The Sweet Spot by Stephanie EvanovichPublished by: William Morrow on July 8, 2014
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 272
Source: Edelweiss
Book Details
Rating: Did Not Finish
The amazing Stephanie Evanovich returns with The Sweet Spot, the sizzling story of everyone’s favorite couple from her New York Times bestseller Big Girl Panties: hunky professional baseball player Chase Walker and his sassy wife Amanda
When pro baseball player Chase Walker first meets Amanda at her restaurant, it’s love at first sight. While Amanda can’t help noticing the superstar with the Greek-god-build, he doesn’t have a chance of getting to first—or any other—base with her. A successful entrepreneur who’s built her business from scratch, Amanda doesn’t need a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. And a curvy girl who likes to cook and eat isn’t interested in being around the catty, stick-thin herd of females chasing Chase and his teammates.
But Chase isn’t about to strike out. A man who isn’t interested in playing the field, he’s a monogamist who wants an independent woman like Amanda. His hopes rally when she discovers that squeaky-clean Chase has a few sexy and very secret pre-game rituals that turn the smart, headstrong businesswoman on—and into his number one fan.
Then a tabloid discovers the truth and turns their spanking good fun into a late- night punch-line. Is Amanda ready to let loose and swing for the fences? Or will the pressure of Chase’s stardom force them to call it quits?
I noticed pretty early on that The Sweet Spot was like 100% telling and 0% showing. The sequence of events is just laid out with no emotion, no “moments”, no personality—nothing real. It’s literally like:
Amanda meets Chase. He’s so charming. He comes by every day for a week. He sits in this specific spot and orders this meal. He’s so friendly. The staff love him. Amanda finally agrees to date him. He’s really charming, but surely must have a fatal flaw somewhere.
It’s just: this happened, that happened, then that happened, he’s really charming, then that happened, etc. We don’t actually see or feel any of these moments. To me, the characters had no personality. I’m told that Chase is charming and sweet, but I don’t actually see it happen.
Here’s a more specific example (direct quote):
They began dating and the game changed. She dropped the attitude and focused on his company. That following Monday and Tuesday, she tagged along with Chase on some of his routine. She went with him to the gym, and won what she secretly named “the eye-candy sweepstakes”.
Notice how it’s literally just a paragraph of: this happened, that happened, that happened, etc.? That’s what the whole book was like. We didn’t actually get a closer look at these moments or activities; we’re just told that they happen.
Or there’s this quote:
But even he could tell there was more passion building up when they were together.
We’re just told there’s passion, but we NEVER actually see this passion! I saw zero passion, chemistry, lust, or attraction between the two characters. There was nothing there!
On top of that, the writing style really disjointed me. It’s not told from a clear point of view. Instead it just hops around between Amanda and Chase’s points of view at random times (rather than distinct chapters). And since the characters had so little personality, I’d lose track of which one I was “following” at that moment.
And finally, Amanda just pissed me off. She was so judgmental. As soon as she registered that Chase was a celebrity, she made a million assumptions about him and what kind of person he is.
“Guys like [Chase] don’t just want dinner”
Amanda
“Aren’t people like you supposed to own a car for every day of the week?”
Amanda
“Amanda, I wish you wouldn’t use my being famous as a strike against me. I swear to God, I’m a regular guy.”
Chase
I really wanted to like this book because I love the idea of a story about a successful entrepreneurial woman and a hot romance with a celebrity. But the writing style and I didn’t agree. I felt so distanced from the whole story and its characters. All the characters felt flat as a board because their personalities never shine through. The book felt like a sequenced list of events, rather than an actual story.
The Verdict
Wow, we were both looing forward to this one too. But all telling and now showing, that is horrible. I couldn’t do it, not even 30%. A Rapunzel retelling I read a couple weeks ago did this too. I hate it so much.
Uh oh, what was the Rapunzel retelling called? I think I have one too, hopefully it’s not the same one. 😛
Aw, it really does suck when the book has zero feels and completely lack of likable characters. It looks like there went any strong side characters in this book either. I’m really sorry this was such a disappointment for you 🙁
Yeah, what a bummer! 🙁
Wow, really? This is literally like the first rule of writing – “show, don’t tell.” I wouldn’t’ve bothered reading this, either.
Wow that sounds really bland…
Did you read Big Girl Panties? Amanda and Chase are secondary characters in that story and this was supposed to be their story… so I wonder if the first part is just a quick showing of their meeting and then the rest gets down to business? I had a copy for review that I need to start as my review is due in a few weeks. I’ll probably try pushing through it, but I had such high hopes for this book since I loved Big Girl Panties by the author so much.
I haven’t read it, but I think if they still hadn’t gotten down to real business after 32% in, then it probably didn’t get much better. 🙁
I suppose so. I guess I will see next week when I start reading it. I always appreciate reading your thoughts on books.
I hope you enjoy it more! 🙂
I read her first book (uhg) and will never pick up another book of hers. There’s just no juice, you know?
That’s EXACTLY right! No juice.
Is this really a book?? o.O I mean, I must be really lucky for I have never ever encountered such. Authors always talk about how hard it is to get published, one would think books with – a seldom call anything a mistake in a writing as it’s so relative, but this is one of the main principles of it so – mistakes like this don’t get published. Anyway, I’m sorry you didn’t like it, it sucks when a book doesn’t work out for you. I hope the next will be better. 🙂
I’ve been curious about trying a Stephanie Evanovich book, and the summary really intrigued me for this one, but clearly this book is not for me (or for you, either). That’s too bad. Way too much telling – which is really just boring.
Ah, well I really didn’t like BIG GIRL PANTIES because it was all about how Logan found Holly attractive ONLY after he transforms her (Holly only becomes attractive when she’s thinner. Nothing about Logan loving her personality, etc.). I did like Chase and Amanda, but Evanovich inserted them in strange places throughout the novel. I thought of picking this one up just for Chase and Amanda, but now I’ll bypass this one.
Girl, I had the same feeling with The Things You Kiss Goodbye. Hardly was there any real solution or conflict (There was conflict but the main lean didn’t even do a damn thing about it) Most of the readers ended up DNFing the book because of the horrible empty plot. *Sigh
I’ve never actually heard of this book, but I will pass it up. LOL Thanks so much for trying to read it. You had to suffer for our sakes. HAAH
This saddens me as I loved them as a couple in the first book. *le sigh*
Can’t stand when an author tells you what is happening rather than giving you a feeling of discovery. It sounds like you made a good decision to let this one go.