SWEET SURPRISE

When single mom Fiona Wilder moves to Sweet, Texas, to be closer to her daughter’s family, she wishes she weren’t quite so interested in her ex-husband’s best friend, firefighter Mike Halsey.

Fiona knows she’s lucky. Despite an unwanted pregnancy and a failed marriage, she loves her daughter madly, and even if her ex, Jackson, wasn’t right for her, he’s still one of the Good Guys. Now she feels blessed to move to Jackson’s hometown and get started on a new life, close to his tightknit family that adores her and their daughter, Izzy, and that wants to help her launch her own bakery. But as she’s moving a carful of belongings to her new home, she’s involved in an accident that totals her car and takes her off her feet for weeks. Of course the sexy fireman who pulls her to safety has to be Mike, Jackson’s best friend. Fiona’s not immune to Mike’s charms, but she's sworn off men and knows she has to focus on her new business. Hard to do in normal circumstances, it’s even harder when Jackson’s mom decides to play matchmaker and arranges for Mike to do some carpentry in her shop. Neither Mike nor Fiona plans on a relationship, but they can’t deny a mutual attraction, and as they move into and then beyond a physical liaison, they each realize just how perfect they might be together. Terry continues her Sweet, Texas, series with a lighthearted, entertaining story that has moments of intensity but never quite fulfills its promise. Fiona’s continued declaration that, as a former party girl, she can’t trust her decisions seems increasingly ridiculous given all that she’s accomplished and the obvious good choices she’s made. Plus it seems unrealistic that a single mom working for an hourly wage could save enough to start her own bakery.

A smooth, sweet, romantic read if you don’t consider the details too closely.