This is a tough review to write. A good friend got me hooked on the Cattle Valley soap opera. This episode is Gill and Kyle's story. The story revolves around the town's bakery owner and token wheelie, Kyle, and former football star and now garage owner, Gill. Both men are likable and some of the town's other faces pop up to do their thing. I truly wanted to enjoy this romance story but as a man in a wheelchair myself, I was aggravated by the repeated errors that Ms Lynne made in Kyle's every day life. Her research on spinal cord injuries was severely lacking. Many of the things that Kyle did just did not jive with the things that he could not do. The ending of the story would have been wonderful but it is not physically possible on a neurological basis. I will not carry on a diatribe here because I believe that Ms Lynne meant well in her story. I only ask that any authors out there that are going to write about something complex like a spinal cord injury lifestyle, please have someone in that position beta read your book for accuracy. ( )

Sweet Topping is the third book in the ‘Cattle Valley’ series and starts during the Christmas party mentioned in the last book. It tells the story of Kyle Brynn, who uses a wheelchair, and Darshawn ‘Gill’ Gilling, an ex-football player and owner and operator of a garage and gas station. This is told in third person from Kyle’s and Gill’s pov.

2.5 Stars


I read the first two books and looked forward to this one because of Kyle, but unfortunately, I was disappointed. The storyline was rushed and had an inconsistency that bothered me, which I’ll mention later. Everything about this story was too fast, from the way scenes were resolved to the way paragraphs rapidly segued to the next. Instead of flowing smoothly by expanding the scene and pulling the readers into the action, the author told the story and used too much monologue. I was unable to immerse myself in this book because of the distance set up by the author because of the writing style. If the author had taken her time and written longer scenes, making a longer book, then this story would have turned out much better.

I did think that Kyle and Gill were a good fit as a couple. However, there is one scene that serves as a crucial break up scene that didn’t make sense at all and here’s why. Gill proposes to Kyle who accepts. Then Gill says Kyle might like to walk down the aisle. Kyle becomes furious because he thought Gill was different and accepted him as he was and wouldn’t pressure him to walk, since he could learn to walk again. Kyle breaks up with Gill and rushes home to his parents, where he undergoes physical therapy so he can walk again! What? Kyle’s furious at his parents for their pressure, furious at Gill for the suggestion, but what does he do? He runs to his parents and gets PT. He wasn’t going to return to Cattle Valley because he put his shop up for sale because he was so hurt by Gill’s idea. Kyle only came back because Nate, his friend, talked him into coming back. Kyle hated his parents and Gill telling him to walk again, and he stubbornly refused to learn to walk, so why would he run back to his parents and take PT when he hated people telling him what to do? I have to be honest here. That scene absolutely did not make any sense at all in terms of logic. I’m sure there are readers who won’t care that the scene was written like that, but obvious inconsistencies like that are irksome. Where were the editors and betas to tell the author that Kyle’s emotions, reasoning and actions were illogical? If Kyle had a change of heart while visiting his parents and realized he was being childish about walking again, and the readers were privy to that, then yes, him taking PT would make sense. But because that didn’t happen, and he was still angry at Gill for suggesting it, enough to sell his shop, then the scene makes no sense at all. Stuff like this absolutely throw me out of the story. This isn’t just personal taste, this is an error. Anyway, this is an instance where this scene/situation, gets resolved in a few pages. Goes quickly from Nate telling Kyle to come back to CV in a couple paragraphs, Kyle comes back and goes to Gill, they have a reunion and hardly any drama about the reunion. It was rushed and I noticed the lack of emotional depth.

Sweet Topping was disappointing because it was rushed, the scenes jumping from one idea to the next without flowing smoothly. There’s a lack of emotional depth and connection to the characters because the author told the story and used a lot of monologue. The only thing that was good was the characters fit well together. Too bad the author didn’t give us more details about these two. I give this 2.5 Stars and raise it to 3 Stars just because of the characters being right for each other.
( )

I liked Kyle from the previous books so I was really looking forward to reading his and Gill's story. The beginning was pretty good even though the characters are a little thinly developed. I hated the end, mainly for the fact that it negates the reality of most people with spinal cord injuries. ( )

Sometimes when Carol Lynne decides to talk about a delicate matter, she does it with so much details that, if not be for her ability to write romance, it could be almost like read a clinical papers. And instead reading this book, I was involved by the characters and not distracted by the details.

Kyle is the young baker of Cattle Valley. He is from a wealthy family but he has left his comfort life after a bad accident which has left him tetraplegic. Even if Gill has proved in every way his interest in Kyle, he is still reluctant to start a relationship with the man, cause he seems not to be able to have a normal sexual life and his day-to-day needs are so embarassing for him, he has no desire to share them with another man.

But Gill is very stubborn and he will not let go until he has not conviced Kyle to give him a chance.

Even if Kyle should be the protagonist of the story, and usually I have a soft spot for the bottom, I think that Gill steals a bit the scene this time. Gill is a big Afro American man, with a big heart, and he is very tender and caring. He is almost too good to be true.

Only one question remains in my mind... why the title, Sweet Topping? Maybe cause Gill is a sweet man?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1906590346/?tag=elimyrevandra-20