#Review: Sweet Confections by Danyelle Ferguson - 2 Wine Glasses

Title: Sweet Confections
Series: Indulgence Row  #1
Author: Danyelle Ferguson 
Format: Paperback & eBook, 259 pages
Published: March 30, 2014 by Wonderstruck Books 
ASIN: B00JDTZ7AW
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 2 out of 5 Wine Glasses

According to Rachel Marconi chocolate heals all wounds. That and throwing darts at pictures of her ex-boyfriend. Burned by yet another bad relationship, Rachel decides to reprioritize her life, putting her dream to compete on a Food Network Challenge on the top of her list and dating at the bottom crossed out in red sharpie.

But what's a girl to do when a certain sexy guy keeps asking her out?

Cue in Graydon Green, a former pro hockey player turned restaurant owner. After a lot of persistent and humorous teasing, he finally convinces Rachel to commit to a date. Just when things begin to warm up, threatening notes directed at Rachel arrive. When her bakery is vandalized, Graydon's protective streak goes on red alert. Is it her obsessive ex-boyfriend stalking her? Or maybe a challenger trying to sabotage the competition?

Either way, Rachel is definitely going to need more chocolate - perhaps drizzled over ice cream and devil's food cake.

Kimberly’s Thoughts:
When Rachel finds out her boyfriend Nico of three months is married and with children, it is quite a punch to the gut but not as hard as the one she just delivered to her now ex-boyfriend's face.  When Nico chases after her, a tall gorgeous man intervenes.  Graydon chases Nico off and offers his office for Rachel to gather herself.  In this moment of devastation, Rachel finds a certain connection with Graydon.  Through some serendipitous events and scary happenings, Graydon and Rachel work to come together and hopefully find their happily ever after.

Sweet Confections lived up to it’s title as the story was sugary enough to give anyone a cavity.  Rachel and Graydon were goody two shoes who had some cliché story book moments and unfortunately, came off as one dimensional for most of the story.  Rachel was the wary of the former professional athlete southern belle (well, if Kansas City had southern belles) complete with a fainting spell.   Graydon was the heart of gold athlete who was content with tickling and sweet short kisses until marriage.  Honestly, if you're diabetic you may want to avoid this book.  On the other hand, if you're looking for an extremely clean romance with mild suspense/action, then the technical writing here is good.

The villain was obvious from the start and the red herring did such a 180; it felt very manipulative. The secondary characters were great companions and flushed out wonderfully to add more dimension to the story and I often found myself more interested in them.  Rachel's friend and business partner kept the pace going with her slight humor and pushing Rachel to give Graydon a chance.  The story did seem to meander a bit in the middle with Rachel and Graydon's relationship not feeling like it was going anywhere but if you can handle brief sweet date nights then you would enjoy this more.  As with the villain storyline the baking competition at the end felt tagged on.  It was talked about in the beginning, then kind of forgotten about, and then over. 

Even though Graydon was a former professional athlete and Rachel's family is obsessed with sports, there is not really any sports talk (naming Graydon's former team the Kansas City Coyotes was a little disorientating as there is an actual team named the Arizona Coyotes) so don't let that scare you away.  I'm a sports fan, specifically hockey, I missed more of a sports feel and atmosphere as I decided to read this because of Graydon's former profession.  

Sweet Confections will work for individuals looking for a squeaky clean romance with mild suspense and action.