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Monday, April 18, 2022

Bend Toward the Sun Review

Author: Jen Devon
Genre: Romance
Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Release Date: Aug. 9, 2022
Order Link: Amazon

4 Romantic Hearts

Special thanks to St. Martins Griffin for an arc of this book

A gorgeous, emotional love story about taking unexpected paths, accepting loss, and finding strength in the transformative power of love.

Review:
From beginning to end, Bend Toward the Sun is romance - a beautiful, emotional, angsty love story that will melt and break your heart.  It's been awhile since I read a straight out romance story that didn't rely heavily on humor to help carry the plot.  If you're a fan of romance with second chances, friends to lovers and broken hearts, this one's for you.

Botanist Rowan McKinnon has been burned by love . . . badly and has vowed to never let anyone close enough to hurt her again.  Dr. Harrison Brady has also been damaged in love, but he believes in love like his parents have and is searching for a forever relationship.  What he can't bring himself to do is doctor again.  A painful loss has him doubting his own abilities.  He retreats to his family's new vineyard in Pennsylvania to lick his wounds and regroup.  When Harry meets Rowan, sparks fly and he's sure he's looking at his future.  Rowan recognizes danger when she sees it, and she knows Harry is a dangerous man she needs to avoid at all costs if she's going to stay in control.  However, that's hard to do when she hires on to help the McKinnon's get their vineyard off the ground and up and running.  The vibes between them are magnetic, drawing them together like moths to a flame.  Ground rules are laid - friends with benefits only.  No feelings. Period.  How long do you think that can possibly last?

Bend Toward The Sun is beautifully written, showcasing a lonely woman with no family as she's welcomed into a boisterous, loving family like she's always wanted.  The story is paced out over a year, and the author does a great job at keeping the pace up and readers interested over this long time frame.  Devon is a obviously a master at writing beautiful prose while delivering the high angst, heartfelt romance between two people who are at different places on their journey to forever.  Emotions run high as Rowan continuously spurns Harry's efforts at moving toward a real relationship.  Tears fall as Harry struggles to accept the fact that love may not be able to fix everything, and he may never break through the walls built around Rowan's heart.  His family fills out most of the support cast and they're everything a large, loving family should be - open, welcoming, emotional rocks. 

While the plot line is quite simple, the characters do the heavy lifting in Bend Toward the Sun as they learn to live with loss, accept what's gifted freely and bend toward the light, leaving the darkness behind in search of true happiness.  I truly believe stories like this are rare in today's romance.  Bend Toward the Sun runs the gaumet of emotions carrying both readers and characters on a journey of highs and lows on the way to happily ever after.  Fans of pure romance will love this one.

Synopsis:
Rowan McKinnon believes love isn’t real. Armed with a PhD in botany, two friends who accept her social quirkiness, and some occasional no-strings sex, she has everything she needs. What she doesn’t share is that she hides deep wounds from the past—by an emotionally negligent mother, and by a fiancĂ© who treated her like a pawn in a game. The only love she’s ever known came from her grandmother Edie, who taught her to care for all things that grow. After a chance encounter at a future winery, Rowan is captivated—by the beauty of the land, the challenge of the vineyards’ restoration, and by the warm and inviting family that plans to run it. They’ll offer her a job. She’ll eventually accept it.

And try not to think about Harrison Brady.

Harry Brady is a doctor. Was a doctor. An obstetrician profoundly struggling after the unexpected loss of a patient, Harry no longer believes he is capable of keeping people safe. Reeling from the loss and his crumbled four-year relationship, Harry leaves Los Angeles to spend time emotionally recuperating at his parents’ new vineyard in Pennsylvania. He’ll work to get the place ready to open, and try to pick up the pieces of his heart. Because if there’s one thing Harry Brady knows how to do, it is love deeply, fiercely, with his whole heart.

As soon as he meets Rowan McKinnon, sunlight begins to crack through the dark cloud smothering Harry’s soul. He wants to explore the compelling pull between them. Rowan just wants to keep things casual—she’s spent a lifetime protecting herself against feeling anything, for anyone.

But even Rowan can feel their extraordinary connection tilting the axis of the world they both thought they understood.

A moving, powerful novel about the ways love can irrevocably change your life, BEND TOWARD THE SUN is a cinematic, unforgettable romance.
 

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