Love Finds You in Hershey Pennsylvania

by Cerella Sechrist

Chef Sadie Spencer is living the sweet life, running a successful eatery in the charming town of Hershey. That is, until a handsome stranger arrives with plans to open a competing restaurant. Will Sadie melt under the pressure…or find a love that's simply icing on the cake?

Genres: Christian Fiction, Romance, Christian, Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Christian Romance

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

CERELLA SECHRIST lives in York, Pennsylvania with two precocious pugs, Darcy and Charlotte, named after Jane Austen literary characters. Inspired by her childhood love of stories, she was ten years old when she decided she wanted to become an author. A former barista, Cerella could spend hours discussing coffee origins and flavor profiles. She’s been known to post too many pug photos on both Instagram and Pinterest. You can see for yourself by finding her online at http://www.cerellasechrist.com.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like this book. I thought the main character was horrible to her best friend, turned love interest. The child was written in an obnoxious way, as if the author doesn't know any kids. I wanted to like this book, but it was bad.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very “sweet” story! ;) Sadie owns her own restaurant, Suncatcher's, in the special town of Hershey, Pennsylvania...where the air smells of cocoa all the time. She has overcome so much, after her mother and husband's deaths, losing her television cooking show, and raising her five year old daughter. Yet trouble looms ahead when rumors stir that handsome Russian, Dimitri Velichko, will soon be opening his own restaurant – right across the street from Sadie's restaurant! With so many choices, so many changes in her life, Sadie seeks help from those around her, especially her childhood friend Jasper.

This wasn't the fluffy story I was expecting. It went deeper, more emotional, and more into personal struggles that we all face like expectations and forgiveness. It was less about her husband's death and more the after affects of so much loss and how Sadie needed to learn to let go a little more in life, and embrace all she had around her. This story touched me and moved me quite a bit, and made quite an impact. My favorite parts of the story were of Jasper, and Sadie's daughter, Kylie, who are so much fun together!

I was looking forward to this one, as I've been to Hershey and am a Pennsylvania girl at heart. I gave it 3 stars because the main character and I are too much alike - her faults feel like mine, and I probably won't read this again. And her daughter talks to herself in the third person...and she's five. That seemed a bit ridiculous to me, and started being irritating.

[Izzy Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was absolutely hilarious! 😂 I really wasn’t expecting all the funny jokes either. Some of the second hand embarrassment made me cringe for her… what I didn’t really like was how Sadie couldn’t see that Jasper was in love with her. Also Kylie was 5 and seemed a bit older than that. I’ve never known a 5 year old that talked like a 9 year old…. I’ve known a lot of 5 year olds too!😜 Her personality was just too old for her age. Kylie also drove me a little crazy with the volcano, She needed punishment not just a, “Sadie, don’t do that,” type thing.
All that to say I really enjoyed it and got a lot of laughs! 😆

[Mary Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cute Christian romance. Sadie at times was annoying, but she came to realize that it wasn’t all about her.

[Suzanne Cefola · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet love story but wish the faith parts were more integrated throughout the story in a very real way, Instead of Faith being put in as an afterthought. A common problem in many fictional and faith books. All in all though I liked the way the other wove different story lines and not just one simple one.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

As this is Cerella's debut novel, this was my first time reading her work; however, it will not be my last. She has quickly been added to my "must read" author list. YAY! Her book is easily my favorite Contemporary Romance so far for 2010. It would be nice to see a sequel, because I would love to find out what happens to some of her secondary characters. Though I'm not a huge fan of cooking or baking myself, for some reason, I love reading about characters who enjoy it.

We meet Sadie after she has returned to her childhood home of Hershey, Pennsylvania, and opened her very own restaurant, Suncatchers. She has hired a great bunch of employees, and is doing an excellent job bringing in customers. She does have a couple of problems though. One, she can't make a decent dessert to save her life, and second, rumor has it that someone has purchased the building across the street and is planning to open a restaurant. Sadie finds out that this someone is Dmitri Velichko, and he has been dining at Suncatchers at least 2-3 times a week. She thinks he's scoping out what she (the competition) has to offer, and finds it really hard to put up a nice facade whenever Dmitri drops by for a meal.

