In Her Candy Jar

The Svensson Brothers #1

by Alina Jacobs

Mace

Discipline is what separates the successful from the fakers.

I am always fully in control of my company, my family, and my life. Even my diet is perfectly regulated—that includes no candy.

Except when my new assistant sprays chocolate sauce all over me and passes out drunk in my car, it marks the point where my control over everything starts to unravel.

Josie is a walking disaster and some sort of sugar addict.

And she's determined to turn me into a fiend for her candy.

Josie

Routines are the enemy of life. I live to be spontaneous.

My new billionaire boss looks like he needs something sweet in his life. I graciously offered to let him stick his hand in my candy jar.

It has salt water taffy and gummy worms! I can't believe he thought it was inappropriate!

I feel sorry for the guy. His little brothers are miserable, his PowerPoints are uninspired, and his life is seriously lacking in joy. And candy.

Thought if I'm being honest, I could use a little more discipline. My YOLO, fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants philosophy already sent my life into a tailspin.

It cost me the entirety of my life savings.

I'm living in a dilapidated tiny house that’s trying to kill me.

I regularly eat chocolate chips and boxed wine for dinner.

In an effort to redeem myself, I set out to show Mace that I wasn't a clumsy, car destroying, electronic-killing accident-prone, walking disaster. That lasted all of five minute before I set his seaweed and quinoa lunch on fire. Yeah, I didn't know that was a thing either. 

I can tell I'm a bad influence. I see him lick his lips when we're alone. I just have to convince him to take one little bite…

Because once he has a taste, he's going to want to stick his whole face in my candy jar.

This standalone, full length romantic comedy has no cliffhangers! It features a boiling hot romance, the largest selection of hot brothers to ever grace your e-reader, and a heroine prone to making suggestive comments!

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

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 14, 2019

About the author

If you like steamy romantic comedies with a creative streak, then I'm your girl!

Architect by day, writer by night, I love matcha green tea, chocolate, and books! So many books…

Sign up for my mailing list to get special bonus content, free books, giveaways, and more!
http://alinajacobs.com/mailinglist.html

Reviews

[Tom Craven · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story was disastrously bad. There were so many characters (almost 20), and none of them were given much of a personality - not even the main characters. She's ridiculously clumsy and accident-prone, yet she's somehow an insightful marketing genius. He's cold and meticulous - and then suddenly turns sex-crazed and pampering. And speaking of sex - once they get going, they're doing it all the time - but I swear, it's the same scene, endlessly repeated. There's no subtletly, no romance. Everything moves at breakneck speed (which is probably a good thing, because it makes this terrible book go faster). The only thing that made me gag more than all the candy references was the whole "he won't love me if he knows everything about me" theme. If you're looking for a light-hearted romantic comedy, there are so many other great titles out there - this was a waste of time. I hate to be so harsh about someone's creative work, but this just doesn't measure up to the high standards set by other authors in the genre.

[Elle G. Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating: 4 Stars
Genre Romantic Comedy

IN HER CANDY JAR is the first book in the Svensson Brothers series. This is a 𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 of interconnected standalone, romantic comedies! After reading In Her Pumpkin Patch I knew I would be hooked on this series and so far, that is staying true. I just love books that make me laugh out loud and are not all that serious like these ones. I think my only issue is that the plots from both books are 𝗡𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗬 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟. Here’s how they are similar:

🍭 The heroine miraculously gets a job at the Svensson Brothers company. In this one and In Her Pumpkin Patch both are hired as assistants but are absolutely TERRIBLE at their jobs. Like the smallest things that shouldn’t become issues BECOME ISSUES. It’s funny for sure but if this is how all the books are, I can tell it’ll quickly get old.

🍭 The books both start of timid but hilarious reads. However, once you get to the 50% marks they turn downright DIRTY. Like, the sex scenes are RAUNCHY. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sex scene but there are only so many times I need to “see” or “hear” all the ways they pleasure each other. This happens in BOTH books.

🍭 Both heroines have SERIOUS ISSUES with one co-worker who is obsessed with the hero. In this one it’s Tara the marketing director and in the other, it’s another upper management lady who has all the plans to sink her teeth into the billionaire. It’s way to similar and quite frankly, let me down. I can understand having to almost fight for your man, but not in the same type of situations in each book.

🍭 Finally, both books have complex climaxes that could have easily been worked out before the breakups happened. Miscommunication is a huge issue for me as a reader and both these books have them.

Now, while there were many similarities between IN HER CANDY JAR and IN HER PUMPKIN PATCH, I did (and still do) adore this series. I love the quirky characters, the grumpy heroes, and they way they are thrown into the situations they are in. I do plan to read the next one but I HOPE the plots aren’t as identical as this one. We shall see!

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Manda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read half, skimmed half.
Start was confusing, then some funny bits, then too sickly sweet to eat or read anymore.
There is only so much candy 1 person can eat in a day, week or lifetime without wanting to be sick or become diabetic.
Ended up skimming to the end to see what happened.

[Jay Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great! Only gave it three stars instead of two because I did managed to finish it. Probably more 2.5!

Problems:
-way too many candy innuendos!
- she was stupidly accident prone
- really didnt care for heroine for most of book
-after they finally had sex, they went at it like rabbits
- no way could a household of 30, most under the age of 17, survive without a full time caregiver. Who did groceries? Washed clothes? Vacuumed? And who was cooking for 30 people 3x a day before Jose????
- the chloe infatuation everyone had was annoying!
***- there are supposedly 100 brothers of Mace- does anyone else have a problem with there being probably a 100 sisters still living in an abusive, polygamist cult????? Because none of the brothers seemed to care! ( beyond that, why 100?? Why not 25? Much more manageable and believable number

[Gwen|| Bookish Blondie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally read one of the later books first, but to be honest, it doesn't really matter, because all of these books are the same essentially. All the brothers are brutes, grumpy, and all the girls are quirky, weird, adorable, insert adjective.
They're filled with a lot of gratuitous sex and extremely spice heavy in some books.
They are easy and quick to read. I don't mind these books, because they don't pretend high brow books. They are quirky romantic comedies with a lot of sex. If you like that, you'll likely enjoy them.
If you need a lot of plot and deep, philosophical ponderings, you won't.

This book is fine. The candy puns and innuendos were a bit much, but overall, it was fine.

[momo · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @ 27%

their behavior was that of teenagers or young adults, when in fact they were neither. What made it worse was they were CEO’s and acted nothing like the successful CEO’s they were. The only remotely interesting thing about this book was the cult aspect.

[Kiki ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I do this to myself.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was such a steaming pile of Hot Mess-ness that I just can’t even...

*Spoilers likely to follow.*

I truly don’t even know where to start, or how to properly convey everything I was feeling, but I’ll try.

First, this book is completely confusing. Information is thrown at you right and left from the very beginning. A plethora of characters (including at least 10 brothers, 4 friends, co-workers and townsfolk) are tossed into the mix, with little or no description to help the reader remember who is who, what they look like, or how they fit, or ANYTHING. I get that the author is setting up for a series, but she did not do it well. Too freaking much info, too fast, and not given well.

Second, the book’s tone is just schizophrenic. It’s like the author couldn’t decide whether she wanted to write an erotic novel, a small-town cutesie romance, a workplace romance, a conspiracy/whodunit or WTAF????

Third, the Candy/sex correlation was SO WRONG. Maybe initially it might have been ok once, maybe twice, but it just goes on and on and on, and gets so over the top and ewww.

Fourth, the boss/assistant thing. This was fully a lawsuit waiting to happen. Everything was completely unprofessional and not ok. I know it’s a common trope and a fantasy thing, but how it was executed was bad. They talk about how everything is glass in the office, so everyone can see, but the couple still manages to get sexual in full view of people repeatedly. The assistant moves in with the boss (and his brothers) a couple of days after starting to work for him. It’s all just ... wrong.

Fifth, the heroine is super ridiculous. She’s a lovey contradiction of marketing genius and disaster magnet. Seriously, we’re still pushing the ultra ditzy girl trope? She can’t even drive a car a few feet without hitting something? She can’t manage one single part of her life? I really hate this kind of character - she isn’t realistic and sets any feminist progress backward. Yuck.

Then, we get to the subplot of the friend and the con and then her reappearance and subsequent attempt to cause more mayhem. I stopped reading at that point.

I’m sorry, but this was just an absolute mess and I can’t believe there are several more books in this series. Hopefully the author improved most aspects of her writing, but i won’t be reading to find out.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but I just can't with this book.

I love the premise with all the brothers unlimited (great idea for a long-lasting series, btw--really creative), but the unprofessional and squicky behavior of this boss and his empl0yee just gross me out. (In public, as well as in their workplace no less) Yuck!

As a professional woman, when I read about characters with this poor of judgement, I just can't see past their shallowness and idiocy to keep reading, no matter how charming they are. I can't turn off my brain to that extent. Seriously, why are we encouraging (still, post #metoo) this kind of behavior as okay in books? We'd be disgusted if we found "our" boss was behaving this way in his office. Does anyone out there IRL respect someone who has such poor judgement? These two couldn't pass the marshmallow test--don't executives have private restrooms, btw?

I thought I was on to a hot/cute new series, but now I just can't. So NOPE for me. It had great plot potential with really squicky conduct by main characters.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only made it 42% of the way and that was difficult. I enjoy a good sexual innuendo, and felt some of them were written well but others were 12 year old boy hitting puberty jokes. The beginning was rushed and not well built. Josie is a disaster, I'm accident prone but jesus.
The move from Mace's loathing of Josie to his talking about fucking her moves at light speed. The Tara character is just annoying.
I felt like the make up of Mace's family was a bit convoluted and should have been expounded on before middle of the book. Also, who's Marnie and Willow? It's almost like they are used interchangeably.
It's a porn. Little story, lots of innuendo and assuredly building up to a graphic sex scene.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had some great LOL moments. Can it wait to see what happens with the other brothers

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big family, big love

Really enjoyed this one, the author really pulled you with the fast paced action and sex in this one, loved all the characters, well most of them except for the baddies ood course, but they were just the right amount of bad, you know, well worth reading.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK read.

There were parts of this book I really liked and I had a few laughs and snickers along the way. I liked straight-laced Mace with his doomsday outlook and felt Josie was exactly what he needed.

My main complaint was the sheer number of characters thrown together in the first book. (I actually had to go back and check that this was the first book.) I think it would have been better to introduce some of them more slowly in later books rather than throw so much at the reader in the first book. I am a reader and I had trouble keeping up with who each one was and how they related to the story. Some of them did not relate at all and would have been better introduced as needed.

Also the candy, OMG, definitely overkill on the candy references. The series might have potential if I can keep up with the characters and if the candy thing is just in this book. I may try another later and see how it goes. Right now, I need a salad and some water!

[marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

i absolutely loved josie and mace! together and as individuals. josie is such a fresh character and also really relatable in my opinion, she was also really funny and entertaining. mace was like a big baby but in a good way and he was kinda cute. his relationships with his brothers and how much he cares about them was nice to see and josie’s relationship with the siblings was really cute.

my only issue was the whole anke thing. why couldn’t josie talk to mace from the start? she didn’t have anything to hide she was just scammed and had to live in a tiny house because she didn’t have money but i get it was to create some kind of drama at the end but i still find it kinda absurd since it could’ve been easily resolved.

[Magali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny
I loved this romance pretty funny because of the characters. The trait may be a little push with a heroine, Josie, very extroverted, who talks with no filter, disorganized, but gifted for marketing, who begins to work with Mace. He is one of the bosses of a big pharmaceutical company, he has a flop of half-brothers (because they come out of a sect), minor and major, and he is extremely maniac, on the verge of the obsessional syndrome. They are exactly the opposite of each other, but Mace is forbidden to dismiss Josie. So he decides to try to make her leave, but at the same time, he starts to defend her against the jealousies in the company, besides that her brothers, do everything to put her forward unlike the marketing manager who is very interested in Mace.
This same family is completely crazy, but faced with the various aggressions, they face together.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mace is a CEO of multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company and the big brother of several younger brothers. Mace is an over reactor on most things if it has anything to do with his brothers. Mace is head strong when it comes to the company and seams to not have a since on humor until Josie comes along. Josie is a witty young woman that is living and learn on her way through life. Josie loves candy. When she gets herself in a tight bid her friend helps her out on landing her a job at her company. This book was easy to read. It made me laugh so much that is was a joy to read. Their was some family drama, a good friend that was supportive, another that was just a scammer, and lots of CANDY. I enjoyed reading this book. I loved the storyline and plot. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kristen Lewendon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was pure insanity and absurdly fun. Josie is a walking disaster but she’s so sweet. There’s no malice in her so it’s impossible to take her chaos personally. Mace is wound so tight, he’s likely to snap at any moment. An out-of-control childhood has turned him into a control-freak as an adult. Their story is one hundred percent ‘opposites attract’. I loved being able to sit back and watch the bedlam swirl around them. Though, Josie’s steadfast refusal to involve the authorities in her legal issues until she was backed into a corner left me gnashing my teeth in frustration. I am charmed by the Svensson clan and look forward to reading more about them.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Booksprout.

[Penny Ellgass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josie she lived the high life with a friend and was betrayed. Now she has to start over. The only thing keeping her sane is her can and wine.
Mace CO of his company, raising his many younger brothers, a neat freak and controlled and controlling.
On their 1st meeting she gets chocolate sauce all over his suit, and try to use his car as an uber. He thinks she is crazy.
She starts her new job soaking wet and late, and he is her new boss.
This is a laugh out loud comedy of errors and hot sex. You will never look at candy the same way.
A must read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Alix · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at about 65% - I didn't have high expectations for this, given the reviews. However, it was available when I needed something to read and I figured I'd give it a shot. I was able to get past most of the issues mentioned in other reviews because it was amusing and fairly entertaining, plus, I was interested in the overall premise. However, there is some really poor decision making by the main character that I feel goes beyond the usual Big Mistake. Further, the candy references/puns got really, really tiring. By the last third of the book, it seemed to be all sex/ very little plot, so I'm done.

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 4% - I read one chapter and realized real quick that this was not the book for me. The FMC is already incredibly annoying and immature and I could tell that that was just going to irritate me for the entirety of the story.

[Deidre Smallwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had its funny moments, but overall, I would not recommend it. There were so many characters (mainly the brothers) that it was difficult to keep them straight. The two main characters were pretty one-dimensional and didn’t really undergo much change throughout the story. Mace suddenly goes from wanting to fire Josie to wanting to have sex with her everywhere without any explanation really. A lot of the things that happened at the office were just unrealistic and would’ve resulted in people being fired in the real world. Tara was annoying. The candy innuendos were funny at first, but at some point, they became repetitive and stopped being funny.

[Kreenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall the ideas were good, but book itself was very boring.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Acabei de encontrar o pior livro que já li na minha vida e olha que já li muita coisa ruim

[tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF @ 78%

it was good, in a the-characters-are-on-crack kind of way but i couldn't make myself care about the rest of the story beyond the 78%

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous

A very humorous and entertaining story with engaging characters. I loved the brothers whose wackiness was off the charts. I loved the drama which added suspense. I absolutely loved the two main characters. Their relationship was shaky and strife with upheaval but vastly entertaining as well.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute, full of puns. I had a good time, but nothing stood out much.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story a lot. It was entertaining and enjoyable even with the dumb things some of the characters did. The characters were interesting and likable for the most part. Anka, Tara, and Paisley definitely deserved each other. They were the worst. Marnie and Willow were both wonderful friends and sounding boards for Josie. Ida was a hoot and a half, she added some cringeworthy moments as well as some laughs. A good portion of the drama and angst in the story was because of Josie. There were so many times that I yelled at her to communicate with Mace, or listen to her friends, or just to be a responsible adult, but of course she didn’t listen. Mace got yelled at too, but not much. I loved how his brothers called him a drama queen. It definitely seemed like the relationship between the brothers was dead on. I adored the banter and the innuendos that added to my laughter and enjoyment of the story. Josie was way better with Mace’s little brothers than I thought she would be. Mace and Josie were such opposites that you wouldn’t think they would work, but somehow they do. I loved their happy ever after and I recommend reading this book.

If you have the opportunity to listen to the book, TAKE IT! The narrators do an amazing job of bringing the characters to life. I laughed so much I had to explain why to my daughter numerous times. I definitely recommend listening to this book as well.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

No just no. DNF
From the very start I was hesitant about it. Josie is a disaster and is blaming her whole life on a friend who was running a ponse scheme. Her friend isn’t the one that put a whole bunch of debt on her credit card though, she is. Who goes globe hoping when your poor, racks up credit card debt and then blames it ALL on a friend who balled and left you paying the hotel bill. To top off this great character she is drunk and spills fudge all over a perfect stranger and then instead of apologizing or offering to clean his suit or anything that a normal, non self absorbed person would do she sits there and makes jokes and sexual comments. Real classy.
Then Mace is a billionaire who is scheduled. We are supposed to believe he has his life scheduled down to the minute. Ok, maybe. Then you get to add in 2 dozen brothers. Yep I did not exaggerate that number. Apparently his father runs a polygamist cult and sends all his sons away to their stepbrother. No way in this green earth can this man who is running a business and a household of children be able to live by a strict schedule (like he gets upset or his schedule is thrown off by 7 min). 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 yeah....
I went back and started reading the 1 and 2 star reviews and am glad I stopped reading. Many readers said it’s basically a porn wrapped in a poorly executed story.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the story of this one is really cute, but the language is a little too NSFW for my tastes. Debating on whether I will continue the series, though I would love to see what happens to Henry and the others boys.

[Emily Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie’s mom ran off with a boyfriend, so Josie lived with Aunt Myrtle. Josie decided to follow her passion and earn a marketing and graphic design degree, but all it got her was a crushing student loan debt, followed by heavy credit card debt. She needed to change her life, so she got a new roommate, Anke. For a short time, she lived the good life, but Anke was running a scam and soon she lost all of her life savings. A friend found her an assistant job at Svensson PharmaTech. Her friend, Willow, was doing marketing work for them, which Josie would probably have liked better than this assistant job she was going to start on Monday.

As Willow and Josie were having lunch at a vegan place, Josie was drinking too much wine with her fried vegan ice cream drenched in chocolate fudge. She was watching a handsome but grouchy corporate guy and had made an off-color remark about a body part. As she reached for more fudge, she lost control and chocolate ran down the man’s face and his light grey suit! Her comment that she bet he tasted good did not go over well!

Mace ran a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company and took responsibility for his two dozen brothers! Schedules were critical in his busy world, so an incident at the vegan bakery threw his schedule out the window! He sat in his car, recalculating the timing of everything when two women, thinking this was their Uber, jumped in the car and ordered him to drive them home. One of them smelled of sugar, which he never consumed. He ordered them out of the car, but the other woman had passed out. He finally returned home to his huge family.

When Mace finally meets his new assistant, he is flustered by her disorganized way of doing things. He is all about healthy eating, while Josie is hooked on candy and sweets. Yet there is something that attracts the two of them. When Anke ends up hired by the Svenssons, they are headed for disaster! How will this situation be resolved? And who might end up getting hurt?

There were so many characters in this book that it was a little confusing about who was doing what. Mace and Josie reminded me of oil and water, so I expected the crazy goings on that were quite amusing. Grab your copy and join the mayhem at the Svensson house! Will Josie’s offbeat way of living life rub off on the uptight billionaire? Check it out and see!