Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan is live!
A sweet, heartfelt and captivating romance that is absolutely dripping with chemistry, it’s a fun and playful feel-good read, and I loved it!
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Blurb
From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Callihan comes a charming, emotional romance about redefining dreams and discovering unlikely love along the way.
Life for Emma isn’t good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe—literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.
Then she meets the owner’s equally gorgeous grandson, ex–hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain and yearning reflected in his eyes.
He’s charming when he wants to be but also secretive and gruff, with protective walls as thick as Emma’s own. Despite a growing attraction, they avoid each other.
But then there’s an impromptu nighttime skinny-dip, and Lucian’s luscious homemade tarts and cream cakes start arriving at Emma’s door, tempting her to taste life again…
In trying to stay apart, they only grow closer—and their broken pieces just might fit together and make them whole.
Review
5 stars!
Oh, what a beautiful read! A sweet, heartfelt and captivating romance that is absolutely dripping with chemistry, this is a real feel-good read that is fun and playful with a nice amount of emotion, and it made me smile so many times. I freaking loved it!
This book is a spin-off from Dear Enemy, and the characters from that book appear in this one. But rest assured that this book is an absolute standalone – just a bit of a bonus for Dear Enemy fans who want to see more of Macon and Delilah.
Emma Maron is an actress from a wildly popular TV show (think Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones), and she’s just been unceremoniously dumped when her character is killed off the show without notice. Just to make things worse, she returns home unemployed to find her boyfriend in bed with another woman. Her life is a mess, and she has no clue what to do with herself, so she whisks herself away to the beautiful Rosemont Estate in California, where she can hibernate, lick her wounds and figure out her next steps.
Lucian Osmond lives at Rosemont. His grandmother owns the property, and since his professional hockey career came to a devastating end due to injury, he has been in hiding at the Estate where he grew up, doing odd jobs and trying to come to terms with the fact that he has lost the most important thing in the world to him – his ability to play the game he loves so much.
From the moment Emma and Lucian lay eyes on each other, there is an attraction. But he is gruff and moody, and determined to keep to himself. Emma recognises that Lucian has demons, but she can’t stay away. And as much as he may protest, it seems that Lucian doesn’t want to either. It’s a delicious flirtation, and over random outings, nature walks, naked swims and Lucian’s delicious home-made French delicacies, the sexual tension builds, and OMG, I was feeling it all!
We stared at each other, heat and tension coiling between us like a living thing, tugging at my nipples, stealing my breath. His chest rose and fell in agitation, color washing over the sculpted crests of his cheeks.
I wanted. I wanted so badly.
He swallowed audibly. “You haunt me, Emma. Every damn thing about you does.”
The anticipation of something happening between these two is just sensational. I was bouncing up and down in my chair, madly flipping pages just waiting for something to happen. They both want it, but they fight it, and it’s a gorgeous slow(ish) burn watching them closer and closer to the inevitable, so when the time actually comes, I was delirious with joy to see them finally come together.
“Lucian Osmond, you wrecked me.”
His arm wrapped around my shoulders as his lips touched the crown of my head. “Only fair. You’ve been wrecking me from the moment we met.”
It’s a great story, and I loved watching these two people – both feeling broken and very much alone – find something so amazing together. But their isolated bubble in the picturesque estate is easy, it’s what happens when they get back to real life when things get complicated.
The woman had tied me up in knots. I wanted her. She scared the hell out of me. I wanted to tell her what a bad bet I was. That we both knew she could do better. But I couldn’t make my mouth form the words.
This book is full of so many things that I love – great characters, wonderful chemistry, wicked banter, and a sexy, emotional and functional love story. Emma and Lucian are open with each other, they talk about what they’re going through, and I could feel the depth of the connection between them. But they still have a journey ahead of them. They both have big dreams, but life hasn’t turned out the way either of them expected and there is some drama as they figure themselves out. But the drama works to add depth and extra emotion, and draws the reader even further into their story, and it was such a delight to watch them work through it all and find where they wanted to be.
“I feel owned. By you. And I like it.”
It’s a beautiful story of love and life, and finding what’s important. I absolutely adored it and couldn’t put it down.
5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Meet Kristen
Kristen Callihan is an author because there is nothing else she’d rather do. She is a three-time RITA nominee and winner of two RT Reviewer’s Choice awards.
Her novels have garnered starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and the Library Journal, as well as being awarded top picks by many reviewers. Her debut book FIRELIGHT received RT Magazine’s Seal of Excellence, was named a best book of the year by Library Journal, best book of Spring 2012 by Publisher’s Weekly, and was named the best romance book of 2012 by ALA RUSA. In 2015, Kristen received a RITA Award for Best Paranormal Romance for her novel Evernight.
Kristen is a child of the 80s, which means she’s worn neon skirts, black lace gloves, and combat boots although never all at once and can quote John Hughes movies with the best of them. A lifelong daydreamer, she finally realized the characters in her head needed a proper home and thus hit the keyboard. She believes falling in love is one of the headiest experiences a person can have, so naturally she writes romance. Her love of superheroes, action movies, and history led her to write historical paranormal novels. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children.
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