Sweet Talk [Hardcover]

Sweet Talk is a passably good romance with mediocre suspense. Like her previous book "The Ideal Man", there's just too much going on, and it's hard to pay attention to the main characters, much less the main story line. There are too many secondary characters that are not necessary to move the story along (Grayson's nephew, his father - who apparently had a massive heart attack at some point during the story, but was only given about a sentence - Olivia's friends, her boss, her doctor, etc) and these additional characters end up being distracting.

The dialogue between Olivia and Grayson was GREAT, and I thoroughly enjoyed it when these two were alone on the page. I even liked the interaction with Grayson and his partner, Roland, and the conversations with Olivia and her friends were very realistic. There was just too much of it.

I haven't read JG's historicals, but I really miss the Buchanan series. It seems JG's entire writing style changed somewhere along the line, starting with "Sizzle". Where her stories used to be fresh and entertaining, now they're formulaic and predictable. She'll throw some witty dialogue in to change things up, but the end result is the same. And where a JG release was a definite pre-order for me a few years ago, these days I tend to wait and see what the reviews are.

Sorry, but I miss the old Julie Garwood.

So I think this is my last Julie Garwood for a while. At least, until she writes another historical. Since she branched into the contemporary market, I've found myself increasingly dissatisfied, to the point that I've struggled to finish books. If I hadn't been reviewing this book as an ARC, I would have stopped reading this book after about eleven pages. The same problems keep cropping up, and there are just better books I could be spending my time on. I'll always remember her earlier books fondly, but I know Garwood can do better.

The prologue stops me dead. It's almost 15 pages of little girls running around, creating havoc. It's boring, and does nothing to to move the story along. It's nothing that couldn't have been introduced into the main text of the story. I hate prologues that are useless. It took me a day to get past the prologue.

And then you meet Olivia MacKenzie, all grown up. And perfect. And Grayson Kincaid. Who's also perfect. This is the problem I have with the leads in Julie Garwood's books. They're perfect physical specimens. So impossible sexy and gorgeous, other characters are bowled over by their looks. It's annoying and I'm tired of reading about it. The attraction between the two is also superficial. Garwood spends a lot of time telling us that these two are crazy about each other, but all I can see is lust and sex.

The actual bare bones plot is mildly interesting, but the supporting characters are one dimensional and do nothing to prop up the leads, or even give the leads complexity. The villains have no depth. The family of the MCs are just there for wallpaper. The other FBI agent, Ronan, is mildly interesting, but disappears for pages at a time, and then does nothing interesting when he is around. The three other Pips, Olivia's childhood friends, slow down the action when they are around. Jane, the only one in the book for long periods of time, is only there to remind us that Olivia is super smart and there to save the day.

I just...I didn't like it. And it makes me sad because I look at my Julie Garwood historicals like Saving Grace, The Wedding, and Ransom, and I think...will she ever write like that again?

I believe I have read every book that JG has written. Some of her books I keep in my collection of awesomeness. This book definately doesn't belong there.
My problems with the book are as follows:
Too much focus on the characters attractiveness. It is bogged down with "oh he/she is so hot i need to have sex now". So they do alot. I personally feel this is laziness from the author or pandering to those who like the fifty shades type book.
I miss her old romances where the characters were fleshed out and my heart would ache when they went through trouble. The characters lack substance and the book is about how in lust they are not love.
I did like the plot and so I finished the book. Leaves it a little open for more books about the "pips" I will wait to see what other people say about those books before I buy.