Title: Sweet (True Believers #2)
Author: Erin McCarthy
Release date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: InterMix
Pages: 257
Source: Netgalley
Reading level: NA
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…
Sweet, the second book in the True Believers series, is a great addition to the new adult genre. This is one of my favorite series’ in the genre so far.
Riley and Jess have undeniable chemistry even if they are always at each others throats. They have a very fun banter going between them and it’s easy to see that they are attracted to each other. Their relationship starts off differently than most and I enjoyed that about them. There was no insta-love with these two even if they were instantly attracted to each other.
Riley is older than most love interests, even in NA. I actually really liked that about him because it gave him a bit more maturity. He was a smart guy (even though he did some dumb things) and he balanced Jess’ relative immaturity. Jess wasn’t annoyingly immature but she worried about some really dumb things and did things that she knew were stupid. However, I still liked her. She was someone I could easily see myself being friends with.
The story was pretty much just a romance but there was more about the Mann family from the first book. Riley is 25 years old and capable of taking care of his family but he hasn’t been given legal custody of his youngest brother yet. With Jess’ help, Riley has to get the house looking like a home so the social worker won’t take him away. Other than that though there really wasn’t a lot going on. Luckily, the romance between Riley and Jess is rocky enough to keep readers entertained.
Overall, Sweet is a really fun read that sets things up perfectly for the next book in the series. This one makes for a great rainy day read.
What others are saying about Sweet:
Smexy Books’ review: “Sweet is a sexy, romantic, emotional coming of age new adult that uses a different approach to the defining romance than the usual NA offerings.”
Steamy Guys After Dark’s review: “Sweet had everything I love about New Adult–snarky girl, hot guy, and problems that are realistic for someone in their age group.”
Series:
Sweet (#2)
Believe (#3) – January 21, 2014
Shatter (#4) – June 17, 2014
I read the first of this series, True (I thnk that was the title) and I liked it, but I wasn’t in love. I’m not sure if I would like this one. I feel like Jess might frustrate me a bit. But I’m glad you enjoyed it and are loving this NA series.
I liked this book more than the first book. The chemistry between Jess and Riley was undeniable and their story just worked for me. I’m pretty anxious to read the next book in the series. Great review.
It’s so important when an author follows up insta-attraction with real hard-earned affection. Instalove is so unrealistic and just doesn’t work well in a romance I think. Glad to see they had to grow to like each other in this one, and that they were fighting at the beginning!
Lovely review 🙂