The Sweetheart Sham (Southern Charmed #1) - Danielle Ellison

Title: The Sweetheart Sham (Southern Charmed #1)
Author: Danielle Ellison
Rating: 2.5 - 3 / 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for letting me receive a digital copy of this book before its official release.

In a small town like Culler, South Carolina, you guard your secrets like you guard your cobbler recipe: with your life. Georgia Ann Monroe knows a thing or two about secrets: she’s been guarding the truth that her best friend Will is gay for years now. But what happens when a little white lie to protect him gets her into a fake relationship...and then the boy of her dreams shows up?

Enter Beau Montgomery: Georgie’s first love, hotter than ever, and much too much of a southern gentleman to ever pursue someone else’s girl. There’s no way to come clean to Beau while still protecting Will. But bless their hearts, they live in Culler—where secrets always have a way of revealing themselves.

Despite everybody else loving this book, it didn't really do anything for me. Sure, it was cute, but that's it. Everything about this screamed "cute" - the characters, the storyline. None of it was life changing, yet that's okay, because it doesn't have to be. Still I expected a little more, coming to think that the characters didn't even have to deal with problems. Or so it seemed. Georgia Ann sure didn't. Her secret wasn't even hers, it was the secret of her best friend Will, who was by far one of my highlights of the story. Alright, there's that thing with her mother. Thankfully, the author didn't make the book only about that.

Every misunderstanding between Georgia Ann and Beau could have been avoided if he had opened up to her about why he left Culler the first time. That's actually what I hated the most - that both of them weren't honest with each other. They got along fine but still couldn't talk about whatever happened between them after such a long time had passed. I liked the flashbacks, though, because every so often, stories like this one pick up years after the characters have seen each other last without letting the reader get a glimpse of their history.

The whole thing with Will being gay and being too afraid of his family's reaction really got to me. It's sad to think that so many teens out there can relate to him. It shouldn't matter who you love, who you decide to spend your life with. It's nobody's business but yours. And so at times I really felt like hugging Will, but then again I was happy he had a best friend like Georgia Ann who supported him no matter what.

This might be one of my shortest reviews. There's just not a lot that I can say. The publisher is known for cute reads like this one and I'm sorry I didn't like it any more. If you're looking for a sweet second-chance romance taking place in summer and in the south, then I think you'll actually love The Sweetheart Sham.