Sneaking Candy (Entangled Embrace)

by Lisa Burstein

[justine_manzano]

This was a cute fluffy read, which I really needed, as I've been reading some weightier fare lately. The dichotomy of Candice, the serious writer, and her erotic romance pen name, Candy, was a fun situation to explore, and one that definitely felt real to me. As someone who sat through classes where literary fiction was expected, but I felt more comfortable writing fantasy, I could understand exactly what she was going through trying to deal with her academic expectations vs. the work she really felt comfortable doing. The characters in the book were fun and the lead romance was completely adorable.

HOWEVER (and it's a big one) there is the matter of the book's central conflict and it's antagonist. I can't really go into why because that would be spoiling it, but while I saw the fact that this character would end up as the antagonist from a mile away, the way he behaved as the antagonist felt incredibly contrived, and the course of action the main character pursued to solve the issue the antagonist created actually made me like the main characters a lot less.

Still, this being said, I enjoyed the writing and the characters for the most part, and I would definitely read another book by her.