For the last week, I have been immersed in
the little town of Sugartown. My good
friends Erin and Lexy, who is also my blog partner, love Carmen Jenner so I
knew I had to read her. I was not
prepared for how much I would fall in love with her writing.
Below you will find my spot light on the Sugartown series. It is 4 books, set in the rural town of Sugartown in Australia following a quirky and unconventional family.
If any of you have not read this amazing
series, I strongly urge you to click the links and buy. The first book is free, what’s better than
that?
Welcome To Sugartown
Carmen Jenner
Ana
Belle never wanted anything more than to hang up her apron, jump on her Vespa
and ride off into the sunset, leaving Sugartown in the dust.
Elijah Cade never wanted anything more than a hot meal, a side of hot arse and a soft place to lay his head at night where he could forget about his past.
But you know what they say about wanting: you always want what you can’t have.
Nineteen year-old virgin Ana is about to discover that’s not quite true because a six foot three, hotter than hell, tattooed, Aussie sex god just rode into town. He’s had a taste of her pie and he wants more–no really, Ana bakes pies for a living, get your mind out of the gutter.
She’d be willing to hand over everything tied up in a big red bow, there’s just one problem; Elijah has secrets dirtier than last week’s underwear. Secrets that won't just break Ana’s heart, but put her life at risk, too. When those secrets come to light, their relationship is pushed to breaking point.
Add to that a psychotic nympho best friend, an overbearing father, a cuter than humanly possible kid brother, a wanton womanizing cousin, the ex from hell, and more pies than you could poke a ... err ... stick ... at.
And you thought small towns were boring.
Elijah Cade never wanted anything more than a hot meal, a side of hot arse and a soft place to lay his head at night where he could forget about his past.
But you know what they say about wanting: you always want what you can’t have.
Nineteen year-old virgin Ana is about to discover that’s not quite true because a six foot three, hotter than hell, tattooed, Aussie sex god just rode into town. He’s had a taste of her pie and he wants more–no really, Ana bakes pies for a living, get your mind out of the gutter.
She’d be willing to hand over everything tied up in a big red bow, there’s just one problem; Elijah has secrets dirtier than last week’s underwear. Secrets that won't just break Ana’s heart, but put her life at risk, too. When those secrets come to light, their relationship is pushed to breaking point.
Add to that a psychotic nympho best friend, an overbearing father, a cuter than humanly possible kid brother, a wanton womanizing cousin, the ex from hell, and more pies than you could poke a ... err ... stick ... at.
And you thought small towns were boring.
I have had Carmen Jenner on my list of
authors to read for a long time, and finally I just decided that it was time to
make the time to read her books. I
wanted to start at the beginning where it all began with the Sugartown series,
and quite honestly thinking it was going to be a light breezy read. I mean, with a name like Sugartown, you
expect sweet, right? Ha! I obviously didn’t do my homework, I just
knew my friends loved her so I would as well.
Carmen Jenner is one of those that sneaks
up on you, and man does she pack a punch.
She drags you through everything in this book and she hit every mental
check mark I have in my brain on my own personal list of requirements that
makes for a great story.
Love. P
Angst. P
Mysterious Plot Line. P
Lots of conflict. P
Badass Hero. P
Loveable Heroine. P
Ana Belle is 19, living in Sugartown and
praying for the day to arrive that she can split. Sugartown is the epitome of small town
culture, where everyone talks about everybody; and quite often that talk has
landed on Ana.
Ana runs the family pie shop, which she has
practically done in the years since her mother died of cancer, across the
street from the motorcycle shop her father runs. While she spends her days at Belle’s Pies,
daydreaming of leaving Sugartown, with her best friend Holly and keeping track
of her little brother Sam, Elijah Cade rides in to town. Tall, sexy, biker,
Elijah Cade.
With Elijah, comes his past. The one he is running from, and keeping
secret for good reason. He has had a
rough life, with no family to speak of it’s hard for him to let anyone in; it’s
easier that way with the secrets he needs to keep. Fresh from his release of prison, Elijah
starts working with Ana’s father.
Of course with these two the chemistry is
insane, and with a chemistry that hot, there is no way to come away from it
without being burned. Their relationship comes with a lot of problems. They can’t seem to stop hurting each other,
but can’t stay away either. When the
unthinkable happens, it’s Elijah picking up the pieces, even when Ana can’t
even think about forgiveness. This is a
story of perseverance, redemption, and an unstoppable, sometimes
unconventional, and definitely unconditional love.
