Sweet Talk

By SUSAN MALLERY

Is there anything sweeter than a first love?

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Aug 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781742781952

SUSAN MALLERY

No.1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming, humorous novels about the relationships that define our lives - family, friendship, romance. She's known for putting nuanced characters in emotional situations that surprise readers to laughter. Beloved by millions, her books have been translated into 28 languages. Susan lives in Washington with her husband, two cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur.

Reviews for Sweet Talk

[imbookingit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The two lead characters were charming but human. Claire was just kooky enough to be fun. The plot had just enough bumps and twists to be interesting.About halfway through, I ran into a problem: Claire's two sisters.At the beginning, the provided necessary conflict. In a straight romance, all of the conflicts are supposed to be nicely wrapped up at the end. But these two aren't directly involved with the romance.And they are incredibly annoying.And they are being set up for future books. So they need to remain flawed, so they can overcome their issues in their own books.In the end, I really enjoyed the primary characters and their storylines. I decided to ignore the sisters, and kept the 4 star rating for But unless someone gives me a good reason to, I'm not reading their books!

[xbetty_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My Thoughts...I saw one of the books in this series (there's three books) reviewed on another blog. I was in one of my 'I'm just going to add books to my TBR pile without looking at what I'm doing' moods. So I skimmed the review, checked out my local library and a day later I settled in to read something that didn't involve vampires, werewolves or witches (or anything paranormal in the slightest) for the first time in I don't know how long.Sweet Talk is the first of the Baker Sister trilogy and introduces us to Claire Keyes, world famous pianist and twin sister to Nicole Keyes and older sibling to Jesse Keyes. At the age of three her parents discovered that she had a rare talent for the piano. A talent that was swiftly encouraged and at the age of six was taken from her Seattle home to New York where her talent was honed and she toured the world as a musical prodigy.Because of this the relationship is barely existent between herself and her sisters. She doesn't even know her twin is married until her younger sister calls her out of the blue to say Nicole is ill and will need help running the bakery. Despite their strained relationship Claire drops everything and heads back home to help.Despite the frostiness from her twin sister and the lack of their younger sister Claire manages to push her way back into the family fold and there she meets Wyatt. Ruggedly handsome, and very single, they can't argue that there's chemistry between them and they'd make a perfect match if it wasn't for the fact Claire has never experienced attraction like this before and Wyatt is in firm denial.Mallery has created a very interesting family dynamic here and I was impressed that she didn't fold in the first couple of chapters of Claire being home to make the relationship between Nicole and Claire smoothed over without any bumps. There are plenty of bumps, Nicole is not forgiving and Claire struggles to understand her sisters anger and resentment towards her when they both clearly missed out as children. Final Thoughts...Sweet Talk was a surprisingly refreshing easy read. I flew through this book and read it in less than two days and stayed up till 1am the first night because I couldn't put it down. And for the first time ever I actually put a famous face to one of the main characters. In my head Wyatt was played by Gerard Butler (yum!) and certainly made for entertaining reading.I feel bad for giving this book a three star rating when I obviously enjoyed it so thoroughly, so maybe it is more deserving of a four star rating, but there were moments were things were almost a little too cliche and Claire's naivety did wear me down after a while. But I knew what I was getting myself in for - so I didn't allow it to spoil my reading.If you're looking for something a little different and like your romances with a little bit of fluff then Sweet Talk is your book! I'll be certainly checking out more of Susan Mallery's work!

[mlake_22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Super fast read. I started it - and finished it last night. Waiting for the next in the series.

[wirtley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LOVED! Family saga about three sisters. One is estranged and returns back to help a sister recover from knee surgery. Romance blooms between one of the sister's friends and a sister. Sweet and fluffy. Good Story.

