Dylan Newton

"Kate Sweet is famous for creating the perfect happily-ever-after moment for her clients' dream weddings. So how is it that her best friend has roped her into planning a bestselling horror writer's book launch? Drake Matthews is tired of the spotlight, tired of his reputation as the King of Nightmares. He's really a nice guy! More than anything, the next book he wants to write is a romance based on his grandparents. But to get that chance, this event has to be successful. And the reticent writer will have to work with the adorably bubbly Kate Sweet. But just as the two are learning to trust each other, secrets come out that could take down the launch, their relationship, and both their careers. Can Kate find a way to save their jobs and their chance at true love?"--

How Sweet It Is

What happens when the queen of romance falls for the king of horror--you get "a hilarious rom-com comp," perfect for fans of Beach Read. (Kirkus, starred review) Event planner Kate Sweet is famous for creating the perfect happily-ever-after moment for her clients’ dream weddings. So how is it that her best friend has roped her into planning a bestselling horror writer’s book launch extravaganza? But the second Kate meets—or rather, accidentally maims—the drop-dead-hot Drake Matthews, her well-ordered life quickly transforms into an absolute nightmare. Drake Matthews is tired of the spotlight and tired of his reputation as the Knight of Nightmares. He's really a nice guy! But he’s not prepared for Kate, a fearless agent of chaos in steel-tipped stilettos, or for that sweet sting of attraction he feels for her. She’s inspiring him to take his writing in a whole new direction—one that no one expects. Because now Kate and Drake are changing up the rules, and this plot twist might just surprise everyone . . . including themselves. "Fans of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, and Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur will adore How Sweet It Is!" --The Nerd Daily As featured in: PopSugar: Must-Read July Books PopSugar: 12 Swoonworthy Romances to Read in One Sitting

Rebecca Briesemeister

Ashley

For starters, this bored me. The start is slow and the chapters are long, read it until 48% 👎👎 

felt zero chemistry between the protagonists

Nichole Bogard

This book put a permanent smile on my face. It is cute opposites attract rom-com. A book you did not know you needed in your life! I love reading this type of genre after I read something that ties my stomach in knots and leaves me completely drained, and this book did not disappoint.

Kate Sweet (just a sweet as her last name says) is a wedding event planner. She is the Queen of Happily Ever After. So, when her best friend Imani comes to her needing help she does not hesitate to jump on board because after all what are friends for? However, this is not the sweet events Kate is used to putting one, she will be doing a book launch for Drake Matthews the King of Nightmares himself. Although this is not her normal, she is bounded and determined to make this the best book launch ever done.

Doing her research online about her client she comes up with these ridiculous ideas of Drake coming out of a coffin and a giant spider hanging from his house. The first meeting did not go how she planned because what she did not realize is there is more to Drake than all the internet research she could do.

Kate is determined that she will win Drake over and immediately comes up with and even better plan that will make things less of a freak show and in the meantime, she gets to spend time with Drake who is secretly working on a historical romance book and used his and Kate’s time together to make scenes come to life! 

I really enjoyed this book and the cuteness of the characters. The author did an amazing job with opposite attract romance because Kate and Drake could not be more different. If you want a cute love story with some humor mixed in, then you have found your book!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc copy with me in exchange with for my honest review.

Yami🌷

sharyn

Es el libro más cute que he leído, una pareja de 10 tbh y sin drama, fácil de leer. Amo acá

Lauren Sullivan

Content notes: (view spoiler)[death of a parent (before book starts), mentions of domestic abuse and suicide (relative of MC), alcohol, PTSD and amputation from military service (before book starts), mention of a character dying from cancer (before book starts) (hide spoiler)]

This book is adorable and hilarious, full of over-the-top rom-com hijinx and basically cute as heck. It’s set during the fall in a small town in western NY and has a delightfully cozy (and a little bit spooky) vibe. Definitely perfect to go with a pumpkin spice candle and some warm apple cider!

“Throwing parties is like blowing a soap bubble—fun, but quickly over and forgotten. But event planning is like crafting a sphere out of iridescent glass and gifting it to someone forever. Events are momentous.”

Kate Sweet may be known as the Queen of Happily Ever Afters, but she’s looking at branching out from weddings into more events in hopes of winning a coveted award. When she gets the chance to help out with a famous horror author’s Halloween book launch party, she hightails it off to his small hometown in western NY with visions of coffins and skeletons in her eyes. Until an epic meet-disaster derails her chances of ever working on anything but weddings ever again. While Drake is known as the Knight of Nightmares, he’s found himself stuck with writer’s block on his latest horror novel, so instead he’s secretly been working on a romance novel loosely based on his grandparents’ own romance. And strangely enough, Kate seems to be his muse – for the romance novel, that is. Drake agrees to let her continue planning the party as long as she’ll also help with his book research, just completely normal things like getting locked into a crypt with him. But as the event planning – and the romance novel writing – proceed, both find themselves drawn to the other. Can nightmares and happily ever afters fit together?

“Things always go according to my plans. Normally.”
Drake shrugged, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a smile blooming on his lightly whiskered face. “If you say so. From what I’ve seen chaos seems to follow you around like a lap dog.”

Between having basically no social life (all her weekends are swamped with events) and still feeling the pressure from her parents to change careers, Kate’s having some angst over her life. She loves event planning and she’s amazing at it, but at times she wonders if it’s compatible with, well, having her own life. So she sees the opportunity to get away from NYC and slow down – even if it’s while planning another event – as a good time to reevaluate. While Kate initially goes over-the-top (Drake emerging from a coffin wreathed in fog! Gallons of fake blood!), it doesn’t take long before she realizes that Drake’s not the stereotypical creepy horror writer. He’s actually a regular person and not really into big to-dos (or blood). Kate’s able to walk the line between promoting his new book while respecting who he is. Drake, like his brothers, went into the military and fell into horror writing after he got out, especially once he realized he could support his family with his writing. And in many ways, Drake’s house is just like him – an imposing facade with cinnamon roll insides. Most people think his Victorian is gothic and creepy, but once Kate gets inside she realizes it’s cozy and full of his grandma’s furniture. As for their relationship, it’s pretty slow-burn, and part of that is that Drake is wary of betrayal after a previous girlfriend’s actions.

As for cons, I didn’t feel like there was a lot of character growth for either character beyond the obvious bleak moment. I also felt a little squicky about how Drake initially mined some of his interactions with Kate for writing material. He did eventually get her agreement for using her as his writing muse, but it felt a bit transactional at first. I also was confused that the bleak moment didn’t involve the characters who, up until that point, had been the big villains of the story, and thought their come-uppance was out of nowhere and lackluster.

Overall, 3.5 stars from me. Delightfully fun fluff, and I’ll be keeping an eye on what the author writes next (I’m guessing it will involve the other Matthews brothers!).

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Leah Donovan

Slow burn. Cute book but didn’t keep me very interested 

Sofie

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC for review!

____


  Love is probably the only thing on this planet worth fighting for. Worth losing everything for. You’re a fool if you let pride stand in your way.


What do you get when The Queen of Happily Ever After meets the knight of Nightmares? Sparks.

Kate Sweet is an event planner who, as a favour to her best friend, agrees to plan a book launch for one of the most prolific horror writers in the world. But he's certainly not what the rumours make him out to be. Can Kate and Drake keep their relationship professional, even as their feelings grow?

This book oozes with cheese. I know, I know, it's chick-lit ~romance~, what do you expect? And How Sweet It Is definitely delivers! 

The book really found its groove about halfway through. The romance build-up was believable (thanks to a few time jumps, rather than having our leads fall head over heels in, like, a week), and the drama made sense to the story. Sure, there were a few moments of doubt from Kate and Drake where they presumably couldn't tell for sure how the other felt about them - when it was pretty dang obvious - but other than that, I really believed the final conflict. Kate, who never wants to let anyone down, who has something to prove after not following in her parents footsteps, and Drake, who was screwed over by his ex and terrified of rejection. 

