Sweet - Erin McCarthy

Synopsis: 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…

I thoroughly enjoyed True, so I was pretty excited to give Sweet a chance. I think I picked is up at the perfect time because I feel like I’ve been NA starved for a while – my elective reading is taking a hit from my busy work/school schedule. I just complete ate this book up. I started it on the subway ride home and then I was up until 2 in the morning reading. I haven’t stayed up past my bedtime to read a book in a long time, but this book definitely made me want to. I just got so caught up in Jess and Riley and their back and forth. 

I want to applaud McCarthy for not turning Jess into your typical NA heroine who is either too pure to be Pink or she’s so hopelessly sex addled she can’t tell an emotion when it hits her in the face. Jess is the perfect medium of a girl who has rational doubts about relationships but can recognize when her thoughts on getting involved with someone else begin to change. She’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, with her blatant lies to her parents and the callous way she treats a boy she knows has a major crush on her, but I love her anyway. I actually completely identified with her, until the end, which I’ll get to in a minute. 

I adored Riley as well. His walls come down pretty quick and he’s actually super adorable. The back and forth between him and Jess is just so witty, well timed and entertaining. I enjoyed every minute those two were on the page together. I love how concerned Riley was about his brothers, but it didn’t stop him from being a normal guy. It was also amazing how their relationship progressed – it didn’t feel rushed and it seemed to play out the way a normal relationship would start. 

Which brings me to the end. Here’s the thing – I LOVE this book. It was worth staying up until 2 in the morning. And even after the fact, I still love this book. But the end made me so mad that I briefly raged about losing sleep to finish it (like I said, don’t regret it now, but in the moment I was not happy). I won’t spoil, but I have to say that I was sad that suddenly 20 pages from the end, I felt like I wasn’t reading the same book. It didn’t feel like the same refreshingly honest and level-headed characters I’d spent so much time with. So I’m exercising my right as a reader and attempting to forget that those 20 pages happened and remember all that was awesome up until that point.     

If you’re a fan of True, I think you’re going to love Sweet because I think it’s really a step above its companion novel. It captivated me and had me hanging on to every word in a way that True didn’t quite achieve. Even with the ending (which actually, most people will probably love, I just have issues) I’d highly recommend this book if you want a great NA novel.

Also, make sure you check out my interview with Erin HERE! 

Interview with Erin McCarthy

I'm so excited to have Erin McCarthy, the author of the awesome True Believers series on the blog today answering my questions. Make sure you check out the second book in the series, Sweet which is the companion to True!

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In the Best Worlds: What is your favorite thing about writing or reading in the New Adult category?

Erin McCarthy: I love the freedom that your characters can make mistakes and no one is going to hold it against them indefinitely.  We don’t expect them to be perfect at twenty, and how can anyone grow and develop if they don’t make mistakes?  It’s a cool time in your life, with a ton of change and maturation.

ItBW: Since we’re talking New Adult, what were you like as a new adult?

EM: I went to college at 17 and I loved to go out dancing.  I was studying law, philosophy and history, I loved the color black, coffee, and late night conversation.  So clearly not much has changed.  J  But seriously, by twenty I was pregnant with my daughter and working full time while taking classes at night.  I went from being super irresponsible to being super responsible in the course of two years.

ItBW: Can you explain briefly why you feel NA is important?

EM: It’s important because it legitimizes an important stage in women’s lives.  The decisions made then have a huge impact on the rest of our lives and I think it’s awesome that we now have fiction that explores that.

ItBW: As far as book boyfriends go, Tyler and Riley from your True Believers series are pretty stellar. What are the qualities you think are most important in the perfect book boyfriend?

EM: I think a book boyfriend needs to be sexy, loyal, romantic.  The way you want a guy in real life but with an extra dose of intensity.

ItBW: Can you dish a little on what we can expect from Sweet?

EM: Sweet has a different tone than True because the main characters are different.  Jessica and Riley banter a lot and their sexual tension is strong, but first and foremost they develop a friendship.  Expect lots of fun dialogue and snarkiness and plenty of heat.

ItBW: Finish these sentences…

If I could go back to college, the one thing I’d do differently is…. Finish.  I didn’t graduate because I was working full time and raising a baby so I decided to let school go.  I made the right choice at that time but I do wish I had that damn piece of paper that says I finished what I started.  

My current obsession is… My charm bracelet I got at the vintage fair.  It’s goth and cool and very me. 

We could be best friends if… you have a sense of humor and love live music.

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Erin McCarthy is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 40 novels and novellas in the paranormal, contemporary romance, young adult, and new adult genres.  The author is a RITA award finalist and an American Library Association winner of the Reluctant Young Reader award.  She lives with her family in Ohio.  

Find Erin Online: Website :: Twitter :: Facebook :: Goodreads

True - Erin McCarthy

Synopsis: When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.
Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…
Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

I wouldn't say this book is amazing, but it was definitely an enjoyable read. It very much brought me into the moment, but occasionally I'd shake my head and ultimately left it feeling no different than usual. Rory and Tyler are pretty typical NA main characters, But, while I was reading I defintely found myself wrapped up in their lives and their drama. I had some issues that would pull me out of the story briefly, and in the end it's not my favorite - but it's definitely one of those books where you're like - this makes no sense but I'm totally digging it.

I'm going to start with my negative nancy comment first. My biggest issue is the way Rory handles conflict. I mean, her roommates pay a dude to take Rory's virginity, so naturally I expect a lot of fall out from this when she finds out. Yeah...I don't want to spoil, I just want to say that her actual reaction really frustrated me. She's also stupid nice to a guy who sexually assaults her. And I just want to shake her and tell her to get angry. Those are pretty much the two things that drove me crazy. I get that part of Rory's character is that she's cool and logical - where most heroines tend to act rashly, she thinks things out thoroughly. This may have been the first time I got upset because a character wasn't getting upset. Maybe I'm weird.

But on to what I liked, because the majority of this book is very enjoyable. Despite the way Tyler comes into Rory's life, he's kind of great. He's dealing with a rough home life, but I think the sacrifices he makes are admirable. I was also really happy with the way Rory handles herself around his family and how she becomes kind of a beam of strength for them.

The emotions in this book run very high and are very much at the surface. Rory and Tyler's chemistry is incredible and you can feel everything they do. When they're happy it's incredible, but when they're unhappy it hurts. I was definitelly affected by them while I was reading the book.

Ultimately I definitely had mixed feelings about this one. I had some major issues with it, but I loved the relationships and the feelings that came with it. If you're looking for something quick and in the moment, this is a good choice.