Ain&#x27;t She Sweet

(4.5 stars) - seriously entertaining

The 2nd installment in the 7 Brides for 7 Mothers series has a slightly different flavor or mood than the 1st - but that helps distinguish this as James & Tara's unique story rather than a copy of Addie & Brogan's.

The book can stand alone, but this is one of those series where there is development of the secondary characters taking place in the background, so I recommend starting from the beginning.

The point of view shifts between Tara, James, Gwen & Ruby. That threw me a little as I'm used to it just being between the romantic couple, but it wasn't a major adjustment, & it makes sense with the mother part of the theme for the series really.

To be honest, I wasn't sure about Tara & James with all their squabbling in the previous book, but things smoothed out credibly & fairly quickly here. And at that point, they both stopped looking childish, and started coming across simply as strong-willed, confident people who were learning to rub along together instead of against (no double meaning intended, lol). That's when I really started getting into their story.

They're both confident in their work yet struggling with their personal vulnerabilities. The denouement occurs when they both stop reacting mostly passively to their issues & seize an opportunity to deal actively with them instead - and, oh man, it's seriously fun once they do!

The ending is totally satisfying and also introduces some of the characters who will be leading in future installments - delivering happy in the now + promises of future happy as well=a very happy reader!

*Romance level: passionate kisses, some implied intimacy but no details, some reasonably discreet references to the effects of cold & a passionate kiss on a male character's anatomy

*Language: light smattering of common swears, about a dozen uses of d-mn & h-ll, one use of sh-tshow, a couple uses of b-tch

*Religion: generic, relativistic; one character has some creative, naturalistic (pantheistic) ideas about God; use of God's Name carelessly (ie not speaking to or about Him aka "in vain") sadly & unnecessarily, but not as curses, fwiw

Cath

3,005 reviews44 followers

This is book two of the Seven Brides for Seven Mothers series and the main characters are Tara Heinz and James Cavanaugh. Tara was a supermodel and started modelling at the tender age of twelve. She was in the business for some sixteen years, until she finally gave up having to watch what she ate and never being allowed to let herself eat a dessert, and was always in the public eye. She was with her ex-fiance Romaine Choate, the biggest rock-star of this generation for three years, until she realised that their lives were heading in different directions. Romaine loved and fed on all the media and fan attention, whilst Tara had had enough. She wanted to see what it would be like to live a normal life, and had even given up her modelling career at its pinnacle, to train as a pastry chef at culinary school for the last year she was with him. He couldn’t understand why she didn’t want the attention every time they were out together, nor see that they had different ideas about life and their futures. She left him and LA and moved to Spartan, Oregon to take up a position as pastry chef for the Willamette Valley Lodge, under the name, Tara Delaney, with Delaney being her middle name.

Nobody knew her and all it took was darkening her hair and wearing little to no make-up. Unfortunately, her mother Gwen was being hounded by reporters, after Tara’s break-up, with Romaine getting them to deliver messages, saying he still loved her and wondering when the two were going to get back together. James is a farmer, having saved up and bought a patch of land and the old farmhouse that was on it, and worked at growing his own produce, which his mother Ruby uses at the lodge she owns and runs. He also runs a stand at the entrance to his property, where he or some of his staff sell produce every day. He had loads of run ins with Tara over the summer when she first came to town, as she asked why he wasn’t growing organic produce and would end up in arguments with him nearly every time. His brother Brogan and girlfriend Addie, were the first couple who Ruby fixed up together, wanting to fill her time after her husband Tom, of some forty years, suddenly passed away. She is busy running and managing the lodge, but she wants to see her boys settled and to get some grandkids running around!

She pulls out her matchmaking skills again with her younger son James and asks him to come and discuss a garden for the lodge, to grow more of their own produce in, and ropes in Tara to help. The two of them don’t really get on well together, but are forced to be polite and discuss this idea and start to plan it out for his mother. He begins to see a different side to her and when he finds a puppy abandoned in a shopping trolley, which he then takes home, the two share their love of the puppy and begin to get closer to each other. Thanksgiving is coming up and Tara’s mum is going to come up and visit her and the lodge is going to be busy with a huge wedding party coming in. Tara’s peace is shattered when Romaine’s manager turns up, as well as a female reporter for the Tattler, who wants to do a story on her. Her secret live and the peace she has been enjoying, is about to be shattered. She believes that if she gives the press a little something, to prove she is no longer with Romaine and will definitely not be getting together with him again, that maybe they will leave her alone.

She asks James if he will pretend to be her boyfriend for the interview and they practise questions and answers whilst looking after Penny the puppy together. James is fine with helping her, as it will allow him to get his plumbing issues sorted out and maybe fix up the farmhouse a bit. But he isn’t used to being in the public eye and gets completely tongue tied, forgetting everything they had planned to say. Tara ends up having to hide out in the lodge, as more attention is being applied to everyone in town, by Romaine’s manager, wanting to get in touch with her. Matters get even worse when the wedding guests and an army of press arrive, ready for the grand wedding celebration, of a famous couple, whom Tara has close ties to.

This is small town life down to a tee, with the normal family issues, marriage problems and choices of jobs and places to live. Moving from a busy place like LA to a small town like Spartan, is not for all, but the peace and quiet and the lovely surroundings are well described and a reason most wish to stay. Another bit of romance in the offing as the story continues and Ruby is as busy as ever, looking to see who else she can match make for in town, starting with her executive chef Geoffrey, who doesn’t seem to have had any dates even since he joined the lodge family. Nice clean romantic storyline of different lives coming together and finding a connection, no matter what obstacles are put in their way. Lots more to come from this series and I can’t wait to read the rest. They are easy to read and just a lovely touch of writing pleasure, I would recommend to all. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout, but have also bought this one and the first in the series already. I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

Jo Reads Romance

945 reviews67 followers

January 6, 2021

Not the right book for me
3 stars

This is the second book in Dineen’s Seven Brides for Seven Mothers series. I love the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, as well as an enemies to lovers romance, so decided to give this book a go. I couldn’t see much correlation between the book and the film (not to say that there is one, or needs to be) but perhaps that will come out in the rest of the series. Or maybe not!

I hadn’t read the first in the series, and while this book does have a self-contained romance about a different couple than in the first story, I feel I was seriously missing out from not having met these characters previously.

While a lot of that was to do with the setting and the relationships at Willamette Valley Lodge, I’m also assuming that a lot of Tara and James’ animosity and dislike of each other started - and was most antagonistic - during the first book. As such, when we first meet our couple in this book, they’re not too fond of each other but they seem to get along just fine. Slightly disappointing.

The story is written primarily in first person present tense with both James and Tara’s point of view. However, every so often we get a mini-chapter written in third person, present tense with the focus being either Gwen or Ruby - our couple’s mothers. I found this really disjointed and even then, I’m not sure I cared about what either mother was up to. I’m here for the romance.

I liked both our main characters although I didn’t really feel much beyond like with them. There was a lot going on regarding the lodge, James’s house, Tara’s ex etc etc. It told me a lot but nothing that made me feel all that close to our pair.

The heat level of the book was, as the title would suggest, sweet.

As I was reading, I finished one chapter and was ready to turn to the next only to realise that I’d reached the end of the book. I’m not sure that’s ever happened to me before. It’s still something of a happy ending (our couple end with a kiss) but was it satisfying to me? Absolutely not.

This book has a really high rating by other reviewers but it just wasn’t the right match for me. Perhaps if I’d read the first book I might have felt differently, but this just wasn’t my thing and I can only give the book 3 stars.

contemporary

Viper Spaulding

3,174 reviews27 followers

December 13, 2020

Delightful body-positive romance!

Tara is a retired supermodel turned pastry chef, and she makes NO apologies for indulging in her sweet creations, waistline be damned. This story has strong messages about loving yourself regardless of your size and respecting the privacy even of celebrities, yet the romance transcends all that to bring us a wonderful slow-burn love story.

Once they're thrown together by his matchmaking mother, James and Tara start to develop a sweet, tender friendship that quickly turns to more when Tara asks James to pretend to be her boyfriend so the media will give up on the reunion story her ex-fiancé is hoping for. I loved the friendship part as much as the romance, and I enjoyed the intelligence and maturity that they each brought to the relationship.

