Book Review: Sweet Something by Lane Hayes
Book Blurb
The baker, the grumpy lumberjack, and a new dad journey…
Dexter
The donut business is booming in Wood Hollow, along with my flag-football program. Now I’m ready to take on a new challenge—parenthood. See, I’ve always wanted to be a dad and it’s finally happening. Wood Hollow is the perfect place to raise a child. It’s quiet, safe, and the folks here are friendly.
One glaring exception is the grumpy lumberjack…who ends up being besties with my surrogate. What are the odds?
Yeah…this will be interesting.
Viggo
I’m a logger. I like wood. That’s it. Maybe that makes me a solitary person, but so what?
Unfortunately, I can’t ignore the handsome donut man’s new dad-to-be situation. Not when it concerns an old family friend.
Look, I don’t want to be involved, but I have no choice. And if that means I’ll have to step outside of my comfort zone and do people-y things to make sure Dexter is a going to be a good dad, so be it.
It doesn’t mean I like Dexter. He’s accidentally funny, kind of sweet, very hot, and—
Okay, fine.
Maybe I like him too much.
Sweet Something is an MM bisexual, grumpy/sunshine, small-town romance featuring Wood Hollow’s hottest baker and the grumpy lumberjack with a big heart.
Book Review
Sweet Something by Lane Hayes is Book 2 in the Wood Hollow series and follows Lumberjack Viggo and Donut shop owner Dex. The premise of the story is quite novel; Dex hires a surrogate from outside of Wood Hollow in an effort to avoid interest and gossip from curious locals. However, the surrogate ends up having a close and personal connection to fellow Wood Hollow inhabitant, Viggo. Although, mutually attracted they have not really interacted with each other in day-to-day life, until they need to because they both have an interest in the safe completion of the surrogacy. A secret relationship effectively blooms between them but between nosy neighbours, unhelpful families and a self-imposed time limit, can Viggo and Dex get their happy ending?
I genuinely thought the idea was intriguing, but the execution and how Viggo and Dex actually met in the beginning, didn’t quite work for me, which was a shame because once I did get into the story it was full of charm, warmth, wit and banter that is associated with Lane Haye’s work. Quiet, stoic and calm characters are a soft spot of mine, so I really adored Viggo. His impression of his place in Wood Hollow was so different to how others perceived him. Dex helped to bring him out of himself, and it was lovely to see him fall for Dex and support him as and when he needed. Similarly, as Dex mellowed Viggo, Viggo calmed Dex and helped him with his anxiety and the stresses he carried. He never once expected Dex to be anything other than he was and watching them both deal with different types of loss and ultimately find peace and healing, was very moving. At its heart, this story was a beautiful tale of two men, finding each other, finding themselves and finding their place in Wood Hollow. This is a good addition to the series and I would recommend it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.4
