Never Sweeter by Charlotte Stein

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Wanting to clear up as much as I could of my bingo board for the Romance Take Readathon - Light v. Dark, I decided to pick up Never Sweeter by Charlotte Stein. This is the second book in her Dark Obsession series. This was perfect to cover the prompts Virgin Hero, Plus Sized, New Adult and Sports for the readathon! I was also able to use this for prompts college dorm for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and new adult for the 2nd board of Summer of Swoon.

After being bullied by Tate and his friends in high school, Letty runs into him a couple years later in one of her film classes at college. The last time she saw him his friend had run her over with his truck forcing her off a ravine and hospitalized and recovering for a long time. Tate feels bad and wants to try to make it up to Letty and not cause her any more harm. When they get paired up to do a project covering sex in cinema, Letty finds herself really coming to learn about who Tate really is behind the facade he's worn since high school. As they get closer, they both have to come to some realizations about their situations in the past and now.

So there is definitely bullying situations addressed in this book, so be aware of that if you are at all sensitive. Most of what we see is in the prologue, but then there are recountings of the bullying and how it made Letty feel throughout. Now, it was a little predictable (to me) the why of the bullying from Tate, however we don't really get much clarity about his two main friends in high school. So I feel a little torn on this book, but my enjoyment really came from getting to know Tate in the present day and really see him work through his apology to Letty. We also get to know more about him behind the façade he's put on for so long. I really connected with Tate and thought he was just the sweetest. The way he really felt bad for his actions towards Letty was felt and I loved how he even went out of his way to avoid class for a few days to "stay away from her." I don't know, but I just really felt for him and came to love him as a hero.

Now I did think the reasons why he was a virgin was a little silly, but it is what it is. What detracted for me was actually mostly to do with Letty. I feel bad thinking that, but I really wanted her to make more progress in her mental health. I know that after the big bullying incident (that happens in the prologue) she ends up needing to spend time recovering and getting back to a normal life. I do wish that there was more done both for her and also her doing the work. She was still very triggered and struggled to make even friends with a girl that lived in the same floor as her. I don't know, maybe I'm being too judgmental about it, but I just really wanted to see her work through some of this more. Ideally I would want this to be through therapy, but by the time I got to the big 3rd act breakup, I was wanting more from her in being able to move forward. Also, it's a little spoilery, but when we get to some of the reasons behind the tension they had in high school, it's pointed out that a lot of her insecurities were felt before the bullying really started (or intensified). I understand that the bullying probably made those worse to deal with, but I wanted some sort of acceptance or realization on her end that all these insecurities she was dealing with wasn't just because of the bullying.

Overall I really enjoyed Tate and thought the writing style was good enough to keep me hooked. I just felt like Tate did a lot more of the inner work needed and struggle with believing 100% that Letty will be happy in their HEA. I can quickly seeing it turn into Tate giving up everything to keep her happy and potentially triggering Letty. That makes me think he could live the rest of his life being overly cautious (and walking on eggshells). Outside of that, I am intrigued to pick up something else by Charlotte Stein and checking out the rest of this series.

Have you read Never Sweeter?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Never Sweeter, Charlotte Stein, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 262 pages, published in 2016, small publisher