Review: Sweet by Erin McCarthy

Title: Sweet

Author: Erin McCarthy

Publisher: Berkeley

Publication Date: 10.15.2013

Pages: Unknown - ebook

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary

Series: True Believers #2

Source: eARC from publisher

Rating: 4 ½ Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

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…

Review:

Erin McCarthy made a fan of me with her first book in this electric New Adult series, True. She returns in a haze of serious steam with Sweet. This book practically sizzled in my fingertips it was so hot. And I devoured every second of it.

We met Jessica and Riley in True, getting a fun, charged meeting with them that ended in glares and undeniable chemistry. Sweet finds them as hesitant roomies due to a whole slew of circumstances, the biggest of which is Jessica hiding from her uber Christian family who she knows will disown her unless she bends to their version of perfect.

And Jessica is anything but.

The romance between Jessica and Riley is hot and tangible. They have this amazing chemistry that leaps off the pages. I loved everything from their snark to their banter to their … ahem. You know.

I did feel like the actual plot got lost a little along the way, though. Jessica is dealing with her family and Riley is dealing with custody issues over his youngest two brothers—both make for compelling drama that seemed to get misplaced in the favor of another sultry scene.

While both plots were wrapped up, it felt too simple and neat for me. While I do think there more to these two than surface level lust attraction, I can’t help but wish that they had been developed more as individuals outside of them as a couple.

Over all this is a great new adult find for readers who want a new series to get lost in.

Buy: Amazon