Sweetheart (Busy Bean #1) by Sarah Mayberry

A Review by Wendy

4 Standing Up For What You Want Stars
* * * *

 Spoiler Free

Years ago I found Sarah Mayberry when I read Satisfaction (Brothers Ink #1) and Tanner (American Extreme Bull Riders Tour #1). I enjoyed her writing style and each book was a positive experience. When I saw she was going to be part of the True North Family via the Busy Bean series, I knew the series would be off to a solid start. My instincts were on target.

Sweetheart takes on situations that are not the easiest to tackle. Our main gal Haley is finding her place in the world and has been working at the main coffee spot, Busy Bean. She loves the owners and there has been a need to locate some great beans to draw in more customers. Haley decides to see what other places are serving and she discovers the best tasting coffee she has ever had. The owner of the coffee shop wouldn't say so she takes matters into her own hands, literally.

After climbing into the dumpster behind the coffee shop, she locates the empty bag that held the beans. She looks on the internet but there is no address or website so the only thing left is to drive to the address printed on the bag. As she gets ready to get out of her car, she sees a man loading up his truck for the deliveries he is about to do.

As he turns to face Haley, Haley is stunned. There right before her is the man she had a crush on long, long ago...Her sister's boyfriend, Beck. Wow, that is not what she expected. Her crush grew into a real man and she is almost tongue-tied. When she approaches him, he doesn't recognize her and she says who she is, Jess's sister, and would like to purchase beans for the Busy Bean, where she works.

Well, that doesn't go well because Beck shuts down, says no to any orders, and can't get away from Haley fast enough.

Damn, Beck, is annoyed he reacted that way. He is over Jess and has moved on but the intense reaction he had with just the mention of her name surprised him. He knows he shouldn't turn away business, especially with the Busy Bean...but damn...

Beck's brother listens to Beck, mentions turning away the Bean is not cool, and Beck knows it too, so eventually Beck sucks it up and sells to the Bean. Yes, he will have to mix with Haley but he will figure it out.

Haley and Beck spend more time together, learning all about how beans are roasted and why Beck's are so great. These times together cause Beck to think about Haley differently and chemistry develops.

Whoa...what chemistry they have, yum. They are a no-brainier when they are in their bubble...it is only when they are out of the bubble when trouble rears its ugly head...named Jess and how she impacts Haley, Beck, her parents, and everyone around her.

Families are complicated and when there is one child that may need special handling, it is easy to lose focus on the other sibling. Boundaries are hard to do and this story approaches this difficult subject.

This does have a satisfying ending and stays true to the feel of the True North books. I am thrilled we have this new series and look forward to more.

 

About Sarah Mayberry

Sarah Mayberry was born in Melbourne, Australia, and is the middle of three children. From the time that she first “stole” paper from kindergarten and stapled it together to make “books,” Sarah has always wanted to be a writer. In line with this ambition, on graduation from high school she completed a bachelor of arts degree majoring in professional writing, then sat down to write a book. When inspiration didn’t strike, she began to wonder if, perhaps, she needed to live some ife first before writing about it.

This still left the burning question of how to pay the rent. She found her way into trade journalism, working off the principle that it was better to write anything for a living than nothing at all. Her time there lead to the opportunity to launch a new decorator magazine for one of Australia’s major retailers, an invaluable and grueling experience that she found very rewarding.

But the opportunity to write fiction for a living soon lured Sarah away. She took up a post as storyliner on Australia’s longest running soap, Neighbours. Over two years she helped plot more than 240 hours of television, as well as writing freelance scripts. She remembers her time with the show very fondly — especially the dirty jokes and laughter around the story table — and still writes scripts on a freelance basis.

In 2003 she relocated to New Zealand for her partner’s work. There Sarah served as storyliner and story editor on the country’s top-rating drama, Shortland Street, before quitting to pursue writing full time.

Sarah picked up a love of romance novels from both her grandmothers, and has submitted manuscripts to Harlequin many times over the years. She credits the invaluable story structuring experience she learned on Neighbours as the key to her eventual success — along with the patience of her fantastic editor, Wanda.

Sarah is revoltingly happy with her partner of twelve years, Chris, who is a talented scriptwriter. Not only does he offer fantastic advice and solutions to writing problems, but he’s also handsome, funny and sexy. When she’s not gushing over him, she loves to read romance and fantasy novels, go to the movies, sew and cook for her friends. She has also become a recent convert to Pilates, which she knows she should do more often