Blog tour: Bitter and Sweet by Rhonda McKnight

 Title:  Bitter and Sweet

Author:  Rhonda McKnight

Genre:  Dual Timeline 

Publication Date:  June 11, 2024

Publisher:  Thomas Nelson

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the book 

From the beloved author of The Thing About Home comes a dual timeline tale of family, grief, secrets, and the sweet redemption that lies within the bonds of sisterhood.

-The Present-

When summoned to Georgetown, South Carolina, sisters Mariah Clark and Sabrina Holland both assume their ailing grandfather's health has gotten worse. Neither expects their grandmother's undeniable request--save the family restaurant.

Mariah is at a crossroad in her life. After being dumped by her husband and forced to walk away from their diner that she helped rescue from bankruptcy, bitter feelings consume her. Even though the restaurant has been in the family for eighty-six years, giving her all to another struggling business isn't something she wants to do.

Living out of her van and striving for a fresh start, Sabrina yearns for stability for herself and her daughter and a chance to turn her baking hustle into a bona-fide business. The family restaurant may be just the blessing she needs--but as old tensions and angry disagreements resurface, Sabrina wonders if her sister will let her have a say.

-The Past-

After falling victim to a love she thought would last a lifetime, Tabitha Cooper finds herself away from home and struggling to survive in Charleston in the early twentieth century. She is determined to turn corn into cornbread and to take care of her children the best way she knows how--by serving food that's good for the soul--and along the way forges a path that leaves a legacy of success for generations to come.

Through letters that reveal Tabitha's complicated past, the sisters discover truths that just might be the right recipe to mend their hearts--if they can find a way to savor the blessing of today and leave the bitter aftertaste of old memories behind them.

My Thoughts

It has been about 24 hours since I finished the book, and I'm still having a hard time putting into words how much I devoured this book. I could not put it down.   This author is truly one of the GOATS when it comes to emotionally charged, heartwrenchong stories that will keep you captivated from beginning to end.  I wish I could read it again for the first time.  This is how you craft a story.  And these characters will live in my mind for a while.  I hope to see this as a movie one day.  

About the Author 

Rhonda McKnight is the author of twenty-five traditional and indie-published award-winning bestsellers, including An Inconvenient Friend, What Kind of Fool, and Unbreak My Heart. She is a two-time winner of the Emma award in the categories of Inspirational Romance of the Year (2015) and Debut Author (2010). She has been nominated thrice for the African American Literary Award. She writes inspirational book club fiction and Christian romance about complex characters in crisis. Her goal is to touch the heart of women through her stories using the themes of faith, forgiveness, and hope. Originally from a small coastal town in New Jersey, she writes from the comfort of her South Carolina home.

She can be reached at her website at www.RhondaMcKnight.com and on social media at www.facebook.com/booksbyrhonda, www.instagram.com/AuthorRhondaMcKnight, www.twitter.com/rhondamcknight and www.SistersofFaithBooks.com where she has joined with sixteen other authors to introduce her stories to the world.