Tracey Livesay delivers the first novel in her sexy new series about lifelong friends and unforgettable love stories.When everything is on the line, surrendering completely to love is your only choice… social life, working 24/7 to ensure her next promotion. When grief over her grandfather’s death leads to several catastrophic decisions, Caila gets one final chance to prove herself: shut down an unprofitable factory in a small Southern town. But as soon as she arrives in Bradleton, she meets one outsized problem: the town’s gorgeous mayor.
Wyatt Bradley isn’t thrilled about his nickname, Mayor McHottie. He’s even less happy to learn that his town might be losing its biggest employer. If he has to, he’ll use some sneaky tactics to get Caila on his side. Yet even as he’s hoping she’ll fall for Bradleton, he’s falling too—right into a combustible affair that shakes them both with its intensity.
Two stubborn people, torn between loyalty, ambition, and attraction. But when you’re willing to give it your all, there’s no limit to how far love can take you…
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Smart, fast, funny and emotional. You will love Tracey Livesay!
Sweet Talkin’ Lover by Tracey Lovesay is a Hallmark movie with sex. You know the one: the corporate person comes to town to close down the factory that supports it and falls in love, this time with the mayor. That being said, it was a pleasant enough book. The characters were good: Mayor McHottie, oops, I mean Wyatt Ashley Bradley IV, the mayor of the town named after his family, where his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather had been mayor before him. He had a way about him. The woman loved him and so did everyone else. Caila Harris, had been upwardly mobile until her grandfather died, then she kind of fell apart. This was her last chance: an assignment they gave to rookies. She had left her small town and she didn’t want to go to another one. What a mess.
There were plenty of subplots in this book to keep it interesting, between the goings-on in Bradleton and at Caila’s company, not to mention her girlfriends, with whom she had been close since college and still went on vacation with every year. The ins and outs were complex and interesting. The pacing was good. The outcome was as expected. It was a romance after all. It was an entertaining read, worthy of an afternoon. Fun, entertaining, hot.
I was invited to read a free ARC of Sweet Talkin’ Lover by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #sweettalkinlover
My first time reading this author. Definitely won’t be my last.
It’s no secret that Tracey Livesay is one of my favorite writers, and I’m already fully invested in her new Girls’ Trip series, following a group of ride-or-die besties as each one of them finds love.
In Sweet Talkin’ Lover, take no prisoners businesswoman Caila Harris has to prove herself worthy of the high-powered job she’s spent her whole life (nights, weekends, and relationships included) working for. The job? Shut down an unprofitable small-town factory. Easy, right?
Not when the town comes with a Mayor nicknamed Mayor McHottie. Caila and Wyatt (McHottie himself) are at odds…and sparks are flying everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Tracey’s books are smart, sexy and so emotional,, and I cannot wait for the rest of this series. You’re going to love it.
I throughly enjoyed sinking into the world Livesay created – the core female friend group is a favorite set-up of mine, and Caila and her friends are the perfect example of why – all distinct personalities but with the kind of strong, loving connection built by years of caring for each other.
Caila’s resistance to the myriad ways her life is changing against her wishes causes her to build very understandable walls, which she won’t let fall even for the charms of the small town where “Mayor McHottie” Wyatt lives. Wyatt lives a life for others – fulfilling responsibilities and meeting expectations no matter how much of himself he has to side-line to do so. He thinks Caila is a threat to everything he holds dear, but doesn’t suspect she could blow up his own well-constructed facade of Guy Who Is Always At Your Service.
If Hallmark wants to dip its toes into interracial romance, they won’t have to get out of their comfort zone too much by adapting this book. It has all the elements of their usual fall specials – small-town mayor tries to save his town’s biggest employer from getting closed down by an ambitious big-city corporate executive. They fall in love but the executive has to go back to her job elsewhere. There’s a pinball bet, a football game, bake sale, hayride, color run, and the highlight Harvest Festival. Unfortunately, I don’t think they will because there are super steamy sexytimes, a racist town patriarch, and the entire bwwm dynamics. Maybe Lifetime or Netflix can do it instead but this is super translatable onscreen.
I enjoyed this immensely. I loved Caila and her friends. I liked Wyatt but wished he’s more decisive. I also wished his family is not so predictable and that Caila’s friends had a bigger role in the book aside from the beginning and end
An excellent start to what promises to be a fun new series!
Sweet Talkin’ Lover is book one in Tracey Livesay’s New Girls Trip series and which means that it carries the weight of building the series’ world…but in true Livesay fashion it does so in matching kickass heels and designer handbag!
Caila has decided she is going to “make it” on her own to fulfill the dreams she shared with her father and grandfather but were cut short. Wyatt comes from a family that is the equivalent of the Kennedys but he has the soul of an artist. On paper they seem like opposites attract and when they first meet they are adversaries but as they get to know one another admits some witty banter and seriously hot looks they realize they are more alike and their perfect for each other.
Livesay does such an amazing job of exploring interracial relationships from both the outside and the inside while not shying away from pointing out social truths about race. And yet her works never feel heavy and still have some serious heat, chemistry, dirty talk, positive self images, and kickass black girl magic heroines!
I can’t wait for the next Girls Trip book!
I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are own.