I was able to read an advance copy of this book through Edelweiss.

Please keep in mind that this is NOT Janet Evanovich.
This is Stephanie's second book.

This is the story of Amanda and Chase from "Big Girl Panties." If you recall from that book, they were involved in an intimate sex scandal and this is the story of how they met. Amanda runs her own restaurant and Chase is a high profile baseball player. While most people won't read this because of a bit of a sub/dom storyline, I still liked it. Enjoyable, light read.
One thing I love about Stephanie's characters is that the women are not depicted as thin. This makes it more believable to me.

Keep your eye out for this book in July!!!

my blog: http://www.thereadshelf.com ( )

The Sweet Spot by Stephanie Evanovich is the romance of Chase and Amanda Walker, a secondary couple introduced in her first novel, Big Girl Panties. The two novels stand on their own and can be read independent of one another (but I highly recommend Big Girl Panties).

Chase Walker is an extremely successful and wildly popular squeaky clean baseball player who falls in love with restaurant owner Amanda Cole pretty much at first sight. Amanda resists his considerable charm but he eventually wears her down and they begin dating. When Chase makes a surprising request that involves Amanda's career, she turns him down and what happens next irrevocably changes their relationship and eventually puts them in middle of a very public scandal.

Despite his successful career, Chase is rather humble and does not take his good fortune for granted. His life has not been all sunshine and roses but he does not dwell on his losses and he tries to focus on the positive. Chase is charismatic, appealing and so unbelievably persistent it is little wonder Amanda finds him impossible to resist.

Amanda is a self-assured and independent woman. She has a few residual self-esteem issues that stem from her childhood, but she does not lack self-confidence. She has been so focused on making a success of her restaurant that she does not date much but she is not inexperienced when it comes to matters of the heart or sex. She is bedazzled by Chase but her self-esteem issues come into play and she is left wondering why he is attracted to her. When Amanda finally does agree to date him, they take things slow and their romance is sweet and despite Chase's hectic schedule, fairly uncomplicated.

But (isn't there always a but?) Chase has been keeping a kink of his secret and instead of talking about it with Amanda, he makes an unreasonable demand and when she refuses, he turns into a sulky, petulant jerk. The resulting showdown between them takes an unexpected turn and when Amanda is confused and uncertain about what happened between them, Chase becomes an arrogant, condescending jerk who claims to knows her better than she knows herself (which I always find insulting and rather ridiculous). Instead of walking away from him at this point, Amanda turns rather spineless, gives in to his every whim and molds herself into what Chase wants her to be. From this point in the novel, I really disliked both characters and I found it impossible to believe either of them had any deep emotion for the other.

The major conflict occurs between them when their secret goes public and Amanda runs from the entire situation. She has good reasons for avoiding Chase (mainly because there is NO way she can live up to his unrealistic expectations), but the real impetus behind her leaving is based on sketchy advice from someone she knows better than to listen to. When Amanda is finally ready to face the scandal, Chase does not exactly welcome her back with open arms and she goes to pretty extreme lengths to salvage their relationship.

I have a very mixed feelings about The Sweet Spot. I absolutely loved the first half. The characters were wonderfully realistic and likeable and the romance between Chase and Amanda was sweet and romantic. But the second half feels like it was written about two completely different characters (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde come to mind). I could not stand who they turned into or the direction their relationship took.

Despite not being overly crazy about The Sweet Spot, Stephanie Evanovich is an excellent author and based on how much I loved Big Girl Panties, I would definitely consider reading any of her future novels. ( )

I enjoyed it, however, I felt like I already knew their story having read Big Girl Panties.

So my suggestion is to actually read The Sweet Spot first, then read Big Girl Panties. ( )

A hilarious, romantic tale about a female business woman and a professional baseball player. Amanda doesn't want anything to do with Chase Walker, but Chase refuses to strike out when it comes to love. Available in audio on Hoopla. Also in e-book and audio on Overdrive.

This book was just over the top all the way. I didn't like the male characters' big ego and control MCP issues. Nor did I like the game playing. I ESPECIALLY did not like the S & M contingent that went thru the book. It really bothered me. Not a good book for a feminist to read. It rose my hackles!!!! ( )