Sweet Summer’s Kiss

by Debra Salonen

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A storybook kiss on New Year’s Eve at the Big Sky Mavericks Masked Ball in Marietta, Montana should have been the beginning of a grand romance for Gretchen Zabrinski and Daniel Andrews. But when Gretchen overhears a phone call from Daniel to his brother about what he really wants from a woman, she takes off…without leaving so much as a glass slipper behind. Daniel wants a family. Gretchen will never be able to give him that. So why does fate keep throwing them together so cruelly? First, at a Copper Mountain Chocolate Shop Speed Dating event, then when he’s hired to open a new division at her PR firm. But competing, shoulder-to-shoulder, to sell the most exotic chocolate kisses for charity really is the last straw. Is love a cosmic connection or a karmic joke? Sometimes, the answer reveals itself in a kiss—a sweet kiss shared beneath a warm Montana summer sky.

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Book Details

Genre

Contemporary Romance

Subgenre

Small Town

Series

Love at the Chocolate Shop • Book 10

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

1 None

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

1 None

Publication Date

May 5, 2025

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

About the Author

Former award-winning newspaper journalist Debra Salonen is a nationally bestselling author with 26 published novels for Harlequin’s Superromance and American lines and one single title release for Harlequin Signature. Several of her titles were nominated for “Best Superromance,” including UNTIL HE MET RACHEL, which took home that honor in 2010. Debra was named Romantic Times Reviewer’s Career Achievement “Series Storyteller of the Year” in 2006. Debra lives in the foothills near Yosemite National Park in California with her husband and two dogs. Luckily, her two children and three grandchildren live close by to keep Debra connected to the real world.

Sweet Summer's Kiss

Exceptional circumstances and the storyline was captivating. The characters were written with heart; compassion; ethics and spunk to boot. Weaving their development was intriguing and heart wrenching at times, but thoroughly enjoyed your storytelling completely.

A Cinderella Twist

SWEET SUMMER’S KISS – A story by Debra SalonenSweet Summer’s Kiss begins a bit like Cinderella at the ball…a pretty girl, dressed in her designer gown, off to meet Prince Charming for the first time. Of course, we all know how Cinderella’s night turned out…The story of Gretchen and Daniel is complicated, but one that is often found in many romance novels. In order to keep this spoiler-free, I will leave it at that. However, it took me until halfway through the book to start to really enjoy this story.For the first half of the book, I found there were almost too many characters to keep everyone, and their children, straight. If you are a bit OCD at all, and feel the need to have a family tree to understand who’s who, it’s too complicated for me. Still, I was glad I stuck with it to get to the second half. It was there that the true “meat” of the story took place and the main characters were actually developed to their true potential.After finishing the book, I realized it was one in a series of books. Since it was later in the series, I can only assume that I might have understood the relationship of all of the characters had I read the first few books that came before this one. Therefore, I definitely recommend reading the other books before you read this one.Sweet Summer’s Kiss is definitely worth reading if you start at the beginning of the series and know the characters first or if you are someone who doesn’t mind muddling through without knowing them to get to the true gist of the story.An ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book was received free via Netgalley for an honest review.

Chocolate Kisses and Romance!

This is a great addition to the Love at the Chocolate Shop series. Marietta, Montana sounds like a place I would like to live. This story is a stand alone but several characters have appeared in the earlier stories. You get chocolate, chocolate kisses, dogs and romance in this page-turner that made me laugh as well as cry. I believe it would be impossible to not love the books in this series. Debra Saloren has written another winning tale!

Sweet Summer's Kiss

I live this whole series, but I have to say Debra Salonen has done a fantastic job with this story! This story covers so many aspects of new relationships and deals with a heart breaking problem. I love all the interaction between the characters. You will thoroughly enjoy reading this story.

Sweet Summer's Kiss

This was another wonderful addition to the Love at the Chocolate Shop series. Although, like the others, it can be read as a stand-alone and you won't miss out on anything.Gretchen is facing a turning point in her life as fate has crushed her future dreams and plans so she is bound and determined to break the rules for once in her life and take some chances. Daniel has a mild playboy like reputation, but he is smitten with Gretchen right away - even though it is basically a blind date.But when things start getting too real - Gretchen isn't sure she can handle Daniel or her feelings.I loved both of these characters so much. They just seemed so genuine and real with such real feelings and emotions. The story surrounding the Fourth of July festival and fundraiser in town was wonderful as well. As always, the citizens of Marietta make me wish that the town was a real place I could visit.