Blog Tour Review: Sweet (Contours of the Heart #3) by Tammara Webber

He’s the love of her life, but he doesn’t know it.
She’s his one moment of sacrifice in a lifetime of survival.

He was damaged and wild, but resilient.
She’s always been obedient. Now she’s restless.

Home for the summer between college and med school, Pearl Torres Frank knows two things: Boyce Wynn is the embodiment of everything she should run from, and everything she wants to run to. Rebellious and loud. Unconcerned with society’s opinion of him. Passionate. Strong. Dangerous.

And one more trait he hides from everyone but her:
Sweet.

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon Kindle | Amazon paperback | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Amazon UK 

Review:

SWEET is so aptly titled. The characters, the story, the romance, while bumpy, was sweet.

Slowly unraveling Pearl and Boyce's history together, the way their lives keep intersecting, under the backdrop of their small coastal Texas town, felt like having a beachside reunion and pouring over a scrapbook of the past with old friends.

Sweet is told in alternating pov's in the present but while both characters reminisce about the events that will always tie them together and draw them back to each other again and again. This is more than a friends to lovers story. It’s more about luck, fate and the choices we make to be with the ones we love. 

Both Pearl and Boyce are hit with big life changes but handle it with maturity and conviction in their decisions. They stumble at times but they both make the most of the opportunities offered to them.

Pearl makes a life altering choice and is finally standing up for herself and her future but comes up against  both resistance and acceptance from unlikely sources. I loved how she had a lot of self doubt after people's reactions but didn't change course even when it would have been easier to do what everyone expects of her instead of following her dreams.

While Boyce has led a very difficult life he isn't one of those heroes that throws himself a pity party or is ashamed of where he came from or the trailer park he lives in. He's a proud man (with one sexy drawl *fans self*) but he isn't too stubborn to accept a helping hand or work hard for the things he wants.

There are so many things that Webber explored, and got right, IMO, in Sweet. From the push and pull of living in a small town, economic advantages/disadvantages, abuse, addiction, friendships, culture, family - all while managing to keep the tone authentic but light.

Boyce and Pearl come from very different economic and educational backgrounds and I loved how it was really a non issue. There was a little awkwardness but no judgment. These two like and know each other on a level that transcends all of that.

To be honest this is a quiet kind of book. It's low angst but one of those stories that pulls you in and makes you feel like you're living there rooting for your best friends to catch a break, and you cheer them on when they do.

The setting is just lovely and evocative. I could almost feel the sand between my toes, smell the ocean air and felt like I was there collecting shells with Boyce and Pearl on their sandbar.

Sweet was everything I hope for when I pick up a NA book. An exploration of that time in life that often rocks you to your core with BIG life changes. Some good -some not - but the events change and shape you into the adult that you will become.

This is a verra sexy book but it's the friendship and respect between Pearl and Boyce that had me swooning.

 
(Also - great cameos of Lucas/Landon! & a fun epilogue)

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Thank you to both Tammara Webber and Wordsmith Publicity for having me on the Sweet Blog Tour!