Sweet by Erin McCarthy ~ Review

Source: Received an eBook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Sweet(True, #1) by Erin McCarthy

Jessica Sweet thought going away to college would finally make her free of her parents’ constant judgments and insistence she play chastity club role model for their church events, but if anything, the freedom has made her realize she can’t go home and be a hypocrite anymore. Tired of dodging their questions, she stays at school over the summer and lands in an unexpected crash pad: Riley Mann’s house.

Sarcastic, cocky, and full of opinions, Riley is also sexy personified with tattoos and biceps earned from working as a roofer all day. Not the right guy for her even if Jessica was looking for a relationship, which she is definitely not. But Jessica knows that Riley hides the burden of having to raise his younger brothers behind that grin and as she helps him get his house in order for a custody hearing, they begin to fall hard for each other, and she is forced to question what she’s hiding herself.

Jessica has never had a problem getting naked with a guy, but when it comes to showing Riley how she truly feels inside, her fear of rejection may just ruin the best thing—the best guy—to ever happen to her…

My Thoughts:

4 stars- This book, this series stands out among New Adult and shouldn't be missed.



There's something different about this series.  It's New Adult and the books are campaign so they stand on their own but the flavor is different.  Let me try and explain.

I totally love campaign series'.  I love the focus on two characters while still finding out what's up with the rest.  Meeting Riley and Jessica in book 1 was great and still seeing Tyler and Rory in this book was awesome.  The hints were there for book 3 as well and I loved that too.  All of that is similar to other campaign series'

I loved the New Adult aspect of this book.  Learning who you are and what you want out of life is such a fun story line.  Jessica makes some serious growth in this book.  She faces some huge changes in her life and I love that she meets the challenge.  Riley must deal with equally difficult and very grown-up issues.  While his temper gives him fits, he does a great job getting his stuff together.  I've seen this in other NA books as well.

The love between Riley and Jessica is far from instant.  I actually think they might do each other in at the beginning, given the chance.  But they find out that they are so much alike that it works for them.  Their relationship develops at a great pace and I really enjoyed hanging out with them for it.  Again, you will see this in lots of NA books.

So what is that different flavor to this book?  It's the ride.  Some books send you on emotional jumps and leave you reeling.  Breaks are required just to get yourself in a place to keep going.  Authors do this to add depth and passion to the story but sometimes it just makes the book too hard to read.  This book, however has a way of adding the depth and passion without the emotional pain.  I always felt like there was hope.  The characters never stepped outside of their relationships.  Even when they fought, I knew they cared about each other and I felt the resolution to get through it.  That's what I really liked about this book.  The hope was never taken from me yet I still felt their pain and level of emotions.  It made it so much more enjoyable to read.

There was lots of laughing in this story.  I loved the pita nickname.  I loved the dance between Riley and Jessica when it came to sex.  I loved that they reached for something more - though Jessica may have wished to plow into it faster.  She realized the reasons later.  It was so beautiful to see their relationship become genuine and durable.  Their road will not be easy.  They needed that.  So it's real.

This book, this series stands out among New Adult and shouldn't be missed.

About the Author:

USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written almost fifty novels and novellas in teen fiction, new adult, and adult romance. Erin has a special weakness for New Orleans, tattoos, high-heeled boots, beaches and martinis. She lives in Ohio with her family, two grumpy cats and a socially awkward dog.