Arm Candy (Real Love: Book 2) by Jessica Lemmon

Title: Arm Candy

Author: Jessica Lemmon

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Loveswept

Date of publication: September 5, 2017

Genre: Humor, Romance

POV: 3rd person

Series: Real Love

Eye Candy – Book 1 (review here)

Arm Candy – Book 2

Man Candy – Book 3 (expected publication date: January 9th, 2018)

Where you can find Arm Candy: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

Last call! At the end of the night, a clean-cut hunk and a rebellious bartender act on their unlikely chemistry in this frisky standalone novel from the author of Eye Candy.

Davis: I’ve had my eye on Grace Buchanan for a while now. Unlike the bubbly blondes, I usually date, the feisty, flame-haired bartender both intrigues and bewilders me. Something about Grace—the tattoos? the nose ring?—makes every part of me sit up and beg. There’s only one problem: She hates me. Trading insults and one-liners have become our M.O. But when Grace bets me that I can’t get a date with a non-blonde if my life depends on it, I’m determined to prove her wrong by landing the ultimate non-blonde: her.

Grace: I’m used to regulars hitting on me, and I’ve turned them all down, except for one: Davis Price. I like giving him a hard time, and he’s kind of cute in his suit and tie—if you’re into that kind of thing. Anyway, I don’t care how many blondes he takes home . . . until one of them sidles up to him in my bar. Nuh-uh. But after my little bet with Davis backfires, our first date lands us in the sack. So does the second. And the third. Neither of us wants more than the best sex of our lives. The trouble is, it’s not a question of what I want. It’s what I need. And what I need is Davis.

Trigger Warning: None

My review:

Arm Candy was a glad change in reading for me. I have read some pretty heavy books and I needed something that was light and not so serious. Arm Candy was that book. I could read it without worrying that I was going to burst a brain vessel reading it or cry my eyes out because it was so sad. It was just what I needed!!

Grace was introduced in Eye Candy as the new bartender that caught Davis’s eye. I will say that Grace wasn’t your cookie cutter romance heroine and I loved it. She had tattoos and not just one teeny tiny one that was covered up. Nope, she had a few. I will say that I have very rarely seen a heroine that had ink and found it very refreshing. Also, she wasn’t afraid to put Davis in his place and she was sexually confident. Again, which is something that I haven’t really read in romance novels of late. I can count on one hand the number of novels that I have read that have a heroine who knew what she wanted when she wanted it and how she wanted it. She did have her issues, thanks to her parents and those issues almost caused her relationship with Davis to fail.

Davis was such a manwhore. He had a revolving door of blondes and he was getting a little tired of them. So when Grace suggested that he date a nonblonde, he decided to ask her out. I died laughing at the Davis packages that he offered her. I did like him, a lot. He was perfect for Grace in so many ways yet, also, in so many ways, they were opposite. His relationship with his grandmother, who was a spitfire, was pretty awesome too. I mean, when Grace broke his heart, who did he go running too? His grandmother!!

I loved the romance part of this book too. Instead of having Instalove, Grace and Davis’s relationship was allowed to grow from her first mention in Eye Candy. They became friends, then lovers and then they fell in love. The only thing that I even had a complaint about, though, was the eventual breakup. I think that the return of Grace’s father and her mother’s being so jaded (she was a divorce attorney) that kind of forced Grace down that path. I wish it didn’t happen but it did add depth to the book.

The sex was out of this world hot but it was also sweet. I could tell, before Grace and Davis did, how they felt about each other because of the sex scenes. They were powerful but sweet. Loved it!!

I loved the ending and I can’t wait to see Grace and Davis make an appearance in the Man Candy when it is published in 2018. Maybe I will get lucky and get an ARC!!

How many stars will I give Arm Candy: 4

Why: Like I said in my review, this was the perfect book for me to read after reading books had some pretty heavy subject. The plot was great, sex scenes were better and I loved the ending.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age Range: Adult

Why: Sex and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**