The first half of the book, however, dragged. I found it too expositional for my taste. There's a fine line between having characters that ramble and having long speeches of needless description, and both Kate and Drake crossed it a few too many times for it to be a passed off as a character trait. Honestly, this was nearly a DNF for me until things started to pick up, and I don't DNF things lightly.

All that said, and despite the obvious issues, I enjoyed both Drake's and Kate's character. Kate didn't step down when faced with challenges (or a slimy ex), and Drake was just so dang sweet. Maybe it's the reader in me, or maybe it's one of those quirks people don't like to admit, but I write/act out scenes in my head, too. 

I wish there had been a bit more character development. I think that's the trade-off when writing a dual-POV, 3rd person novel; everything was very plot-based, and readers don't really get the chance to see characters deal with their own faults, their own insecurities, their own feelings. It makes them seem a bit one-dimensional.

Overall, a fine romance, a quick fluff read that tickles your fancy.

This is a great fall read! This is the perfect read for anyone looking for a good hallmark-y storyline with a forced proximity trope. 
My only issue with this book was the plot felt a bit flat and the romance didn't develop fully for me. I was missing some details and alone time between the two main characters. I thought the characters were charming and the plot was interesting, I just wished there was more to make the story feel complete. 

Kayla 

I almost DNF'd this one. It is a bit long for a romance, about 340 pages, which is fine but I honestly didn't feel any sparks between these two until page 220.

There were quite a few fun, forced together moments they had but no once did the characters mention anything except looks with the other character. Drake mostly thought of Kate as a muse for his book and really only talked about her hair. Kate mentioned a few times that she thought he was handsome but she was mostly afraid of losing him as a client or ruining her friend's job. I felt like the whole book was just placing down the wood to maybe start a spark but like it didn't happen until the last 100 pages or so. 

Throughout the story were several random paragraphs that really took you out of the story, random side stories of how Drake got a dog, or how Kate's friend was spending time with her grandmother...information that was not really relevant and it was just kind of dumping background information. 

This was probably more of a 2.75 but I rounded up to 3 because I did really like the last 100 pages.

Laurel Ann Smith

This was a fun and cute story. I definitely enjoyed my time with it. It was quite unrealistic and cheesy, but I don't mind a bit! I was appreciating that the "adult" content was fairly mild during the first 2/3, but then later it kicked up and was excessive to me, I had to skip parts. Overall, not a must read but worth the read in my opinion.

Alexis 

5/5 Stars 

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!** 

This surpassed any and all expectations that I had for it I was hooked from the very beginning. The writing was great and kept my attention the entire time. I swooned out loud because I just couldn't help it. The romance was fun and adorable. I literally can't stand it. I loved the event planner and writer storyline. I think it really made the plot for me. I read this book all in one sitting, I didn't want to put it down. It reminded me of a hallmark book, but it was better and had a lot more steam! I will be looking for more books by Dylan Newton in the future! I highly recommend this.

Caitlyn Gabbert 

Heather Harrington

*I received a copy of this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Kate Sweet is known for planning the most elaborate happily-ever-after moments for her client's weddings. She prides herself on coming up with the best ideas to make someone's special day as perfect and romantic as can be, so when her best friend calls begging for her to step in and plan a book launch, Kate expects it to be a cakewalk. When she realizes it's for the release of the Knight of Nightmares, Drake Matthew's latest horror novel, Kate quickly finds herself out of her element. Despite Drake's macabre reputation, he's really a nice guy and prefers to fly under the radar, but agrees to Kate's elaborate plans on one condition: she has to help him research his next book, which unbeknownst to anyone is opposite from the slasher books he typically writes. The more time the pair spend together, the more they can't deny the spark of attraction igniting, but Kate and Drake have to face the fact that sometimes real life isn't a fairy tale and they both have to put in the work if they want a happy ending.

