He knows if she’s been bad or good.Amidst the sugarplums and mistletoe, fashion stylist Julia Bennett is every inch a scrooge. Known for her ice-queen ways, she’s having a meltdown over a botched business deal and an upcoming milestone birthday. Add the pressure of forced holiday cheer, and she’s ready to dive into the spiked eggnog and not come out until summer.Warren Stone, president and owner … summer.
Warren Stone, president and owner of the Sugar Rush Candy Company, is determined to make Julia slow down and enjoy the holidays. As her friend and confidante for thirteen years, he knows her better than anyone. But when decking the halls leads them to an explosive, sexy night, everything suddenly changes.
When Warren decides Julia is all he wants for Christmas, will she risk their longtime friendship for the gift of love?
SWEET LIFE is a sexy contemporary romance by New York Timesbestselling author Nina Lane. It can be read as a standalone or enjoyedas part of the Sugar Rush series.
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This was a sweet holiday romance with sizzling overtones and wonderful family dynamics! Warren and Julia have been lurking in the backgrounds of previous Sugar Rush stories and I’m thrilled they finally got a well deserved HEA!
Oh my! What a wonderful book. This is the first of Nina’s books that I have read. I must say it is not just a hot sexy romance but a story full of challenges, strength, the bond of family and deep love.
In Sweet Life, Julia is a highly successful fashion stylist. It is Christmas time and she is a bit of a scrouge of late. She has just been criticized by Evermore Department store owner and it really did a number on her. For the past thirteen years since her sister died in a car accident and she returned home to Indigo Bay, she has taken care of her sisters kids and widowed husband Warren.
Over the years Warren and Julia have become best friends. She has been able to talk to him about anything. Anything but the feelings she has for him deep in her heart. But when a kiss under the mistletoe leads to a night of hot passion, things change drastically and she wonders if this is a mistake. Can Warren convince her that they belong together? To give them a chance? When secrets pop up and jeopardize all they have built over the last thirteen years, Warren is worried he will never convince Julia to love him.
This story is pretty emotional. The characters in the story have a strong background build up, which has developed the magnetic bond they share. The books talk about love loss and hidden love found. It talks about the trials in life when tragedy strikes and overcoming those tragedies and learning to move forward. Never taking for granted what you have, because it can all disappear at a moments notice.
I really enjoyed the authors writing and the smoothness of the story. She took her time building up and developing the characters. Giving us a big picture of their lives without stretching it out till it bores you. A story that is not only believable but something you can relate to and imagine. She has you hanging on to every page. Following along and investing yourself in the story of these amazing people.
Julia and Warren are a wonderful team. They have overcome tragedy and loss, building up a future to move towards keeping the family bond together through thick and thin. Loyalty and having each others back. So break out the tissues because I guarantee a tear or two will fall. So cozy on up with that glass of wine, because you’re in for a long night of reading an amazing story.
*ARC provided by Nina Lane & Ink Slinger PR
Sweet Life is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE HOLIDAY ROMANCE!!!! Seriously, it’s better than any Hallmark movie could ever think of being! AND……it is a romance about people who aren’t in their 20’s. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it is so nice to see a romance with people nearer my age.
Julia has the reputation of being an ice queen. She scares her young interns, but underneath all that ice, she does have a heart, especially for her family. She has spent the past thirteen years being an aunt, a mother, and a best friend to her late sister’s children and husband. She is independent, successful, and gets things done. This Christmas is no different, except she has taken on more responsibilities and is dealing with the aftermath of a business deal that fell through. She not in a festive mood, and it seems her stress level may reach a breaking point.
Her late sister’s husband, Warren, is the president and owner of his family’s business. Instead of taking on more things, he is letting things go, retiring and focusing on living his life. He notices all the stress that Julia is under, and he does what he can to relieve that, even though she fights him every step of the way. He also realizes what he wants most in his life, and that is Julia. Both of them have had feelings for one another but have kept them confined to the far reaches of their heart because of the fear that they are betraying her sister’s memory. Warren has always been in control, and he gets what he wants, but Julia may be the hardest challenge he has faced so far.
