The Sweetest Thing by Sasha Summers finds business rivals Tansy Hill and Dane Knudson 
determined to with the best honey award at the annual Honey Bee Festival. Both of their businesses need the win to survive.
Tansy has been angry at Dane since high school, when he gave her a prom proposal based on her favorite movie, which she had been told was a joke. She wants nothing to do with him if she can help it. Dane never understood why Tansy rejected him in high school, but he never stopped being interested in her. That doesn’t stop them from bickering every time they’re near one another.
Spending time with Dane was the last thing she wanted, but when both get roped into leading the Junior Beekeepers, a group of teens interested in beekeeping, the pair need to put their differences aside. Tansy soon realizes that Dane wasn’t the awful person she thought he was, and the sparks between them fly. But when family secrets come to light, will they go back to being enemies?
I learned a lot about beekeeping and bees themselves from this book. It’s not too often that you find a romance that’s educational like this; I enjoyed it. It’s presented in such a way that it adds to the story instead of detracting from it.
Dane is a very sympathetic character. He’s trying to run the family’s honey farm because his father basically checked out after his latest divorce. He’s also trying to raise his younger brother, Leif, because his father checked out on that, as well. Leif is understandably hurt and angry, causing him to act out, which makes things even more difficult for Dane. His father is also involved in something that happened to Tansy’s family, which made it hard to find any likeable qualities in him. He eventually tries to make things right, but it was too little too late to redeem him in my eyes.
I liked Tansy for the most part, but there were times I felt she was too quick to jump to a conclusion instead of giving people a chance to explain. Her initial attitude towards Dane was a little off-putting, but once it’s explained why she didn’t like him, it made her character a little more likeable. I enjoyed watching Dane slowly but surely break down the walls she had built around herself.
The Sweetest Thing is a story about family, friendship, forgiveness, healing, and love. It will draw you in from the first page until the last. It’s sweet, educational, and also includes recipes at the end for some of the foods the characters made with honey throughout the story. I liked that little addition, and even though I’m not much of a baker, I may try some of them.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy small town romances or the enemies-to-lovers trope.
Book Info:
Publication: June 28, 2022 | HQN Books | Honey Acres #1
For Tansy Hill, nothing is sweeter than honey from her farm—except maybe revenge on the man who broke her heart and humiliated her all those years ago. Dane “The Viking” Knudson has been Tansy’s rival since childhood, and though he’s grown into a frustratingly handsome charmer, he’s also standing between her and the best honey award at the Honey Bee Festival, which Honey Hill Farms desperately needs to stay afloat.
Fanning the sparks that have forever flown between them, the competition is on. Sure, Tansy and Dane have plenty in common—more than they’ll admit—but Dane’s plans to expand Viking Honey are also on the line. When buried family secrets come to light, they’ll have to decide whether taking a chance on each other is worth risking the happiness they’ve been longing for.
