Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey is a sweet small town romance with an extreme fixer upper, goats, and cheese.
Local home renovator Maddie Barrow cannot believe someone would be naïve enough to buy a house sight unseen and then move from the southwest desert to the snowy northeast. The house is old and needs a lot of work before it’s even livable, but this is the kind of work she and her family does. The woman is coming to work for her best friend’s goat farm, hoping to transform it into a haven for cheese lovers, so she reluctantly agrees to help, and is instantly smitten by the gorgeous masc woman who steps out of her winter unsuitable hatchback.
A rural small town in Vermont is not where Sy Travino expected to end up after a turn in a swank Los Angeles restaurant kitchen and studying in France to become a cheese maker. This could be the move that will make her name as a world class fromager, or send her defeated to her mom’s house in New Mexico. On top of all that pressure, she is quickly smitten with the gorgeous femme builder who saves her house, and maybe her heart.
Writing
Despite each woman noticing the other is a perfect specimen, physically, there is a lot of work to be done toward even liking each other. Maddie thinks Sy is unsuited for living in Vermont, and foolish on top of it. Sy is unsure of her future and taking a big gamble. There is a lot for the two to work out before a romance even begins, and I like how the author has built that relationship from scratch.
Without getting too technical, the high end cheese making was believable and interesting without straying into food snobbery. It’s also always fun to read about saving old and interesting houses. The amount of physical work and time needed to do such a project is not sugar coated in the book, grounding the story even more in reality.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
This breezy story is a fun read because even though there are a few wobbles on the way to love, nothing becomes terribly wrought and dramatic. Both characters understand themselves pretty well and don’t fight terribly hard against their attraction for the other. There is a lot – a lot – of internal dialogue of each of them wanting to kiss the other before they actually do the deed. After a while it becomes humorous.
I loved how utterly naïve Sy is about the most basic aspects of home ownership. Not only is she buying a house for the first time, buying it sight unseen throws her immediately into the deep end, with a weight belt on. Then there are the challenges of living in an utterly different environment that can be challenging even for native Vermonters. This is one of several reality aspects that drew me in and was very entertaining. Mostly, I really love a character who is not afraid to say they love green bean casserole.
Both characters have a really good relationship with their family, telling the story from a background of love and support. From that they build a relationship on shared experiences like good foods and working together. There is a hot attraction that is definitely fun to read, especially because their head is in the right place for love.
Heads Up
The story is easygoing, but Sy does have some issues about having an absentee father.
The Conclusion
Sy has taken a job at Grumpy Old Goat farm to craft specialty cheeses and make the farm a tourist destination if all goes well. She buys a house sight unseen and has to deal with local house renovator Maddie, who is equal parts bothered by the naivete and butch hotness of the new cheesemaker. Through a lot of shared experiences and near constant thoughts of how much they want to kiss, the two fall in love and learn how to merge their lives and trust each other.
Sy and Maddie don’t quite hit it off right away, but their constant thoughts of kissing leads to a growing set of fun experiences and eventually some very fun kissing and hot romance. Both of them have trust issues to overcome, but nothing can stop them falling in love in a fun to read romance.
Excerpt from Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey
“How could you have known?” Besides asking her, obviously, or doing a basic internet search.
“You know, I’ve been known to use the Google,” Sy said.
Maddie snorted, as much at Sy’s deadpan delivery as the answer that tracked so close to her own snarky thoughts. “Sorry.”
Sy lifted a hand. “It’s fine. I deserved it.”
“Maybe. But you don’t deserve a house full of smoke. Do you want me to take a look?”
Sy’s stance shifted back to her usual confident ease. “I’m not a big enough idiot to turn down help when I clearly need it. But first tell me what brings you by. Do we have a meeting I blocked out?”
She’d been so caught up in the hubbub, she’d forgotten why she came over in the first place. “I—wait. Do you make a habit of blocking out our meetings?”
Sy smirked. “Only the ones where you make me make decisions about materials.”
“Seriously? We’ve done that one time. And you were kind of a baby about it.” She hadn’t planned to tease Sy about that, but seriously, Sy had been a total baby.
“I prefer obstinate and ornery,” Sy said without missing a beat.
“Noted.” It felt like bantering more than bickering, which made her more uneasy rather than less. “Anyway. I take it I didn’t miss a meeting. So, why are you here?”
“Oh, right.” She blushed at her own distractibility, then chided herself for blushing. “I wanted to drop off a few tools for you. Things that’ll make your jobs easier but you don’t need to own.”
“Like what?” Sy asked. “Like an extra wide scraper for you to go to town on that popcorn ceiling in the living room.”
Sy clapped her hands together. “Goody.”
“And some more contractor grade trash bags because I can get them way cheaper than you can.”
“You really know how to charm a girl, don’t you?”
Get It Online
When you use the links in this review and buy within 24 hours of clicking then we get a small commission that helps us run the site and it costs you nothing extra
Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 978-1-63679-487-7
Publisher: Bold Stroke Books
If you enjoyed Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey then you should also look at
Note: I received a free review copy of Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
