I enjoyed reading A Brewed Awakening, a foodie romcom set in a small North Carolina mountain town. Daphne is obsessed with all things Austen and British. She recently inherited her grandmother’s old world tea shop on Main Street and lives in the apartment upstairs. Daphne needs to grow the tea shop’s customer base to pay for essential building maintenance.
Finn is a single dad from England who’s new to town and looking for a fresh start with his adorable six-year-old daughter. He purchases the building next door to Daphne with a plan to refurbish and open an English pub serving hearty meals.
Finn and Daphne’s meet cute is awkward, embarrassing, and full of misunderstandings that set up their business rivalry relationship dynamics. Their romance is cute and sweet with all the feels. They’re both struggling with grief and loss and have emotional baggage to deal with, including trust and abandonment issues. During the story their relationship moves from enemies to friends to more-than-friends, and I loved how Daphne bonds with Finn’s daughter.
The town is like a character and the ensemble cast of side characters are LOL hilarious. While the romcom story elements are lighthearted, a natural disaster challenges the townsfolk to pull together and help each other.
I recommend A Brewed Awakening to contemporary romance readers who like small town foodie romcoms with the enemies to love trope, business rivals, matchmakers, and relevant faith elements in the story.
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