Carly Westlake is living the dream. She spends her days at a spa (okay, so she owns the place), she’s dating a hunk, and she’s surrounded by chocolate—milk chocolate, her favourite—that she uses for the chocolate facials that made her spa famous.
But when long buried secrets threaten Carley’s business and her friendship with business-partner Tom, she fights like crazy to keep the dream—and the illusions—afloat.
It takes a miracle of grace to get Carley to finally make that bittersweet surrender to love and real life.
From what I understand, Bittersweet Surrender was set for release in 2008 but was shelved. It has been released on December 20, 2011 in e-format to coincide with Smitten (Hunt’s book with Girls Write Out authors, Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter and Kristin Billerbeck). Now I haven’t read Smitten yet (I will be soon) so I can’t say how this book relates to the other except that Carly visits the town of Smitten in Bittersweet Surrender.
One of the things I would like to point out is that the above blurb does not give accurate information about the novel. Carly’s friend Tom is actually Scott and he is her accountant, not business partner. Nowhere in the book is Scott called Tom or is he referenced as anything more than her trusted accountant. Finally throughout the book Carly’s name is spelt CARLY not CARLEY.
So now that that is out of the way, onto the book itself. I’ve only read one Diann Hunt book before and I liked it, so I thought this looked like a good pick. I did enjoy the book, found parts of it amusing but ultimately my heart broke for Carly as her life has been impacted greatly upon by the bad decisions people in her life have made.
These revelations force Carly to begin learning to focus on what God has in store for her. When she thinks that you can never really know people, God shows her the amazing good in people she never expected to find it in. This a truly is a bittersweet, gently comical book.
Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Jess is a mum of two children and married to the calmest man alive. She loves to bake and go for walks. A writer of contemporary romance, Jess write stories about the heart and where love is worth the journey.