Good Choice Reading: Review: Sweet by Erin McCarthy

Sweet by Erin McCarthy
Published October 15th 2013
by InterMix

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…

The minute I opened this book, I started enjoying it immediately. The chemistry between all the characters made it funny and easy to read. I like that the characters were written very realistically. I can imagine myself as a young adult, friends with this two main characters. Their dilemmas and struggles were very real. Jessica struggled with trying to please her parents but not losing herself at the same time. And Riley was trying to do right by his little brothers. How many of us know how it feels to want to make our parents proud. Or how many of us have to pick up the slack and take care of their younger siblings? Real struggles.

It was fun when these two characters were sharing page time. Their backgrounds were complete opposites from one another. Jessica was a minister's daughter, raised to have Christian values. But she was far from innocent. And Riley was raised by an alcoholic and abusive mom. Not exactly the dream life one would want. I like reading books that the main characters come from different backgrounds. It makes the story more interesting. And what's more interesting than a minister's daughter and classified bad boy?

This book starts off with Jessica needing a place to stay for about a week, in which she ended up crashing at Riley's house. This is where the fun began. Their constant bickering and banter was fun to read. I thought for sure the Riley was going to see through it all that sexual tension and initiate sex. But I was wrong, in fact, Riley was a complete gentlemen about things with Jessica. He really liked her and wanted to make things right. That was admirable.

Lots of dilemmas surfaced during the book, but they were both there for one another. And that's what started to bring each others wall down. Jessica struggled to keep herself grounded while Riley was fighting to get custody of his little brother. Jessica was able to be there for Riley and help him along the way. And vice versa, when the time came that Jessica had to confront his parents, Riley was right there by her side.

I really enjoy this series. The Mann brothers are rough around the edges but sexy as hell. I have enjoyed the first two books in series. And I can't wait to read the rest. Next book in series called Believe which I can't wait to get my hands on. That one is about Robin and the Mann brother's cousin Phoenix. Sounds good. I give Sweet 4 stars and a definite Good Choice for Reading.