Series Review: Sweet by Abbi Glines

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Synopsis for Sweet Little Thing (from Goodreads):

The day her mother passed away, Beulah was only given a name. That was it. No other explanation.

Portia Van Allan was not someone Beulah could believe her mother ever knew. Wealthy, self-absorbed and other than the fact Portia was supplying special care for Beulah’s sister, Portia was cruel.

The day Portia’s son returns home for the summer, Beulah discovers that Portia isn’t in charge. This isn’t her home at all. Her late husband left her with nothing. It all belongs to their son who doesn’t seem to like his mother at all.

Jasper Van Allan doesn’t know why his mother has hired a young gorgeous blonde to take care of the house and almost lets her go before he finds out the truth.

Realizing there’s more to Beulah than a stunning face, he keeps finding reasons to be near her all the time. It’s all falling into place, it all begins to make sense . . . until the real lies, the dark secrets, and the skeletons come tumbling out of the Van Allan closet. Twisted truths that will send Beulah running . . .

Author: Abbi Glines
Series: Sweet
# of Books: 3+1 (Full Reading Order Here)
Book Order: Chronological (#1-3); Connected (#4)
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Heat Rating: warm (#1, #4) to Toasty (#2-3)
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Dates: September 2017 – June 2018
Source & Format: Kindle Unlimited–eBook

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

Back when Goodreads used to track your most read author, Abbi Glines was one of mine. But over time, I started to notice her novel formula (like many authors I used to read back in the day) and I took a break from her work because they all started to feel the same. Over the last 2 years, I’ve picked up a book of hers here and there and found myself enjoying knack for dramatic twists with her romances.

The Sweet Little Thing Rewrite:

I actually have the original Sweet Little Thing (#1) novella trilogy on my Kobo but Abbi Glines has recently (2024) republished the trilogy. This new publication has new scenes, reworked scenes and it combines all 3 novellas into one long novel (Sweet Little Thing). I read the republished 2024 version for these three books.

The Plot:

The start of Sweet Little Thing (#1-3) reminded me a lot of other Abbie Glines’ books I’ve read in the past. I mean, she has her niche that she does well so it doesn’t surprise me that I could spot the similarities. However: this story takes a turn that I honestly didn’t see coming! It’s hard to elaborate without giving things away but I’ll just say my mouth hit the floor and I couldn’t believe the turn we took…so that was refreshing.

But by the end of this trilogy I was getting a little bored with the plot as the story shifted towards the melodramatic. Which is a trend with novella series: things need to move hard and fast to keep the readers interested and buying the next installment. So I expected that to be the case here, even if the story was reworked a bit.

Sweet Little Bitch (#4) in comparison feels like an extended bonus scene allowing us to some insight into a relationship that is mentioned in the latter half of the original trilogy. But in some ways, the pacing feels like a mishmash of important scenes from a series and while I get the intention, it could be polished up a bit (and I believe it is on the docket to be rewritten).

The Characters:

There are two big aspects that are hindered by the originally novella length of these books, even if they were reworked. The first is the characters.

Again, things move fast and the shock value of the drama is the draw to keep readers watching to see what will happen next. So I felt like the characters have just enough substance to drive that plot but we don’t get past a layer or two. It works for the format of the series but I didn’t really feel like I knew the characters all that well.

Especially Beulah. As the lead, I just felt like she was pretty one-dimensional. Even though she was the primary narrator throughout, it was almost like the other characters projected their impressions of her to upon her so that’s how she is presented to the reader. That might have also been because of her role throughout the series as “an angel” out to save everyone by her good graces and underserving of those she encounters.

The Romance:

This is the other element that suffers from the novella format. Everything just seemed surface level and more “innate” than shown and that just didn’t appeal to me.

One thing I really enjoyed about Sweet Little Thing (#1/Part 1) was trying to figure out who would capture Beulah’s heart. It has this “will-they-won’t-they” love triangle that had me trying to figure out who the “villain” would be. But the new synopsis for the rewritten combo novel gives away the anticipation of where the romance goes and that dampened my excitement.