I was recently sent The Sweet Spot by Anneli Lott to review. It was sent to me as an e-book and I read it over a few nights.
The Sweet Spot is a classic love story with a sexy, modern edge, set in the sleepy West Country village of Appleton Vale, and in the glittering world of professional golf.
Olivia escapes London to overcome memories of heartbreak, and moves to Appleton Vale to ghostwrite the autobiography of Sebastian Bloom, former world number one golfer and global icon. But he doesn’t make things easy for her; Olivia is not ready for a new relationship and fights her feelings for Sebastian.
Their story comes to a head at the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, The Open Championship, where Sebastian’s return to form sets up an explosive clash with his lifelong rival, Troy McLoud.
As the lives of Olivia, Sebastian and the residents of Appleton Vale interweave, passions flare and the stakes rise.
Now, I will be honest, romance novels are not my thing generally, but I’m attempting to be a much more open minded reader so I embraced a romance novel with my mind open!
The Sweet Spot is mostly focused on two main characters – the impossibly perfect Olivia (with a rather rocky previous romance) and the dashing, yet troubled Sebastian, the story is pulled together with snippets of the lives of those living in the rather idillic Appleton Vale, think Agatha Raisin but with less of a body count.
Although the story is mostly about the ups and many downs of Olivia and Sebastian’s relationship, I absolutely loved the chapters about the other characters in the village – Andrea was a favourite of mine, although I think the author definitely missed a trick not calling her cat ‘Cleocatra’. With enough detail about the more secondary characters that you wanted to invest in them and learn more about them, the author rather smartly doesn’t wander from the main story too much. Olivia makes many friends in the village, like Tom & Susie – the pub landlords, Devon and Patrick (not the only gays in the village), Jane and Dee Dee – your classic nosey villagers and many more. I was finding myself eager to know more about them each time they were mentioned.
The village of Appleton Vale has it all really.
Olivia and Sebastian quite often feel like they are doomed and the book is full of passion, Sebastian’s sadness is clear and heartbreaking but enough of a bastard that you want to smack him in the face. The occasional celebrity pops up too, featuring some celeb golfers and a rather famous interviewer at one point.
I won’t give the story away but instead encourage you to give a go, even if it’s not your usually genre, I was pleasantly suprised.
The book is well written and engaging and although I found a lot of the golf parts a bit over my head (I’m really not a sports person!) Anneli Lort has a lovely writing style, the story kept my interest and come the end I found myself wishing their were other books focusing on the other residents, I had become invested in everyone’s stories.
You can follow Anneli Lort on Twitter and check out Amazon to pick up your own copy of The Sweet Spot .
I’d like to thank Hannah Carrier for sending me a copy to review.