming community. And don't worry, this does have a HEA, but it is work to get there.
Triggers:
Death of a child (before story)
Attempted SA (on-page)
Drugs (not mains)
Violence
Trauma bonding
(I will not explain, read it yourself)
July 18, 2025
The Love We Brew is everything I look for in a romance. I was absolutely invested from the first page. I loved the characters, they were all written with such depth and complex emotions/backstories. I love that Connor fills the “protector” role. He checks all my boxes for a MMC. Shelly is so inspiring. She is resilient and proves time and time again that she will overcome the obstacles placed in front of her. I usually am not a cryer, but this book had me in tears multiple times…and it was exactly what I needed. I wish I could go back and read this for the first time all over again. Ethan Jakob did an amazing job with this, and I can’t wait to read more of his work!
October 23, 2025
Loved this book! Lots of unexpected turns that kept me hooked!
February 16, 2025
This was such a sweet read. Not only could I not put it down, but it was so easy to get lost in. This is the perfect book to curl up on the couch with. There's touches of loss and pain, but also deep love. It's such a real and raw story all the way through. Definitely give this one a try!
July 20, 2025
Cozy, cute and emotionally devastating.. That’s what Ethan Jakob brings to the table with The Love We Brew. When he posted there would be free stuff, kinda if you bought his book, I immediately jumped on the chance to get my hands on it. Despite the emotional damage, this was actually the perfect little romance book.
Connor and Shelly are two broken people, who have been to hell and back & are just trying to find their place in this world. And when they find each other, things somehow feel lighter.
Connor had it all- CEO, a loving family, great friends. After his wife and daughter tragically pass, we’re left with the shell of a man he’s become. Years later, that grief still finds its way into his daily happenings and we see how it doesn’t ever go away, just shifts and changes and hurts you in the smallest ways still. The way Ethan wrote him, hurt ME. I could feel Connor’s pain as my own and my heart broke for him.
Shelly has been failed time and time again by a broken system that she aged out of. She’s found herself on the streets and continues to face different horrors there than she did while in foster care. When she tries to find solace (and figure out a place to stay) in the comfort of a late night coffee shop, Connor comes to her rescue as two holier than thou jerks try to have her removed from where she’d been sitting.
What I loved about Connor and Shelly was the way their relationship developed so organically. It didn’t feel forced or rushed and everything fell into place so naturally for them. And rather than trying to fix each other, they loved each other despite the broken parts.
Can we talk about Connor asking for a sign and then finding his late wife's tarot cards? As someone that absolutely believes our loved ones reach out from the other side, my heart stopped and I did my best to hold back tears. And in the end, when he finally saw all the signs in hindsight? Oh, my heart.
I giggled, I kicked my little feet, I cried and Ethan got a few middle finger pictures for the damage he inflicted, but this story was so perfectly executed and by the end of it, I was so incredibly glad I picked this one up.
Connor and Shelly are two broken people, who have been to hell and back & are just trying to find their place in this world. And when they find each other, things somehow feel lighter.
Connor had it all- CEO, a loving family, great friends. After his wife and daughter tragically pass, we’re left with the shell of a man he’s become. Years later, that grief still finds its way into his daily happenings and we see how it doesn’t ever go away, just shifts and changes and hurts you in the smallest ways still. The way Ethan wrote him, hurt ME. I could feel Connor’s pain as my own and my heart broke for him.
Shelly has been failed time and time again by a broken system that she aged out of. She’s found herself on the streets and continues to face different horrors there than she did while in foster care. When she tries to find solace (and figure out a place to stay) in the comfort of a late night coffee shop, Connor comes to her rescue as two holier than thou jerks try to have her removed from where she’d been sitting.
What I loved about Connor and Shelly was the way their relationship developed so organically. It didn’t feel forced or rushed and everything fell into place so naturally for them. And rather than trying to fix each other, they loved each other despite the broken parts.
Can we talk about Connor asking for a sign and then finding his late wife's tarot cards? As someone that absolutely believes our loved ones reach out from the other side, my heart stopped and I did my best to hold back tears. And in the end, when he finally saw all the signs in hindsight? Oh, my heart.
I giggled, I kicked my little feet, I cried and Ethan got a few middle finger pictures for the damage he inflicted, but this story was so perfectly executed and by the end of it, I was so incredibly glad I picked this one up.
September 28, 2025
A cozy romance that makes you want to curl up under the covers with and not move till it's finished. I really enjoyed the journey the two main characters went on to heal from their past hurts to be able to love again. Definitely a good, heartwarming story to get into.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews