Customer Reviews

Sweet Nothings

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I Loved this book!! Jake was an absolutely AWESOME hero. I adored the way he responded to Molly. I will admit that at times Molly was frustrating..but that is what made her so real..she was ABUSED for years!!! All of the deep seeded feelings and insecurities that came along with that ill treatment cannot possibly disappear overnight!!! Also, I found it a bit wild that Jake liked all of her dimples as well, but the point is that he loved her..ALL OF HER..for who she was...why is it so unbelievable that a man would like a curvy woman?? Its not...it happens, and in this case..even though Jake was a fox..it was totally believable. I adored this book..my only reason for not giving it 5 stars is because i felt that it could have had a bit shaved off from the middle. Other than that...LOVELY!! I definitely recommend it!

Sweet Nothings was my first book by Catherine Anderson. Certainly after reading it, it will not be my last. The story held my attention enough to keep me reading it. I found it good, but not good enough to warrant anything more than 4 stars.

The storyline revolves around a woman running away from an abusive ex husband. He has apparently been trying to drug her for a reason and has been abusive to a horse that the heroine does not quite trust, but is drawn to save before the horse is killed. She takes it to a rancher who is known as a horse whisperer (a man who breaks in unruly horses). He is suspcious of her from the start, as she does not tell him the truth, but is immediately attracted to her. She cannot understand why he is attracted to her, but eventually she believes his attraction to be real and succumbs to it.
In the background is the threat of her ex husband, and the belief by her that she is mentally unstable. She does not want to have the hero hurt by either. This is what is the suspense of the book... what is the ex husband going to do? Is she losing her mind or is someone trying to frame her?

I really enjoyed the hero. He seemed genuine in his attraction to the heroine, even if he had to keep telling her. He did not push her, yet he pursued her gently. The heroine on the other hand seemed to irritate me a little. She was weak and in my mind, never seemed to grow strong until the very end.
This book is worth it just for the hero alone. The story is evenly paced, with just the right amount of suspense and romance to make it in my mind, a good book.

Where to start with this book? I've never read Catherine Anderson before -- I'm a big Lavyrle Spencer fan and it was interesting to read something by someone else. Let's start with the characters. Molly annoyed me to no end. For someone who already has an extremely timid, unsure, and in my opinion annoying personality, the fact that she's named Molly made it impossible for me to like her. Jake was hot stuff of course, but I quickly grew tired of the constant reference to his "blazing eyes, roped arms", etc, etc, and his way of ALWAYS being completely on Molly's side was tiresome as well. I disliked how Molly was always squeaking. This sounds overly picky, I know, but it's the little things that make me like or dislike a novel. Another one of my peeves about this book is the way some of the writing is done. The first sex scene between Jake and Molly is fine until the writing takes a turn for the tacky and overdramatic. I want a climax to be heavenly and sweet, not, I quote, "Molly shrieked -- shrill bleats of sound emitted with every compulsion of breath". That just made me think of a sheep being killed. Lastly, the writing is often repetitive. "Zigzagged" is used a lot in reference to sexual sensation, and the characters are often found saying or thinking "Holy hell" or "Sweet Christ". Now -- finally! -- to the good. I did appreciate Molly being shapely and I didn't mind Jake finding her dimples a turn on. When you love someone, everything about s/he is sexy, and clearly this was the case with Jake. What kept me going was the story of how Molly had so much she was hiding, so much to fear, and it didn't seem like it would be possible to right everything. The suspense kept me going.

I thought this book was excellent. I love how Catherine Anderson didn't make Molly a 100 pounds and like 5/6. She made her 5/2 and a 140 pounds. I thought that was great because ususally in romance novels the girl is always unrealistically built. Most women are molly's size. Even though its only fiction, it makes people who are not a size two enjoy the book.
Its great how Jake finds her so attractive. They have the best chemistry together. Its great how she finds him after a ten year bad marriage. I think in our lives, we all want a man like Jake. I think we all wish that would happen in real life.
The book is also good cause it has interesting turns and twists. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery and romance. It's an awsome read . It was so good I read it in two days.

Insecure & plump heroine is newly released from mental clinic she was forced to go to by her ex-husband & stepmother. She drives to a 'horse whisperer's' ranch to save the horse her ex-husband abused. She doesn't tell attractive rancher her identity & the truth of her circumstance b/c of fear that her ex-husband will find her & recommit her to the mental clinic & kill the horse. She agrees to be the rancher's housekeeper & cook to pay for her horses' therapy & to have room & board for the next 7 months that she needs to lie low to get out of her ex-husband's power of attorney. Heroine finds it hard to believe that Hero would actually be attracted to her since she thinks she's as unattractive as her ex-husband told her she was during their 10-yr marriage. But Hero is patient with her as she begins to figure out who she is & what she wants on her own terms.

I've never read an Anderson book I haven't liked. This book drew me in the character's feelings & story. It made for a quick read. I couldn't put it down. I liked Hero's love for heroine who was insecure about herself & had a lot of baggage. He was not only attractive but also honest, had integrity, & patient with heroine's struggles. It was also endearing for Hero to view heroine's ample dimples & soft curves as sexy. Heroine's character changes from a doormat (with her ex-husband) to a more assertive, self-actualized woman was neat to see & believable. Sexual chemistry & love scenes were passionate. This was a beautiful & believable romance.

Highly recommended.

In the second of the Coulter family books, the heroine, Molly, meets Jake Coulter when she brings him an abused horse to tend. Jake knows immediately that she's hiding something, but her vulnerability and her determination and compassion in rescuing the horse convince him to help her and to allow her to pay off the horse-training fee by cooking for the ranch hands.

Molly's definitely running from something--her ex-husband had her committed to an insane asylum, with the full support and cooperation of her own mother, who's married to Molly's ex-husband's father. Though, granted, Molly's mother didn't know that her son-in-law had been systematically drugging Molly first.

The Good:
One thing I really enjoyed about this one was the humor--Jake kept putting his foot in his mouth, and saying things he didn't mean, getting himself in trouble, and then having to apologize. He was so sincerely flustered about falling in love.

The Bad:
While I can buy most of the plot, I can't quite believe that there aren't any checks and balances to keep someone from drugging his wife and throwing her into a mental hospital to get control of her fortune. Wouldn't drug tests be one of the first things they'd do?

Then there's the mother, who not only believed her son-in-law, she helped keep her daughter locked up, and when it all came out, she couldn't even bother to apologize.

And finally, there was the tired plot of the heroine being hired to cook for the ranch hands and not making enough food, but everybody liked her so much they couldn't bring themselves to tell her--not only is it overused, but it was just left dangling. Argh.

The Verdict:
I enjoyed Sweet Nothings very much despite the irritations, and they were minor irritations--they just stand out because the rest of the book was so good.

This book was well written and had a pretty good plot but I got a little sick of reading about all the insecurities the heroin felt all the time and how placating the hero had to be. I also didn't quite understand why the hero fell for Molly. Sure she had a good heart, but she was pretty darned annoying and went off the deep end a couple times. And I definately did not want to read about how much the heroin's cellulite (yes this word was used in the book) turned our cowboy hero on!!! Yuck (I personally found this part a little unbelievable). I enjoyed reading it, despite all that. I wouldn't try to deter anyone from reading it, but i wouldn't recommend either.

This is the first novel I've ever read that dealt with the devastating effects of verbal abuse. I identified with the main character and understood her emotions all too well. My own experience with verbal abuse was from a cruel step-father, but the horrible comments about Molly's body parts, her intelligence, etc., were EXACTLY the kinds of things I used to hear. Even though you can tell yourself it was all lies, the pain and self-doubt from such abuse can last a long, long time. I appreciated the fact that healing and trusting for Molly did not come easy. It took my husband YEARS to convince me that a lot of men prefer a woman with "curves." It was pretty amazing to have both Molly's sensitivity about her body and Jake's appreciation for a full-figured woman be a major part of the story. Can't say that I've seen that before!

This book touched on real and painful problems in an honest and often thought provoking way. I gave my copy to a friend who is coming off a devasting marriage where she was told again and again how worthless she was. I just hope the book will comfort my friend the way it did me.

Grab your tissues and run, don't walk to get this book. I'm such a fan of CA's previous books (Phantom Waltz, Baby Love & many others) that this book was on my wish list long before it was released. Jake Coulter, who is touted as a horse whisperer (You remember Robert Redford, don't you?) takes in Molly Wells & her ex-husband's abused thoroughbred horse on his rustic Oregon ranch. Molly takes a great chance by even taking (stealing, actually) the horse to Jake, but she is so heartbroken seeing the poor creature abused that she throws caution to the wind. After a 10-year marriage to a horrible, abusive and deceitful man, Molly is but a shell of her former self. What Jake can do for the horse is nothing short of a miracle, but you'll have to read the book to see what he does for Molly! Every woman dreams of such a hero in her life, and Jake comes through! Although I don't take this to be a sequel, this book follows the Coulter's (Jake's brother is Rafe, and his sister is Bethany) and I really enjoyed revisiting many of the people in her recent books. It's a gem - and a keeper for me.

This is the first book of Catherine Anderson that i've ever read. I think the best thing about this book is the hero - Jake Coulter. I'm impressed that Anderson managed to create him in such a balanced manner so that he appears utterly perfect, yet somewhat realistic to the reader. Jake says all the right things, does all the right things, and has such good heart and instincts, you can't help but fall in love with him too. Particularly when Jake enjoys his heroine's curves so blatantly, which in itself is a refreshing and sigh-inducing change from the other heroes in other romance novels.

Really though, Jake is the only good reason to stay with this book, which i felt was way too long. The heroine, Molly, tends to get on my nerves after a while. I get that she'd been abused for many years, is traumatized beyond reason and has many insecurities, but i kept wishing for her to grow a back bone and stand up for herself instead of agonising silently while the evil villains decide her fate. I find myself not being able to feel for Molly after a certain point, like all she seems to be is sweet and not much else. There is almost no character or personality to her. In fact, when Jake realises he's in love with Molly only abt a quarter way into the book, i'm terribly unconvinced; there just hasn't been much of Molly shown at this point to make me believe that anyone could have fallen for her, much less Jake! I understand flawed and broken women as much as the next person, but i'm just not seeing the redeeming quality of strength in Molly that makes her lovable. Bottom line, Jake was one helluva hero, too bad Molly was only lukewarm at best and downright annoying at worst.