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A review by leahkarge
Sweet Spot by Susan Mallery
5.0
Nicole Keyes really didn't want any more drama in her life. Enter Raoul, the teenage boy who attempts to steal five dozen donuts from the bakery. And along with him, enter Hawk, the studly, irresistibly charming football coach at the local high school who came to retrieve Raoul, his star quarterback. Against her better judgment, Nicole offers to have Raoul pay off the donuts he tried to steal by working in the bakery the next morning. To her surprise, the boy is a good worker and she offers him a job working for her.
As she gets closer to Raoul, she is forced to become closer to Hawk, despite her attempts to avoid the man, and much to her chagrin, it appears that Hawk will go to many lengths to get to her. Luckily for her, that makes him the perfect man to go along with her plan: She'll be his personal sex kitten but he has to be her pretend adoring boyfriend who she gets to flaunt to all of her friends and then dump whenever she so chooses. Throughout this "relationship," the two grow closer and they enjoy getting to know each other.
Then, one day, Nicole discovers that Raoul was no longer living in his foster home and was living in an abandoned building. Nicole offers to let the boy live with her. During this time, Nicole realizes that she enjoys having teenagers in the house again, even if it fans the flames of pain she experiences due to her younger sister, Jesse, leaving town pregnant and upset.
About a month or so into later, Brittany, Hawk's daughter, tells Nicole and Raoul that she's pregnant and makes them promise not to say anything to Hawk. A few days later, Hawk asks Nicole to be his real girlfriend, and the guilt of keeping the secret eats at her. But, about a week after Brittany drops the bomb on her boyfriend and Nicole, she tells Hawk, who is not only enraged at Brittany and Raoul, but also at Nicole for keeping the secret from him. Not many days later, while Nicole is over at Hawk's, Raoul and Brittany run away to get married. That plan is thrown off track, though, when it is discovered that Brittany was not actually pregnant, and the two teens return home.
Later on the day when they return, Hawk goes to Nicole and tells her that he loves her. During which time she tells him that she is pregnant; he leaves without saying anything. Raoul, who overheard the conversation, tells Brittany and the girl comes over and has a temper tantrum over the pregnancy.
Realizing that he did the wrong thing and needed to fix the situation, Hawk mistakenly comes to the conclusion that he should propose to Nicole, and he does so without even talking to her about the pregnancy and his reaction first. She rejects the proposal and Hawk is not only angry but embarrassed. Thankfully, he goes to Claire, Nicole's twin sister, for advice on how he should handle the situation. Through several meaningful gestures, Hawk shows Nicole how much he really loves her. So she goes to see him at the high school where he tells her that he's really excited about the baby, he loves her, and he wants to marry her. Finally, Nicole accepts and they live happily ever after.
I love Nicole and I see a lot of myself in her personality much of the time. That being said, however, she continued to drive me crazy with the way that she refused to actually listen to Jesse about the situation with Drew. Maybe it's because I've already read Jesse's book, but I just wanted to smack some sense into Nicole and tell her to listen to what Jesse (my favorite of the Keyes sisters) had to say. Not taking into account that situation, though, I really liked Nicole, and I loved the way she took in and cared for Raoul when he had no one else.
Hawk, oh Hawk. Adorable, charming, intelligent. Completely frustrating, blind to the reality of his situation with his daughter and his late wife. Hawk was quite the character, and while I did not like that he constantly blamed Nicole for things, I couldn't help but love him.
Raoul was utterly adorable and I love how protective he became of Nicole, even to the point of standing up to Hawk.
It was nice to see parts of Jesse's life that I had no prior knowledge of when I read her book. It was good to see how things went down with Matt and how she finally ended up in the comforting, protective shelter of Bill. Of course, it drove me crazy when Claire and Nicole refused to listen to her and that whole situation continually made me teary-eyed.
This was a wonderful book, I'm glad to have read it, and I know I will probably be rereading this wonderful, frustrating series multiple times in my life.
As she gets closer to Raoul, she is forced to become closer to Hawk, despite her attempts to avoid the man, and much to her chagrin, it appears that Hawk will go to many lengths to get to her. Luckily for her, that makes him the perfect man to go along with her plan: She'll be his personal sex kitten but he has to be her pretend adoring boyfriend who she gets to flaunt to all of her friends and then dump whenever she so chooses. Throughout this "relationship," the two grow closer and they enjoy getting to know each other.
Then, one day, Nicole discovers that Raoul was no longer living in his foster home and was living in an abandoned building. Nicole offers to let the boy live with her. During this time, Nicole realizes that she enjoys having teenagers in the house again, even if it fans the flames of pain she experiences due to her younger sister, Jesse, leaving town pregnant and upset.
About a month or so into later, Brittany, Hawk's daughter, tells Nicole and Raoul that she's pregnant and makes them promise not to say anything to Hawk. A few days later, Hawk asks Nicole to be his real girlfriend, and the guilt of keeping the secret eats at her. But, about a week after Brittany drops the bomb on her boyfriend and Nicole, she tells Hawk, who is not only enraged at Brittany and Raoul, but also at Nicole for keeping the secret from him. Not many days later, while Nicole is over at Hawk's, Raoul and Brittany run away to get married. That plan is thrown off track, though, when it is discovered that Brittany was not actually pregnant, and the two teens return home.
Later on the day when they return, Hawk goes to Nicole and tells her that he loves her. During which time she tells him that she is pregnant; he leaves without saying anything. Raoul, who overheard the conversation, tells Brittany and the girl comes over and has a temper tantrum over the pregnancy.
Realizing that he did the wrong thing and needed to fix the situation, Hawk mistakenly comes to the conclusion that he should propose to Nicole, and he does so without even talking to her about the pregnancy and his reaction first. She rejects the proposal and Hawk is not only angry but embarrassed. Thankfully, he goes to Claire, Nicole's twin sister, for advice on how he should handle the situation. Through several meaningful gestures, Hawk shows Nicole how much he really loves her. So she goes to see him at the high school where he tells her that he's really excited about the baby, he loves her, and he wants to marry her. Finally, Nicole accepts and they live happily ever after.
I love Nicole and I see a lot of myself in her personality much of the time. That being said, however, she continued to drive me crazy with the way that she refused to actually listen to Jesse about the situation with Drew. Maybe it's because I've already read Jesse's book, but I just wanted to smack some sense into Nicole and tell her to listen to what Jesse (my favorite of the Keyes sisters) had to say. Not taking into account that situation, though, I really liked Nicole, and I loved the way she took in and cared for Raoul when he had no one else.
Hawk, oh Hawk. Adorable, charming, intelligent. Completely frustrating, blind to the reality of his situation with his daughter and his late wife. Hawk was quite the character, and while I did not like that he constantly blamed Nicole for things, I couldn't help but love him.
Raoul was utterly adorable and I love how protective he became of Nicole, even to the point of standing up to Hawk.
It was nice to see parts of Jesse's life that I had no prior knowledge of when I read her book. It was good to see how things went down with Matt and how she finally ended up in the comforting, protective shelter of Bill. Of course, it drove me crazy when Claire and Nicole refused to listen to her and that whole situation continually made me teary-eyed.
This was a wonderful book, I'm glad to have read it, and I know I will probably be rereading this wonderful, frustrating series multiple times in my life.