Limecello’s review of Sweet Spot (Bakery Sisters, Book 2) by Susan Mallery
Contemporary romance published by Harlequin on 1 Aug 08
I thought that Sweet Talk was a good book, but Sweet Spot blew it out of the water. This may be my favorite book I’ve read all summer – possibly longer. It might be the happy book high, but I know that’s not all. This is definitely one of my favorite Susan Mallery novels.
Nicole Keyes is a character first introduced in Sweet Talk [Bakery Sisters, Book 1], and she’s someone you feel comfortable with. The beginning might be a bit more meaningful if you’ve read Sweet Talk, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. Nicole’s the bitchy sister, but not a bitch, and for all her crusty exterior, she’s pretty much as soft and sweet as cotton candy. Nicole is a character you cannot help but like, and definitely someone to respect. And be friends with! Have I mentioned she owns a successful bakery?
Eric Hawkins, or Hawk, is a great romance hero, and very realistic. He’s ridiculously hot, was former pro-athlete, was madly in love with his wife, is a good father, a good coach, a good person, but… has regular stupid moments. Hawk’s so charming and disarming it’s hard to dislike him, even though you almost feel you should, based on principle – too much perfection. (Much like how Nicole feels.)
The story itself is interesting as well. There are many secondary characters, and all of them are well written, and well developed. Generally I’m not a fan of high school characters, especially as a secondary romance, but Ms. Mallery does a great job here. Raoul and Brittany often provide a great contrast to Nicole and Eric, and other characters make nice cameo appearances as well.
A few things I didn’t like as much were the scenes with Jesse, who gets her story in Sweet Trouble. Much like the annoying aspect of Sweet Talk, the parts with Jesse were a bit too maudlin and ridiculous. Too many accusations and characters playing the victim card. I did notice how Ms. Mallery set the foundations for Jesse’s story, however, and how she’s going to save her from being a hateful character. Another minor issue was how different Drew, Nicole’s ex-husband was in Sweet Spot from Sweet Talk – although it did make sense. Then there were the idiotic and overdramatic teenagers … but then that does fit how a teen would act overall. And they fit into the book, so I can’t fault Ms. Mallery for that.
The plot and events in Sweet Spot progress nicely and make for a very enjoyable read. It was fun, yet had a realistic tone to it, even while all these fantastic incidents kept occurring. A time or two things fell a bit too neatly into place, but I found them easy to get over. I might wish for just a tad more romance between Nicole and Hawk, because the secondary characters commandeered so much of their time and attention. However, I enjoyed reading about all the shenanigans so much it’s rather inconsequential.
I have to admit that when I first heard about the Bakery Sisters trilogy, I was skeptical. (Yes I was!) So I feel my gushing means that much more. I recommend everyone read this book. It’s very well written, flows- I never felt that there was too much, or that the author was trying too hard. It’s a great summer read. Basically, this book was just right in my Goldilocks test, and I think all romance lovers should read this book. (And the one before it, Sweet Talk because it’ll make this one that much better.) I will say I’m still unsure as to how Ms. Mallery will present Jesse’s story in Sweet Trouble, but at this point… I’m expecting good things.
Grade: A
If only her life was more sinful than sweet…
“Responsibility” should be Nicole Keyes’s middle name. After all, not many people would sacrifice their lives to run the family bakery and raise a younger sibling. But with Nicole’s twin sister now blissfully married and her younger sis turning out more femme fatale than girl next door, superreliable Nicole is getting sick of putting everyone else’s needs first!
Enter Hawk. The deliciously sexy former NFL player offers Nicole a taste of the freedom she craves. Hawk may know the way, blindfolded, to her sweet spot, but Nicole’s not about to let him get close enough to break her heart. Of course, she might not have a choice in the matter if Hawk’s past keeps getting in the way of their present…
Read an excerpt here.
Other books in this series:
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This was my favorite of the bunch and the first one I read. Just loved Nicole and Hawk. And he was such a blind man when it came to his kid. Something I thought played out very true and well. And good god was she a stoopid girl. The fact Nicole didn’t run and run fast after all she put up with Jesse sez something I think.
I thought so too. I wanted to smack Brittney a few times, but mostly to knock some sense into her. Even with all the fluff and yay stories her parents told her how could she think that? 😛 Maybe it’s good you read this book first. Sweet Talk took certain aspects a bit far.
Also, I read some review where the reviewer absolutely trashed the book… but she couldn’t even have finished the first, considering the way she completely missed Nicole’s personality. Aish, “reviewers.”
damn them all
LOL honestly I don’t think I could have finished Talk if I read it first. ::shrug::
Haha – coulda if you’d started at page 145 😛
I’m unsure about Sweet Trouble I knew it’d be set a few years later… but I anticipate liking it less. I can only hope I’ll be wrong.
I’m going to have to be the fly in the ointment here and said I didn’t like it, and still think Sweet Talk is my favourite. The first half was great – and for once we have a hero who knows immediately what he wants and goes after it instead of stewing in angst! Yeah! But in the second half, once all the pregnancies start accumulating with unbelievable speed, and a couple of characters (notably, Brittany) undergo complete U-Turns, it became a huge slog.
Loved Nicole, though.
AnimeJune – Hi 🙂 – didn’t like… Sweet Spot? So did you like Nicole but not her book? (Which I can see.)
I liked Sweet Talk a lot, but I felt Nicole was too bitchy there, and that Claire was too spineless for much of the book. [And Jesse pretty much constantly annoyed me, until her book, Sweet Trouble, but by that point I thought it was a bit weak.]
I loved Hawk – other than how utterly clueless and idiotic he was. Seriously? (But, ok. Also he totally reminded me of the hero in “Not Another Bad Date.”) And Brittany’s character too… her, I sooo wanted to smack. How could anyone regardless of what stories they grew up with believe it’d be all sunshine and roses to go through a teen pregnancy? Idiot.
Well, in a nutshell, I’ll say I loved Nicole’s character and could completely relate to her, but the events in the novel were too contrived. Hawk was good, but I didn’t like how he slid from being a capable parent in the novel’s first half to a completely powerless and incompetent parent in the second – it seemed unrealistic.
In Sweet Talk, I actually liked how Claire handled things. I thought the fact that she kept showing up to work and to help out, even after Nicole and Wyatt and nearly everyone else told her how useless she was, showed an endearing amount of gumption, just in a more passive way than the usual “fiesty” heroine stereotype.
But YES, I wanted to smack Brittany SO BAD. SO BAD. Who still sticks out her tongue at people and calls them “mean” when they’re eighteen? Who, I ask you?
AnimeJune – makes a lot of sense. I thought Hawk was a bit wishy washy but I think I was more ok with it than you. Everything went along swimmingly until he realized what was really going on and everything fell apart. (Seriously – he thought his daughter never lied to him??)
I did really respect Claire for showing up again and again. I *do* wish, however, that she would have stood up for herself at least 100 pages earlier. She didn’t have to be mean about it, but she could have said something – I like Claire and Nicole equally though.
Brittany… ugh. I just can’t think about her. Ugh.