There was no character in this book that I didn’t love, even the secondary characters. Each one of them had something to do with Julia finding a little bit of herself that she had lost over the years. She is the rock that held the family together and gave Warren something to live for again. When she came home after her sister’s death, she never left his or the children’s side again. I enjoyed getting to see the wild child that she was through Warren’s memories of her. She never lost her passion; she just encased it into a being the successful and responsible sister. Now, that she is looking at turning 50 squarely in the eye, she is questioning a lot of things in her life…one of the most important is facing the fact that she in love with Warren.
Warren is one sexy man. He might be middle-age, but let me tell you, younger men don’t have a thing on him! But, it’s the other qualities of Warren that set him apart from other men.. his strength, his honor, his loyalty, and mostly his love for his family. He is as controlling in the bedroom as he is the boardroom. It is that aspect that Julia loves, she can let go with him. She doesn’t have to be in control, and that frees her.
The steam between these two is off the charts! The love scenes are sexy but done with class as well. I could feel the deep love and emotion between them. Julia and Warren perfectly illustrate that just because you are a certain age doesn’t mean that you aren’t sexy or relevant. Nina Lane reminded me that I’m not just a mother or wife. I am an individual outside of those. She did the same for them. Thank you, Nina Lane, for showing all your readers that age is just a state of mind, and we should be living life fully and joyfully, making bucket lists until we are 100 years old!!!!
4.5 stars–SWEET LIFE is the fifth instalment in Nina Lane’s contemporary, adult SUGAR RUSH erotic romance series focusing on the Stone family and the Sugar Rush Candy company. This is patriarch and Sugar Rush president Warren Stone, and fashion stylist Julie Bennett’s story line. SWEET LIFE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Warren and Julia) SWEET LIFE focuses on the friends to lovers relationship between fifty-four year old widower, father of seven, and President of the Sugar Rush Candy Company Warren Stone, and his forty-nine year old, sister in-law Julia Bennett. Fourteen years earlier Warren lost his beloved wife Rebecca to a tragic accident that also saw our heroine lose the sister she would never forget. Throughout the years Julia has been the family’s rock, helping to take care of her sister’s seven children but in the ensuing time our heroine’s personal life took a backseat to the fulfilment of her career, and the support of her extended family. Fast forward to present day wherein Julia’s attraction to Warren is met with an equally aggressive reaction by her late sister’s husband-a man she has lusted over for close to thirty-five years. What ensues is the building romance between Julia and Warren, and the potential fall out as their secret romance becomes fodder for the family, and Julia is unable to let go of the past.
Throughout the story line the ghost of Warren’s late wife Rebecca is a major stumbling block for our story line couple. Unable to get past the breakdown of her relationship with Rebecca, prior to the death of the sister she loved, Julia struggles with the memories of what happened, and the revelations about her feelings for the man she would grow to love. As Warren prepares for retirement, the family must come to terms with their father’s decision, and the change in direction for the Sugar Rush company.
The relationship between Julia and Warren is a friends to lovers, older couple romance; a brother in law / sister in law attraction that has continued to flourish, building towards something more than friendship and mutual loss. Secrets are revealed that could potentially destroy Julia’s relationship with the family she loves. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense-it is wonderful to see an ‘older couple’ enjoying an active sex life not deferring to questionable age-related ability.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting cast including many of the previous story line characters: Luke and Polly (Sweet Dreams #1), Evan (Sweet Escape #2), Tyler (Sweet Surrender #3), Gavin and Mia (Sweet Time #4) ,Adam, Spencer, and Hailey Stone; Julia’s assistants Anisa and Marco, as well as several local residents of Indigo Bay, California who are participating in the local Christmas pageant.
The world building focuses on family; on Warren’s upcoming retirement plans; and Julia’s inability to love and be loved. The premise is captivating and inspiring; the romance is passionate and seductive; the characters are charismatic, energetic and lively. Nina Lane is a go –to author for me for her ability to pull me in, suck me under, make me cry, and never let go.