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Business Stationary Mart - Sweet Talk
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $1.40
Your Save: $ 5.59 ( 80% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HQN Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780373772971
ISBN: 0373772971
Label: HQN Books
Manufacturer: HQN Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Publisher: HQN Books
Studio: HQN Books
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sweet Talk
Comment: This was my first Susan Mallery book, and I liked it. I see that a lot of her fans were disappointed with this book, so i look forward to reading the books people did like.
I like her writing style, and her light humor throughout. The book was cute. The second book, Sweet Spot, was my favorite.
I liked Claire and Wyatt's relationship for the most part. I especially liked Wyatt's daughter Amy. I wasn't a huge fan of Claire though. I know most people on here didn't like Nicole because she was such a biddy- but I didn't mind her. I know real people like her. It's people like Claire that don't exist. Her character was too perfect, or maybe I should say "sweet." But it was still a cute book. I liked it enough to buy the next two books in the series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Good Beginning
Comment: This is my first Susan Mallery, probably because I have made a practice of avoiding Harlequins since my late twenties. I can see that they have changed quite a bit, and for the better.
Now, in regard to this book about the Keyes sisters, specifically, Claire Keyes. She was a child prodigy whose parents chose to develop her genius to its fullest extent. Whether they did so for personal reasons or not was not fully discussed. What was apparent to me was that this was a fully dysfunctional family from my perspective. The mother was unhappy being a mother, and left her oldest child at home to take over her own responsibilities, leaving a bitter and ill-used Nicole behind. Claire was like a sparkling show-horse for years, without a real life, and decided to come home to help her sister because she had just had enough.
Like a child learning her first steps, she learns to live life like a normal person, and not a celebrity. The fact that her sister hates her, whether fair, rational, or not, doesn't stop Claire from becoming a better rounded person. She falls in love with the first good, honest man to give her attention, and her life changes for the better.
As for Nicole, whom everyone seems to hate for her rigid rejection of her baby sister and unwillingness to forgive, I think she had a point about Jesse. I think the author could have made it better by making her more likeable, but the truth is, Nicole was the lynchpin for her family from the time she was six years old, and no one has the right to beat up on her for being the person she became. Her parents, who used her, her baby sister, who used and abused her, her sister Claire, who loved her but from a distance. Jesse was still unwilling or unable to admit her fault, and her weak excuse for why she climbed into bed with Nicole's husband didn't hold water. It's kind of like that joke about the man slipping on the floor and ending up with his p**** you know where. Nicole wanted a simple admission of wrong and a sincere apology, but all she got from Jesse was weak excuses and accusations.
On the other hand, Nicole's rabid anger at her sister Claire's absence from her life was unfair, in that Claire's absence wasn't her choice, and a rational Nicole would have admitted that much sooner. None of them dealt with their parent's huge blame for their situation, but all blamed themselves for their parent's choices, which ended up hurting each sister terribly.
That Claire was able to make a true emotional and binding connection with Wyatt was a plus. I find that I like Mallery's ability to draw characters with whom I can relate, or with whom I respond strongly. They are not milk and water people for the most part, and sometimes too much in one direction, but that is what has made this series interesting to read. I have actually already read the second in the series, and so far, I like both, and do like both Claire and Nicole. Yes, Nicole is a hard woman, but she is likeable if somewhat neurotic in the case of Jesse. I think you will like her better in her own story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Will The Real Susan Mallery Please Stand Up?!
Comment: As a longtime Susan Mallery fan it pains me to say this, but this book was atrocious. I was clapping my hands with glee at the introduction of not one but THREE new Mallery novels, and best of all, a series. However, after forcing myself to finish just the FIRST book, I am not about to endure more of this literary letdown. The three sisters were so completely annoying and unlikeable. Nicole for starters, was a whiny, self pitying, DRAMA QUEEN with a galatic sized bitchy streak. WAH this, WAH that. To wish your own sister dead is inexcusable under ANY circumstances. Claire was just annoying. So she learned to make a meatloaf and we're supposed to cheer her foray into the outer fringes of rocket science? Puhleeze! If she wasn't portrayed as a world famous concert pianist I would think she was a bit simpleton. Nothing wrong with a 28 year old virgin, but her "responses" to the whole interlude had me thinking she had the mentality of a child. I mean, who acts like that in everyday reality? Even her panic attacks seemed utterly ridiculous. As a woman who realistically suffers from them, I find it hard to believe that "pretending" to endure them will actually "cause" them. Jesse was a liar and a tramp. I couldn't begrudge Nicole that much for kicking her to the curb. Anyone who would crawl in bed with her sister's husband is pure scum. And all she could offer up in the way of an excuse was to play the victim much like the sister she stabbed in the back. The supporting cast of characters were judgemental jacka##es who bought into one woman's nasty, barb slinging bouts of self pity and were ready to lynch Claire sight unseen. Would you take the side of someone who thinks nothing of airing her dirty laundry for the world to hear? I wouldn't want to associate with someone so tacky and classless. And to hear Knight Wyatt, in an alternate universe where she wasn't like a 'sister' to him, she would have been his dream woman. SAY WHAT?! Only in the land of make believe perhaps is a woman like that appealing. All in all, the opening story was just one colossal mess imo. I almost feel the need to apologize for shredding the work of an author I adore as much as Susan Mallery. Emphasis on the 'almost'. This book was nowhere NEAR the caliber of which I have always admired her for.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sweet intro to the Sweet series
Comment: Child prodigy turned world renowned pianist Claire Keyes receives a distressing call from her estranged sister Jesse advising that her twin Nicole needs her assistance after surgery. Claire hasn't talked with either sister for years, but a bout with panic attacks and a chance at reconciliation has her packing her bags and heading to Seattle. As a young child, she was plucked from the comfort of her family to perform in concerts all over the world. When she was 12, her mother joined her on the road, and Nicole has never forgiven Claire for taking their mother from them - especially when their mother dies in a car accident when they are 16. Despite attempts at reconciliation, Nicole has rebuffed her for years.
No one is more surprised than Nicole when Claire arrives to take care of her and won't take no for an answer. Nicole is also nursing a broken heart after catching her soon-to-be-ex-husband in bed with youngest sister Jesse. Nicole's best friend Wyatt instantly takes a dislike to Claire due to all the nasty stories he has heard about her. But soon his attitude changes as he gets to know Claire and starts to desire her. Thinking that they will just have a quick physical relationship, he is not prepared for the depth of his feelings, particularly her relationship with his deaf daughter, Amy. Will Nicole and Claire be able to bury the hatchet and forgive each other? Will Wyatt be able to give his heart to another after being trampled by his ex-wife?
Mallery's first foray in the Keyes sister trilogy is a sweet tale. While so many authors opt to have a virginal heroine, none have handled a heroine's introduction into womanhood (I can't think of any other way to put it) as sensitively and realistically as Mallery does with Claire. Her enthusiasm and cluelessness as to what she is experiencing (and Wyatt's bewilderment) are at times funny and bittersweet. I also like how Claire was forced out of her comfort zone - where even a simple load of laundry or cooking a meatloaf is foreign to her.
The only real problem I had with the novel is the character of Nicole. She's completely nasty throughout 90% of the book (to both Claire and Jesse). While Claire grew as a person, Nicole remained pretty much the same (in fact, I couldn't even recall when the two reconciled - it left that little an impression on me). It makes me wonder how Mallery will redeem her character enough for me to care about her own story. I also hate the unexpected pregnancy plotline as it has been done so many times that it has become pretty trite.
© Tracy Vest, September 2008
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sweet story!
Comment: I'm not going to provide a summary of the book, there are plenty already posted, so I'm just going straight for my opinion of the book.
I thought the relationship between Claire, Nicole & Jesse was definitely realistic. There was a lot of animosity between all of them and each one thought they knew about the other's life/feelings. Boy, were they all wrong! I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that just because one said the words "I'm sorry" it didn't make the other one instantly forgive. With years of hurt and perceived betrayal, there is/was a lot to work through.
As for the romance between Claire & Wyatt - it was good. Not completely hot & sizzling (like I felt with Nicole & Hawk), but it worked. I admit there were points in the book where Claire's naiveness drove me insane! But, I guess when you have lived a sheltered life, that can happen.
No matter what though, I enjoyed the book and loved the series with the Keyes sisters. I'm sorry we won't be reading anymore about them.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Don't ask Claire Keyes. The twenty-eight-year-old piano prodigy has never had a regular boyfriend, much less a real romance. Her music career has left little room for friends or family—which is just part of the reason she hasn't seen the family bakery or her two sisters in years. But now Nicole is sick, and Jesse is AWOL. Despite the fact that Claire can't boil water, she's determined to play caretaker. Connecting with her sisters tops her to-do list…along with falling in love, or at least in lust, for the first time. Ruggedly sexy Wyatt just might fit the bill. Although he keeps saying that he and Claire come from entirely different worlds, he lights up hotter than a bakery oven whenever Claire is near. If this keeps up, she just might sweet—talk him into her bed…and her life.
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