I really appreciated the way the author showed Ruby's doubts about her scheme, and how she ultimately realized things had to happen on their own in order to mean anything. I also loved the various characters that were added to the mix, including a beautiful over-60 romance just starting to bloom and a couple new faces that we'll see in future books. I also really admired the way we saw the other end of a HEA story as Ruby copes with the recent death of her husband after forty glorious years together.

In short, this book is packed full of stories and threads involving a loving, close-knit small-town community and I adored every bit of it. There's so much love to love and not a single part that didn't ring true. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

Emily Pennington

20.9k reviews370 followers

Tara Heinz started her modeling career when she was 12 years old. After 15 years of watching everything she ate, she becomes a pastry chef for her new career! When she and her rock star boyfriend, Romaine Choate, had a bad breakup, Tara moved to Oregon to avoid the inevitable tabloid harassment.

James Cavanaugh has a farm in Oregon, and he works hard to build up his business. His mom, Ruby Cavanaugh, gets him together with Tara, and the two begin a wonderful friendship. When her rock star boyfriend has the potential of stirring things up, Tara asks James to pretend to be her boyfriend so any made-up story never gets off the ground! She wants to show everyone she has moved on with her life and the press needs to forget about her. So he agrees, but it’s becoming difficult to convince outsiders that she and James aren’t actually in love. How will this all play out?

This is a cute story. I love the growing relationship between James and Tara and the way they sniped with each other. Yet the reader can easily see their real emotions play out as they can’t stop the inevitable. Grab your copy and see what happens when Romaine and Tara clash again as Cash Cartright maneuvers things to her own advantage… or believes she has.

reviewed

Gale

1,998 reviews22 followers

First, let me say that I loved Tara’s lists! Although they were funny, they were also poignant and heartfelt. And then I cheered for Tara as she went from super model to pastry chef. I mean, really…who does that? Tara comes with lots of baggage – read the story to find out all. She was a wee bit closed off sometimes, in regards to her ex, but she was trying!

And James…I had to love a “little” brother (“big” brother’s story was book 1; not a perquisite to enjoying this story but it helps to know the machinations of their mother…) who is a smart aleck, and very kind of heart. Ruby, his mother, is up to her matchmaking scheming again and James is a wee bit clueless; and far too busy with his farm to worry too much about it.

James and Tara are combustible and of course they concoct an elaborate ‘fake out’ dating scheme that turns into so much more. Fun read, enjoyed James (especially, the cutie!), and even Ruby is moving forward in her life.

Debbie Orazi

1,755 reviews26 followers

Wonderful book with fantastic characters. Hilariously funny, sweet and romantic story.

Tara Delaney Heinz is a former model and now works as the pastry chef at the Willamette Valley Lodge. She used to date a rock star but now wants to live a normal life so she hasn't told anyone her last name.

James Cavanaugh is a farmer and the son of the owner of the Lodge. He and Tara clashed when they first met. He thinks she is headstrong, obstinate, rude but still gorgeous (he used to have her posters in his room when he was young). His Mother is playing matchmaker to get him and Tara together.

Tara is still being harassed by paparazzi so she asks James to be her pretend boyfriend after she agrees to speak to a reporter. They really hit it off and James asks her to be his real girlfriend. Meanwhile her ex and her former nemesis come to the Lodge to get married.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Linda

3,846 reviews45 followers

Enlisting the farmer's help to keep the📷 paparazzi 📝at bay😎

This Dineen series focuses on couples getting paired off by some well-meaning mothers. Ruby the recently-widowed innkeeper/matchmaker is feeling confident after matching her eldest son. She strikes again, this time seeking a match for her farming son with her hotel's pastry chef.

This second book in the series struck me as more serious than the first as Ruby's loneliness after the loss of her beloved husband Tom gets more play and the female lead Tara champions positive body image as she definitively turns her back on her former life as a starved fashion model. The negative aspects of fame, particularly the intrusive press, are also an important element and, in fact, help nudge the couple closer. The romance is sweet not steamy.

I enjoyed it though I preferred the higher level of zaniness in the first book in the series.

Despina

535 reviews3 followers

favorite-authors rom-com sweet-romance

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for a honest review.

