Thursday, July 30, 2015

Tour-Review, Excerpt and Giveaway: Truly Sweet by Candis Terry (Sweet, Texas #5)


Truly Sweet

Sweet, Texas #5
By: Candis Terry  
Releasing July 28th, 2015
Avon



Blurb
Candis Terry returns to Sweet, Texas for the last time when former Marine Jake Wilder discovers how truly sweet love can be.

When the one you’ve always wanted

At sixteen, Annabelle Morgan hoped her crush on Jake Wilder was just a passing phase. Now she’s twenty-nine and nothing has changed except Jake. The once-carefree marine has come home with a giant chip on his shoulder. He insists a single mom like Annie deserves more than he can offer. Yet no matter how gruff his gorgeous exterior may be, Jake s toe-curling kisses convince her that this attraction is definitely mutual.

Becomes the one who wants you back

Butting heads with feisty Annie was always a thrill. Add other body parts to the mix, and Jake is in serious trouble. He can’t be a forever-and-family guy and Annie s not a friends-with-benefits kind of woman. But love has a way of changing the best-laid plans, and surrender has never been so tempting.

The outcome is truly sweet.



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“Forget something?” Her eyes narrowed just slightly and the silky blond ponytail hanging down her back swung to the side as she tilted her head in a way that suggested she was primed for a challenge.

“Not that I’m aware.”

“Uh-huh.” She tucked the stub of a standard yellow pencil behind her ear. “Guess you’ve been away too long to remember that most folks walk in here wearing a smile. Looks like you left yours at home.”

“Guess I’m just not much in the mood.”

“Seriously?” Her eyes narrowed a bit more, yet somehow a shower of silver sparks still managed to flash. “Why?”

He hated to use the word “Duh,” but it seemed so apropos.

“So . . .” Her shoulders lifted and dropped. “What? You’re going to let that walking cane snuff out the eternally grinning smartass that lives inside of you?”

Her comment hit its mark with stinging success.

Jake clenched his teeth and lowered his gaze to the laminated menu he’d been able to recite by heart since he’d been twelve. “Annabelle, how about you go away and give me a minute to look over the menu?”

“Because that would be a total waste of time, Jacob.”

His gaze jerked up again just as she shifted her weight to a position she probably intended as a show of obstinacy. Yet all it really managed to do was push her full breasts against that snug white Bud’s Diner T-shirt. Instinctively his gaze dropped lower to the little black skirt hugging nicely rounded hips and the pair of tanned shapely legs that ended with the sparkly blue sneakers on her feet. Liking what he saw, his gaze took that same slow ride back up her body.

When the hell had little Annie Morgan grown up and gotten so curvy?

“You can stare at that menu all day long,” she said through lips that were pink, plump, and glossy. Lips that looked like they needed to be kissed.

The unexpected and unwanted thought was like a splash of ice water in his face. Annie had been a pain in his backside for as long as he could remember. The last thing he should be doing was thinking about her damned mouth. Or her curvy body. To his dismay and against his commands, awareness tightened his body below the belt.

“In the end,” Annie continued, “you’re going to choose a double Diablo burger with extra peppers, a side of sweet potato fries—extra crispy, and a chocolate banana shake.”

Challenged, he leaned forward and met her glare. “How do you know what I want?”

“Because.” She planted her palm down on the table and leaned in till they were nearly nose-to-nose. “While you and your football buddies parked your cocky behinds in the booth by the door so all your minions could see you and come in to fawn all over you, some of us were slinging hash and cleaning up your mess after you left.”

He leaned back. “I don’t remember you working here.”

“Why would you?” She shifted her weight again and he’d have to be dead not to notice that somewhere between his last visit home and now Annie had become quite a knockout. “In those days you could barely see beyond Jessica Holt’s big brown eyes and bodacious ta-tas. I, Annie of the flat-as-a-surfboard chest and metal mouth, deterred your hormonal teenage boy scrutiny.”

She certainly wasn’t flat chested any more.

He could argue about the hormonal part, but why bother. In high school he’d been interested in three things; having fun, getting laid, and getting laid.

Some things were important enough to be counted twice.

“You make me sound like such a jackass.”

One corner of her luscious pink lips kicked upward. “You were.”

Yeah. He probably had been. And he wasn’t really sure he appreciated the reminder.

“So why are you working here now?” he asked, deftly changing the subject. “Didn’t you get enough slinging hash the first time around?”

“A girls got to earn a living somehow. Slinging hash is all I’ve ever really done. My hand-dipped chocolates haven’t exactly taken off like wildfire. And since Sweet’s street corners are already occupied with whiskey barrels and petunias, there isn’t any room for me to hang around waiting for customers.”

“Always the smartass,” he said.

“Takes one to know one.”

My Review

Well, that was one hell of a read!  Annie is spectacular, she's such a strong, sassy spitfire and is a perfect match to Jake.  The two of them together have the most lively conversations and kept me entertained every step of the way.  And while the story was a lot of fun, there was also a good shot of serious as well, with Jake working through the issues he brought back with him after coming home from Afghanistan.  

Annie is just amazing.  She's been through plenty herself with her not-so-great childhood and raising her son on her own, and she's keenly self-aware and intelligent.  She's got a hell of a head on her shoulders, and is highly perceptive when it comes to anything and everything to do with Jake.

After being discharged from the Marines, Jake comes back home in a much different and subdued frame of mind than he was in when he left.  And while he notices Annie and keeps up with their verbal sparring, he's more than hesitant on going any further than that-mostly due to the misguided notions he's got in his head regarding what happened while he was away at war.

But when two people have such phenomenal chemistry continually sparking between them, and Annie and her son slowly burrow their way into Jake's heart...what you wind up with is a sweet (well, of course!), moving and thoroughly emotional read that had me tearing up in a few places.  Plus there's the added bonus of those sparks resulting in some hot and sexy scenes to get your pulse racing ;-)

A simply wonderful story that will keep you solidly engaged from page one, Truly Sweet is a top recommendation for me and a 5-star read.  Recommended for 18+ contemporary romance fans.

Author Info
Candis Terry was born and raised near the sunny beaches of Southern California and now makes her home on an Idaho farm. She’s experienced life in such diverse ways as working in a Hollywood recording studio to chasing down wayward steers. Only one thing has remained the same: her passion for writing stories about relationships, the push and pull in the search for love, and the security one finds in their own happily ever after.


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