Sadie's daughter, Kylie, is my favorite character. She had me laughing so hard at times that my hubby would ask me what in the world was so funny! I would try to read an excerpt to him, but couldn't see for the tears rolling down my face. I would love to see Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania released as a movie, just so I could see Kylie and her antics "in person". I'm telling you, she's a real hoot! =D

Jasper has been Sadie's friend since forever. He bends over backwards to help her out anytime, anywhere. He's a teacher at Kylie's school and babysits her a couple of hours every afternoon until Sadie gets home. They have lots of fun together: playing Barbies, drawing pictures, and the stories Kylie tells about Mount Thousand Flushes will have you in stitches. I love how she refers to herself in the third-person! LOL

Sadie's dad, Mac, comes back into her life after deserting her and her Mom years ago. Sadie has a really hard time working towards forgiving him, and treats him pretty badly at first. I felt sorry for Mac, but could kinda understand why Sadie feels the way she does. Kylie falls in love with her Grandpa right away, and loves to spend time with him.

If you've read and enjoyed any of the other Love Finds You in... books, then you definitely need to get your hands on a copy of Cerella's story that takes place in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's an absolute treat!

***I would like to say "thank you" to Cerella Sechrist for providing me with a copy of her book. In no way did her generosity reflect on my personal review.***

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I should have waited until the end of the year to read this book...you know save the best for last and that sort of thing. I LOVED this book and I'm so excited to add Cerella Sechrist to my "must read" author list. What a way to start the new year!

You all know that I love the Love Finds You series but Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is by far, my favorite. There's a little bit of everything in it, including romance (*sigh* some scenes in this book are soooo romantic, think Romeo and Juliet balcony scene) and humor (I'll never think of the bathroom in the same way again) plus it made me cry! Oh yeah, did I mention there are even Russian mobsters?! Seriously!

It's not too often that I can say this about a book, especially an author's first novel, but I loved every minute of it. Sadie was terrific and it was easy to relate to her feelings of inadequacy and the need to compete to achieve "perfection." This book dealt with the important issues of seeking God's forgiveness as well as the forgiveness of others and yourself and letting go of the past. Sadie had to learn to mix the sweet and sour to create the perfect recipe for her life.

This book is definitely a sweet success

[Michelle Hart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just as saccharine-sweet as you would expect 'love finds you' set in Chocolate Town. I expected that and was ready for it. However, the leading lady was SO annoying! She loves her daughter, but hands almost all parenting duties off to her best friend. A cute guy best friend that she never notices is a cute guy or that they're basically married since he takes care of her house and kid, runs her all over town, and is always always always there for her when her latest calamity strikes. The daughter was a disaster and all the adults (except the MIL) thought her misbehavior was adorable. Um, no. She was horrible. I think she was supposed to be funny, but she was a brat who needed direction. The crazy aunt who kept calling the lead a hussy was actually funny. Then there's the weird subplot with the Russian guy that just turned farcical around the page 300 mark. My eyes literally rolled at the cliche of it all.

[Teresa Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a laugh out loud book. It had a few unexpected twist and turns. Although it was a good book, it lacked a little in the romance department. Not sure what was missing ... All in all it was a good book.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent but predictable

Overall I enjoyed this book even if it is predictable. The title caught my eye since we've been to Hershey a few times.

[Hanna Herndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hershey Pennsylvania, home to streets named after chocolate goodies as well as home to our main character/heroine Sadie Spencer and her restaurant. Life is good. A successful restaurant, great staff, lovely daughter, and amazing friend/babysitter. But when a rich Russian entrepreneur comes to town and her restaurant might be damaged, Sadie’s life flips up-side down.
The good aspects.
• It is a good book for a debut novel; I can tell that Cerella Sechrist put a lot thought and effort into this book.
• The plot was not like your typical single mom being extremely strong and arrogant. Sadie did grow into a better heroine by the end of the book.
• The relationship with Sadie and her dad. I was glad to see that everything was smoothed out between them and that he became a Christian.
• Jasper. I don’t know where to start with him. He basically stayed single just for Sadie, because he loved her THAT much. And he took care of her daughter and made dinner almost every night. Through all that, Sadie STILL couldn’t see how much he loved her.
Things that needed to be worked on
• The Main character. I’m sorry but I felt like Sadie could have been better than she was. She completely took Jasper for granted. He was more like a servant than a friend to her. She also was very childish, especially when it came to Dmitri. I mean, listening to gossiping crows instead of learning the facts about him opening a restaurant. C’mon. Act like an Adult! And when Sadie kissed Jasper, she didn’t tell him that Dmitri had kissed her just hours before.
• Kylie, Sadie’s daughter, acted like she was 2 years old instead of 4 almost 5. She spoke in third
person and just behaved obnoxiously for most of the book. Especially when it came to the toilet and dropping key items into the “volcano”
• The best friend turned lover cliché.
• The hot European dude romance cliché
• The Russian mobsters attack and threaten your child cliché
Soooo, 3 stars. This is a great novel for Christian romance-lovers everywhere. I’d definitely recommend it. Although, it may make your chocolate cravings rise sky-high.

