Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon was the best book I have read this year, in fact the best book I have read in awhile. This book was beautiful, heartbreaking and had just the right amount of spice to it.

Rowan McKinnon is a botanist with a PhD, but unfortunately her thesis had issues with the data so it couldn't be published and she was stuck until she was able to correct the data. Rowan doesn't have any family because her mother was very hands off and her grandmother who cared for her died when Rowan was 12. She retreats to her two college friends who unbeknownst to her summited her resume to the Brady family's new vineyard to help rebuild a once beautiful vineyard that has been neglected for many years. Harrison Brady is an OB who lost a patient and retreated to his parents' new vineyard to try to heal. Harrison is the relationship type of guy and Rowan is a don't trust anyone casual relationships only type of girl. Can they get passed their individual issues and make a relationship work?

I loved that this was not an instalove type of book. The characters had to work for everything they got which made this book so realistic. It was not a love conquers all type of book, the characters had to actually develop through a very realistic timeline. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait until Devon's next novel. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Title: Bend Toward the Sun
Author: Jen Devon
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:
"Bend Toward the Sun" by Jen Devon

My Assessment:

'Bend Toward the Sun' was quite an emotional, unique, and enjoyable storyline that featured Rowan McKinnon and Harrison Brady, who both had real-life issues. Rowan was a botanist hired to help restore a vineyard that needed much care, and Harrison, a doctor back home seeking refuge from a traumatic experience that had happened to him while living in LA. What will happen when these two meet at a turning point in their lives with all the baggage they carry? The characters, especially the Brady family and Rowan's two best friends, were enjoyable with all the bantering in the story. Indeed this was a story of 'how love can hurt us and also how it can heal us.'

Be ready for a beautiful love story that was 'romantic, satisfying, sensual and unforgettable' that would be recommended to read.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced e-book in exchange for my honest review. ( )

If my shelving of this book doesn't tell you enough, perhaps the fact that I was able to savor the first half should help, but after that, the fact that I was able to tear right through this - sacrificing precious sleep - and actually distracting me for once (lately) should tell you everything you need to know.

I kept thinking how I would write this review once I finished. The book was lush, but grounded; terribly romantic without being saccharine; it successfully built characters that had believable hang-ups without sacrificing the enjoyment by wanting to yell repeatedly at them (and I should mention features the prickly-only-wants-casual-defensive heroine clearly in her own way. Not a favorite element for me(commitment phones), but as you'll see, it worked here). Their mistakes were human, and like the winery where this takes place, they breathed life and made me feel them.

Look the best books have setting well integrated and sex that advances the plot and I do think a debut author deserves to stand on their own. Layer on this intense internal conflict that only gave me flashes of claustrophobia because of everything else this book was grounded in, and these incredibly romantic scenes, not to mention THE ACTS OF LOVE. That said, I do wonder who inspires Devon because there are these echoes of my favorite authors that I couldn't shake. Not in a negative, rip-off way, in that way that reminds me that this book is what I've been searching for.

I appreciate that both characters are open and communicative but not in a perfect, soft way that is becoming so popular currently. Sometimes it was selfish, righteous, and flawed. Sometimes it was uncomfortable or entirely breathtaking. The fact is, the dynamic feels very realistic to me. Sometimes I didn't love a metaphor ("took my mouth like a battlefield" was particularly off for what I believe the author hoped to convey), sometimes it was bogged down in them a little. Still, the book clearly pushed all these evocative, emotional buttons and I stayed up till 2 am reading it.

Harry is an absolutely appealing hero. The way he is characterized makes my heart sing-an arachnophobe dealing with the aftermath of losing a patient for the first time. He's believably entitled, believably lacking the internal resilience in many ways of a person who hasn't faced much hardship, and though at one point a character points out that Rowan (the heroine) is stronger than him, I treasure his vulnerability.

Rowan is a prickly free-spirit who very carefully guards her personal connections. She's awkward (or at least she tries to say she is), grounded, hilarious, and charming. She's a botanist, just another way I think Devon crafts the delightful work of character building and integrated setting but also gives us Rowan's vulnerabilities and softness. While Harry is soft with people, Rowan is at best in her openness to everything but people.

The opening scene gave me the impression that I would love this book. And indeed, it is filled with these swoon-worthy moments instigated by both main characters. This review most certainly shortchanges a lively set of secondary characters. I just adored this debut; the author, for me, echoed different pieces about what I love most about my favorite authors-with perhaps less polish, but you will still forget you are reading a debut. That was enough to get me to write a review on Wednesday morning. 4.5 rounded up. ( )

I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.
This was a beautiful story. It shows that no matter what kind of damage has been done to you in your past, when you find the person who can make you “whole” you can overcome that damage and become a better person. ( )

Two emotionally damaged people meet at a party. Neither enjoys small talk or being around other people. But there is something about them both that begins to draw them together. Will their pasts keep them from developing a relationship.

Rowan doesn't believe in love. She never got anything from her emotionally negligent mother and was emotionally abused by her former fiancé. When her doctorial thesis in botany is not approved and she's told it needs more work, she leaves Cornell and goes to stay with two friends in Pennsylvania. Her plans are to do more research and get approval for her thesis. But life sometimes has other plans and when she attends a party at a farm - soon to be a winery, she is enthralled by the owners and their large family as well as by the beauty of the land. She's offered a job at the winery to use her botany degree to help the family take care of the vines. Plus she meets a member of the family, Harrison and there are immediate sparks between them. Harry has been away from home for five years of schooling to become a doctor. When he loses his first patient, he begins to wonder if he's really cut out to be a doctor. The loss of the patient affects him so much that he has panic attacks when he is around blood.

These two broken people, Rowan and Harry, begin to spend more time together. He is falling in love with her and based on her past, she is just as busy pushing him away. Will they both be able to grow from their pasts and fall in love or will their pasts continue to control their futures?

This was a great book to read. The two main characters are very well written and the plot of the novel keeps the story moving. Two other items make this book even better: The main characters family are a large and fun family. The way the brothers fight with each other is often very funny and provide some comic relief. Plus the description of the winery and the land surrounding it are beautiful I've visited in that area and thought it was beautiful and the author made it come to life again.

This is a debut novel by Jen Devon and I look forward to whatever she writes in the future.

Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. ( )