Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood – a Review

Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood is one of her wonderful Romance suspense novels.  Garwood is also known for her equally fabulous historical romances.

The beginning of Sweet Talk introduces us to four young girls in a hospital being treated with the same experimental treatment for their cancer.  Oliva MacKenzie (our heroine), Samantha Pearson, Jane Weston and Collins Davenport have become close friends, to help pull each other through the dark and scary days in the hospital.  Olivia is the ringleader, of the group called the Pips, they pull pranks on the hospital staff, to bring some fun into their lives, lift their spirits, and make each day a little bit easier.  Dr. Pardieu was the one who treated them, and became a father figure to all four.  During their time at the hospital, Olivia was the only one who never had her family visit her as only her Aunt Emma would visit and paid for her treatment. 

Twelve years later, the four girls are in remission, and continue to be best friends, as each has made some success in their lives. Olivia, who keeps herself distant from her dysfunctional family, is now working in Washington for the IRS.  She is a lawyer, and secretly took the job with the IRS to get evidence to take down her father, whom she feels is running a ponzi scheme, taking all his clients money.  Olivia’s Aunt Emma knows what she is doing, and helps encourage her.  Unfortunately Olivia’s mother and sister are blind to the father, and treat Olivia like the plague.  All they want is her share of a trust fund she has.   

With a bad economy, Olivia fears she will lose her job, as she is on the bottom in seniority.  It is during an interview for another job that she ends up in the middle of an FBI sting, where she meets the handsome Grayson Kincaid.  Grayson is the agent, who was on site, and he ended up saving Olivia from serious injuries.  He was impressed at her handling of the situation, which had gotten totally out of hand, not to mention that he found himself enamored by the beautiful Miss Mackenzie.

Both go their separate ways, until a short time later, Olivia’s is shot three times on her way home from work.  Grayson becomes involved in protecting her, and at the same time fights his attraction to Olivia, as he needs to keep it professional, since he is on this case. Grayson is determined to find out who is trying to kill Olivia,

Olivia also finds herself falling in love with Grayson, but due to her illness, and the worry that it could come back, she too tries to not allow this relationship to go any further then the initial attraction.  This is an exciting suspense tale of finding out who is trying to kill Olivia; is it the man whom was part of the sting; his guard: her father, who wants to stop her from discovering the truth; her father scheming lawyer; or an IRS complainant.  Olivia is an awesome heroine, being strong, intelligent, stubborn, witty, and unafraid to fight for what she believes in.  Grayson is equally awesome too, being the strong, confident and protective type. 

Garwood has created a wonderful romance between Grayson and Olivia.  Their attraction to one another becomes stronger as the days go by, leading to awesome sex, and both know they are falling in love.  Each have their own issues; Grayson being his job and a nephew he takes care of, and Olivia her strange and awful family, as well as her illness.  I loved how Garwood kept the friends together, standing by one another. There was even a mystery in that part of the story.   Very well done.  Great story & wonderful romance.  I loved Sweet Talk. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher