The Sweet Spot

by Stephanie Evanovich

From New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Evanovich comes another rollicking, sexy story of just how far a couple will go to find true love—and keep it sizzling!

While restaurateur Amanda Cole can't help noticing Chase Walker—the pro baseball player with the Greek-god build—he doesn't have a chance of getting to first, or any other base, with her. A successful entrepreneur, Amanda doesn't need a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet.

But Chase has charm and heart, as well as hunky good looks, and he isn't about to strike out in this courtship. His hopes rally when Amanda discovers that squeaky-clean Chase has a few sexy and very secret pregame rituals that turn the smart, headstrong businesswoman on—and into his number-one fan. Then a tabloid and a hidden camera threaten to turn the love of a lifetime into just another late-night punch line. Is Amanda ready to let loose and swing for the fences? Or will the pressure of Chase's stardom force them to call it quits?

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Sports

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 8, 2014

About the author

Stephanie Evanovich is a full-fledged Jersey girl who began writing fiction while waiting for her cues during countless community theater projects. She attended New York School of Film and Television and acted in several improvisational troupes and a few small-budget movies, all in preparation for the greatest job she ever had, raising her two sons. Now a full-time writer, she's an avid sports fan who holds a black belt in tae kwon do.

Reviews

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

Ai yai yai – where do I even begin?

Let’s begin with the fact that my local library is like a drug pusher offering free samples to a heroin addict. Not only do they have a bazillion books on the shelves and a “share” policy with tons of other libraries in the ‘burbs, but they also promote a “new and notable” section which is a first come/first served basis on all the hot new hits . . . and I can’t stop myself from checking something out from this area anytime I walk down thinking I’m simply going to grab whatever items I have on hold.

I grabbed The Sweet Spot as I had read Big Girl Panties and enjoyed the escape to a giant pile of fluff that one gave me. Also, I now reside with a huge diva who cannot understand why Mitchell gets all the praise around here. Sooooo, long story short, I dove into what I would normally call a “summertime” read on a cold and rainy day. Needless to say I was a bit dubious about how much I would enjoy this one . . .


(Clearly Vixen was excited enough for the both of us)

I came across my first problem immediately. The title and the cover. I’m not one for reading a synopsis generally and if I’ve read/enjoyed an author previously I’ll give them another shot without even bothering to take a glance. I thought the title might actually be a play on words and the story would focus on a cupcake boutique owner or some such. I figured Evanovich would once again feature a full-sized main character (and I was right, I’m so smart), but I was wrong about the “sweet spot” referring to baked goods – it actually referred to spanking of the badonka-donk . . . by a Major League baseball player . . . Hmmmm, my interest level raised a bit.

I have to take a second and address that cover. It’s horrible.

Okay, back to the book. Chase is a MLB hotshot who meets restaurant owner Amanda and is immediately smitten . . . even more so when she is able to resist his animal magnetism. He spends time trying to woo her and eventually she caves in – all the time wondering what kind of skeleton is waiting to fall out of his way too perfect closet.

I was kinda digging the light and fluffy cat and mouse game between Chase and Amanda – and having the MC be a baseball player during non-stop postseason baseball games being broadcasted in my family room was just too much of a co-inky-dink. I must confess that even though Chase is clearly described as a first baseman – the blonde haired fella who has played first base for my town's team isn’t one the ladies probably fantasize about dropping their panties over.


(FYI - that what speed do)

Instead my brain instantly went to this beauty. . .



But then we found out the skeleton in Chase’s closet is a giant hand that likes to smack girls on the ass when they are “naughty” – without even bothering having a discussion with them that he has a bit of a proclivity for the ol’ slap and tickle. Ummmmm, methinks that would be called domestic violence. And of course rather than telling this d-bag to go fly a kite, Amanda sits and pines over how to justify being “disciplined” for things like using foul language (because “that’s not how a lady should act,” dontcha know).


^expletives deleted

I realize that the dom/sub thing is all the rage and horny housewives across America have spent gazillions of dollars on books containing this subject matter, but promoting a clearly ABUSIVE situation where the woman has no say, no safe word, is told she can never question what the man believes is right/wrong combined with a main character who continually confesses all of her own insecurities and clearly should never be in a relationship that makes her feel even less self-worth is just not cool. Stephanie Evanovich – stick to vanilla lovemaking ‘cause this is NOT your forté.

[Bree T · Rating 1 out of 5]

When Amanda takes a booking for a VIP in her restaurant, she’s nonplussed. Her parents are well known and she’s had famous people in before. But Chase Walker is in a different category all together. He plays baseball in the major league and he’s one of America’s gold pin-up boys. From the moment their eyes meet, there’s a definite spark.

For Chase, it’s love at first sight. There’s something about Amanda that he finds irresistable but to his surprise, she turns him down flat. And so Chase turns up in her restaurant night after night, sitting at the bar and ordering food and attempting to get Amanda to give him a chance. But Amanda operates on a theory that everyone has a flaw – and Chase is so perfect on the surface with his Greek-God looks and his money and charm that whatever his flaw is, it must be a huge one.

Nevertheless Chase does win Amanda down. But it turns out that in some ways, Amanda is right – Chase does have a secret, something that he’s been keeping from her. Something that he wants to share with her but fears her reaction. But when Amanda pushes him too far one day, his secret comes spilling out. It becomes Amanda’s secret too, once she gets used to the idea. But when a tabloid gets hold of the secret, it goes viral. And Amanda, never comfortable being in the public eye, can’t handle it and flees, knowing that it could be the nail in the coffin of her otherwise perfect relationship with Chase.

Every now and then you read a book that makes you stabby with rage. For me, this was one of those books. The first section of it was pretty inoffensive but boring. There’s a lot of telling but very little showing in the narrative. There’s a lot of this happened and then this and then Chase did/said this and Amanda did this and then they did this and then it was the next day and so on and so forth. All we get is how hot Chase is and how charming he is and how wonderful he is and how incredible he is but….there’s never any actual evidence of this. In fact the only evidence there is of Chase is him being a ginormous douche.

Beware… there be ***SPOILERS*** ahead.

Then came the stabby part. Chase’s big secret is that he likes to spank women and discipline them. He doesn’t ever tell Amanda this but one day, when he’s all pent up from keeping his spanking hand to himself, she fires him up and he basically just launches himself at her and spanks her without her permission. And then the next morning, because by this stage Amanda is so enamoured by Chase and confused about what happened, his smug and supercilious attitude just honestly, made me insane with fury. He can’t see that he’s done anything wrong and even worse, he makes Amanda feel that her confusion is unnecessary and that it’s all fun and games because she enjoyed the sex that occurred afterwards. Never once does he properly apologise for not only not sharing that piece of information about himself but also for forcing it on her against her will.

And this is the problem with novels that want to include “BDSM” – and I use that term extremely loosely because this novel does not in any way include BDSM. It includes a douche who likes to spank women’s bottoms. That isn’t the same thing. But the growing alarming trend in these books is that it isn’t a kink that’s explored by two people who both express an interest and desire to experiment. It’s almost always the guy that has the kink and he forces the woman into it. And this lazy, weak writing avoids addressing what a dickbag move this is by making the girl “want it all along, just never having realised”. And it’s the same with Amanda. Soon she realises that she’s deliberately pushing Chase to punish her for being a naughty girl because she secretly likes it when he spanks her. Despite the fact that she’d never once considered it before and her first introduction to it was in a way that no one should never experience. Being spanked because she swore – according to Chase, ladies should speak and act like ladies.

Fuck you, Chase. And if anyone tried to spank me without my permission, I’d kick them so hard they’d choke on their own balls. See how they liked violence without introduction.

I didn’t realise this book was going to include this when I began reading it. I’m bored of this trend, it’s rarely ever addressed with real thoughtfulness and care. It’s always “innocent” girls who end up doing this stuff to keep their man and then suddenly finding that it’s been inside them all along. I just don’t buy it and never will. Spanking someone without their permission or them even knowing that you are going to do it is so icky an idea that it just ruined Chase as a character for me beyond all redemption. Not that I was overly invested in him in the first place but afterwards his smug, disgusting attitude just made me desperately want Amanda to walk out. She is very uncomfortable the morning after and she wants to talk about it and what it means and he rides roughshod over her about how much she loved it and how utterly perfect it is now that he no longer has to keep this secret and has a way to expel all of the stress that he had been holding in. But she stays with him, barely even speaking her reservations and just brushes it all under the carpet.

Amanda was brought up by very successful parents – her father is a retired judge who is considering a run for the senate and her mother is a well known lawyer. She shouldn’t be intimidated by someone like Chase and yet it seems that she so clearly is. Several times in the book she has trouble expressing herself to him, making him listen to her. When he spanks her in a tunnel at a stadium and it’s caught on a CCTV and goes viral, she leaves without telling him because she ‘knows that’s not a decision he would make for her’. She needs peace and quiet to cope with what has happened to her, all of the commentary and judgement and viciousness in the media. She’s not from Chase’s lifestyle and the fact that she knew she couldn’t tell him that she needed time, seemed so desperately sad. Like these two people can’t share things with each other, how are they supposed to be in a serious relationship? Chase makes it clear he loves her and wants to marry her from so early on I can’t take it seriously because it just smacks of instalove. Their interactions are so glossed over and superficial. Amanda never really seems to want to disagree with Chase and it makes her seem so weak and pathetic. For their first date he takes her to her own restaurant and she finds that all her staff obviously know about it and she’s totally weirded out by it but he just keeps pushing and trying oh-so-hard and it comes off as awkward and creepy rather than romantic. Like before Amanda even agrees to go out with him, he just turns up at the bar every single night and sits there and everyone swoons over it. If he wasn’t a hot, famous baseball player, they’d have called the police. He’s sulky and used to people telling him how great he is and when he feels threatened, he becomes childish and surly. My husband follows baseball, I know what star batters are paid. Grow up Chase, you have more than most people will ever have. When he expects Amanda to drop her career and go on the road with him, once again, I wanted her to tell him to take a hike. She holds out for the shortest amount of time before she basically employs a manager at the restaurant and devotes her life to Chase. It becomes her ‘job’. She poured everything into the restaurant and it felt like the decision to employ a manager and leave it all behind was made in a snap and wasn’t particularly addressed in the book very well.

There’s pretty much nothing to redeem this novel. I liked Amanda in the beginning but once she agreed to go out with Chase she lost all of her personality and set about molding herself into the person she thought he wanted. The writing is lackluster and does far too much telling and no showing, the story sends more than one terrible message under the guise of “love” and Chase is an abomination, basically. Reading this book is 3 hours of my life down the drain.

[Wanda Lollar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read less than half the book. When our hero started abusing our heroine in the name of kinky sex, I was totally turned off. I hate authors who write women characters that are pathetic, needy morons. Our moron heroine let this smug, narcissistic hero totally dominate and abuse her. Is this because 50 shades of grey made so much money, this author thinks she will cash in on the trend? Whatever, it was too unpleasant to keep reading so it went back to the library.

[Wynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great example of the saying "too many books, so little time". I made it halfway and just couldn't take these two idiots any longer. This book started out with the promise of a fun romance. The name "Evanovich" and the tag "humorous romance" pulled me in. This is not a humorous romance and compares nothing to Janet. At first I liked Amanda, a successful, well educated and respected business woman who has an admirer, a hot happening pro baseball player named Chase. Amanda believes all men have flaws, but he seems perfect. The humor I thought would be her attempt to find his flaw, but love the hunk in the end anyway. Evanovich quickly destroyed my impressions. Amanda becomes spineless after the first date and shows she has no self-respect. Chase is a complete ass (pun ~ hint: flaw) who has no respect for his partner in the bedroom and practically shames and intimidates her out of the bedroom. It's all about Chase. Amanda is confused, but whatever it's all good according to Romeo Chase. Where the hell is the romance in that? The phrase "no means yes" flashed in my head. Nope ~ not going there. Two horrible characters I hope I never meet in reality.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to stop reading at the 32% mark; I didn't finish the book.

I noticed pretty early on that The Sweet Spot was like 100% telling and 0% showing. The sequence of events is just laid out with no emotion, no "moments", no personality—nothing real. It's literally like:

Amanda meets Chase. He's so charming. He comes by every day for a week. He sits in this specific spot and orders this meal. He's so friendly. The staff love him. Amanda finally agrees to date him. He's really charming, but surely must have a fatal flaw somewhere.

It's just: this happened, that happened, then that happened, he's really charming, then that happened, etc. We don't actually see or feel any of these moments. To me, the characters had no personality. I'm told that Chase is charming and sweet, but I don't actually see it happen.

Here's a more specific example (direct quote):

They began dating and the game changed. She dropped the attitude and focused on his company. That following Monday and Tuesday, she tagged along with Chase on some of his routine. She went with him to the gym, and won what she secretly named "the eye-candy sweepstakes".

Notice how it's literally just a paragraph of: this happened, that happened, that happened, etc.? That's what the whole book was like. We didn't actually get a closer look at these moments or activities; we're just told that they happen.

Or there's this quote:

But even he could tell there was more passion building up when they were together.

We're just told there's passion, but we NEVER actually see this passion! I saw zero passion, chemistry, lust, or attraction between the two characters. There was nothing there!

On top of that, the writing style really disjointed me. It's not told from a clear point of view. Instead it just hops around between Amanda and Chase's points of view at random times (rather than distinct chapters). And since the characters had so little personality, I'd lose track of which one I was "following" at that moment.

And finally, Amanda just pissed me off. She was so judgmental. As soon as she registered that Chase was a celebrity, she made a million assumptions about him and what kind of person he is.

