A Taste of Sugar (Marina Adair)
3.75 stars rounded up
I had been looking forward to reading the third book in Marina Adair’s Sugar, Georgia series for one reason: the couple here is actually married. Yep. Four years previously, Charlotte married Sugar’s bad boy, Jace, in Atlanta secretly only for him to walk out on their marriage because he thought it would be for the best. However the annulment never really happened due to some administration mishaps.
It’s practically ‘the one who got away’ theme – with a twist – and that is one of my favorite tropes!
For the most part, I enjoyed this book very much – mainly because of Jace. I seriously didn’t know that I would love Jace this much; he is the perfect kind of book boyfriend. While Jace was said to be the ‘bad boy of Sugar’, clearly his heart is made of gold and his love for Charlotte was the kind of love I want to have in life. Jace is willing to do everything for Charlotte; he’s so into her but he doesn’t act all protective-Alpha around her either. Jace knows that he hurt Charlotte in the past and he wants to prove that he’s a keeper.
Me. Meet Floor. Melt. Sigh.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about Charlotte ... her personality just didn’t impress me. Charlotte spends most of her adult life trying to color inside the lines and be that obedient daughter who wants to please her parents or society. The only time she let her heart rule over her head was when she married Jace which ended with a broken heart.
Charlotte keeps saying that she will be “Charlotte 2.0”, that she will stand up for herself and will not let her father takes credit for everything that she does. However, I felt that Charlotte took a little too long to get there. I ended up being frustrated with her (and FOR her). I couldn’t help but think that Charlotte is the kind of heroine that needs her man to give her courage. And I prefer that the heroine gets there on her own.
I cannot help but compare this book with another book in a different series that I read back in July — in which the heroine similarly wanting to ‘revamp’ herself from a shy one into a woman of confidence. In that book, the heroine succeeded. Here though, it didn’t really meet my expectation.
On another positive side, those annoying elderly characters didn’t have as many scenes as in the previous two books. I felt that Charlotte and Jace could spend more time just the two of them and not have to deal with outside hindrance like those old b*tches. Heck, they could even go to Atlanta together. I could savor those tender and sweet moments between Charlotte and Jace much better than I did with the previous couple. We did get another set of aggravating characters, namely Charlotte’s parents, and her nemesis Darleen. However, I guess they were the needed adversaries for Charlotte to learn about her own dreams rather than as a challenge to their relationship.
I hope it’s not the last one from the series. I still want to know what happens between the sheriff and the female town mechanic!
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
I had been looking forward to reading the third book in Marina Adair’s Sugar, Georgia series for one reason: the couple here is actually married. Yep. Four years previously, Charlotte married Sugar’s bad boy, Jace, in Atlanta secretly only for him to walk out on their marriage because he thought it would be for the best. However the annulment never really happened due to some administration mishaps.
It’s practically ‘the one who got away’ theme – with a twist – and that is one of my favorite tropes!
For the most part, I enjoyed this book very much – mainly because of Jace. I seriously didn’t know that I would love Jace this much; he is the perfect kind of book boyfriend. While Jace was said to be the ‘bad boy of Sugar’, clearly his heart is made of gold and his love for Charlotte was the kind of love I want to have in life. Jace is willing to do everything for Charlotte; he’s so into her but he doesn’t act all protective-Alpha around her either. Jace knows that he hurt Charlotte in the past and he wants to prove that he’s a keeper.
"I want to show you I’m worth the risk. That’s all. I’m not here to prove to anyone else who I am except for you. So as long as you know the truth and what’s real, the rest of it doesn’t matter."
Me. Meet Floor. Melt. Sigh.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about Charlotte ... her personality just didn’t impress me. Charlotte spends most of her adult life trying to color inside the lines and be that obedient daughter who wants to please her parents or society. The only time she let her heart rule over her head was when she married Jace which ended with a broken heart.
Charlotte keeps saying that she will be “Charlotte 2.0”, that she will stand up for herself and will not let her father takes credit for everything that she does. However, I felt that Charlotte took a little too long to get there. I ended up being frustrated with her (and FOR her). I couldn’t help but think that Charlotte is the kind of heroine that needs her man to give her courage. And I prefer that the heroine gets there on her own.
I cannot help but compare this book with another book in a different series that I read back in July — in which the heroine similarly wanting to ‘revamp’ herself from a shy one into a woman of confidence. In that book, the heroine succeeded. Here though, it didn’t really meet my expectation.
On another positive side, those annoying elderly characters didn’t have as many scenes as in the previous two books. I felt that Charlotte and Jace could spend more time just the two of them and not have to deal with outside hindrance like those old b*tches. Heck, they could even go to Atlanta together. I could savor those tender and sweet moments between Charlotte and Jace much better than I did with the previous couple. We did get another set of aggravating characters, namely Charlotte’s parents, and her nemesis Darleen. However, I guess they were the needed adversaries for Charlotte to learn about her own dreams rather than as a challenge to their relationship.
I hope it’s not the last one from the series. I still want to know what happens between the sheriff and the female town mechanic!
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
5