Friday, June 27, 2014

SWEET GIRL -- a summary and opinion

And here come the Titan team!

I've now read all of the publications in this series, and was having a hard time trying to decide how I'd review them, or rather... in what order.

Do I start with Winter's Heat, because it is book one in the series? Or do I begin with Savage Secrets, because that's the book that introduced me to the series?

Do I start with Sweet Girl, which really is a novella, a prequel, and is the "latest" publication in the series (releases July 7th!)? But before doing Sweet Girl, should I really review Garrison's Creed, because that's the Titan book truly connected to this novella.

Oy, vey.

So I'm starting with Sweet Girl.

...because while it's the latest to be written and published, it really sets the stage for the entire series.

Like I said, Sweet Girl is the prequel to the Titan series; it takes place before Titan is formed.

In the Titan series, we meet Jared Westin (Westin's Chase), Parker (book coming soon), and all those boys -- Roman (his book is next!), Cash (Garrison's Creed and Sweet Girl), Winters (Winter's Heat), Rocco (Savage Secrets) and Brock (Gambled, a novella).

Sweet Girl follows Cash and Nicola, and therefore her brother, Roman. While Titan was founded by Jared, the events of Sweet Girl mold Roman and Cash to become the ops they eventually become, as this book takes place during Roman, Cash, and Nic's college years.

Cash and Roman have been best friend's forever. As such, Cash and Nicola have also been friends forever.

Cash has always found Nicola to be pretty, but 'bro code' is always pretty fierce between guys, and there is no way Cash is going to be panting all over Nic, even if he wants to. Cash also has quite the reputation with the ladies; when another college guy, the star quarterback, starts making moves on Nic, Roman groans and talks about how he and Cash had to save Nic from the players that were like said football player; with Cash's reputation, he understands that to mean him too.

Well, Nic has had enough of it. She battles her nerves and she makes her move on the one guy who has held her interest for years. While Cash and Nic's romance seems rushed (kissing, to sex, to intimate secrets and I love you's, to Cash getting ready to propose -- none of this is truly a spoiler if you've read the books in the correct order, as this is all mentioned in Garrison's Creed), it's really not rushed when the reader takes into account that this novella, this few months into the lives of Nic and Cash, is simply that -- a few months out of the years they've known eachother. They've been circling eachother forever; so much so that once it finally happens, every emotion and thought combusts and it all lines up the way it's supposed to...

...until Nic's internship takes a disastrous wrong turn.

...and she dies.

...and Cash is heartbroken but really can't show it more than just the 'her brother's best friend and her friend' role, because Cash and Nic never got around to going public (at least to Roman, the dense, unassuming guy) about their relationship. So he can't be the heartbroken fiance -- he can just be the sad friend.

In passing, he meets a soldier, who tells him about military. Military is not the route he's taking at this point, but after all that happens with Nic, Cash makes a phone call to Roman -- end scene.

And the rest is history ;)

...obviously they joined the military. Obviously, only because the Titan series goes into this.

I was extremely happy and excited to get an early copy of this book. I fell in love with Rocco in Savage Secrets and took a gamble into the rest of the series, reading Winters Heat next (it was the free Nook book one day). I love every single character in this series. Once I got to Garrison's Creed, I was a little apprehensive simply because I knew how much I loved Rocco and Colby Winters, but I also knew that Cristin loves Cash and Nic -- she doesn't hide this in her blogging, her Facebooking, whatever. She is open with the fact that she loves Cash and Nic. So I was hopeful that I'd love Cash and Nic, too.

And with the opening chapter of Garrison's Creed.... yeah, I was right there with her.

When it was announced that Sweet Girl was the prequel, and was exploring the open holes that were spoken about in Garrison's Creed, I was interested in reading it simply to get a better feel for these lovely characters.

...and I love them even more, fully knowing the struggles they (Cash and Nic) faced before getting to where they finally meet again (and fall in love for good) in Garrison's Creed.

......but I'll get into Garrison's Creed later ;)

I guess my only issue with Sweet Girl was a discrepancy between Sweet Girl and Garrison's Creed. In Garrison's Creed, they talk about things like "remember my job in college" (of course he remembers your job in college, Nic; you complained about the fact that things weren't adding up, literally, and he told you to just walk away from it). The biggest issue, though, was in Garrison's Creed, when Nic tells him "...I actually had a crush on you way before college. Like sixth grade."

My issue with this comes from Sweet Girl, when Cash tells her that the moment he knew he was in love with her was actually during his Senior homecoming. And I suppose during this conversation, Nic doesn't say she was in love with him at this point, too; so maybe it really was 'like sixth grade' for her.

I do want to point out that while reading Sweet Girl, I kept referencing Garrison's Creed, and re-read that book twice while reading Sweet Girl.

So yes, Cristin, I love Cash and Nic, too.

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