Sweet Talkin' Lover

October 21, 2019
Livesay (Love Will Always Remember) opens her Girls Trip series with a smart, witty interracial romance that explores the tension between business and ethics, but lacks the small-town heart readers will crave. Black cosmetics marketer Caila Harris is too focused on her potential promotion to enjoy her annual getaway with her college pals. When their trip is cut short by the death of her grandfather, Caila messes up at work, flubbing her chance at the promotion in her grief. Her boss gives Caila one more chance to prove herself, sending her to Bradleton, Va., to determine whether to close the company’s factory there. Bradleton’s white mayor, Wyatt Bradley, aka Mayor McHottie, is determined to keep the factory running and hopes to win Caila over by getting her involved in small-town life. But he’s not above using their mutual attraction for his purposes either. Though the romance is believable, the townsfolk come off as petty and insular, muddling the story. The framework of Caila and her friends on vacation—the book ends with them planning their next trip—introduces some big personalities who will be back for future installments, but remains tangential to the plot, leaving the reader unsure what to expect from the next in the series. Readers will appreciate Livesay’s protagonists but have trouble connecting with their setting. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Assoc.

Starred review from December 1, 2019
To prove to her boss at cosmetics company Endurance that she has completely processed her grief over recently losing her beloved grandfather, Caila Harris agrees to oversee an onsite evaluation of an aging manufacturing plant that Endurance has recently acquired in the small town Bradleton. Theoretically, given the evidence of the plant's unprofitability, shutting down the site should be a piece of corporate cost-cutting cake. That business plan flies right out the window, however, when Caila meets Bradleton's civic leader, Wyatt Bradley, aka Mayor McHottie, who insists on acting as Caila's personal escort during her stay. Sweet Talkin' Lover, which launches the Girls Trip series, is powered by loads of lively dialogue, a generous serving of sassy wit, and an abundance of sizzling sexual chemistry that eventually ignites into some smoking hot love scenes. In addition to delivering all these romantic riches, this deeply delightful, diverse, contemporary romance is enhanced by a subplot involving women's friendship and a powerful celebration of the transformative power of love in all its guises.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)