SWEET TALK

Author: Susan Mallery ISBN: 9780373772971 7/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HQN

Is there anything sweeter than a first love? Don't ask Claire Keyes. The twenty-eight-year-old prodigy has never had a regular boyfriend, much less a real romance. Her music career has left little room for friends or family—which is just part of the reason she's estranged from her two sister. But now Nicole is sick, and Jesse is AWOL. Despite the fact that Claire can't boil water, she's determined to play caretaker. Connecting with her sister tops her to-do list... along with falling love, or at least lust, for the first time. Ambitious? Maybe. But a girl's gotta dream. And ruggedly sexy Wyatt is a dream come true. Although he keeps telling himself that he and Claire come from different worlds, he lights up hotter than a bakery oven whenever Claire is near. If this keeps up, she just might sweet talk him into her bed... and her life.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

If there is one thing that Claire Keyes knows, it is that you can't go home again. Too many years and too much pain has come in between her and her sisters for her to even try. But when she gets a phone call from one of her sisters telling her that she has to come home, that is exactly what she does. She drops everything, packs her bags, and heads home to try and mend some fences. But, never in all of her wildest dreams would she imagine that things would be so hard or that she would want to try as badly as she does to make it all work.

Wyatt is one heck of a hunky man. He is all work and no play until his brother's pretty little sister-in-law arrives in town, setting his blood on fire! Knowing that he needs to be loyal to Nicole—the sister that Claire left behind—doesn't make his attraction to the beautiful pianist any easier to handle. She is one of those women that can make him forget everything aroud him when they touch, even if he knows that he is supposed to hate her. As hard as he is trying to protect Nicole and stay away from Claire, things are not going as he planned, not at all. Wyatt has no idea—literally none—how to handle the situation that he finds himself in.

It has been quite a long time since I have read a book that packs such a punch as SWEET TALK. The nostalgic air to this book brought tears to my eyes, the memories Claire has of her home and her family, beautiful and vivid. I also love immensely how Susan Mallery gives us the perspective of the other characters to truly understand what is going on in their heads. So many times a good book can get lost in translation when authors don't do that, but that is not the case here.

Going home has never looked so good as it does in SWEET TALK. Not only will this book go directly from this review to my keeper shelf, but I will be happily waiting for this summer when the rest of the trilogy is released!

Kristal Gorman