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Sweet Tea and SympathyMolly Harper

General fiction

Sweet Tea and Sympathy

by Molly Harper

Book 1 of the Southern Eclectic series

307 pages · First published 2017

Elite Chicago event planner Margot Cary sees her career implode after a spectacular professional disaster and reluctantly accepts help from relatives she barely knows in Lake Sackett, Georgia. The McCready family runs the town’s funeral home and bait shop, ensuring that Margot’s sophisticated city life is replaced by a community where privacy is mostly theoretical. Elementary-school principal Kyle Archer offers both romantic possibility and another reason to question how quickly she intends to leave. Molly Harper launches the Southern Eclectic series with a funny fish-out-of-water romance about eccentric family, small-town belonging, and rebuilding a life after the carefully planned version collapses.

Paired for this story

Southern Sweet Tea + Manhattan

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At a glance

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Spice3 of 5
Suspense1 of 5
Creepy0 of 5
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No surprises at chapter twelve

Content notes

Death/funeral-home setting; parental abandonment and estrangement; job loss and financial insecurity; widowhood in the romantic lead's family; alcohol/bar setting; adult making out and sexual attraction.

Alcohol-Free Pour

Southern Sweet Tea

A mellow tea pour suits romantic anticipation and a little escapism.

What you'll need

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How to mix it

  1. Stir simple syrup and lemon juice into chilled tea. Serve over ice.
  2. Garnish: Lemon wheel.
  3. Glassware: Highball glass.
21+

Cocktail Pour · 21+

Manhattan

For adults of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly.

A warming pour with a sharp edge suits romantic anticipation and a little escapism.

What you'll need

  • 2 oz rye whiskey
  • 1 oz sweet vermouth
  • 2 dashes aromatic bitters
  • Ice

How to mix it

  1. Stir with ice until chilled and strain into a chilled coupe.
  2. Garnish: Cocktail cherry or orange twist.
  3. Glassware: Coupe.

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