Proceed With Caution:
This book contains mentions of parental death, child abuse, and brain injuries.
The Basics:
Make It Sweet is a Contemporary Romance starring ex-hockey star, Lucian, following a debilitating head injury and actress, Emma, who's just been killed off from her show.
My Thoughts:
It took me a little bit to settle into Make It Sweet because it has a kind of weird tone. It feels more like Women's Fiction at first, but not really, but kind of. Then it hit me that it was more that the characters felt much older than they are. Lucian and Emma are not yet thirty, but they read like they're middle-aged. Like they've been there, done that, and where does life go from here? It was weird. They both acted like life was nearing the end and that their best years were behind them.
I did enjoy Make It Sweet overall. I adored how Lucian was an amazing hockey player and an equally amazing pastry chef. And he's not ashamed of his cooking talent! He embraces it as it's the one thing that keep him calm, busy, and connected to his late great grandfather. Meanwhile, Emma is essentially Emilia Clarke on GoT. At least until the writers kill off her character with no warning. Now she heads to Lucian's grandmother's estate to get her head together before figuring out what to do next. She wasn't completely defeated though. She knows what kind of role she wants to go for next and she's going to get it!
The main thing that dropped my rating a bit was the ending. One of the main conflicts is Lucian's hockey career. He knows that another head injury could cause permanent brain damage or even death, and yet he feels like he has nothing else. Which didn't really work for me, because he was very happy cooking and baking. On top of that, he makes his final decision about returning to the game or not on wanting to be with Emma rather than on the fact that playing could kill him. I suppose it's meant to be romantic, but um...he spent the entire book dealing with headaches and mood swings and lamenting that he can't play anymore, and yet that doesn't factor into his decision at all.
Make It Sweet was a sweet romance. I do believe that Emma and Lucian are good for each other, since they understand what the other is going to. But the tone and resolution were off for me.