Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino was a sweet, sexy, heartbreaking, angsty roller coaster ride that I couldn’t put down. I went in thinking it was a light, funny read. It wasn’t, and it was…but it was so much more, and I enjoyed every emotional moment.
“…sometimes we figure things out and then life changes and we have to figure it all out again.”
Mia is a piano/every other instrument-playing business graduate from Michigan flying to New York after the death of her father. Her father was a free spirit, cafe-owning beatnik with a love of life. Her mother is a lawyer, married to a another lawyer, and brought Mia up to value that stability. Mia is coming to take over her father’s cafe and his apartment in New York City. On the flight over, she meets Will. Gorgeous, charming, and scared to death of flying, he and Mia hit it off like old friends the whole flight, bonding by talking about guitars.
I loved this aspect of the book. Music is so central to the story. Will is a musician about to hit it big. Mia can play almost every instrument, and together their musical tastes and interests are wonderful to read about. So many books nowadays have musicians in them, but the authors don’t really know music. As the mom of someone who lives and breathes music and guitars, and yammers on about them for hours, I notice those details now. I’ve seen what people do to try and exploit it too. Renee Carlino seems to have a pretty good background in music, and it showed.
Soooo…..Mia and Will quickly meet up again in New York, and since Mia is looking for a roommate. Guess who she offers it to? The perfectly delicious up and coming musician, Will.
“The idea that I just invited a relative stranger, who owns nothing, to live in my apartment gave me a stomachache, but the weird thing was that I felt like I had known him forever.”
But Mia is looking for a stable, professional guy. She is fighting the musical, free-spirit side of herself with everything she has.
“And so it began, my secret and suppressed obsession with the sensitive, tortured, artist soul. An obsession I was still fighting tooth and nail and one I wouldn’t admit to anyone, namely myself.”
Will, you can see, is totally in love with Mia. But if they are to be roommates, her deal is “friends only”. They are both crazy about each other and develop an amazing best-friend friendship, but since they are “just friends”, Mia starts dating someone else. The guy might be a dick, but he looked good on paper.
“I decided to overlook his little blunder and focus on the fact that he was a good-looking, successful guy…”
I really loved the author’s voice in this book, and I loved Mia, despite her frustrating habit of pushing the amazing Will away. It’s been a rough year of upheaval for Mia, and she just isn’t ready. But I still really liked her personality.
“There are at least five swear words I like better than fuck. My favorites are compound words like apeshit, craphat or batshit, but above all, my numero uno, all-time favorite swear word is assclown, without a doubt. Asshat runs a close second. I must say, very few things give me greater pleasure than calling someone an assclown when they really fit the bill. I love it more than puppies and baby seals.”
Will is just swoony. He is sweet, tattooed, sexy, musical, gorgeous, talented, and an amazing friend to Mia. He is always there for her. Will is one of those memorable, perfect book boyfriends. Aaahhh Wilbur…you funny, sweet, sexy, sensitive, perfect tortured artist with a sensitive soul and a backbone, especially when it comes to music. Swoooooon………
“You’re my best fucking friend, Mia. I wish it were more and I think you know that….Whatever you need me to be, I’ll be!”
“You’re beautiful and amazing and you have a special soul, Mia. You deserve the best.”
He loved her so much….but she still wasn’t ready.
“He looked so pathetic standing there, rejected. He corrected himself a couple of times when his body made involuntary movements to reach out and touch me. He was fighting the urge just to simply take my hand or kiss my cheek. I didn’t know why I was being so harsh… The charade and the constant touching created so much confusion. I couldn’t tell anymore what we were to each other.”
I wanted to kill her a few times!!! I mean, I understood Mia, but I just wanted to shake her and say, “Are you fucking crazy?”
“I cried because I knew that if I gave myself to Will, I would be left in pieces… left behind. The only way I could hang on was to be his friend, even though every part of me wanted more.”
Will was there for Mia, her superhero, to rescue or pick Mia up every time. And the scenes with the dog…OMG, Will….LOVE this guy!
“Just let me kiss your mouth,” he whispered, his eyes pleading.
Likes:
- The musical references throughout.
- Will…Wilbur….OMG perfect.
- I loved the author’s voice.
- From what I can see, a stand-alone, happy ending book (with angst!)
- It was heavier than expected, but still a light read at times.
- I had to fight tears a few times too.
- I absolutely loved all of the side characters!
- Funny lines mixed with wanting to sob and throw my iPad.
- The amount of growth Mia had from beginning to end
Dislikes:
- Mia just led him on and broke his heart way too many times.
- Mia judged people too quickly and never looked deeper.
- Will kept too much from Mia who was supposed to be his “Best Friend”
- A bit too much angst and not enough mmmmmmm
Rating: 4.25 Stars 3.5 Heat
Perhaps my heat rating was part of the reason this didn’t hit 4.5-5 stars for me. In fact, this review has taken me a couple of days because I’m really torn on the rating. At first, 5++++ stars, then it really dropped for me because Mia just took too long. She was hurting my Will. I got a little frustrated. But I so highly recommend this read. Will was so amazing, and the story was written so well, with great attention to detail. I just wish the couple was together more of the story.
“I believe his exact words were cosmic, soul-shattering, air in your lungs kind of love.”
Purchase Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino
Previous Cover, which I thought fit the story way better, though the new cover is beautiful.
Amazon | BN.com | iBooks
Melissa D says
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book. It sounds like a very interesting story.
Kim M. says
Love the new cover of this book!! Thank you for such a great giveaway!
Lori Mitchell says
Thanks for the giveaway! Love the cover 🙂
Tammy V. says
New author for me
T Hammond says
Not really sure how I feel about the book. I’ll probably read it, all the while hating the fact it will take Mia too long to figure things out (I just hate that in a book!). I’ll watch the reviews and chat with a few readers before deciding on this one.
Kim says
Look forward to reading. Thank you for the giveaway.
Debra Diaz says
Can’t wait to read this book!!!
Amanda Brown says
Thanks for the giveaway.
Megan M. says
I like this new cover much more. The old one was kind of cute, but not really interesting or indicative of the type of book it was. Now it looks like something I want to read. Shallow? maybe. But I don’t care 🙂
lisa w says
Love your reviews… esp the likes and dislikes. They help a lot when picking new reads
Cindy Aslaner says
I read this book a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it but the same as you I got really frustrated with Mia for being so stubborn in pushing Will away. But it was worth the frustration.
Thanks for all your reviews and recommendations.
Laura Sullenger says
Love this book.
Laura Sullenger says
Loved this book!
Deb says
Can’t wait to read. Thanks for the giveaway.
Maria Maltais says
Thanks for the giveaway!
Jenn Jacobo says
Sounds great. ..
Lariza says
Love the new cover can’t wait to read this!
Karina says
Can’t wait to read!
Robin N says
Thanks for the chance to win!!
Atalia M. says
Sounds like a great read. Thanks for the opportunity to win this! 🙂
Shirl Adkins says
Sounds like a great book to read!
Diana Doan says
Sounds like a good read. Thanks for the chance to win it 🙂
Cathy says
Thank you for doing this giveaway!!! Love the cover!! 😀
Natasha says
Sounds really good!!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Bobbye says
Thanks for the giveaway, hope to read this!!
Meghan Stith says
Wow! I really can’t wait to read this! Adding it to my TBR list!! I always wonder if the author has any life experience that they put into their books? Thanks for sharing with us and Thanks for the giveaway!
mestith at gmail dot com
Miss Bougie says
Thanks for taking the time to review and to recommend new books and especially, new authors.
Tammie says
I love the sweepstakes that you do.
miranda says
I love your blog !!
Andie Wardlow says
Lovin the new cover
Heidi Daily says
Thanks for the giveaway. This sounds like a good book.
Nicole Huffman says
Added this to my TBR list last week.
Arely Z. says
Ooh I like both covers!!
Heidi Bailey says
Can’t wait to read it!! Thanks for the giveaway!!
Angela R says
Awesome giveaway! 🙂 I like both covers!
Pam says
Looking forward to reading this!
Brenna says
I’ve heard such awesome things about this book. I love the new cover too!
Tracey Rigg says
Thankyou for the giveaway xx
Amy Malek Concepcion says
Can’t wait to read it. Thanks!
Josie Hink says
I haven’t read this author before definitely sounds like a good book. Going to put it on my tbr list!!
Laura Mendez says
I can’t wait to read this book… LOVE the cover too. Thanks for the giveaway
tami says
sooo many giveaways love it!!
Stephanie says
Sweet things like sweet tea? 😀 thanks Ana!
Heather says
Sounds like a great read 🙂
Dannielle says
You are awsome!! Thanks for giveaway
Yvonne C says
Looks like a great book!
Kenia says
The new cover is just perfect
Thanks for the giveaway
Janeane says
thanks for all your giveaways!
Scheva says
One Clicking now!
Yvonne Simpkins says
Thank you.
Karen L says
I’m so glad to see the old cover at the bottom… I thought I was losing my mind looking for the book. There for a minute I thought it was two separate books… duh!
Shannon Burdsall says
Thanks for the chance to win!
Cynthia says
The front cover surely catches your eye. Hear that this book is a great read. Just starting to get into this genre, so would like to get it in the giveaway to begin checking the stories out.
Thank you.
RLL says
Please make me smile
Crystal Marie says
Thanks for the great giveaway!!
Sabrina D says
Love the cover and it sounds like a great read!! Thanks for the giveaway!!!
Joanne Christenson says
Great giveaway. ..as usual.
Rachel says
This looks great!!
Donna Sherritt says
Looks like a good book, can’t wait to read it!
Lauryn says
Such a beautiful story!
Kristi Celebrezze says
Thanks for the giveaway, can’t wait to read!
Andrea Cordova says
Thanks for the giveaway.
sarah rosario says
Cant wait this is awesome