"Guys like [Chase] don't just want dinner"
Amanda

"Aren't people like you supposed to own a car for every day of the week?"
Amanda

"Amanda, I wish you wouldn't use my being famous as a strike against me. I swear to God, I'm a regular guy."
Chase

I really wanted to like this book because I love the idea of a story about a successful entrepreneurial woman and a hot romance with a celebrity. But the writing style and I didn't agree. I felt so distanced from the whole story and its characters. All the characters felt flat as a board because their personalities never shine through. The book felt like a sequenced list of events, rather than an actual story.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that the description for this book is a little misleading. When I picked it up I was imagining a cute little romance book - hardworking girl meets handsome baseball superstar, falls in love and then has to learn to cope with his fame and busy schedule. Done before a million times and you know the couple will get a happy ending but not every book has to be a classic to be readable, right?

Initially "The Sweet Spot" seems to deliver that. Amanda Cole is a busy restaurant owner with well off parents and a social life that seems to be pretty much limited to her friends at work. Super hot baseball stud Chase Walker (dumb name) dines at her restaurant once and despite the fact that she isn't overly nice to him (or because of it?) decides that she's the girl of his dreams - blah blah. When she finally gives him a chance their relationship immediately turns "hawt" and heavy.

So this is when the book changes. Chase has a dirty secret and instead of being something cool like he killed someone to save his mom or he moonlights as a Cher impersonator at a bar in Alabama, the secret is that he likes to spank "naughty" girls. Yawn.

My opinion on sex and fetishes is that as long as it's consensual and no one dies, you do you. What bothered me about this book is that Amanda is not initially in on the game. At one point Chase actually tells her that when he's done she can "call the police" if she wants to but she is still getting spanked right then and there.

That's not cool.

Luckily for Chase Amanda likes it or at least likes Chase enough to pretend she likes it.

And so for a really long period of the book (we're talking half) the story pretty much revolves around spanking and talk of Amanda's "naughty" side. Like swearing. And not wanting to give her career up to follow her boyfriend around. Bleck.

Then (after a not particularly clever spanking session in public) both Amanda and Chase are humiliated in the media and they fight and SPOILER - they get back together and live happily ever after.

I guess Amanda is happy enough to live without saying another swear word forever or at least until Chase finds a new girl with an even rounder butt and dirtier mouth.

No Pre-nup though! So that's good. And so realistic!

Two stars. Because you have to admire someone who can stretch a spanking fetish into almost 300 pages.

[Anna Mattocks · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate writing bad reviews but this book really made me angry. When I saw The Sweet Spot on the shelf of the library and read the inside cover and loved that the hero was a pro baseball player. I love baseball so I thought I'd check it out. Bad move.
*Spoilers*
The first few chapters were nice while Chase pursues Amanda. He is sweet and kind and seemed like a dream guy. Then from out of the blue, she gets mad at him and he end up throwing her over his knee and spanks her. The next morning she is confused and hurt while he is happy as a clam and basically tells her that's the way it is and she obviously enjoyed it. The next few chapters SCREAMED "abusive relationship" not "happy relationship". I get that there are people out there that love this kind of thing but I found this appalling. I had a hard time finishing the book and only did to find something redeeming about it. I'm glad they end up happy in a more balanced relationship but how they got there was just ridiculous.

[Jessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recognize that there are some pretty problematic themes going on in this book, but I still enjoyed it all the same. Why? Because I recognize them for what they are. I know when trash is trash, and yet I still enjoy wallowing in the dirt for the day.

But it's interesting, because I think the mainstream nature of the author (the niece of Janet Evanovich? c'mon...the name alone was going to grant her an audience) and the pretty misleading, benign cover puts this book in a realm of readers that it shouldn't have been marketed to.

If you had slapped a Getty images stock photo of two beautiful people embracing and touted it as new adult, it would probably have close to five stars and a cult following. But as it is, you have the mild-mannered, book club crowd clutching their pearls instead.

[Reka Beezy · Rating 3 out of 5]

**I received this book as the result of an early copy sweepstakes from William Morrow Books. My review is in no way bias because I'm a winner, in life and the contest lol*

So, this book started off really cute to me: I can appreciate a dude going out of his way to woo a woman, and Chase just went all out for Amanda. I enjoyed the cuteness between them. Then, they get into relationship and my good opinion kind of went a little south. First of all, the whole alpha male thing is fine, as long as the woman knows what she's getting herself into; this book ain't cater to that aspect at all. I also didn't find it appealing that after the first time, Chase just thought everything was honky-dory and didn't fully talk about the different aspects of his kinks with Amanda. Like, her whole life she knows what kind of sex she likes then he comes along and all of a sudden she has to be hit on the ass to get off? For real? I'd have a bit more respect if she had been toying around with the thought before he came into the picture, but I just don't think most people's sex lives are that receptive to change, especially when it involves pain, no matter how minor. Other than that, it's cool that they found each other and their love blossomed (And I hope no one cries spoiler at that because all romance novels have happy endings, people).

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book provided by Netgalley for an honest review

I will fully confess that I put in a request to read this book because of the last name of the author... yes I thought I was going to read a Janet Evanovich book

The Sweet Spot sounds good on paper - a famous sexy sporting start meets an independent sassy woman and sparks ensue...

The dialogue was fast paced and snappy and I enjoyed Chase's slightly OTT pursuit of Amanda. I was sufficiently connected with the characters to want to see how the book would end and then all of a sudden I find myself in the middle of a Dom/Sub story (albeit a very lightweight BDSM story)... I had to go back and few pages and re-read them just to work out how that happened. I have no issues with reading dom/sub storylines, but in this particular story it just seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't really blend in with the rest of the narrative. Perhaps if it had been hinted at earlier on the in book it might have worked better, but that's just my thoughts.

Despite that, I found the book to be a funny, enjoyable light read

Now I have my Evanovichs sorted, I might be sufficiently tempted to check out others works by Stephanie

2.5 stars

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book as much as Big Girl Panties, but The Sweet Spot has one major flaw: the spanking part and all the annoying talk about dominance. While BGP was an amusing romantic comedy with an interesting premise (can the model dating personal trainer get over himself and love a girl who is far from model looks), this book's premise is more about can the nice and proper girl date the guy who is into dominance stuff? Not exactly on my wavelength. The book reads like a nice romantic comedy, if you skip all the sex and spanking stuff. Honestly, I found the book jacket very misleading. I knew from BGP that Chase and Amanda were into spanking, but I did not expect that the entire book would elaborate on the subject of SM. I feel like the author has totally switched genres, which I did not expect. I was hoping for another romantic comedy but all I got was some kinky stuff that was way above my tolerance level. I almost feel tricked into reading this, because I liked BGP and that's why I read this book, otherwise I would never pick up a book that was about dominance. I will definitely not recommend this book to my friends like I did with BGP.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had not read stories by Stephanie Evanovich before, but she is coming to my local library this month so I thought I would take the time to check out The Sweet Spot. I figured if I liked it I would then purchase a new copy and ask her to sign. I did enjoy the first few chapters and knew this would be a sweet sexy romantic story reflecting difficulties and joys in a relationship between a famous baseball star and a strong restaurant owner. I was SO surprised to see the path the author decided to take with the story! I finished the book but would not take the time to meet this author nor read another of her books. A very disappointing twist to a story that didn't need to try to get on the "50 Shades of Grey" bandwagon...the concept of this relationship didn't need it and Evanovich could have developed a great story with all characters in this book!

[Nikita · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this book in a diff order but still good

[Karielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Chase," [Amanda] began steadily, but her voice cracked as soon as she said his name, "you seemed like you really knew what you were doing there."
"I do," he stated, very matter of fact, seemingly engrossed in [his paper], but with the corners of his mouth starting to turn up.
"Like you've done that sort of thing before."
"I have." He grinned, turning the page and scanning it.
"And that if we keep seeing each other, it's something you'll want to do again?"
"I will." He nodded, still grinning.
His two-word, nonchalant answers and perceived lack of interest was starting to completely unnerve her. She hadn't even come out directly to say what she was talking about and he was behaving like they had entered into a pact that only he was privy to.
"What if I don't want you to?"
Chase finally looked up from his paper, his eyes spearing her from across the granite island. "Then you better not be naughty."

The highly anticipated prequel to Stephanie Evanovich's Big Girl Panties, The Sweet Spot is the story of how Chase and Amanda Walker met, fell in love, fell out, and ended up together—detailedly following the fiery couple with very singular tastes that we all know and love from the first book. I was a huge fan of the pair in Big Girl Panties, but was disappointed with them in The Sweet Spot. In BGP, we only had short, sporadic moments with both Chase and Amanda, but whenever we did, they were always funny, always charming, and always erotic. In The Sweet Spot, all of that fades to the background and what we're left with is a rather forceful and obsessed alpha hero, lots of unnecessary angst, and mediocre sex. Evanovich proves in this flashback novel that sometimes, using your imagination to know what goes on behind the scenes is better than actually going behind the scenes yourself.

It wasn't a terrible read, by any means. It isn't outstanding or anywhere near as funny as Big Girl Panties, but it is a simple, predictable boy-meets-girl romance with entertaining banter and a light flavor of kink. Featuring two characters who are feisty in their own way—a dominant, all-American celebrity athlete and a beautiful, fiercely independent restaurant owner—it's rather amusing and a light, airy read, but along those lines, it isn't complex or suspenseful either. The plot progresses very straightforwardly, and there's really no building action or climax; things just happen. Chase and Amanda just do things. There's no real action or development, and that's one of the biggest issues I had with the book.

Obviously, a complication in reviewing this novel is that my opinions are not absolute, but wholly relative. While reading The Sweet Spot, I couldn't help but compare it to Big Girl Panties the entire time—and by compare, I mean bitch to myself about how it wasn't as good as the prior. It just isn't. Evanovich's style is flatter, with lots of telling over showing, and her trademark humor (that I loved in Holly, the protagonist of BGP) just isn't there. I thought the aspect of Chase and Amanda's little bedroom hobby—a little light spanking, nothing explicit—would be sexy at least, but it wasn't. Whatever sexual chemistry that was supposed to be formed between them was completely rushed, and if anything, the "kink" is more of a tongue-in-cheek twist on eroticism; I found it more ridiculous than hot.

Lastly... the one character I couldn't take seriously was the ever-serious Mr. Chase Walker baseball-extraordinaire himself. I know his relentless pursuit of Amanda and over-the-top romantic affections are supposed to show he's the ultimate "alpha male," but they really made him seem corny, pathetic, and REALY CREEPY. –Spoiler alert!– When Amanda initially snubs him, he pretty much stalks her, showing up at her work every day for a few weeks straight, and even getting his security guys to find out where she lives. For a fictional Babe Ruth, he certainly has a lot of time on his hands!! –Spoiler end!– He also has the urge to consistently validate his masculinity by saying things like (verbatim!):

"My ego does not require I have a girlfriend half my size to make me a bigger man. I am already a monster. I do not want or need a woman I can bench-press. I prefer a woman of substance, with softness and curves. One I know is able to handle my passion, one that can nurture my babies."

Babies??????? He's about to bone a girl for the first time and he talks about babies???????!!!

Pros
Quickly paced, easy to get absorbed in // Entertaining banter between Chase and Amanda // Amanda is fun, likable

Cons
Rather disappointing; Chase and Amanda's relationship sounded better in Big Girl Panties than it actually was in The Sweet Spot // Very little character or relationship development // Overall pretty bland; very little excitement, no surprises, no twists // Chase sounds hot, but really annoying; I didn't think very highly of him // Logan is only mentioned once. What the hell is this a prequel for?!?!

Verdict
The Sweet Spot, an account of the coming-together of the fun, flirty couple we first fell in love with in Big Girl Panties, overall was disappointing; it doesn't go in-depth with the relationship that I perceived as sizzling and complicated, and in fact, is rather watery and lacks any plot-forward action. While there are some amusing anecdotes about the celebrity lifestyle, true-to-life struggles with control and trust, and some good 'n' clean spanking (yes, I just said clean! Who knew S&M could be made so proper?), I think I was mainly let down because I expected so much after reading the first book. Stephanie Evanovich's sophomore novel isn't anything grand, but it does serve as a mushy romance between a hunky baseball player and a nice-girl business woman with the tendency to misbehave.

Rating: 6 out of 10 hearts (3 stars): Decent for a first read, but I'm not going back; this book is decidedly average (whatever that means!).

Source
Complimentary ARC provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours!).

[Nicole Overmoyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t really know what to say about Stephanie Evanovich’s THE SWEET SPOT.

I suppose I’ll start with the cover. It was misleading. There’s a woman smiling behind a feather. It’s very pleasing to the eye and very benign. Suffice it to say, even though I read the promo blurb that made me enter the giveaway – ableit awhile before I got the book, I was startled to discover it was a book essentially about sexualized spanking.

I do remember reading the blurb and thinking it wasn’t something I usually read and it couldn’t hurt to try and think outside the box. But it kind of did.

I didn’t really like Amanda or Chase, the spankee or the spanker. Amanda is introduced as an independent, headstrong woman with a business of her own. Chase is a nationally famous baseball player who exudes confidence.

Chase Walker is kind of a stalker, to be honest. He sees a girl once and comes to her restaurant every day that his schedule allows for weeks until she agrees to go out with him. It’s at times endearing and at times creepy.

Amanda plays the ultimate game of hard-to-get but when she gives in, she falls spectacularly into giving in with her entire body and mind.
After all, who knew spanking could be so much fun?

I jest. This story isn’t very much fun. I admit that I expected more, you know, sex. Flat out, good old sex. Even some BDSM maybe. But it’s not there. Just spanking. Lots and lots of spanking.

There are a few cringeworthy scenes involving spanking too. When Amanda gets turned on (read – her butt tingles at the thought of his hand… and really he’s just got the seat warmer in his Jag turned up) and when her father (a maybe future Senator!) discusses the one time he spanked her (not sexually, of course) with Chase after the country finds out the golden boy of baseball has a kinky side.

Long story short, there’s too much spanking for me and not enough plot.
Maybe I did know what to say.

(I received a copy of THE SWEET SPOT through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program in exchange for an honest review. This review will be cross-posted on my blog and on Goodreads.)

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/2 star

This is by far one of the worse book I have ever read. It was love at first sight for the guy (Chase Walker) and Amanda Cole was playing hard to get for the first few months - just to go on a date with this Walker dude who is a pro baseball player. These 2 characters are the most self absorbed, whinny people ever written!!!! I rolled my eyes so many times and thought to myself why am I listening to this garbage. Chase's secret is that he likes to spank ladies bottom and Amanda just sort of let it happen to her and then decided that she likes it - because she loves him to so darn much. Yes, it is that bad. So save yourself some time and skip this book.

This is also my first book of Ms Evanovich. Sadly, I don't think I'll waste any more of my time with her books.

[Austine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wanted a fluffy, no brainer, read. Why is that so difficult lately? First off I was not paying attention and thought that this was a Stephanie Plum novel or something of that sort. Nope. Not the same author. Grrrrr. Then I'm assaulted by the heroine of the story who simply put makes me feel bad to be female. Come on now, couldn't we make this a little more BDSM and not some male chauvinistic thing. The author seemed scared to actually take this subject on which to me means don't write a book even remotely on the topic. The result was frankly kind of a mess. Can someone please steer me in the direction of a nice, easy read that won't leave a bad taste in my mouth?

[Cecily Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG I loved this story! I was doing my meal prep for the week while listening to this book and I was laughing so many times in my kitchen!
I liked it from start to ending, I also liked that their "issues" didn't take up most of the story time I really enjoy Stephanie Evanovich's style of writing, and have liked everything that she has written thus far that I have been able to get my hands on.
Also, Great Cover!
Great Read!

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally the worst book I have ever read in my life. Don't waste your time.

[Sherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is loaded with spoilers, so consider yourself warned.

2.5 stars

I was so taken with The Sweet Spot, by Stephanie Evanovich, when the book began. Chase was entirely charming, genuine and patient and exceptionally persistent given his life as a major league baseball player. Amanda was a strong, independent, witty woman who knew what she wanted and had a great, realistic perspective. I thoroughly delighted in Chase’s wooing. I suspected that the plot was going to take the turn it did—Chase liked to spank—but was still disappointed when it did. It wasn’t the idea but how it was written. He initially tried to quash that part of his personality which grated on my nerves, but when he put her across his knee and spanked her as punishment for the way she spoke without ever speaking to her about his desires and needs, I was seriously pissed off. It honestly felt manipulative and borderline abusive for me. However, I didn’t doubt that he loved her, so I kept reading, expecting them to discuss their expectations in depth. The subject was merely breezed over and I found myself resenting Chase’s smugness, disappointed in Amanda’s easy acceptance of his actions. She was too strong a character for Evanovich to sell me that bill of goods without resistance. I had a hard time reconciling that he would spank her until she cried and not feel remorseful. I didn’t understand his need to make her cry or why either of them was okay with it.

The story progressed. When their antics are caught on a parking garage security cam, Amanda freaks out and leaves town on the advice—demand, really—of Chases’s agent. Her utter lack of contact with Chase seemed counterintuitive. Staying away as long as she did even more so. And the drum circle part was a bit strange. Amanda finally gets her head on straight and Chase evokes his ‘you only get to leave once and it’s forever’ rule. That speaks well of his ‘you’re the love of my life, made for me’ ideology, doesn’t it? The scheme Amanda runs to win him back was kind of cute, albeit a bit childish. I thought the wedding was verging on ridiculous.

I struggled with how to rate this book. Evanovich’s writing, despite my disagreement with the direction of the plot, was often quite compelling, especially when it came to heartbreak. The main characters had lovely chemistry up front. Ultimately though, this story was about 2 adults. If the only way you can get the love of your life to talk to you is by trying to piss him off enough to make him spank you, I’m thinking you need some therapy, possibly an intervention, but definitely you need to do some maturing. And if you’re willing to throw away your dream girl because she can’t handle your fame, you probably deserve to be alone. I just found it really hard to accept that they made sense for each other—that their relationship had ANY chance at success—when they couldn’t even talk to one another. Repeating that mistake with the wedding—running away on a whim without talking to the important people (parents) in your life about the pressure you’re feeling—was another disappointment. They learned nothing from the trials they’d been through. The sweetness in Chase that drew me in all but disappeared, warring with his need to be in control. I found that part of his personality a total turn off. Amanda changed from a strong woman to a total lackey, forsaking her dreams for his. Blargh. Unfortunately, this book earned its low rating, but I liked Evanovich's writing enough to give another of her books a try.

[Stephanie Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased the book & met the author at a book fair in Belmar, N.J.

I saw a review that an author I am acquainted with had left. So after speaking with her, I decided to put down what I was reading & read " The Sweet Spot."

I was born & raised in Asbury Park N.J. & still live in N.J. The author is from Asbury & the book takes place in N.Y./N.J. areas. Already I felt a connection. I enjoy books that take place in N.J., I can relate to where the author is writing about. It makes me smile & gives me a warm feeling.

The main characters Amanda & Chase meet at Amanda's restaurant. Chase is a Pro baseball player. He is a gentleman, humble & loves his fans. He has a dark secret. Amanda is smart witty & ambitious. Unfortunately, she doesn't believe in happily ever after & she believes all men have a flaw that is yet to be revealed. She is an only child & a bit spoiled.

Chase knows from the beginning he is going to marry her. He tries in many ways to get her to go on a date with him. When she continues to refuse he comes into the restaurant every evening. He sits at the bar, has a beer & tries to make conversation. They have a physical attraction to each other, flirt & have playful banter but, she won't let down her guard.

Eventually, she agrees to dinner. The characters are so compatible, thought out & realistic that I can imagine having a conversation with them. Even the minor characters are memorable.

There were times I was laughing out loud, I got angry & realized that I was experiencing a myriad of emotions the more I read. The couple had playful banter, teasing & sometimes Amanda provoked an argument.

Amanda eventually finds out the dark secret & she has to ask herself if it is something she can live with. She has to get used to thinking about them as a couple. She starts to change her way of thinking. She loves Chase so deeply that she succumbs to his desire. At first she is mortified but then realizes she enjoys it. It becomes her desire as well. Some may perceive him as a deviant & feel Amanda is abused. Some people are set in their ways & have to find the compromise in their relationships. Personally, I don't get the sense that Amanda is weak or abused. I think she does a lot of soul searching to determine if it's okay to be different. She is afraid that she will lose her identity because Chase will overshadow her due to his job.

I highly recommend "The Sweet Spot." I overlooked the typos because I feel that this book is 5 star worthy.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Stephanie Evanovich’s first book, Big Girl Panties, we met Chase and Amanda Walker. So, if you’ve read that book then you know what their relationship status is. But in this book, Stephanie shows us how they met and how their relationship evolved. As with the first book, the author infuses the perfect amount of humor and wit throughout the book making it a fun, laugh out loud read.

Amanda is an independent, modern woman. She doesn’t need a man to hold her hand through life. With hard work and determination she can do anything she sets her mind to. But things change the night that baseball superstar, Chase Walker, dines at Cold Creek … the restaurant owned by Amanda. Of course it was obvious how handsome he was, but Amanda knows that guys like these have women hanging on them all the time. So when he asks her on a date, she immediately turned him down. She didn’t want to be just another number in the long list of women who must be in his life. But this is Chase Walker we’re talking about. He’s used to getting what he wants and refuses to give up until Amanda agrees to go on a date with him.

After showing up regularly at Cold Creek and proving to Amanda that he’s not one to back down quickly, she agrees to one date. But Chase has a big secret. One that he’s unsure how Amanda will react to it. Will he confess it to Amanda? Or will it be a relationship deal breaker if she finds out?

I loved Ms. Evanovich’s first book, Big Girl Panties and The Sweet Spot was just as good! I loved getting to know the adorable couple in the first book and then learning how they met in the second one. With humor and the perfect amount of spice, The Sweet Spot is the best summer book! Grab your beach bag and throw this book in. You won’t be able to put it down until you hit the last page!

[Marcy Aman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, this book really disgusted me. Amanda is a restaurant owner who meets chase, a famous baseball player. Blah blah blah he is infatuated with her and stops at nothing to get her, despite her resistance at first. She soon finds out that chase is obsessed with sexualized spanking and will spank her whether she likes it or not, because she swore, and he wanted her to be a lady (wait, there's literally nothing different about this than 50 shades of gray...).

It was this scene that upset me and I stopped reading right there. All Amanda did was swear at chase, because he was being a major prick, and he dragged her into his bedroom and spanked her, despite her protests, and despite her actually crying! The next morning she is upset and confused and he doesn't apologize or CARE, all he does is freaking explain that he is an alpha male and he needs to have this control and dominance and she just so easily accepts it. I actually find this upsetting! The scene was literally domestic violence and force and it was not okay.

Honestly, I had no idea this book was the same type of novel as 50 shades of gray, or there is no way in hell I would have read it. I feel like I am losing brain cells when I read these sort of books. I guess if you loved 50 shades of gray you will like this but I personally feel like what the hell is the point of reading this type of book? I gained nothing positive from it.

[Sloane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book even more than the author's first, Big Girl Panties, which I loved. I am a married, educated, working mother and I was not at all offended by the physical sex play the couple in this story enjoys. I do not understand the outrage of some reviewers. More significantly, Ms. Evanovich does not deserve the backlash about domestic abuse or misogyny. The author has written a contemporary romance with two adorably, sweet characters. The love scenes are written as wholly consensual. Most importantly, nothing in the relationship between Chase and Amanda made me dislike Chase or lose respect for Amanda.

This book was fun from beginning to end. Listening to it as an audiobook made it more fun because the narrator's vocal inflection for Chase was sexy and true to the character. I highly recommend it and the author's previous novel as well!!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to be chosen to read this new summer romance novel. I couldn't wait to read it but as I got into it I realized that it was actually the second book in a series. I could easily follow it and I liked the characters. I also enjoyed the spunk of Amanda. She was a really strong, self sufficient girl. I didn't even mind the darker side and the possible play on another popular series about dominance,(though this was better written by far).

However I was a little disappointed to learn there was a book before this one and would have loved to have read that one first. But overall this book was really good and I hope to read more by her soon.



Disclaimer: I receive a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review. No other compensation was given.

[Moriah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oofta. This was hard to complete. I didn’t love it. It could have been from the person reading the book, but I also did not enjoy the abusive nature. I definitely understand bdsm, but some of the manipulation was just kind of like what the heck. I think we are getting into the culture where this type of stuff is okay, and im all for that, but some of the things that were said just....eh.

[annalee ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers.

There must have been a glitch in my Libby app because I could have sworn that the summary indicated this was a Christian chicklit about a virgin who falls in love with a playboy professional baseball player?? Imagine my surprise …

I was originally going to make this review more of a joke, especially since this scene here had me looking like that crying Jerry meme:

“Please listen carefully, Amanda, because I intend to explain this only once. You take my breath away, as much right now as the first time I saw you. And now I’m seeing all of you, so you can imagine how hard it is for me breathe [sic; yes, the editor forgot about infinitives]. I am almost six and a half feet tall. On a good day, I’m pushing two hundred and sixty pounds. My ego does not require I have a girlfriend half my size to make me a bigger man. I am already a monster. I do not want or need a woman I can bench-press. I prefer a woman of substance, with softness and curves. One I know is able to handle my passion, one that can nurture my babies. I have no desire to bang into your bones when I take you, which I am most certainly going to do, and soon.”

I don’t know which is worse—implying that Amanda, who is described as “curvy,” is more physically comparable to someone from My 600-lb Life or implying that Mr. Kylo Ren over here is looking for a wife the same way horse enthusiasts look for studs.

Then in the next chapter, Miss Ma’am gives us this hilarious line, which reinforces my last point:

She ambled across the kitchen floor … and made herself a trough of coffee.

And then there’s this gem:

“We’re going to fill this place with Amanda-sized things.”

So, through the entirety of this novel, I imagined Chase as the Tiny Head Kingdom plushie and Amanda as a cave troll.

Anyway, this whole novel starts because Chase, who is a baseball player, goes to her restaurant and decides to spend the next few weeks literally stalking her, harassing her, and manipulating her into going on a date. It wasn’t cute in The Notebook and it’s not cute here.

Aside from the hilarious descriptions of the characters, Evanovich has this weird writing style that leads me to believe she isn’t quite sure how to … write properly? Take this as an example:

He wrestled between wanting her frozen in time and begging for there to be light so he wouldn’t miss the small detail.

Okay, but those things aren’t mutually exclusive. There is no need to wrestle between these wants because one does not negate the other?? He could literally hop up, open the curtain or turn on a light, and go back to gazing at her lovingly plump form if he wants.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add—he’s into spanking. Sorry to write it out so bluntly, but that’s the part where I was like, “Wait a second … this doesn’t seem right …” So, pretty much the majority of this novel is Chase being like, “If you misbehave I’ll have to punish you” (gag) and Amanda going, “Hm, he won’t let me say no, but if I do then he’ll kick me out and never speak to me again, and he won’t give me a safe word because he’s disciplining me, and he does all this because his dad is dead.”

But not all hope is lost! Evanovich was a real one for keeping things lighthearted. I highlighted this line because it made me laugh out loud:

“And the second I look at you, you cross your legs and wiggle in your chair ever so slightly, as if you’re enjoying the fabric against your skin. But you and I both know it’s not the touch and feel of cotton either one of us is thinking about.”

POV: when your dog has a dingleberry??

Honestly, I thought that the tone of the novel would follow the same cringey, poorly edited format that most of these romance novels follow. But things took a really weird and creepy turn when they get caught by a security camera performing their kink outside?? I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your own home, but you literally go to a baseball game … go outside … and spank your girlfriend … and … what? What was supposed to happen?? Obviously, people should be entitled privacy, but unfortunately, there are things called eyeballs. If someone sees something you don’t want them to, but you performed that action in public, then you run the risk of people witnessing it. And, occasionally, selling the video to the press.

But what should have clued me in to the fact that this novel was going to get problematic was the fact that Chase purchased a plot of land and began building a castle within a few weeks of their dating (the same castle big enough for Amanda’s aforementioned—and presumably large—things). He also gets a tattoo of her on his ribs, and I just … I can’t even:

It was a peppermint stick, like you’d hang on a Christmas tree. At the top of it, where it curved to make the hook, were big blue Sailor Moon eyes and a full black mane that flowed to the middle of the stick part. The tip was made to look like a pert little nose and there were full, pouty lips to match. It actually sort of looked like her.

Yeah, if Amanda were in a horrific Fullmetal Alchemist accident with a bag of Christmas candies. To top it off, in “the deepest voice he possessed,” he calls it a Mandy-Cane.

Back to the larger issue here. Amanda runs away because she’s so mortified that the press has gotten hold of the footage and people are making jokes. She literally goes into hiding because it’s too horrible.

So, to ease Amanda’s mind, I made an incomplete list of worse things a professional athlete has ever done:

OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife and her friend, led the police on a slow-speed car chase, tried to copywrite his name which would have made it impossible for orange juice companies to market themselves, wrote a book detailing how he would have murdered his wife and her friend, and then stole a bunch of sports memorabilia.

Tonya Harding hired people to break the kneecaps of her competitor … and then still lost out to her.

Mike Tyson bit off someone’s ear.

Tiger Woods cheated on his wife and then proceeded to randomly crash his car into a fire hydrant, a tree, and some bushes.

Randy Johnson obliterated a dove.

Anyway, all that to say that a man hitting his wife’s butt would not make national headlines the way Evanovich thinks it would.

To make matters worse, when Chase goes to Amanda’s dad to ask where she’s taking her sabbatical or whatever, her dad has the sheer audacity to say THIS. To his future son-in-law!!!!!!!!

“You know, in all of her life, there was only one time when I spanked Amanda. Funny, I can’t even remember what it was for. But I will never forget the look on her face when it was over, those big sad eyes so bewildered. I could tell that she wasn’t able to reconcile the love with the pain. … I have seen the footage,” Rupert concluded diplomatically. “And it doesn’t look like she was having too much trouble with reconciliation.”

Uh … hi, is this 911??? What actually possessed the author to include a scene with Amanda’s father making a weird quip about his daughter’s sexual fetishes?? And yeah, DUH DAD, of course your literal child is going to be upset that you hit her as a form of punishment?? What do you mean she looked sad? Were you EXPECTING her to look turned on by it????

So, when Amanda ran away, she slept on the beach and was shocked that no one recognized her (maybe they thought she had beached herself?) but she eventually meets some weird old lady who teaches her to work through her emotions by playing the bongos (no, not a joke). When talking about Chase, who has been trying to get in contact with her exactly eight thousand times, Amanda says this innocuous line that unraveled the entire romantic plot of this novel:

“Yes, Gertie, he is [hot]. But he’s also incredibly sweet. I don’t think since I met him, he’s ever said an unkind word to me.”

Ah. You don’t think he’s ever said an unkind word to you.

They turn on the TV to watch one of his games, and the following scene occurs:

His smile had been replaced with a scowl. His eyes were dull. Not vacant—there was still plenty of fire—but there was no joy. All the boyish sparkle was gone. What was left was scary to see. … He ran the bases, his expression never changing, and jogged his way back to the dugout. Before ducking in, he stared right into a camera, the coldest, iciest stare Amanda didn’t believe him capable of, and her gasp was audible.

It was like he knew she was there.

“That’s the man you’ve been telling me about?” Gertie asked, trying not to sound alarmed.

“Yeah,” she replied, feeling the most awful twist in the pit of her stomach.

“Honey, I think it’s about time you start hightailing it back to where you came from. You don’t want that boy coming to find you.”

That was absolutely horrifying. And it does get worse, believe it or not. Because even though Amanda doesn’t think that Chase has ever said an unkind word to her, he has definitely said an unkind word about her. In the next chapter, while using his freakishly large biceps to bench press the weight of a woman curvaceous enough to bear his children, he yells at his friend that Amanda is “the spoiled brat who bailed as soon as the heat turned on” and “was always so annoyingly pious” and wonders aloud, “What made her think she was so damn special anyway?”

When he gets home, Amanda is waiting for him. He muses that she’s “every bit as pretty as he remembered,” only more tan.

Damn her. He was spending night after sleepless night with haunted visions and she was soaking up the sun somewhere. She looked downright healthy. The little bitch.

They get into a fight as soon as they open their mouths, and Amanda has this thought:

And if she was smart she’d be scared, but she was finished with her head leading, and there was only one place her heart wanted to run.

I’m sorry, but what is happening here? She has done nothing but follow her heart, which has gotten her into more trouble and embarrassment than most people have in a lifetime. If I went to reconcile with my boyfriend and he his “hulking, shirtless body” was within grabbing reach of me, I’d be terrified. He’s already proven that he’s willing to abuse her for fun. What would he be willing to do if he were really, seriously angry?

And she should be scared. Because, mid-argument, Chase feels afraid that “if he continued, he might actually strangle her.”

Okay, cool. So not only is Chase a controlling sexual sadist, he’s also got anger issues so bad that he’s scared he might kill his girlfriend because of her embarrassment.

But don’t worry!! Instead of doing the rational thing and telling Amanda to go home, he does this:

He grabbed her by the shoulders, violently shaking her, stopped only when her eyes grew wide and frightened. “And do you know why [I joked about the video on television]? Do you? Because I stayed here and looked everyone in the eye as they judged. I took the phone calls, I made the statements, laughed at the jokes, I tried to protect the person I loved.”

Right—I missed the part where physically assaulting and verbally abusing your girlfriend was all done out of love. I’m not sure who Chase was expecting would take the heat for performing a fetish out in the open—his girlfriend, a nobody restaurant owner with no friends or social life? Maybe the security guard, who saw a professional baseball player hitting his girlfriend in an abandoned alley and decided to tell the press? Because it certainly shouldn’t have been Chase, the literal celebrity athlete!

Then, with remarkable ease, he punched a hole in the wall, the plaster crumbling in response to the unleashed fury. He looked at the destruction and lowered his head, his hands on his hips, and she could tell by his heaving, he was trying to hold back the rest of his rage.

She should have been terrified. She should have run. But every word he spoke was the truth, and though the reasons were different, they both were to blame.

I need to rescind my earlier statements of her being a horse. Horses are easily spooked and thus would have had the common sense to book it out of there, preferably after giving Chase the old John Wick treatment. Amanda is just stupid. She has no self-esteem, no self-worth, and no self-preservation.

And Chase is a manipulative, lying piece of steaming cow dung that deserves the worst things in life. I have pages and pages of highlighted text where he treats her like she’s the stupidest thing he’s ever had to deal with. But there was actually a part where I thought he was going to apologize (maybe I’m also dumber than a horse?). She admits that his agent forced her into hiding. I thought he was going to beat up his agent or something, but nope!! Because “iT’S tHe RuLeS” that she leave permanently if she leaves at all.

“A minute ago, you were at least brave enough to have run away on your own accord. I need someone I can trust, not someone who would take orders from the most immoral character I can think of instead of her future husband.”

Whoops, Chase. So close! You’re actually the most immoral character I can think of! To prove it, he decides to sell their castle because he’s pissed at her!!! So SHE pretends to be an interested client as a way to trick him into seeing her!!!! While alone in the office, they continue to threaten each other and display more toxic, abusive traits!!! But how is a lowly fat restauranteur going to afford such a place?? She’s going to have a book deal and a reality show with his ex-girlfriends!!!! Here are some real gems:

He was already making threats, a wonderful sign.

He was glaring intensely, his eyes practically glowing. “Trust me, the way I’m feeling right now, if I got my hands on you, they’d hear.”

She had him. The little girl had f-ed him up good. He could almost hear the sound of his endorsements drying up, something he could live with, but eventually his game would suffer. If she was going to expose them anyway, better to take the hit quickly. One more round of damage control.

He had her all wrong. He had dreamt about her, agonizing dreams full of want and longing. Because deep down Chase still thought she was made for him, the only woman he’d ever love.

She was safe in his memory. He could protect her there, better than he did before. Not feed her to the media machine, to be spit out into the kind of woman who was now sitting in front of him.

Record scratch. Yeah, that’s me, wondering what portal I fell through because this wasn’t the novel I read. In what world, on what planet, in what universe did Chase do everything to protect her? How did he feed her to the media machine? Wasn’t he furious just a few chapters ago that she abandoned him to do all the talk shows by himself?? So what does this man actually want—for Amanda to drop to her knees and flog herself? He’s angry that she didn’t want to go on television and admit to having a weird pain fetish but then is also angry that she’s threatening to go on television and admit to having a weird pain fetish? Is it only because he won’t have access to her bank account???? Anyway, back to the show.

She had told her own lawyers that if there was no sound of an altercation coming from behind the closed door after three minutes, it was safe to assume it was going to end positively.

Sure, unless his utilized his “almost six and a half feet tall and pushing two hundred and sixty pounds” body to go through with his threat of strangling her. How is she planning on defending herself if he did decide to hurt her? Sit on him?

And no, I’m not trying to fatshame the MC here. But I am trying to be realistic. She admits to being fat and she’s proven that the only thing she’s good for is setting up reservations and beating up bongos. Unfortunately for us, they do reconcile. But we do get this absolutely hilarious, stupid, unnecessary scene:

Chase didn’t notice the black sedan accelerating and coming toward him until Jack and his partner started taking affirmative action and rushing in front of him. The car’s brakes squealed, a sound made louder by the echo created in the garage, and the car fishtailed, then spun halfway around before stopping a few yards away from the trio. Even with the half-empty garage, it was still a tight maneuver.

The men stared in stunned silence as Amanda jumped out of the backseat and rushed up to them, her hand secure in the pocket of her beige trench coat. She reached out with her hand firmly ensconced within the coat, the outline of her pointer finger and thumb protruding from the top and side of the coat’s pocket as if brandishing a revolver.

“Stay back and no one gets hurt,” she ordered, jerking the hand in her pocket towards the running car. “He’s coming with me.”

Upon recognizing her, the two security guards marginally stood down. Still with their hands on their own holstered weapons, they looked briefly at each other and then at their boss, who was smiling broadly.

It would have been iconic if Amanda accidentally T-boned Chase and then died in a haze of gunfire. Which is how I choose to believe this novel ended, instead of their getting hitched in Vegas, pitching a fit about “obey” being in the vows, and going to live a life of hell and misery with each other.

This was hands down the worst novel I’ve ever read … and I read Verity. I cannot believe this pro-abuse anti-feminist novel was plotted, written, edited, opted by an agent, sent to a publisher, marketed, and put on shelves. If this was Evanovich’s attempt at riding the coattails of Fifty Shade’s success, then she should be embarrassed. But if this was her real, genuine take, then she should be ashamed of herself. There is no planet in this galaxy where anyone should get away with treating their partner like dog crap and use their daddy issues as an excuse for physically assaulting them. Besides, Chase needs to grow up. Who even has daddy issues anymore?

[Dee Ownbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out really good and ended decent but I had a hard time with the middle. A little disappointed because I loved another book of hers.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this for our book club. The girl who chose it and many of us who read the description, assumed this was a light romance with some baseball thrown in. It's not.... BUT, this book caused more discussion than the last few we read!

[Tricia Hutson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wth is this?...no really. I'm asking.

I could only get through about 52% of this. I kept thinking it would improve. I was able to effectively skim the rest of the book from there. It is truly dreadful.
"The Sweet Spot" doesn't know what it wants to be and often leaves the reader hanging trying to guess what the hell the author is alluding to or where this damn story is even going.
The characters take an insane Jekyll and Hyde 360 in their personalities. Don't get me wrong I'm all for personal growth and if you've got an S and M thing that's cool, good for you, be confident in yourself, but this story makes its characters so incredibly random in their behaviors that by the end you are just confused. You can't even root for them because they're not even the same people. By the end of this book you just feel duped.
Supporting characters go mainly forgotten or underdeveloped and you don't hear from them unless they're needed as a prop so it's not droning on in the two main character's dreadful, pointless, paging sucking conversations. (With the exception of Gertie an almost direct rip off of name and character from another author which was probably the only highlight in this book)
I couldn't understand why one of my favorite authors had such a huge miss but then I realized I had made an error and this is Stephanie Evanovich NOT Janet Evanovich. If you want a Rom com that makes sense, will make you literally lol, has well-developed characters and an actual direction for its story line that doesn't need to randomly throw in oddly placed S and M to keep everything from fading out before you're 40% of the way through the book then go read literally any Janet Evanovich series.