[suzyblack · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had heard that I should read a Susan Mallery book - so I did. I'm not too sure I want to try another any time soon, and will not finish this trilogy. WOW, two angry, b***** (am I allowed to say the "B" word?) sisters and a namby, pamby one who doesn't want to hurt any feelings so won't stand up for herself - people I just would NOT want to know. Claire was a child prodigy and was taken from home very young to play piano - she has become world famous and has returned home to care for one of her sisters after an operation. From the moment she arrived at home, the older sister (the one recovering) yelled, screamed, called Claire and Jessie, the youngest sister, hateful names and Claire, the doormat, spent the entire book trying to soothe all ruffled feathers. I got so tired of the older sister whining about how hard her life was/is, how Claire is so "perfect" that her life must be fabulous and is therefore hated, Claire never standing up for herself, no one understanding any point of view save their own - heavens, I don't like that kind of hateful drama anywhere, and I certainly don't care to read it. I don't watch most reality TV because people treat each other badly, and this book has sisters spending almost every page in hate and anger. I may look for another of her books after I've recovered from this one - hopefully I can find a sweet, not-so-shallow story. I gave this two stars because at least it had a plot and an ending.

[dkthain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gads I hate saying this about a book, but for me, this one just didn't work. Claire was one of those doormat type heroines who just scream ‘beat me!’ She’d been taken from her family when she was very young as she was a young piano protégé. When her youngest sister calls to ask her to come back to help her other sister she can’t seem to get there fast enough – only to be treated like dirt by her sister and her good buddy Wyatt. Yet sweet, ‘beat me’ Claire keeps coming back for more abuse by the two of them. And if that weren’t enough, she suffers abuse at the hands of Nicole’s employees. I just couldn’t understand her reasoning at all.And Wyatt – what a prize her was. Not. He was a grade A JERK. At first he’s just as nasty to ‘beat me’ Claire as Nicole. Then he decides he wants to snog her. And once he does, he’s ready to let her go onto someone else. What a prince. Then of course he decides almost out of the blue that he loves her. I don’t know why Claire cared about either her mean spirited sister or Mr. Jerk Wyatt.I have the next book in this series and hopefully it will be a better one. I'm not sure when I'll get around to reading it since this one was such a disappointment. It's a shame because some of my favourite books are written by this author

[sharonr53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every one of Julie Garwood’s FBI themed books has been a great read and this one continues the streak. The book opens with a look back at the Four Pips, young girls all undergoing a highly experimental treatment for a life threatening illness. The girls, Samantha, Jane, Collins and Olivia, have banded together to survive the grueling treatment and Olivia is the ringleader of this band of pranksters.Twelve years later, Olivia is having lunch with smarmy CEO, Eric Jorguson ostensibly to talk about a position with his accounting firm. She is worried about her current position as there is talk of cutbacks and she is the new kid on the block. When she tries to steer the conversation away from her famous financier father, she triggers Eric’s suspicions and he rips her blouse thinking she is wearing a wire and trying to trap him. Olivia responds by punching him and breaking his nose, only to be set upon by his thug bodyguard. Keep in mind this is all happening in full view of the other diners in the restaurant but when other people try to help the thug pulls a gun and then backhands her. All of a sudden the man is on the ground being cuffed by an FBI agent. Apparently Olivia has accidentally gotten into the middle of an FBI operation and disputed months of planning. The best line of the book occurs when the Agent in charge threatens “I could make your life a nightmare.” He put his hand in front of her face and unfolded three fingers as he said. “I’m F...B…I.” She smiled. It wasn’t the reaction he expected. “You want to talk nightmares?” she said. She put her hand up to his face and unfolded her three fingers. “I’m I…R…S.”Olivia meets FBI Agent Grayson Kincaid at this lunch debacle and the chemistry sizzles right off the page. Unfortunately, Olivia is up to her neck trying to get evidence to prove her father is a crook and it is consuming her life. Her family is distant and disapproving with the exception of her maternal aunt. She is also getting death threats. Grayson has problems of his own. He is raising his nephew and watching out for his ailing father. He is also still trying to connect Jorguson to a serious crime.Circumstances throw the two together and romance blooms. There is a lot going on in this book with death threats, attempted murder, recurring illness of one of the Pips, and lots of other mayhem. This book cannot be put down once you start it! The story is fast paced and the relationship between Olivia and Grayson makes your heart beat faster. There is the sense that some of the other Pips might be featured in future books, I really hope so. Write fast Ms. Garwood, please!