The Sweet Spot by Laura Drake
Contemporary Romance
May 28, 2013
Forever

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “Nepotism isn’t a good idea when your family tree doesn’t branch.”

Charla Rae Denny and James (JB) Denny had the perfect marriage. Charla kept the homefires burning while JB competed in championship bull riding competitions. When their son dies in a tragic accident, their world crashes and they drift apart, each consumed with their grief. Charla wakes up to find herself divorced with a pile of bills and a ranch in foreclosure.

J.B. tries to be there for Charla after their son’s death but she shuts him out of her heart and eventually out of her life. J.B. soon finds comfort with someone else. Now, J.B. wants his life and his wife back. But with so much unresolved grief and anger between them,  J.B. doesn’t know if he and Charla can find that sweet spot again.

The Sweet Spot is a sweet romantic contemporary that addresses love, loss, and second chances. Well defined characters and an emotionally heartbreaking storyline will keep you engaged as we watch a family destroyed by grief begin to heal and take stock of the way their lives used to be and the way it is now.

J.B. and Charla were highschool sweethearts and followed in the footsteps of their parents; they got married, had a child, and lived their dream. But when tragedy strikes, J.B. and Charla are tossed violently out of their comfortable life and forced to deal with things they weren’t capable of dealing with. Blaming each other and themselves for what happened, they bury themselves in their pain, using external means to help, and further pushing each other away until they both hit rock bottom. When the dust settles, Charla and J.B. have to begin a painful journey back to redemption and forgiveness.

Laura Drake has a wonderful unobtrusive writing voice that hits the spot as she weaves her tale around us, letting us see how this couple came to lose everything. She doesn’t pull any punches and doesn’t place all the blame on only one of them. Both Charla and J.B. are equally to blame for letting their marriage fail. Once our couple is stripped of all their pretenses, Drake begins the slow rebuilding of their lives. Charla and J.B. need to heal themselves before they can help heal each other and the journey is both eye opening and humbling. I liked Charla and J.B. Their sorrow and actions resulting from their grief is real. I can’t imagine losing a child and Drake makes you feel the pain that they live with everyday. We are shown the different ways that people can grieve and how you can get stuck in one stage of the healing process. Though at times, you wanted to smack both characters for their stubbornness and actions, you couldn’t fault them for their human frailties.

Humor and good old fashioned small town idiosyncrasies go hand in hand. Bold descriptions of ranch life, the town and it’s residents provide an interesting backdrop. The use of them adds depth, realism, and a sense of continuity to the story. Our couple learns that life goes on regardless and it’s only by your own choice if you choose to let it move on without you. Both friends and family attempt to offer solace and guidance to this couple, even when they are continually rebuffed. There is a small secondary romance that lightens the storyline.

The romance is light as a majority of the story is spent watching Charla and J.B. work their way back to one another.  The chemistry however never went away and it rears its head every time they are around each other. It’s only when our couple finally stops and decides to revisit the past with open eyes, are they able to shed their final barriers and realize that going on with life doesn’t mean you forget those you’ve lost. The ending gives us much hope for our couple and leaves us with a happy ending.

Overall Rating: B

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