Enjoy Your Stay
Carmen Jenner
The
last thing Holly Harris expected was to wind up nineteen, knocked-up, and all
alone. When Coop left to pursue his dreams of becoming a rock god, he left a
tiny piece of him behind.
Holly wishes he hadn’t.
Jackson wishes he hadn’t.
Jackson Rowe tried filling the void his family left by drinking, screwing around, and leaving a string of heartbroken women in his wake. Moving back to Sugartown should have been easy, but he hadn’t counted on the fact his sometimes attraction to Holly would still be alive and kicking—and he sure as hell hadn’t counted on her being pregnant with another man’s baby.
They drive one another crazy, and yet they can’t stay away.
When old flames resurface, and even older wounds are torn open, can two people so similar make it work? Or will their stubbornness only drive them further apart?
*Content Warning. Intended for a mature 18+ audience. Contains angst, a crap-tonne of profanity, short-tempered Australian wildlife, and some very pregnant sex.
I absolutely fell in love with Ana’s best
friend Holly in Greetings From Sugartown.
She is snarky and sassy. An all-round
spitfire. She and her best friend could
not be more different. Where Ana is
quiet, Holly is loud. Where Ana is
reserved, Holly is anything but.
Holly sent her rock star boyfriend Cooper
packing back to Sydney to chase his dreams.
He wanted her to return with him, giving her an ultimatum, and Holly
refused to leave Sugartown and the family that has always been there for her.
Now pregnant and living in a house with
Ana, and Ana’s Cousin Jackson – a very delectable Jackson, whom Holly has a
past, she cannot break free of those insane pregnancy hormones that tell her to
jump on Jack as often as possible. And
he is not helping.
These two’s worst enemies are
themselves. Both keeping their feelings
away from the other, and not allowing happiness to seep in. So when Jack pushes Holly away for like the
hundredth time, she has no choice to let Cooper back in. Pregnant and alone, she needs the help and
support that Cooper gives her, and Jackson keeps denying her.
When these two finally get their act
together, it might be too late. Jack
needs to decide if he can love Holly and a baby that does not belong to him,
and Holly needs to trust that she really is enough for Jack.
The second installment of the Sugartown
series had me all out laughing out loud, and yelling at my kindle, sometimes in
the very same instant. I loved Holly. (As I said above.) At times I wanted to reach through my kindle
and strangle her, but her feistiness is exactly what Jack needed to balance out
his conceitedness.
Greetings From Sugartown
Carmen Jenner
Life
in Sugartown hasn't always been easy, not for an ex-con like Elijah, and certainly not for Ana, who grew up desperate for a way out.
Meeting
Elijah changed all that; Elijah changed a lot of things.
You’d
think that after three years together and the worst behind them that life would
be a walk in the park, but Sugartown’s sexiest couple may be about to face
their biggest obstacles yet.
Between
failed marriage proposals, a trampy ex-lover and a tempting new biker,
Sugartown is suddenly not so sweet.
They’re
head-over-heels in love. It should be simple—but it rarely is.
Will they
make it down the aisle to the happy ever after they deserve? Or are some
relationships just destined to fail?
Intended
for an 18+ audience. Contains explicit sex, violence, a crap-tonne of profanity,
and naked encounters with disastrous outcomes.
Ana Belle is one of the strongest Heroines
that I have ever read. She really and
truly has been through hell, and persevered every. single. time. Many others’ spirits would have been broken
with every trial she has endured, and just when the road to happiness is
cleared for her and Elijah, insecurities of the past come rushing right back
in.
Elijah has done everything in his power to
make up for past mistakes, showing Ana that there is no room for any other in
his life. She is it for him and he wants
to make it official. His attempts kind
of get thwarted at every turn, and just when he starts thinking maybe he isn’t
enough for Ana, she goes and flips the tables.
With the whole cast of characters, that I
have fell in love with, relationships in Sugartown are evolving. Someone comes back into Elijah’s life and I was
very skeptical when they came back, but
Carmen has a way of smoothing things over so you feel as if everything is
finally, FINALLY going to go right in a past full of wrongs.
I am sure that I have said this in my
previous reviews, but I love this series.
I love these characters, and Carmen Jenner’s writing is top notch!
Now Leaving Sugartown
Carmen Jenner
Pepper
Ryan grew up the troublesome, spoiled child of a rock god. With her
less-than-stellar parentage, and the bipolar disorder that has plagued her
existence, to say this little firecracker is a handful would be the
understatement of the century.