[Debbie Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book in the Love Finds You... series. This was a very good book... though the main character, Sadie, drove my crazy. I wanted to give her a good talking to, like her mother-in-law does at one point in the book, at numerous points in the book ... I almost wanted to throttle her she was acting so badly. Such self sabotage. I again knew who would probably end up together, though having two male characters her age did cause me to wonder at one point. But finding out how they got together and what the journey would be like to get them there kept me reading. In this book the characters had a lot more troubles along the way; and Sadie had serious trust issues thanks to the early terrible relationship she had with her father and the loss of those in her life who loved her. But, since the book is part of the Love Finds You series I knew Love would win out in the end and so it made for good reading in this time of stress and world going nuts.

This had a little more of a Christian presence than the Prince Edward Island one. They did go to church, talk about God, pray, and discuss personal relationships with Christ. It was great that Sadie's dad and the Russian guy found God (not during the story) and told us a little of their testimony.

Again, I read this because this series is on my TBR list and fit a prompt for PopSugar.

Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt(s) –
Prompt names completed go here…
#14 - A book set in a restaurant

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was one of the strongest 'Love Finds You' books in the series. I liked how we saw from different viewpoints, other than Sadie and Jasper, to help move the action forward. Seeing other's motivations, especially when they proved different than those that had been assigned to them by Sadie in particular, created a bit of tension where we could see what was going on more than Sadie could.
My heart absolutely broke when Sadie acted in an obsessed manner during the 'cocoa contest' at the mid point of the novel. She was so singularly focused that she absolutely lost track of what was truly important. And when that inevitably blew up in her face . . . wow! Heartbreak on a completely different level!
I really liked how Jasper was determined to win over Sadie and cement his place in the lives of her and her daughter (side note . . . Kylie was delightfully mischievous). His steadiness played a central role in the storyline.
I also appreciated the beautiful sermon preached toward the beginning of the book . . . how we should forgive others . . . even our enemies . . . because Christ forgave US when we were HIS enemies! What a powerful way to look at forgiveness!
4.5 stars

[Jill Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love culinary romances and I live near Hershey but this ended up not being for me. I thought it would be a cute enemy-to-love chef book but the love interest switched and wasn't good at all. The whole dialogue and storyline was over the top sugary sweet and cliche in a cringing way. The main character became so irrational, mean, and selfish that, while I had a hard time connecting with her prior, it was impossible to after.

There were such unnecessary plot points, like the Russian crime guys that were resolved in like two pages...it was just so not needed. His whole character was barely needed, really. He could have been replaced with any chain restaurant coming next door and it would have been the same plot yet in the beginning, he seemed like he'd be the main love interest. Yet he went from love interest to her being so obsessed with him overshadowing her and she ruined every relationship in her life?
This book was a bit of a mess all around.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
- humorous writing style
- genuine friendships
- the reality that we (especially women) feel that we need to be perfect at everything we try and the stress and dissapointment we feel when we don't measure up
- the main chararacter's awkward word-vomit manner with the guy she supposes to be her competition
- the time required to heal a broken relationship between father and daughter
- how easy it becomes to victimize yourself

Cons:
- the 5 year old was a bit over the top sometimes. Maybe because I currently have a 5 year old, but Kylie seemed a bit babyish at times
- can a chef who has started her own cooking show and restaurant really be that TERRIBLE at making desserts?!

[Alexis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was going to rate this a 2.5 star but the further i got into the book the more disconnected the story became and it was quite irritating to sell this off as a cozy love christian romance. This was Christian. The main character Sadies was a selfish immature controlling narrsesstic bitch! There was to much stuff added and not enough follow through. She is a health freak yet the more the story goes,the more this is lost in the book. Mama Belva was pointless to have in there. The russian mafia ! Really!!! This was just to far and to stupid ! I just cant ! The author is obviously i experienced and an amateur. This seems like middle school writing.

[Abigail Killeen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up at a library sale for my grandma since she lives in Hershey and thought that I should read it first. I thought it would be a cute little hallmark movie-like book but it was worse. The characters are annoying and the plot was all over the place. Not to mention nothing on the outside of the book indicated that religion was so integral to the plot. Honestly the synopsis on the back of the book barely matches with the plot, it fits for the first 20% and then the plot was all over the place. I kind of feel bad giving this to my grandma

[Debbie Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

there really was not much to like about this book. The guys were likable but Sadie was obnoxious and Kylie a brat how many times is a kid going to deliberately flush something down the toilet before mommy finally takes action. The dmitri and the russian mob storyline was silly and the aunt matilda one obnoxious it some how managed to get a happy ending which was pretty much the only good part of it i wont read it again and i dont recommend it

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bought cheap used. Glad I didn’t pay full price. Only finished since I didn’t have another book. The whole plot line is just ridiculous especially with the mob characters interjected at the end. The author made attempts at humor throughout the book that fell flat. The main character is not likable at all. Her daughter couldn’t be more annoying. I’m sure the daughter would say, “Kylie doesn’t like this book!”

[Rose Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has made me put Hershey, Pennsylvania on my list of places to visit one day. This book also made me laugh out loud! It's a sweet romantic comedy filled with lots of lessons we all can learn!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slower start and lots of unnecessary tension, but it has a sweet love story under it all. I did enjoy that it took place in my home state. Another book from my mom that I’m happy to have finally completed though it isn’t my usual read.

[Peggy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the best books out there, I'm lo Bing it. ☺

[Gina Shupp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Live in Hershey was a good book. Had live, sadness, jealousy. Had a happy ending

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good sweet christian type romance. I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Tara Irlbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed so hard at times I cried! A good story, but the little girl seemed slightly immature for her age. Many twists and turns...some were not expected and some were.

[Victoria B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m giving this book a 2-star rating because while it was a cute hallmark like story. The characters were unrealistic and it was really hard to get through…. Would honestly not recommend

[StaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out a little slow for me, but I enjoyed the book! A great feel good kind of book on finding love and being humble and full of God’s grace.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good light reading that kept me smiling!

[Karen Thaler · Rating 4 out of 5]

#19 in series.

[Victor Gentile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cerella D. Sechrist in her new book, “Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania” which is part of the Love Finds You In… series published by Summerside Pressl takes us to Hershey, PA. Though it is part of a series all of these books are stand alone novels so you can read this one alone without missing anything. All of the Love Finds You In… series are set in real cities in states across our great nation and are set in different time periods by different authors. What makes these separate books part of the series is that love is found in each city.

Cerella D. Sechrist takes us to the city of Hershey which was founded by chocolate maker Milton Hershey as a city where those working in his factories would be able to live, now the city is home to more than the workers of the Hershey Corporation. Chef Sadie Spencer has come home to Hershey with her young daughter in an effort to start over. Her career as a TV chef is over, she is a widow and her mother has recently died. To begin anew she starts a restaurant in Hershey and does very well except for one thing: she can’t do deserts very well.

To add to the cast of characters is her estranged father who has come to the Lord and wants to make up for the years he wasted by not being a part of her life. His non-involvement has left a deep emotional wound on Sadie’s life that makes her very distrustful of men. Jasper is her childhood friend who is madly in love with her and everyone knows but her. Add one more, Dmitri Velichko, who may or may not be opening a new restaurant right across the street from hers, and you have a full cast.

This is a story of the power of a father’s love and what happens when it is absent in the life of a young girl. It is also a story of redemption as God can restore the years the locust has eaten if only Sadie will let Him. So will Sadie come to terms with her father? Is Dmitri a real threat? Will Sadie realize that Jasper is her one true love? I am not going to tell you, you are going to have to read the book. Ms. Sechrist is an excellent writer and makes all her characters believable and you care deeply for them as she deftly unfolds the plot before us. This is a nice romance with great themes.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Summerside Press. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”