-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
by Polly Dugan
The poignant story of what happens when a woman who thinks she's lost everything has the chance to love again.
Leo has long joked that, in the event of his death, he wants his best friend Garrett, a lifelong bachelor, to marry his wife, Audrey. One drunken night, he goes so far as to make Garrett promise to do so. Then, twelve years later, Leo, a veteran firefighter, dies in a skiing accident.
As Audrey navigates her new role as widow and single parent, Garrett quits his job in Boston and buys a one-way ticket out west. Before long, Audrey's feelings for Garrett become more than platonic, and Garrett finds himself falling for Audrey, her boys, and their life together in Portland. When Audrey finds out about the drunken pact from years ago, though, the harmless promise that brought Garrett into her world becomes the obstacle to his remaining in it.
"...the novel, with Audrey, Garrett, and the three boys each taking turn as narrator, is a sensitive portrayal of friendship, family, and loss that appeals to readers who appreciate believable domestic fiction" - Booklist
"Though there are genuinely touching moments and Portland comes alive on the page, the story coasts flatly to a tidy, predictable resolution." - Publishers Weekly
"By alternating among the perspectives of the various characters, Dugan's first novel (after her story collection So Much a Part of You ) intimately explores how grief can affect a family. The author provides a quick, unsurprising read that delves into family relationships in the wake of loss and new love, topics reminiscent of Anne Tyler's novels." - Library Journal
"There is tender romance here, but it's more richly a story of an old family falling away and a new one beginning." - Kirkus
"The Sweetheart Deal hits all of my favorite topics: loss, pain, friendship, betrayal - but ultimately love. It's the most romantic story I've read in years." - Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day and The Matchmaker
"Heartfelt and wise, Polly Dugan's The Sweetheart Deal reminds us that every difficult ending can lead to a beautiful new beginning." - Sarah Jio, author of The Violets of March and Goodnight June
This information about The Sweetheart Deal was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Polly Dugan lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a reader at Tin House magazine. A former employee of Powell's Books, she is an alumna of the Tin House Writer's Workshop. Dugan's first published story, "A Matter of Time," was Line Zero's Spring 2012 Literary Contest Winner, "Masquerades" (as "One At a Time"), was Narrative's Story of the Week (December 2012), and "Kitten Season" was an Honorable Mention Recipient in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers (August 2009).
.gif)
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home: but unlike charity, it should end there.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
