Book Review: Sweet Thing

Author: Renee Carlino
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Publisher: Atria
Series: Sweet Thing # 1

"You have to teach your heart and mind how to sing together…then you'll hear the sound of your soul."

Mia Kelly thinks she has it all figured out. She's an Ivy League graduate, a classically trained pianist, and the beloved daughter of a sensible mother and offbeat father. Yet Mia has been stalling since graduation, torn between putting her business degree to use and exploring music, her true love.

When her father unexpectedly dies, she decides to pick up the threads of his life while she figures out her own. Uprooting herself from Ann Arbor to New York City, Mia takes over her father's café, a treasured neighborhood institution that plays host to undiscovered musicians and artists. She's denied herself the thrilling and unpredictable life of a musician, but a chance encounter with Will, a sweet, gorgeous, and charming guitarist, offers her a glimpse of what could be. When Will becomes her friend and then her roommate, she does everything in her power to suppress her passions-for him, for music-but her father's legacy slowly opens her heart to the possibility of something more.

A "heartbreaking and romantic" (Aestas Book Blog) debut, Sweet Thing explores the intensity and complexities of first love and self-discovery.

You have to teach your heart and mind how to sing together... then you'll hear the sound of your soul.

It's a fool who thinks love will set him free. Love equals a morbid and relentless fear of losing the other person.

Sometimes it takes the love of others to show us who we really are.

You are your mother and your father. You are your experiences and your fears and the love you let yourself feel. You are your degree and your talent and your passion. You are your pain, your joy, and your fantasies. You are me and Sheil and Jenny and Will and every person that touches your soul..but most of all you are you, whoever you dream that to be.

Share your special soul with me
And I promise to
Give you all of mine.

I am not sure if it was because of Valentine’s Day, but here lately I have been craving some contemporary romance or new adult books. When I was approached by the publisher about reviewing this book, I was overly excited and started the book as soon as it came in the mail. I loved this book so much that I tried my best to prolong reading it. Mia’s story is romantic, heartbreaking, and completely inspiring! I was swept away with the author’s writing and the characters that are painted beautifully on these pages just like art on a fresh canvas. This was a perfect Valentine’s Day read.

Mia’s story starts shortly after we, the readers, realize that her father has recently passed away. Mia is on her way to New York City to take over her father’s café. Her journey is just beginning at that point and readers are in for such a treat from there on out. I have read reviews where readers became easily frustrated with Mia, and I can understand why at times, but I love her too much to be frustrated with her. Her journey is remarkable and her character really does start to realize, as the story progresses, what is most important in life. It is always nice to read a story in which I get to see the heroine or main character grow and change after experiencing new and something scary things.

Everything about this story was realistic and the characters became a part of my world. This was definitely one of those books that after I turned the last page I already missed the characters and the world they lived in. Will and Mia were of course my favorite. They were both also realistic and I felt like their relationship was as well. Will turned out to be just how I pictured him from the start. The time they spent together always felt so endearing and really added warmth and character to the storyline. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a book that will be difficult to put down!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Atria in exchange for my honest review***