Ain't She Sweet (Book 2 of Seven Brides for Seven Mothers) by Whitney Dineen was a cute and easy read. Tara was a famous super model that became a pastry chef because life is too short to be starving yourself. I love that line. She has moved to Oregon to get away from the media circus that was her life in California with her ex-fiancee. She is now doing her best to stay under the radar of the media and make the desserts she loves. James is her boss' son and even though he's really good looking he seems to be irritated by her. James finds Tara very attractive, in fact his teenage self had pictures of Tara all over his walls but she always seems to rub him the wrong way. Until she doesn't. This story was engaging and takes you on a bit of a ride. I'm curious to see who is going to be set up next.

Terri Zumbrook

2,800 reviews22 followers

December 12, 2020

AIN’T SHE SWEET is a romance between a farmer and a pastry chef that used to be a supermodel. They start out on a very wrong foot but circumstances, and meddling mothers, keep throwing them together.

The story with James, Tara and her breakup with the rock star, Romaine was really good. James really knew when to step it up and bring it home. I thought the story between Gwen and Billy was too much of a distraction. It is like it interrupted quality James/Tara time. If the story had not been told separately under Gwen’s POV, it might have worked better for me. I’ll be interested in seeing how other people see this,

My favorite part was the day before Thanksgiving, and that’s all I am going to say about that! You’ll see what I mean when you read how that day goes. During the story we meet some people that will be targets of Ruby’s future matchmaking efforts, so see if you can tell who she’s thinking of putting together next.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Samantha

4,334 reviews27 followers

I received an ARC from the author thru Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving my review. This is a humorous and sweet romance between Tara and James. She is a famous ex model turned pastry chef, with a famous ex fiance that is fixing to disrupt James life. He grows vegetables on his farm for the lodge his mother runs. They seem to butt heads at first but a puppy brings them closer. When things start to go well designing the garden, life goes nuts. All kinds of famous crashes down on her. These two have a few obstacles to get past, but once things straighten out, Ruby has one less son to worry about.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Kristi

3,353 reviews19 followers

December 17, 2020

A romantic comedy that will have you laughing out loud, trust me you can't help it. The humor, the characters and the story line are entertaining and enjoyable. The characters are easy to get to know, well developed and just as entertaining as the story line. The story is well written and you don't want to stop turning the pages. This one is a perfect weekend escape read while you're curled up with a cuddly blanket and enjoying your favorite winter drink.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Abigail

114 reviews1 follower

Everyone hated it when their mother play matchmaker and James hates being set up with his mother’s new pastry chef, Tara. But Tara has a secret that most the town doesn’t know. She was once a famous model who recently broke up a engagement with a megastar.

This was a whirlwind of a book and I held tight the entire time. It was fantastic for a start. Whitney Dineen keeps the reader interested throughout and it is hilarious watching the two not want to be together but clearly thinking about it. I love how you get the two perspectives plus the meddling mothers’ POV on what is going on. The twist and turns of this sequel keeps you whirling and it honestly just makes you not want to put this down.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me an arc of Ain’t She Sweet.

12k reviews49 followers

Sometimes Momma does know what is best for you

Ain't She Sweet is the second book in the Seven Brides for Seven Mothers series and is a fun and at times laugh out loud funny story. The story-line about Tara and James, and James' mother Ruby, was nicely written with the characters well developed, including the secondary characters. This is the first book of this series that I have read. But I have read and also own several books by Whitney Dineen. I think this book is my favorite by this author to date. I look forward to reading the next to see what happens.

I received a copy of this book and am leaving my honest review. My opinions are all my own.

Karen L Ledee

906 reviews5 followers

4.5***** stars. Tara is a model gone pastry chef. She had a high profile rockstar boyfriend which is now six months past but the paparazzi won’t leave her alone. She escapes to a small town in Oregon where she meets James the son of her employer. Mama is playing matchmaker to get her second sound to settle down. He is not a people person and would really like to be left alone to continue working his farm. And wouldn’t you know it, they don’t get along, big surprise. Well written and most enjoyable read. Lots of twists and turns, running and hiding, and a sweet puppy.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book

Bobbie Kirkland

646 reviews14 followers

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of AIN’T SHE SWEET (Book 2 of the Seven Brides for Seven Mothers Series) by Whitney Dineen in exchange for an honest review. Recent widow, Ruby Cavanaugh, has just successfully matched one of her sons. Since Ruby really wants grandchildren to love, she now intends to find her son James a mate. Ruby has decided that her pastry chef and supermodel in hiding Tara Heinz would make an ideal daughter-in-law. The primary problem Ruby has to solve is the dislike and animosity between the two.