Sammy Belle spent more than half his life saving Pepper. He’d been her strength, her sanity, and the protective brotherly figure she never wanted to have.
They were never meant to be together.
They gave in anyway.
And just when Sammy thought he had everything he wanted, Pepper ran.
Now twenty-three, Pepper returns to Sugartown, a failed tattoo artist with one too many screws loose who’s down on her luck, wielding an ice cream van as beaten up as her heart.
Sugartown’s most coveted bachelor has always been content with the quiet life he leads until Pepper, the hellion from his past, returns to test his strength, his patience, and perhaps even his sanity. But two can play at that game, and Pepper is about to learn that Sam can give as good as he gets.
Can this good country boy survive Pepper’s cruel city world, or will the whole thing be put down to a bout of temporary insanity?
One thing is for certain:
He’s crazy about her.
She’s just crazy.
Warning: Intended for an 18+ audience. Contains sexual content, oodles of profanity, a firefighter so hot you may need a very cold shower, and one pink-haired crazy Harajuku girl. May also contain traces of nuts. Some scenes within this book may be a trigger for certain readers.
Sammy Belle spent more than half his life saving Pepper. He’d been her strength, her sanity, and the protective brotherly figure she never wanted to have.
They were never meant to be together.
They gave in anyway.
And just when Sammy thought he had everything he wanted, Pepper ran.
Now twenty-three, Pepper returns to Sugartown, a failed tattoo artist with one too many screws loose who’s down on her luck, wielding an ice cream van as beaten up as her heart.
Sugartown’s most coveted bachelor has always been content with the quiet life he leads until Pepper, the hellion from his past, returns to test his strength, his patience, and perhaps even his sanity. But two can play at that game, and Pepper is about to learn that Sam can give as good as he gets.
Can this good country boy survive Pepper’s cruel city world, or will the whole thing be put down to a bout of temporary insanity?
One thing is for certain:
He’s crazy about her.
She’s just crazy.
Warning: Intended for an 18+ audience. Contains sexual content, oodles of profanity, a firefighter so hot you may need a very cold shower, and one pink-haired crazy Harajuku girl. May also contain traces of nuts. Some scenes within this book may be a trigger for certain readers.
When I started the Sugartown series, I wasn’t
sure what I was going to find. I thought,
however, that with a name like Sugartown, it would be a light series, and I am
sure that my friends that have already read and fell in love with Carmen Jenner
can attest that nothing could be further from the truth. The characters from the beginning until to
the very end have evolved into something else.
They feel like family, and I am so sad to see this series end.
If you have followed my reviews so far you
know that we have followed the Sugartown gang through so much pain and hurt and
finally to the happiness that they deserve.
Well, Now Leaving Sugartown is no different.
Little Sammy Belle is grown up and in the 5
years since Pepper left him without a goodbye he has done very well for
himself, with the exception of forgetting about his “Little”.
Pepper Ryan-Harris-Rowe has always been Sam’s
kryptonite. He has been her anchor all
of her life, often times saving her from herself. The firecracker, herself, has returned home
and even though she doesn’t want to admit it she comes back for Sam.
Sam and Pepper’s story is not easy, it is
full of pain and hurt. It is also one of
love, and the unstoppable lengths that one will go to, to ensure loved one’s
get the help needed in their times of darkness.
This book holds a very special place in my
heart. It took me to places that pushed
me as a person, often times hitting so close to home that I couldn’t see
through my own tears. I wanted to stop
reading. It was too much, I couldn’t
take it. Now Leaving Sugartown took me
to my limits, and stepped over that line.
Delivered in a way that I have learned only
Carmen Jenner can, there is quite often a little sweet with the sour, and a
whole lot of happy with those tear inducing scenes. This is a series that I will always hold
close to my heart, and always recommend.
Carmen Jenner is a thirty-something, USA TODAY and international bestselling author of the Sugartown, Savage Saints, and Taint series.
Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU, 2015.
A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore MAC addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny north coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.
A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?
Her dark romance, KICK (Savage Saints MC #1), won Best Dark Romance Read in the Reader’s Choice Awards at RWDU, 2015.
A tattoo enthusiast, hardcore MAC addict and zombie fangirl, Carmen lives on the sunny north coast of New South Wales, Australia, where she spends her time indoors wrangling her two wildling children, a dog named Pikelet, and her very own man-child.
A romantic at heart, Carmen strives to give her characters the HEA they deserve, but not before ruining their lives completely first … because what’s a happily ever after without a little torture?