My Review Stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for TRULY SWEET by Candis Terry with #excerpt + #giveaway

Welcome to my review stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for the final book in the Sweet, Texas series by Candis Terry. Yes, the series is coming to an end and it does with a truly happy ending for everyone in TRULY SWEET. Check out my thoughts on this one, an excerpt, and a giveaway!

***eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for TRULY SWEET:

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.

My Review:

If you’ve been following this series then you’ve met Annie Morgan, younger sister of Abby who got her HEA with Jackson Wilder in SWEETEST MISTAKE and you’ve met Jake, the youngest Wilder hunk who made his first appearance in SOMETHING SWEETER. Jake is home finally, which makes the rest of the family very happy but not him. He’s not happy about it because he didn’t come home on his terms but because of an injury and is carrying a heap of guilt over the death of his men and most of all, his best friend. Right from the start, Annie realizes Jake is going to be a grump but his attraction to her cannot be ignored…even though he tries as much as she does. (You’ll see in the excerpt.)

I am very sorry to see the end of this series because I’ve come to care very much about the wonderful people of Sweet, Texas. I had also hoped for more of a climactic end to the series but then again, I wasn’t wholly disappointed. Everyone gets a happily-ever-after in the Wilder family including the adorable Miss Giddy…it seems she isn’t the only goat in town. If you read TRULY SWEET for no other reason, you must read it for Miss Giddy and some of the Wilder boys' banter over their mother, Jana, and her love life. Candis wrote it true.

Whereas, TRULY SWEET by Candis Terry might not be my favorite of the Sweet series – I think Reno in ANYTHING BUT SWEET still holds that honor – I wouldn’t have missed reading this final book for anything in the world. It’s the happily-ever-after that the Wilder family deserved. So with that said…I do highly recommend that if you’ve read the series then you’ve got to read TRULY SWEET, the final book of the Sweet, Texas series by Candis Terry because it will leave you with some laughs, a big smile and maybe some sad moisture in your eyes.

If you haven’t read this wonderful, sweet, heart touching series yet…please do…it really is the very best in small town romance. Happy Reading Everyone!

Excerpt:

“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.”

About the Author:

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.

Author Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon | B & N | iTunes | Kobo

TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway