Tuesday, July 28, 2015

review || TRULY SWEET { blog tour } by Candis Terry


Avon | July 28, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Sweet, Texas, book 5
★★★★★

SOURCE: TASTY BOOK TOURS

Candis Terry returns to Sweet, Texas for the last time when former Marine Jake Wilder discovers how truly sweet love can be.

When the one you’ve always wanted

At sixteen, Annabelle Morgan hoped her crush on Jake Wilder was just a passing phase. Now she’s twenty-nine and nothing has changed except Jake. The once-carefree marine has come home with a giant chip on his shoulder. He insists a single mom like Annie deserves more than he can offer. Yet no matter how gruff his gorgeous exterior may be, Jake s toe-curling kisses convince her that this attraction is definitely mutual.

Becomes the one who wants you back

Butting heads with feisty Annie was always a thrill. Add other body parts to the mix, and Jake is in serious trouble. He can’t be a forever-and-family guy and Annie s not a friends-with-benefits kind of woman. But love has a way of changing the best-laid plans, and surrender has never been so tempting.

The outcome is truly sweet.
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{ about candis terry } .




Candis Terry was born and raised near the sunny beaches of Southern California and now makes her home on an Idaho farm. She’s experienced life in such diverse ways as working in a Hollywood recording studio to chasing down wayward steers. Only one thing has remained the same: her passion for writing stories about relationships, the push and pull in the search for love, and the security one finds in their own happily ever after.


{ excerpt } .

Seeking a much needed break, Annie tossed Jake’s menu on the stack of others near the cash register, gave Bud a finger across the throat indication that she was momentarily frazzled, and headed toward the back door. The screen door slammed with a shotgun bang behind her as she leaned against the old yellow building and sucked in a calming lungful of warm air.

The relief of seeing Jake alive and back on home turf filled her heart with so much joy it was hard to breathe. The moment he’d walked through the door she’d wanted to reach out and touch him to make sure he was real and not just another one of her highly imaginative dreams. But touching Jake had never been a part of her reality. And that’s just one of the many things that sucked about worshipping from afar.

If she’d been a smoker, now would be the time she’d light one up to calm her nerves. Instead she reached into the pocket of her apron, took out a watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. The sugary tartness rolled over her tongue and she closed her eyes to ward off the memories that nipped at her heels.

Closing her eyes only made those memories more powerful.

Why men had a habit of either rewriting history or dismissing it all together, Annie didn’t know. But it seemed Jake had fallen down the rabbit hole and forgotten how, once upon a time, they’d spent hours together having heart-to-heart discussions about everything from why girls spent so many hours in front of the mirror trying to perfect what God had given them to why guys had such a crazy need to be so rough and tumble. They’d discussed how difficult it had often been for him to keep up with his brothers when sometimes all he really wanted to do was go out and dig a garden or move some rocks to form a nice landscape. They’d talked about how she felt every time her parents left her and her sister alone to go party for days on end.

Back in the day, they’d been each others confidants. Then Jake had gone away to college and subsequently joined the Marines. And he’d forgotten about her. She couldn’t help feeling a little lost after he’d walked out of her life. Sure, she’d had her sister to talk to. But Jake had been closer to her own age—only two years older—and he’d become the objective voice she’d needed when her demons tried to drag her down. Her personal testosterone packed voice of reason.

She’d trusted him.

Completely.

When he was no longer there, she found, once again, she’d been left behind. Forgotten as though she didn’t matter. Her response had been to make a string of really bad decisions.

Now it appeared Jake had forgotten—or dismissed—all those times they’d sat on a stack of hay bales in the barn, or ridden out over Wilder Ranch on horseback while they deliberated deep and sometimes dark matters of the heart. Now, it seemed like all he could remember about her was . . . well, nothing really. And that hurt. No matter how hard she tried not to let it.

Still, he was alive.

Thank God.

{ review } .

I have loved every moment of this series. Well, the couple full length and novellas I've been able to read (no worries, all the others are in my possession and I'm excited for the day I can pick them up! Soon, I hope).

The Wilder clan is one to fall in love with, there is no doubt about it. I have to say, though, it's definitely baby brother, Jacob Wesley Wilder, that has stolen my heart and then some -- too bad a little Annie does that, too.

Jake has a lot of battles to get through in his story, the biggest one being survivor's guilt. His best friends died over seas, and all he has to bring home is a bum leg. Granted, his bum leg has him relying on a cane far more than he'd like to admit, but he didn't have a wife at home, he didn't have a kid or baby on the way.

Coming home to his family is one thing, but coming home to the hero's welcome that his town and mother put on is a bit much. However, being raised well by his mother and father, he accepts the party and is cordial.

Annie has had a crush on Jake for as long as she can remember. When growing up, her parents weren't around often and as such, she and her sister spent a lot of time with the Wilder family. Jake never noticed Annie much, but eventually they found one another to talk to. When Annie left town to find herself, Jake didn't give it two thoughts and in a way, forgot about her.

Seattle wasn't nice to Annie, and she came home a single mother -- not that she'd trade her son for the world. If there's one thing Annie is good at, it's being a mother to Max.

If there's another thing Annie is good at, though, it's bickering with Jake.

I loved every moment of Annie and Jake's growing relationship. Jake has finally noticed Annie as a woman -- but beyond that, he notices her as a good person. He likes Annie and he likes her son, but it takes him some time to get comfortable with Max. Heck, kids in general. They all remind him of his best friend, Eli, and the wife and baby in her belly that he didn't get to go home to.

Annie and Jake bicker all of the time, but rather than being annoying, it's cute and fun -- it's simply Annie and Jake. They force the other to come out of their shell and accept the hand fate dealt them each. Jake has a lot of grieving to do in this book, and Annie was definitely the one to help him through it all. She forces him, gently mind you, to accept what he was given in life, and in doing so, he finds forgiveness in himself -- even if it takes another little woman and a tiny baby to do it.

I enjoyed catching up with the rest of the fam, including the extended family (the ones that aren't really blood, but once you're part of the Wilder clan, there's no going back) -- I even teared up quite a bit when the oldest Wilder, the late Jared, gets his own kind of happy ending. Like I said... once you're part of the Wilder clan, there's no going back.

While Sweet is no closing (oh, this makes me so sad), Candis Terry will be bringing us a new family soon, the Kincade brothers. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for those boys.

for more reviews & tour goodies,

{ other reviews in series } .

SWEET SURPRISE 4.5★ { review }
HOME SWEET HOME 4.5★ review }

{ giveaway } .

here

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