I liked this book. It was a sweet, feel good romance with likeable, endearing characters.

#AintSheSweet #NetGalley

Stacy

8 reviews

December 17, 2020

I love this so much and have been wanting James' story since the first book! Tara is a former model who is now a pastry chef in Oregon. When she and James met, they argued and clashed over organic produce. Ruby (James' mother) was successful in matchmaking Brogan, but sees potential with James/Tara. Wish we saw more Brogan and Addie, but can't wait for Claire/Geoffrey's story!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Julie D’Angelo

4 reviews

December 30, 2020

I am always up for an enemies-to-lovers romance, but this one didn’t work for me. It’s a light, quick read, but it never settles into something completely cohesive. The flow of the story is broken up by too many POVs and the characters and plot, as well as the subplots, lack depth (likely a consequence of the multiple POVs). As a result, I did not find much about the book to be particularly compelling.

Tara Heinz, a retired model, and James Cavanaugh, a farmer, meet at his family’s lodge in rural Oregon, where Tara has been hired as a pastry chef. They dislike and largely avoid each other until James’s matchmaking mother, Ruby, arranges to have them team up on a garden project to see if more time together will ignite a romance. Spoiler alert: it does. A complication involving Tara’s ex-fiance, who wants her back, is supposed to be the threat to their HEA, but it ends up being more sad than suspenseful and makes James look like a jerk next to her ex.

The biggest problem with the book was the multiple POVs – four, to be exact. In addition to Tara and James, whose POVs are in first-person present, we hear from Ruby and Tara’s mother, Gwen, whose POVs are in third-person present. I assume Ruby and Gwen were intended to be sweet and/or quirky additions to the cast of characters, but juggling between all of the POVs (and two verb tenses) was jarring and made the whole story stutter. The content added by Ruby and Gwen would have been more effective, and less disruptive, if it had been integrated into dialogue, observations or revelations within Tara’s or James’s POV.

The book also spends some time on a secondary romance between Gwen and James’s uncle, which was treated superficially and did not add much to the story, and makes an insubstantial pass at found-family.

This is a book that many readers seem to have enjoyed, but it is not one I would recommend.

*I voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy.

Kristen Lewendon

8,429 reviews65 followers

December 10, 2020

Just like the previous book, this was a genuine giggle-snort laugh-fest for me. I mean, any book that references the line “glitter is the herpes of craft supplies” has my immediate and undivided attention. This time, Ruby turns her attention on her other son, James, and the lodge’s new pastry chef, Tara. As anyone who witnessed their encounters in the first book of the series can attest, this pair had a rather bitter hate-hate relationship going on. I’m still not sure what drove all that snark and spite, and it didn’t exactly endear Tara to me in the beginning. But, as we got to know them, and as they got to know each other, all those sparks turned in a slightly different direction. I had so much fun with this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one. I’ll be anxiously counting down the seconds until it’s available.
I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book through Booksprout.

Molly

6,076 reviews46 followers

Former model turned pastry chef Tara has been a frenemy to James all summer. She spent her time nagging him about his prices and pushing him to get organic certification- a ridiculously expensive ordeal.

Little did Tara realize she was interacting with her new boss Ruby’s son

Will Ruby have success matchmaking once again?

Humorous yet sweet romance

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Maja

4,609 reviews19 followers

This was my first read from this author. I loved the first person point of view of the story, which is always a deal breaker for me. Tara is an ex super model, who completely changed her career. After ending things with her boyfriend, she moves to Oregon, where she meets a simple guy.
This was a good story and I will read more from this author in the future.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Helena Mendes

1,370 reviews16 followers

Tara and James...ex-super model and a farmer...now there's a story filled with romance steam and lots of funny misshapes. I loved it...wonderfully characters and charming sceneries, very well written and interesting plot. 5⭐

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Lynda Peters

116 reviews