Sweet Thing (Sweet Thing #1) by Renee Carlino

“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.” 

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 cafe, 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. 

This was the best prologue I have read, and I loved how it was woven through the story again at the end.

The writing was really really good. Not only did it have cool band/music references, but the actual writing itself was intelligent and articulate. For a romance novel there was also the right amount of lovin' without being too cheesy, tacky or overpowering.

The only section I didn't really enjoy was watching Mia screw things up (again and again) so badly, and then having to watch her wallow in self-pity for so long. I found that a bit hard to believe because in the real world you can't lie on the couch and drink tequila for months without more consequences - well not in my world anyway. And if it was 'their dream' then why did Will exclude Mia from the planning and keep secrets from her? 

But overall I really enjoyed it. I didn't realise it was a series so I will probably end up reading more to see how it follows on. 

Read my review on Goodreads