This is a beautiful well written romance. The main characters Sy and Maddie were great and relatable. I enjoyed it a lot. I recommend. Well done.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books.

A very beautifully written romance! Sy and Maddie were two very likable characters with each their own personalities. Along the way i laughed many times and had a lot of fun with the story. Also the renovation aspect is so interesting and exciting to read!
A special kind of story i haven’t read before.

this was amazing, not a 5 star but still good regardless, I liked it a lot

thank you netgalley for the arc

Sweat Equity was the cozy romance read I didn't know I needed. Having previously enjoying Aurora Rey’s novel Built to Last, a romance centered around home renovations, I was excited to delve into another one of her architectural romances. This book, while sharing a thematic link with the former, sets itself apart with its unique character dynamics. The butch/femme interplay here is a delightful twist, especially given that the more femme-character is portrayed as the builder, a dynamic I hadn’t previously encountered in romance novels but I absolutely loved. Why can't a femme presenting woman absolutely slay while doing home renovations?! I also loved how soft and gentle our butch is. It was such a welcome change and I hope to see more of it in sapphic fiction!

Even though I'm nestled in the Southern hemisphere, where the climate doesn’t exactly sync with the setting of the book, Sweat Equity exudes strong autumnal vibes that transcend geography. Reading this felt like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, with a crackling fireplace setting the perfect ambiance. I'm a tad desperate for a snow holiday at the moment so think this is why I particularly loved the snowy setting :)

Sy and Maddie, the protagonists, are not only charming and relatable, but they also bring interesting professions to the table that play off each other beautifully. Their instant chemistry and the subsequent organic progression of their relationship feels genuine, reminiscent of real-life romances where every interaction isn’t just scripted perfection. I will admit that Maddie's lack of clear communication did grate on me near the end, but I get why it was used for this story.

If you’re on the hunt for a heartwarming romance, filled with endearing secondary characters and set against the backdrop of a quaint small town, look no further. Sweat Equity is the book you’ll want to snuggle up with on a chilly evening. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and hoping it's Jack who takes centre stage :)

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Exactly what it says on the tin! Will boomark the author s name.
Romance, sweet and fun.
Great to distract myself and bring a happy bubble to my heart

A very enjoyable light FF romance novel set in small town Vermont.

Maddie is a fourth generation building and home renovator with high standards and no plan to leave her home town. Sy has just rolled into town to become the cheesemaker for Maddie's best friend. But Sy is so clearly unprepared to live in New England, has travelled and doesn't plan to stay for more than a few years, and just bought a house that takes "fixer-upper" to a whole new level. Yet, there is undeniable attraction between the two of them. Will there be a fantastic reveal a the end for these two or will they be left in the ruins with nothing but moldy cheese?

I must admit that I struggled a bit with how light the book felt at the beginning after having read a more intense book recently. But it was nice to settle into the small town feel. I also think that the book could have been tightened up a little, and certain parts of the story line felt like they dropped out of nowhere.

Even with these minor issues, I happily spent most of a rainy Saturday curled up on the couch with the characters. I will be searching out more books by Aurora Rey and hope that we will be meeting more of the other characters in this book again.

* Thank you to Bold Stroke Books and NetGalley for the advanced review copy. While the pdf was free to read, my summary and opinions are my own.

3.75 stars!
This was a very fun read and it actually lived up to my expectations!

The characters were fun and felt complete, the chemistry was really there, and I loved the banter between the two main characters. Also, the sibling banter was next level. It felt so real, yet you could feel these characters cared about eachother.

Something I did not like was that there was instant attraction between the two mc's I wish they would have started falling hard a little later in the story. In the end I also thought the ending of the story felt a little flat and hurried, which made it underwhelming. The drama was also very short lived, that could have been dragged out way longer than it actually did.

But overall a very cute and fun read!

A cute and adorable quick read set in a small town, with more than a dash of spice. What more could you need? I loved all the home renovations and the cheese-making was so interesting. I would highly recommend this one as a fun and soo cute read.

This was such a fun, quick read!
I adored both characters and their chemistry was off the charts!
It was also steamier than expected but I'm not complaining!
The only criticism I have is the miscommunication at the end,
there were a lot of feelings happening but it still felt forced.
But I can still definitely recommend it!

This read made me smile and improve my DIY knowledge. Although picking up a hammer and putting it to use is not my thing, it is good to have some knowledge so when my spouse starts a project, I have an opinion. Oh yeah! Maddie Barrow, contractor in the Barrow Brothers family business, works hard and wants a relationship but is skittish that she will get burned. Sy Travino, former chef, current cheese maker, not looking for a relationship because she may not be in town very long. When Sy purchases a house site unseen, she is shocked to find out how much work it needs. Sy has also never been a home owner or lived in cold weather and in comes Maddie to the so called rescue. What a sexy read...wow! The interaction between Sy and Maddie is fun as well as entertaining. Really enjoyed the humor. Since all of Maddie's siblings are queer as well as her best friend, there will probably be more stories. Bring it on, I cannot wait.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4! This was my first book by Aurora Rey and overall, it was an enjoyable, quick read. I loved the small-town setting and found the protagonists to be likable. They both share witty banter, and the author does a great job of communicating that chemistry in the text. The cheese-making and renovation plots were also fun to read.

In the ‘build-up’ at the beginning of the novel, I found the volume of innuendos and sexual focus in the characters’ internal thoughts to be too heavy-handed for my liking. There were too many moments where the characters would be having a totally serious conversation, and then out of left field, a sexual thought was thrown in, which was distracting. The author could’ve cut at least 75% of that at the beginning of the book, and their attraction to one another would still be palpable. That said, once you get about halfway through the book, it’s no longer an issue.

I really liked the characters, but I felt that there was an opportunity for more exploration of each of them individually. There are a couple of major external plot points for each of them, which are left almost completely unresolved at the end, which was frustrating.

I liked that the conflicts between the main characters weren’t too over-the-top, it all felt realistic (maybe a little rushed).

Overall though, a cute, quick read. I’ll absolutely be seeking out more of Aurora Rey’s books! I’d recommend it to a friend who’s looking for a light, pick-me-up read.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this quaint book

sy is disillusioned with her life and plans to start work in a totally different area than she is use to plus she has bought a house sight unseen that is a do-upper

what she doesnt know is that is more than that and going to cost her quite a bit of money to even make it liveable

enter maddie barrow, who works out an estimate and then puts forward an idea to make sy work and not cost as much as the estimate

plus with sy going into the cheese business with maddies mate clover all looks to be well but theres this thing called attraction and its not long before long and meaningful looks are going between sy and maddie

who will cave first...

a fun read with all the elements of family drama included

Maddie Barrow has lived in the small community all her life and most of the time she loved it but as far as dating goes the ladies interested in being with her are not there. Working with her family is another thing she wanted to do, in fact loved it. When her best friend, Clover hires a new employee for her ‘Grumpy Old Goat’ cheese business, someone who she hopes knows her stuff but finding a place for the new hire to live was a whole other matter. Luckly there is an old house but it needs a lot of work. Luckly for her, Maddie, just happened to be a contractor.
Sy Travino trained as a chef and has worked everywhere but after coming home her main interest was in cheese, making it her new dream. Raised by her single mother she grew up knowing she had a great mom. Father’s whereabouts are unknown. Now she’s come to work with Clover and meets Maddie who has agreed to help make her new home livable.
Ms Rey does a wonderful job bringing these two women, along with a believable plot to make this a lovely romance with lots of laughter along the way. Truly a wonderful romance.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bold Stroke Books.

I just love fall books. This cover just grabbed me. I love HGTV so reading a romance about falling in love with your contractor is right up my alley. This book was spicy and romantic. There was some family drama which always makes for a good story. The setting was perfect for the story. I cannot wait to read more by this author. Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Sy has moved to a small town in rural Vermont to work as an artisan cheese maker at a goat farm. Her boss's best friend Maddie takes on the job of renovating the collapsing pile Sy's bought to live in, and they make friends then become more than just friends, with lots of misunderstandings and assumptions along the way. I really liked the small-town setting with the different inhabitants and the details of the house works, but there were a good few very explicit sex scenes, which isn't to my taste (whatever the orientations and genders of the participants, I hasten to add) and wasn't signposted in the book description, as far as I can tell.

i loooove a cooking theme but home renovation on top? sign me up. this was the perfect book to read in the fall after just moving into a new house. the characters are very well fleshed out and i think it had the perfect amount of main and side character involvement. i will definitely be checking out more from this author!

Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey was a sweet, steamy story with a new twist on a "workplace romance". I enjoyed Maddie and Sy's journeys and generally the maturity and growth shown in the characters! It was definitely refreshing to read about characters who worked on communication! I think the story was lacking a little emotional pizzaz -- I often felt I was being told what the characters were feeling and I didn't feel connected to those emotions myself. All in all, however, I look forward to where this 'series' goes next!!

I enjoy the worlds that this author creates, there is always a great best friends dynamic and sometimes other friends or in this case siblings whose banter helps one of the main characters. It was fun to read about house renovation and cheese making, especially queer women successfully running their own small businesses. This is a low angst, easy to read romance, with descriptive sex scenes with toys, unusually. I have thoughts about the ending but no spoilers here. Lots of fun and believable characters, I shall follow this series with interest.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sweat Equity by Aurora Rey is a lovely and at times quite hot butch/femme romance in a small town in Vermont. I’m always enchanted by this author’s settings and characters. It makes all of her books really special for me.

In this novel we have a burned out chef (Sy Travino) moving to town to work as a cheese maker at the Grumpy Old Goat farm. (I love that name) Sy bought a house unseen, which turned out to be almost unlivable because it’s in such bad shape. This is where we meet Maddie Barrow, a renovator.

Maddie offers to do the major renovations for Sy, and show her how to do some of the easier jobs to help save money. Of course this causes the two to be in close contact as they work to make Sy’s home a beautiful place.

I must confess I was fascinated with the descriptions of the house renovation. I’ve never been very good at that, but I’ve always loved watching or reading about it.

Sy and Maddie do make a striking couple. The chemistry between them is off the charts, and it shows in the sexy love scenes. I did get confused with these two every once in a while because they are not exactly your typical butch/femme couple. Read the story to see what I mean.

I had a lot of fun reading this novel. I’m so glad to learn that this is book one in a new series. I will definitely be looking for more in this world of the author’s making.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I liked Sweat Equity, but I didn't love it. Based on the blurb, my first impression was that this story was going to be a cute, queer romcom. And yes, while there were moments of that, the story just felt like it was missing something.

For me, the missing piece was the tension between Maddie and Sy. The banter between this home contractor and cheesemaker was great, but it just felt like there was no build up. Before I knew it, there was a emotional and physical relationship between the two. But it felt like it came out of nowhere. It felt like the relationship was the trying to be the plot and to me, that just didn't work.

This story was a lot of fluff with not much else. And while that's great, I need a story to have more than just fluff and two characters who are into each other to really enjoy a story.

Additionally, the dialogue mixed with the inner thoughts was an interesting writing choice, because at times, it just felt like you were reading just dialogue. I'm all for knowing a character's inner thoughts, but as a reader, I want that woven into the story and not just following dialogue constantly.

Once again, I liked the book, but didn't love it. I don't think that I would continue on with the series.