This was pretty cute. The premise was fun and Kate and Drake were nice together. I liked how bubbly and determined Kate was and how Drake was the opposite of what everyone thinks a horror writer should be. He was a bit stoic at times, but he was just this shy, vulnerable guy. I loved how he lived in this Gothic Victorian mansion which was so Stephen King-ish on the outside but very Downton Abbey on the inside, and he had the tiniest cutest dog. I loved getting to see into his writing process and how he was developing a story based on his grandparent's romance. I thought that was so sweet, especially how he was finding inspiration from his interactions with Kate. The two of them were adorable, but I was hoping for a little more. Their relationship was so slow-burn that at times I found myself just waiting for something to happen. I also think that because it kept saying how Kate was known for these big "Aw" over-the-top romantic moments, I was expecting the story to have one as well and it just didn't. I still enjoyed this, I just think it was average.

Taylor McNeely

How Sweet It Is was such a fun and quirky read about a romance between a party planner and a horror writer. The hilarious hijinks that they got into together made me laugh throughout this book and had me rooting for this couple the whole time.
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I also liked how the main couple were mature and let each other know what they were thinking and had good communication when it came to certain things like why they would react a certain way to small things and understood each other when it came to those feelings. READ THIS BOOK WHEN IT COMES OUT JULY 13TH!

*Thank you to @netgalley for my advanced free copy. All opinions are my own.*

Grace Christensen 

I bought this book on a whim the other day. I was walking through the bookstore, which happens to be my favorite hobby, when the cover of this book caught my eye. I didn’t read the synopsis or anything but figured it looked like the kind of book I’d like, so I bought it for my beach vacation in a few weeks. I mean, doesn’t this look like the perfect book to read on the beach? 

That didn’t turn out as planned because as soon as I got home that night I figured, “hey reading a few chapters can’t hurt”. Flash forward to 2 am and I had finished the book without moving from my spot. I would say this proves the book was good but honestly that’s a common occurrence for me.

What does prove I liked the book is the fact that I told my friend about it. I just know she’d fall in love with the main character. I don’t tell her about every book I read, but I do either rant about ones I hated or rave about ones I really enjoyed. This was the latter.

The thing I like most about this book was that I didn’t hate the main characters. Romance novels tend to have leads that piss me off because either A) they’re “not like other girls” and spend a majority of the book lamenting about how they aren’t pretty and no one likes them. Or option B) where the main characters refuse to get into a relationship for stupid reasons or miscommunications that could easily be resolved in three pages. I usually spend a large chunk of these books yelling at the main character to pull their head out of their ass. Luckily this book wasn’t like that in the slightest. 

I really enjoyed both Kate and Drake (I don’t love the name Drake but I guess I can look past it). Kate was a badass career woman who’s both self reliant and ambitious but not in a “women can’t have it all” type of way. She didn’t spend the whole book complaining about how she can’t date because of some weird unspoken rule that women can’t have a family and job at the same time. Instead, she took pride in her career and it was something she genuinely loves, but she was also a good friend and an interesting person. She was kind and funny and actually fun to read about. I really enjoyed reading her POVs.

Of course we can’t forget about the man of the hour. Drake was also an interesting and well rounded character. He wasn’t just a Hot Dude the author used as a plot device. I loved that he was close with his family and that he was a secret romantic. He was a very loving character and I could tell he cared about Kate in a deeper way than just wanting to sleep with her. 

My only complaint keeping me from rating it 5 stars is that I felt there wasn’t quite enough lead up to when they first act on their feelings. I wish we had seen more of the two of them spending time together alone and talking about things other than work. They definitely did some of that but I just would have like to see more.

Other than that? Spectacular. Now I just need to find another book to take to the beach. Recommendations are greatly appreciated ;)

Sarah Williams

3.5/5 stars

This one was cute, but it was missing that spark for me. When I’m reading a romance I want the author to show me the chemistry between the two characters, not just tell me that it’s there. This was ultimately what kept me from diving into this novel fully. Despite enjoying the characters and the basic premise, I just didn’t feel that there was a real connection between them other than what the author told me was there. ⁣
⁣
Still, HOW SWEET IT IS was cute; the characters were likable, I loved that it was grumpy/sunshine, the meet cute was a fun set-up, and the author did a good job at introducing the supporting characters that I assume (and hope!) will be getting their own novels.

How Sweet It Is

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