How Sweet It Is

A business partnership sparks a sultry connection in this flat, conventional romance from Newton (Piper’s Piping). Kate Sweet, dubbed “the Queen of Happily Ever Afters,” is a gifted event planner known for her fairy tale weddings. She’s not an intuitive fit to plan a book launch for horror author Drake Matthews, “the Knight of Nightmares,” but her best friend, Drake’s publicist, is desperate and ropes Kate into the gig. The attraction between Kate and Drake is instantaneous, but both choose to ignore their chemistry and keep their relationship strictly professional. Each stands to gain from the partnership: Kate hopes the book launch will help her finally land a highly coveted award in the event planning industry, and Drake finds inspiration to break free of his terrifying reputation and take his writing in a new direction from being around Kate—who becomes his muse for a secret romance novel. But as the book launch draws closer and the stakes get higher, their irresistible connection can no longer be dismissed. While certainly lighthearted easy-reading, the cookie-cutter characters are too perfect and the lack of conflict outside of Drake’s changing genres makes for a lukewarm plot. This one misses the mark. [em]Agent: Cori Deyoe, Three Seas Literary. (July) [/em]